Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

If you are one of the thousands of entrepreneurs who need equity funding to get your startup going (no loans to repay), you are probably overwhelmed at the prospect of finding, contacting and pitching to the huge number of qualified angels and investment groups around the country. Register Internet and social media startup names.

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Berkonomics

JULY 23, 2020

Especially when outside investors, venture capitalists, or angels, have put in substantial money and the sales price is less than the value of their investment. Dig into investment agreements for those expensive clauses. Conflicts of interest with preferred investors. A Delaware court decision may protect you.

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Berkonomics

JULY 19, 2010

Once a company founder has tapped the funds available from his or her resources and from friends and family, if the company needs more cash for growth, the most obvious next step is to look for money from angel investors and venture capitalists, typically in the $300,000 TO $3,000,000 range. Email readers continue here.]

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Berkonomics

JUNE 19, 2014

If you seek funds from an organized investment group such as an angel fund, venture capital entity, or even an investment club, the first thing you want to do is to find one person to buy into your vision, become excited by your enthusiasm and be willing to become the internal champion for your fund-raising effort.

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Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Summary Email 207

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 21, 2021

At the same time, Los Angeles-based trans activist Ashlee Marie Preston hosted a rally in solidarity with Netflix workers participating in the walkout. They want Netflix to address a list of demands in the categories of content investment, employee relations and safety, and harm reduction. Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images).

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Berkonomics

APRIL 4, 2019

On the other side, entrepreneurs and CEO’s usually have a natural fear of giving too much information to us investors after the initial investment is received. Email readers, continue here…] Prepare for your annual meetings well. Requirements created by investment documents. But don’t worry.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

The trends are well understood: more angels, more seed funds, more crowdsourcing and so forth. Generally speaking in venture capital financings the legal documents will specify that only “major investors” (a threshold set in the agreement – which can be $500,000 investor or more). There is a reason for this.

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Berkonomics

AUGUST 13, 2020

In fact, many angel investors or venture capitalists look for and respect the lessons learned by entrepreneurs that have survived a failed business. Investors learn too, and often invest in a failed entrepreneur a second time if believing that those lessons have been well learned, Success can teach lessons too.

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Berkonomics

APRIL 6, 2012

Some businesses just can’t fit within the angel capital or friends and family model for raising funds. Sooner or later these businesses will have to seek venture capital and accommodate the needs of the venture community in negotiating the terms of an investment. Email readers, continue here.]

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Berkonomics

MARCH 17, 2018

Email readers, continue here…] Recently, insurance companies have added employee practice liability insurance (EPLI) to the package to address specifically the recently-increasing risk of employees suing for redress. So, add another $3 to $4 thousand to the policy cost.

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Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 10, 2010

I get these frequently via Twitter, Facebook or email. I provided my email address and he sent me a 688 word email (e.g. I felt I had committed so I read and responded to the email. SHORT : Whether you know the person or not – if you’re asking for help, a favor or an intro – keep your email VERY short.

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Berkonomics

AUGUST 29, 2013

Especially when outside investors, venture capitalists, or angels, have put in substantial money and the sales price is less than the value of their investment. This late money is at much higher risk to the VCs than even the early stage investments that were optimistically made by angels or friends and family.

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TechCrunch LA

MARCH 17, 2019

An email subscription is coming! The new information, gleaned from recently unsealed court documents , provides new insight into the company’s past activities and what that might mean for its upcoming IPO. After five days in Austin for SXSW, I headed to Los Angeles, actually Hawthorne, for Tesla’s Model Y unveiling.

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Berkonomics

JANUARY 27, 2010

Taking in angel or venture money requires a setting of an entrepreneur’s expectations that may come as a shock at least at first. From the moment such an investor looks seriously at your company, the investor or VC partner is thinking of the end game, the ultimate sale of the company or even of an eventual initial public offering.

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Berkonomics

APRIL 14, 2012

There is a natural fear of giving too much information to investors after the initial investment is received. Email readers, continue here.] That burden is an ongoing cost of taking the investment, much as a public company takes on the additional burden of governmental reporting, both adding to costs over time.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

So it’s really hard to draw too many conclusions about whether the investment really makes sense because often you learn stuff in the fund raising about the future strategy of the company that might make you much more excited than somebody on the outside might be. entrepreneur Wil Schroter (I am an angel investor in Affordit).

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Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 28, 2013

This week, David Steakley returns for another bite at the corporate apple, with just the right amount of tart comments that will keep this document legal for now. Email readers, continue here.] I routinely see prospective investments which rely by their nature upon selling to corporate customers. By David Steakley.

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Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 4, 2016

Originally created in the mid 1990’s to help with the imprecise problem of how to value early stage companies, especially those in technology, I developed what soon became known as “The Berkus Method” when published in the popular book, “Winning Angels” by Harvard’s Amis and Stevenson with my permission in 2001.

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SoCal CTO

APRIL 8, 2010

Death By Competitive Analysis - Steve Blank , March 1, 2010 Trading emails with a startup CEO building an iPhone app, I asked him why potential customers would buy his product. How do the sample Series Seed financing documents differ from typical Series A financing documents? In response he sent me a competitive analysis.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2016

Unfortunately, as a startup advisor and angel investor, I’ve seen too many ventures with great potential get destroyed or set back by legal and other shortcuts that should never have been allowed to happen. Trade secrets need to be documented and dated, and business plans labeled as confidential. Late surprises lead to lawsuits.

