Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

Viewing the article through the lens of a venture capitalist there’s much to agree with under the mantra of “growth!” ” And when you read the article carefully it allows for a period of discovery in your business. Eventually a successful startup will grow into a big company. For example. Growth, again.

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review 390

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. Prorata investments rights given investors the right to invest in your future fund-raising rounds and maintain their ownership % in your company as your company grows and raises more capital.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. Calls are changing but not dying.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Tech.Co

JUNE 29, 2021

That is, of course, until the small, ambitious startup is acquired by a larger, more traditional company in its sector, or the small startup goes public with angry shareholders and regulators asking difficult questions. Back in 2017, the New York Times opinion section was graced with an article entitled: Jerks and the Start-Ups They Ruin.

Startup 175

Startup Course Coach Demand 175

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. Creating awareness for your brand and products is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. And it’s their judgment that becomes the ultimate arbiter of this.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

SoCal CTO

MAY 17, 2011

I told them that I had recently seen several posts/articles talking about how vibrant the community has become. Los Angeles Startup Community Posts/Articles Here are some interesting articles and posts on the ecosystem around startups in Los Angeles. As is usual, I couldn't remember where I had seen those posts.

Los Angeles 196

Los Angeles Southern California Startup Angel 196

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

I’m enjoying being a VC. I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. There is no shame in being an exec at a company or whatever.&#. Aren’t you ever tempted to go back and do it again?”. It’s addicting.

Entrepreneur 384

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 384

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2017

One of the hardest decisions entrepreneurs make when they start a company and raise outside capital is figuring out what an acceptable “burn rate” is. That is, how much should your company be willing to lose in cash every month as you make investments in staff and equipment that funds technology, sales, marketing and management.

Startup 212

Startup Venture Capital .Net Capital 212

SoCal CTO

MAY 17, 2011

I told them that I had recently seen several posts/articles talking about how vibrant the community has become. Los Angeles Startup Community Posts/Articles Here are some interesting articles and posts on the ecosystem around startups in Los Angeles. As is usual, I couldn't remember where I had seen those posts.

Los Angeles 188

Los Angeles Southern California Startup Angel 188

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

In the VC insider baseball world a discussion has gone on about “VC platforms” over the past 5 or so years. While firms define platforms differently, let’s just say they are the services that a VC offers outside of investment capital and partner time on boards or providing intros.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Platform Startup Resource 150

InfoChachkie

MAY 22, 2012

You might be at Step 2 with one VC and Step 3 with another. However, the greater degree you can sequentially follow these steps and maintain your discussions with each venture capitalist (VC) at relatively the same stage, the sooner you can spend less time in the company of investors and get back to running your business.

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Capital Research Customer 236

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

I’ve written about it myself (Is VC Seed Funding Dead?) and (Is There Really a Signaling Problem with VC Seed Funding?). There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2. If you don’t understand the concept of “signaling&# please read the blog post I wrote on Understanding VC signaling.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. I use George Bush vs. Al Gore as allegory and I’ve been using it with entrepreneurs for years to sink in a simple point about how to communicate with the market. No matter how smart or knowledgable Gore was he couldn’t get a break in the media. It is election season.

Entrepreneur 370

Entrepreneur Startup Press Venture Capital 370

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Much has been written about when it is time to hire a “professional CEO” to run a startup company and of course that has long been a norm in Silicon Valley when founders find that their inexperience may be a limiting factor in company growth ( know as the Peter Principle ). and Microsoft had become.

CTO Hire 309

CTO Hire Organization Google Course 309

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 12, 2012

free weekly Infochachkie articles! During the fall of 2011, Steve wrote a controversial post entitled, Why VCs Should Be Startup CEOs. But none of them are substitutes for having started and run a company. Steve’s article struck a particular chord with me. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for.

Venture Capital 239

Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur SaaS 239

InfoChachkie

JULY 7, 2016

A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. Most entrepreneurs seem confused by my reaction and often say something like: “VCs love demos. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly JohnGreathouse.com articles! Note: I invest almost exclusively in b-to-b software companies.

Venture Capital 176

Venture Capital Product Software Review Technical Review 176

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2013

This followed an investment late last year by Time Warner in the company in a round totaling $36 million , led by Rachel Lam , head of their investment group. If you want to understand my thesis behind Maker you can read this article that outlines the trend , but in summary: People watch 5.3 This has been a very welcome addition.

Media 320

Media CTO Coach CTO Hire Los Angeles 320

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 11, 2011

I recently had the pleasure of spending an hour with Jon Steinberg, president of Buzzfeed , a company who focuses on helping media companies make their content go viral. We also talked about why Jon decided to leave Google to become an EIR at a VC firm (Polaris) – minute 33. There’s no cost!&#.

