Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2010

On why you should be an entrepreneur, “A lot of people do what they have to do. Last night I co-hosted a dinner at Soho House in Los Angeles with some of the most senior people in the media industry with executives from Disney, Fox, Warner, media agencies and many promising tech & media startup CEO’s.

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Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup Email 356

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

I thought I’d try to look at it from a different lens, that of the entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur you should assume that. But the majority of VCs & Angels all speak. Two emailed Marc Benioff directly. So what is an entrepreneur to do? I sometimes ask entrepreneurs. How did VCs respond?

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Pricing Entrepreneur Technical Review Venture Capital 292

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Finally I realized that venture capital and angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Exudes integrity, humility, and stability.

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Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 111

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

It’s apropos because there is so much noise these days with email, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, web shows, etc. If I check Twitter it’s usually because I’m waiting for a meeting to start and I never write posts during the day. I don’t think any serious VC or angel thought it was “collusion.&#

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Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Berkonomics

MAY 22, 2014

Bill Payne has been actively involved in angel investing since 1980, funding over 50 companies and mentoring over 100 more. He is the recipient of the coveted “Hans Severiens Award form the Angel Capital Association, its highest honor. . The PPM does not meet the investing terms and conditions of the angels.

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Writing Invest Entrepreneur Equity 199

Berkonomics

JUNE 29, 2017

Email readers, continue here…] My very first investment as a professional angel was in a small startup where the entrepreneur’s vision fueled my imagination in the audio market niche where I had run a business in an earlier life. A small venture firm and a few more angels rounded out the total investment.

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Invest Entrepreneur Sales Startup 243

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Finally I realized that venture capital and angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Exudes integrity, humility, and stability.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 126

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

The trends are well understood: more angels, more seed funds, more crowdsourcing and so forth. In a funding round with 1 or 2 VCs and 15-20 angels or 4-6 seed funds if you gave every investor you financial information and performance metrics your proprietary information would increase in its probability of leaking out.

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

This is a blog post I really didn’t want to write. I didn’t want to write it because I have mixed feelings about AngelList. I didn’t want to write it because the bloggosphere doesn’t always do nuance well. So why I am writing it then? But it +is+ an anti-entrepreneur stance.&# A few reasons.

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Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

Our Best Interviews Via Email: Monthly. where entrepreneurs share their stories. 63 Los Angeles Entrepreneurs To Be Proud Of By mario on May 2, 2012 in Features , grid. Free Corporations For First-Time Entrepreneurs. Right now they’re setting up 500 free corporations for first time entrepreneurs.

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Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Steve Reich

AUGUST 15, 2015

How many Angels do you want in your cap table? Mark Suster wrote a great piece in July giving his answer: “If all else fails, angel-load away! If you can’t raise from a few strong angels, from seed funds or from a VC then raising from a ton (let’s say 20+) angels is a perfectly acceptable strategy.

Angel 40

Angel News Pasadena Angels Seed Funding 40

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 10, 2010

An entrepreneur recently sent me an @ reply message on Twitter asking for some help with a decision coming up in his business. 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.

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Help Email Mentor Blogging 332

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

I became an entrepreneur because I had to. Email readers, continue here.] An earthquake struck Los Angeles. Like my eventual experience as an entrepreneur, we had to persevere. Frank Peters made his money writing software for Wall Street. Frank speaks and networks at angel events around the world.

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Startup Software Review UCLA Sales 204

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 16, 2011

It’s the entrepreneur’s equivalent of “ 10,000 hours.&#. If you wait until you need to fill somebody in a roll you’re losing valuable time as an entrepreneur. You send them update emails. Help them write other stories. One day they’ll write yours. You invite them to cocktail parties.

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Startup Writing Press Venture Capital 410

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Today we’re in a world where 10 accelerators are bombarding you with emails to meet their 10-15 companies. Angels have been prolific for years now and they, too, rely on downstream money to cover their bets. I know I can’t be in every deal and I know that the easy part of being a VC is writing the first check in a deal.

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Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Now, I’m pretty on the record that being an entrepreneur is about being great at The Do. 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.

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Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 4, 2016

I try to steer entrepreneurs away from over-introducers and I often find myself wanting to be careful about them becoming an investor in companies I back. Or an angel investor starts emailing the CEO of a company with all the people they want him or her to meet. It starts seemingly innocent enough.

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Innocal Conference Help Study 255

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. on the entrepreneur side of the table) when I raised at too high of a price. This is wrong.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Constance Curtis: I have been a successful entrepreneur for the past thirteen years. At that time, I didn't know it would cost me $14,000 to hire my own personal matchmaker, and leaving my first meeting when I learned that, and being an entrepreneur, I realized I had identified a huge problem. How did you start the company?