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socalTECH

MARCH 31, 2014

Bitvore is based in Irvine, and is backed by serial entrepreneur Yuri Pikover, as well as other angels. One of the folks was the CTO of an investment bank in New York, who immediately saw what we did, and said he had a problem he wanted us to approach. It wouldn''t be covered in the Los Angeles Times, and not by the San Diego papers.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2016

Most entrepreneurs I know are so passionate about their new idea that they are surprised when family and friends don’t line up to invest in their new venture. They don’t realize that most Angel investors and venture capitalists will also decline to be first, if you have no commitment from friends and family.

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socalTECH

MAY 18, 2009

This morning's interview with Daryl Bernstein , CEO and co-founder of Santa Barbara-based RightSignature (www.rightsignature.com), a firm which has created an online, software-as-a-service offering to collect legally binding signatures on documents. We've also got a huge list of additional document types in the works.

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socalTECH

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

It's been awhile since we last caught up with Los Angeles-based Language Weaver (www.languageweaver.com), a venture-backed firm which develops language translation software, so we sat down the other day with Mark Tapling , the President and CEO of the firm, to hear more about where the company is nowadays--plus its strategy for growth and an exit.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

How does the world in Los Angeles intersect differently with venture capital? Do you find yourself too much in email mode? I regularly shut down my email so that I don’t get pop-up alerts when I’m working. and it forced me to spend some serious time thinking about what I really look for when I make investments.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 18, 2010

A loan officer, angel investor, and venture capitalist are all looking for different things in a business plan. Angel Investor: Writing a business plan for angel investors can be tricky. If you’re pitching to a member of an organized angel group, then a business-like tone is in order. What does that mean? compelling.

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Writing Summary Ideas Research 97

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 8, 2014

Back in January, at the annual TechZulu Startup Forecast , our panel of industry leaders and investors spent a healthy dose of time discussing the ongoing JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) and the investing sphere at large. This all, circling around 2008, a shy year for startup investments. Fundraising Frustrations.

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Tech Zulu Event

JULY 8, 2011

HowSimple just launched into beta a next generation browser and desktop manager named andi (Advanced Numerous Document Interface). We leverage our network in the Los Angeles community to provide members with access to potential employees, mentors and investors. Xavor invest through our dependable consulting services.

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CalTech Technical Review Company Companies 100

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

When to get a lawyer - If you plan to be a venture or angel backed technology company (what I mostly write about) the best time to start meeting and getting to know lawyers is long before you ever start your company. Your contractor wrote a great V1 of the product and it helped you get angel funding.

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Jason Nazar

MAY 2, 2016

Find sources of capital— friends & family, business bank loans , angel investment , venture capital or even crowdfunding ( Crowdfunder , Fundable ). Pick an internal email system ( Gmail , Outlook ). Choose an email system to connect with customers ( Constant Contact , MailChimp , Sendgrid ). Recommended.

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Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 22, 2013

The idea here is that I was spending hours, hours, and more hours on trying to get content out to my customers through emails. Say you are sending emails from one place, you share files at another, another place for documentation, a different service for recruiting, and another site for uploading videos.

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Social Media Social Network Tool Mobile 92

Berkonomics

AUGUST 22, 2019

Boards are elected by the shareholders, sometimes with preferred shareholders holding seats by right of their investment. Email readers, continue here…] If you have never experienced such a board with members out of sync and out of sorts with each other or the rest, you have been lucky. It happens. Can you change?

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Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 26, 2012

Boards are elected by the shareholders, sometimes with preferred shareholders holding seats by right of their investment. Email readers, continue here.] If you have never experienced such a board with members out of sync and out of sorts with each other or the rest, you have been lucky. It happens.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 10, 2011

In my ongoing quest to get you good transcripts of the wonderful interviews we’ve done in the past, I present you with one amazing interview here with Tom McInerney – a friend, co-investor, former entrepreneur turned angel investor and “wizard of Oz&# behind the scenes at the uber hot startup Klout. In fact, HAVE done so.

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SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

500 Hats , January 10, 2010 Developing new startup ideas - Chris Dixon , March 14, 2010 Batch Processing Millions and Millions of Images - Code as Craft , July 9, 2010 jQuery Plugin: Give Your Characters a NobleCount - The Product Guy , March 23, 2010 How do the sample Series Seed financing documents differ from typical Series A financing documents?

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2015

Investors are human and subject to human tendencies, whether they are your rich uncle, an angel investor with personal funds or a venture capital investor with institutional money. Here is a summary of some key investor stereotypes that generally need to be avoided: Investment sharks. Legal eagle investors. Academic coach investors.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 31, 2011

Historically you are your email address. Think about your local news anchor saying, “if you want to get in touch email me at xxxx.” Nearly every day now I see public figures telling people their Twitter identity in stead of Facebook, email or other forms of identity. Who are you on the web? ” Sure.

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