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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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

They cite sources like the BusinessWeek story, “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ” and this Forbes article. The size of the document should be based on your style, but 10-20 pages or slides are usually more than adequate to outline even a complex business. You need funding, and plan to get it from friends and family.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 109

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 17, 2019

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. billion investment in 2018.

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San Fernando Los Angeles Commerce News 217

socalTECH

AUGUST 20, 2018

For this morning's interview, we sat down with Marlon Nichols , co-founder and Managing Partner of Los Angeles-based Cross Culture Ventures (crossculturevc.com). Cross Culture's investments include Mayven, LendStreet, Wonderschool, and Fair, among many other investments. Talk about Cross Culture, what your investment areas are?

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2013

They cite sources like a recent BusinessWeek story, “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ” and this NY Times article. Of course there are scenarios where a written business plan is not critical, but I haven’t seen one yet where a well-written 15-page document, or at least a 10-slide pitch, is a negative.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Technical Review Writing Slides 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

If you haven’t raised any money or if you raised a small round from angels or friends & family I would suggest you avoid setting up a formal board unless the people who would join your board are deeply experienced at sitting on startup boards. Bad board members can make business very unpleasant. But it’s quite rare.

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Startup Venture Capital Tips Capital 236

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 18, 2010

By Mahesh Raj Mohan Writing a business plan can be a difficult process. you still have to write the plan for a particular audience. A loan officer, angel investor, and venture capitalist are all looking for different things in a business plan. Your business plan’s writing style should take their preferences into account.

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Writing Summary Ideas Research 97

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Based on my experience as an angel investor and a mentor to dozens of entrepreneurs, having no business plan is the quickest way to define yourself as just a dreamer, or at best a hobbyist. Project revenues, costs and investment needs. The details can be added later. Now let’s talk about the bases that need to be covered.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

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.

Startup 62

Startup Patents Entrepreneur Writing 62

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

In writing anything positive about any of the companies I’m not suggesting that it means that I prefer them to any of their competitors. Also, some of the deals I write about I have actually seen as part of their fund raising process. entrepreneur Wil Schroter (I am an angel investor in Affordit). Others I have not.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2012

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. A dysfunctional team, or even one naysayer in a critical position can stall your investment.

Technical Review 94

Technical Review Startup Writing Competition 94

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

How does the world in Los Angeles intersect differently with venture capital? This can be your star Chief Architect who loves to code but hates having to handle the admin like testing, documentation, recruiting, etc. and it forced me to spend some serious time thinking about what I really look for when I make investments.

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Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2013

If you give $2 million for 20% of a company ($8 million pre + $2 million investment = $10 million post-money valuation) that has no product and no customers and it turns around 3 months later and sells for $5 million it would hardly be fair for investor to get $1 million back (20% of the proceeds). Get some famous angel or seed money.

Press 357

Press Startup Yahoo Venture Capital 357

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2010

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. A dysfunctional team, or even one naysayer in a critical position can stall your investment.

Technical Review 90

Technical Review Writing Competition Tips 90

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 10, 2010

When you write your email to the person assume it will be forwarded “as is&# so ask for an intro in a way that you wouldn’t mind somebody else reading. DON’T send me a frigging link to your document on DropBox or a request that the recipient visit your website to watch a video. this is all more work for me.

Help 332

Help Email Mentor Blogging 332

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. I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. Many people start companies arse backwards.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Here are some tips which will signal traction and fundability to investors, as well as to your team: Document your business plan. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

As a member of the local angel group Selection Committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! What equity is the company willing to give in return for the investment? What is the timeframe of return on investment?

Slides 94

Slides Competition Sample Sales 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

Here are some tips which will signal traction and fundability to investors, as well as to your team: Document your business plan. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage.

Startup 104

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

Here are some tips which will signal traction and fundability to investors, as well as to your team: Document your business plan. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage.

Startup 101

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 101

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

Baghdasarian was co-founder of Monterey Networks, which was sold to Cisco Systems back in 1999, has been an active angel investor in Southern California. As a teacher, you can share documents with colleagues, or visit and forum and have discussions with other teachers. Zareh Baghdasarian is the CEO of 15desks (www.15desks.com),

Education 124

Education Startup Course Tool 124

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

9) In Getting The Band Back Together , I write about the power of serial Founding teams. We met with a ton of VC’s and angels. We wanted investment partners that understood performance marketing and what it was like to be an entrepreneur from having done it before themselves. Deaf or blind? I’d learn to read lips.”.

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

Here are some tips which will signal traction to investors, as well as your team: Document your business plan. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage.

Tips 88

Tips Startup CTO Hire Press 88

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I talked about this in the TWiVC video but I didn’t do a good enough job of writing it up in the summary notes in the post. And it’s almost universally true that the new band of angels & seed investors are product gurus. Use something like, “I noticed you invested in a couple of companies in the x,y,z space.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

A huge shout out to Ricky Wong of NYCSteals for helping me with the write-up. In 1995, while in high school, Seth wanted to start a business scanning paper documents for companies, but realized it was a non-starter when he learned that a scanner costs $4k. Seth also spoke about not accepting investment until after gaining traction.

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Web Ideas 286

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2019

My experience is that the discipline of documenting a plan will improve your likelihood of addressing all the right issues , as well as finding the right partner or investor. Prepare a business plan 20-page document. You don't need special lighting or equipment; keep it concise and simple. PowerPoint pitch for investors and partners.

Ideas 126

Ideas Slides Sample Examples 126

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

It’s why the best angels and seed investors are local and why the best independents are, too. I’ve been on boards with independent directors who are hugely responsive, read important legal documents, get briefed by the CEO and company counsel and know the company’s financials. But if they could even write $2,500?—?money

Startup 187

Startup Writing Venture Capital Oracle 187

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Some thoughts on raising angel money. If I could persuade you that they’re already in these documents would you consider abandoning this structure? Those terms you fought so hard to get out of “clean term sheets” by using TheFunded, VentureHacks and the like are in your current documents. That’s right.

Startup 354

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

But Paul Graham really did have a point in his “ high resolution fundraising ” post – that there is a problem – particularly in angel financing – with herding cats. Since 2009 I have been counseling people to offer discounts to the first angel investors. They’re looking for “social proof.”

Pricing 294

Pricing Venture Capital Writing Equity 294

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.

Angel 302

Angel Startup Ideas .Net 302

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?

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

As an advisor to many entrepreneurs, I still hear frequently the irrational exuberance that crowdfunding is the quick alternative for startups that are passed over by overly demanding angels or venture capital investors. In reality, crowdfunding has become a major startup funding vehicle, expected to reach $3.62

Startup 100

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Demand 100

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2020

As an advisor to many entrepreneurs, I still hear frequently the irrational exuberance that crowdfunding is the quick alternative for startups that are passed over by overly demanding angels or venture capital investors. Startups need to build a large passionate group of fans before the campaign.

Startup 151

Startup Equity Funding Demand 151

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2015

Boy wearing Oculus Rift via Wikipedia As an advisor to many entrepreneurs, I still hear frequently the irrational exuberance that crowdfunding is the quick alternative for startups that are passed over by overly demanding angels or venture capital investors. Startups need to build a large passionate group of fans before the campaign.

Startup 53

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Demand 53