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Startup Entrepreneur Southern California Netflix 203

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

Most sophisticated investors ignore them, focusing their attention on an entrepreneur's pitch and presentation materials, financial forecast and executive summary. As noted in Entrepreneurs Shouldn't Pitch Their Ideas To Venture Capitalists , most sophisticated investors place their bets on people rather than opportunities.

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Venture Capital Summary Technical Review Template 211

socalTECH

MARCH 16, 2017

Earlier this week, Derek Norton , a long time advisor to the media, Internet, and technology industry in Los Angeles, announced a brand new venture capital fund called Watertower Ventures (www.watertowerventures.com). Derek Norton: We're investing in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and New York. Tell us about the new fund?

Invest 145

Invest Funding Capital Startup 145

Berkonomics

JUNE 11, 2015

Our guest insight this week is from Frank Peters, well-known in the angel and in the bicycle worlds for his podcasts and passion. It’s good advice; the theory being that entrepreneurs can discover the flaws in their business models sooner, make course corrections and move in a more favorable direction. – Dave.

Customer 120

Customer Custom Writing Southern California 120

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

“Yes&# was given to me by one of my favorite angel investor / seed VC’s to work with – John Greathouse of Rincon Venture Partners and author of the blog InfoChachkie that you should check out because it is filled with great info from a guy who has been a very successful operator. It is how angel rounds come together.&#.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Huge thank you to Steve De Long for the write up. The value of Pitch Decks; Brad’s personal preferences on deal presentation; and Brad’s practice of accepting cold approaches via email. Very few people can do a good job with a presentation that is emailable.”. You have said outloud anyone can send you an email, is that fair?

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

I recently read a post over on VentureHacks titled, “ Top Ten Reasons Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers &# written by Scott Walker (who blogs on legal issues for entrepreneurs ). I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. Your contractor wrote a great V1 of the product and it helped you get angel funding.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

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.

Writing 97

Writing Summary Ideas Research 97

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). Really!).

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The surest sign a fund-raising process has stalled is when you aren’t getting follow-up meetings or hearing from the VC or hearing from friends that they got a phone call or email asking about you. Remember, I was an entrepreneur for 10 years before a VC). How Many Investors Should You Speak With? these are simply guidelines.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 15, 2012

One the most frequent questions asked of me by entrepreneurs is, "How can I become a Venture Capitalist?" The inquiry is common because being a VC is (to an entrepreneur, at least) a sexy job. In contrast, an Angel Investor is someone who invests their own capital. Microscopic Industry.

Venture Capital 242

Venture Capital Technical Review Invest RSS 242

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

To hear about the firm's interest in Los Angeles, and Southern California investments in general, we spoke with Fouad ElNaggar , Principal at the firm, to hear about where the firm is nowadays and what kind of investments it is making locally. We can also write checks as large as $35M out of the Omega Fund.

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Redpoint Southern California Cornerstone OnDemand Invest 154

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

I’m very excited to be finally be able to announce that this week we’ve added Sam Rosen to our ranks at GRP Partners in the role of entrepreneurs-in-residence – EIR. I was a proud angel investor in Jody’s company, EcoMom. He sent me a few nice emails. Jordan Hudson. Kevin Zhang. Sam had different plans.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

You’ve pitched several angels and VC’s. Traction can simply mean showing that you’re making progress with customers, product development, channel partners, initial revenue as a proof point, attracting well-known angel investors, winning industry awards / recognition. VC’s are the same.

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Venture Capital Guide Startup Technical Review 309

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 29, 2013

I’ll write you an angel check, then. Look at their entrepreneurs – they are 28, computer programmers and they went to Harvard or Stanford. You helped so many figure out how to approach angels. And how to think about being an entrepreneur. Please don’t email David Hornik. I know, I know.

Venture Capital 406

Venture Capital Study Writing News 406

InfoChachkie

JULY 30, 2012

Rather than hire the clichéd booth babes (which I have always found to be more than a bit sleazy), the company secured the services of a cigar-smoking, bearded angel with an exaggerated New York accent. Appropriate treatment of religious subjects, such as an angel floating on heavenly clouds, requires particular aplomb.

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Marketing Conference RSS Angel 209

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

Pipeline Fellowship teaches women to become angel investors and become a more powerful and helpful voice in the investment world. We like to give women a chance to see and learn all about investing and what it takes to become an angel investor. Entrepreneurs are everywhere and capital isn’t. That is something I am aware of.

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Mentor Invest Entrepreneur Startup 84

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

As a courtesy if you enjoyed his write-up please check out his startup company, ChannelStack. Josh and Howard began co-investing as angels and in 2005 they started a $10 million fund. Howard states the most successful angel investors are the ones who can place many small bets, increasing the possibility of hitting a home run.

Capital 284

Capital Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 284

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

The degree of care you take increases with the reduced distance between you and your investor. . [Email readers continue here.] A small venture firm and a few more angels rounded out the total investment. As the company grew and became profitable, it became more visible to others in the market niche.

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Resource Startup Invest Entrepreneur 149