Buzzfeed 354

Buzzfeed Content Tips Blogging 354

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

This article originally appeared on Silicon Alley Insider. Equally, I encouraged entrepreneurs to spend time getting to know their future VCs early because getting a feel for your chemistry is far more important than how the VC is ranked in some survey. If there were, other companies would already be filling it.

Entrepreneur 330

Entrepreneur Marketing Venture Capital Hulu 330

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2011

This article first appeared on TechCrunch. Are we seeing a time in which pre-revenue companies are more valuable than our offline institutional brands? In a way, startups have become kind of like the video game industry. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the proliferation of starutps in the past 2 years. Non valuable.

Startup 309

Startup Cloud Computing Venture Capital Marketing 309

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. VC's love to talk about their successes. Exceptions exist, such as the highly self-aware Paige Craig, who recently described how he missed out becoming Airbnb's first investor. Yet most VC's bury their failures under six feet of denial. billion).

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

While many of my friends bragged about their 5 condos in Florida I kept talking about how the real estate market was in a bubble – their gains an illusion. I pointed to several Economist articles I had read that mapped historical prices of real estate for 400 years and how on average property values grow at no more 1.5%

Invest 299

Invest Angel Technical Review Venture Capital 299

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

I wrote about how to build relationships with journalists in this post. But some CEOs then try to have more junior people in the company take the interview. Heck, even in a big, successful company like Salesforce.com the CEO, Marc Benioff, still takes many of the interviews himself. It’s a continual process.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

This article initially appeared on TechCrunch. The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. How do you get referenceable customers?

Startup 403

Startup Sales Software Review Technical Review 403

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. Today I’d like to talk about what startup communities outside of Silicon Valley look like, how they emerge and what makes them take hold. Today I’d like to talk about what startup communities outside of Silicon Valley look like, how they emerge and what makes them take hold.

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Press San Diego 378

InfoChachkie

JULY 23, 2012

This article originally appeared on Forbes HERE. companies should… focus on building amazing products. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly Infochachkie articles! Chris is the CEO of Gnip , a Foundry Group portfolio company. If you have $hitty products, the marketing is impossible.

Marketing 233

Marketing Blogging Startup Venture Capital 233

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2011

I’m enjoying being a VC. I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. There is no shame in being an exec at a company or whatever.&#. Aren’t you ever tempted to go back and do it again?”. It’s addicting.

Entrepreneur 176

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 176

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). After that it’s domain experience, access to VCs and deep pockets. Or imagine that you were colleagues with any of these individuals before becoming an investor. This is the fifth & final (I promise!)

Invest 280

Invest Angel Venture Capital Yahoo 280

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

To see the video of This Week in VC click on this link. We spent the first 45 minutes or so talking about industry trends (in this order): The history and background of True Ventures, one of my favorite early-stage VC’s (and the one with whom Om is a venture partner). Are “strategic investors&# (e.g.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Google Web Sites 225

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

My internal compass has always steered me strongly toward the belief that founders who can scale with their startup companies are better to back that founders who eventually need to hire a CEO. I have talked about this publicly a great deal – how I prefer “missionaries” over “mercenaries.”

Startup 303

Startup Technical Review Product Blogging 303

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2010

Social proof is defined as “looking for others to guide our decisions&# and is also one of the most important techniques in acquiring customers in your company. So the early part of a technology company is about finding your hard core group of early adopters and making them passionate about your products. We are evangelists.

Marketing 294

Marketing Customer Custom Technical Review 294

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2013

But the press (and I suspect many of the senior execs of these companies) don’t really explore the corrosive downside of these acquisition. I’m supposed to believe that my best innovation can only come from scores of startup founders who just made millions and have now become CVOs at my company? in their 20′s.

Press 357

Press Startup Yahoo Venture Capital 357

InfoChachkie

JUNE 27, 2011

My response was brief and straightforward, which is common of popular Quora answers (as discussed in How To Write An Effective Quora Answer ). If you haven’t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly Infochachkie articles! Note: This is part I of a five part series. No Paychecks.

Entrepreneur 270

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Resource 270

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

This is the fourth article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). The first three skills I espoused were: access to the highest-quality deal-flow, domain knowledge of the topic area in which you’re investing and access to VCs to help fund the next stages of development.

Invest 283

Invest Angel Startup Marketing 283

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

It has historically been the case that VCs would rather fund the promise of 100x in a company with almost no revenue than the reality of a company growing at 50% but doing $20+ million in sales. The Valley has obsessed with a quick up-and-to-right momentum story because we were thought to live in “winner take most” markets.

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital Capital Funding Startup 363

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2015

A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly JohnGreathouse.com articles! Congress' latest attempt to impose an "Internet sales tax" is just another misguided tax grab that will do more harm than good to American small businesses. which have a sales tax.

Sales 100

Sales Customer Custom Metrics 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

After my company was acquired by Salesforce.com I was asked to stop blogging and they took over my blog as an asset in the sale of the company. I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. My blog was wiped out.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274