Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2015

“You can’t build a large online video company. You have to build a large online tech company that distributes video.” What most people never understood about Maker Studios is that much of their growth came through technology innovation and advantages on our back-end the most people didn’t even know about.

Company 150

Company Companies Startup Buzzfeed 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2021

People cite sources like this Inc.com article “ 5 Reasons Why You Don't Need a Business Plan ,” or my own blog discussion on this subject, “ Situations Where A Business Plan Does Not Add Value.” Successful startups are all about the right people with the right stuff. Executive summary glossy. Written business plan.

Entrepreneur 156

Entrepreneur Tips Funding Startup 156

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

I was impressed with his summary of the top ten outsourcing mistakes made by entrepreneurs, followed by real guidance on how they can and should be avoided. As with real estate, it’s still about location, location, location. Getting a fixed price bid works for well-defined short-term projects, like blogging or programming.

Outsource Development 138

Outsource Development Outsource Summary Training 138

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

Everybody has a blog these days and there is much advice to be had. When I meet other VCs I’m constantly asking how they decide which investments to make, when to pass, when to do follow-on rounds, when to sell a company vs. when to go long, etc. On marketing I talk about “ Arming & Aiming ” 4.

Startup 407

Startup Framework CTO Coach Sales 407

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

When I did it was a little too close to home for a company to have me publish it. A while back I received a frantic phone call from the CEO of a company in which I invested. That’s how prepared we were and how serious we were about the issue. The company had their holding statement. Much time has passed.

Press 336

Press Blogging Journal News 336

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

I am fond of quoting that about 70% of my investment decision of an early-stage company is the team. How you build out your team in the first few years can have a huge impact on the trajectory of your company. How you build out your team in the first few years can have a huge impact on the trajectory of your company.

Startup 388

Startup Slides Outsource Development Sales 388

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 7, 2021

I have to point out that the rest of the world looks for you online before visiting your business, finds talk about you on Yelp and social media sites, and what they see can make or break your business. You can remove items from your article or blog, but people do notice, and may escalate their concerns on another forum.

Social Media 144

Social Media Media Summary Satisfaction 144

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2011

Chris Dixon is one of my favorite people in tech and writes one of the few blogs I read religiously. If you don’t read it and you care about tech & entrepreneurship, you should. He’s thoughtful about markets, investors, products and is always very well reasoned in his arguments. West Coast”).

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Venture Capital Startup Artificial Inteligence 281

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I was an angel investor in his company, made a bunch of calls on his behalf and then I personally sent it out on AngelList. That, plus I love the space of high-customer-service, focused eCommerce for moms worried about what their kids eat & wear.&#. We talk about all of this in the video. I know this guy is a money maker.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

The frantic pace of technology cycles, the amount of tech news, the blogs, the conferences, the demo days, the announcements, the fundings, the IPOs. It got me thinking about the advice that I often give to new VCs. They all want you to come meet companies. You need the call before they’re thinking about leaving.

Startup 317

Startup Technical Review Venture Capital Email 317

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2016

There’s an old saying in polite circles in the United States that there are two things one should never talk about a social gatherings: Politics & Religion. I think this is so engrained in the psyche of many Americans that in times of great need many still won’t speak out publicly about what they say privately. is so transparent.

Summary 150

Summary Media Technical Review Startup 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2011

Founders don’t often think about “primary&# stock vs, “fully diluted&# stock in terms of voting rights. Liquidation preferences never say things like “participating preferred&# although we all talk about it. It’s no surprise that I got a bit fawked on my first company. I never did.

Venture Capital 304

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Guide Blogging 304

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 20, 2015

Anybody who reads the blog regularly will know that I’m long video. It’s why I so often talk about the Power of the Narrative. Think of the best tech company at marketing that you know. And think about how brilliant Apple is at conveying emotion and product features through video. Equals emotion.

Startup 150

Startup Summary Blogging Product 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

I’ve always believed it’s been one of the most important attributes of business success yet something very few business leaders talk about. So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A So no whinging about what a long post this is! So no whinging about what a long post this is!

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

Watch the 30-minute interview to hear why but summary notes below. Let me start by saying that Clayton is one of the most influential people on my thoughts about markets that led to both the concept behind my first startup and my main theses in investing. We spoke about how there needs to be a change in how employers view educators.

Venture Capital 403

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2013

If you haven’t already followed me on Twitter, that’s the fastest way to get blog updates. In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA. This post is about the “P” or pain. ” It’s a reason a company would buy. Click here.

Sales 367

Sales Slides Startup Customer 367

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Or, as always, summary notes available below. Brad on blogging. How did you start blogging? “My I decided well if I am going to be investing in this stuff at least I need to understand what it’s like to have a blog, to be generating content, and it was quite interesting at the very, very beginning.“.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2019

I was impressed with his summary of the top ten outsourcing mistakes made by entrepreneurs, followed by real guidance on how they can and should be avoided. As with real estate, it’s still about location, location, location. Getting a fixed price bid works for well-defined short-term projects, like blogging or programming.

Outsource Development 121

Outsource Development Outsource Entrepreneur Summary 121

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 21, 2010

The great thing about the VC pitch deck is that you can have 30 slides. You’ve been given 10 minutes to stand on stage and tell what your company does and why it matters. You, the king of the overly long blog posts? I think my blog posts would be far better if I made them 50% of the length. VC Pitch Decks.

Slides 346

Slides Software Review Blogging Venture Capital 346

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 10, 2011

Netflix announced the changes to its company via a blog post. A blog post! You don’t handle major announcements via a blog post and no touch points. Not a freakin’ blog post. They thought about it for 5 minutes. Probably the 5 minutes before they wrote their blog post. What is my evidence?

Netflix 287

Netflix Customer Custom Pricing 287

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2011

I spoke at Stanford last year about starting a tech company. Here is a quick summary of my POV: When you start a company a 50/50 partnership seems obvious. We get cast together with a team of people we barely know and if we win we gleefully announce we’re going to do a company together. Hire your co-founder.

Startup 393

Startup Equity Funding Summary 393

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

I’ve written a few posts about boards recently as part of a series on the subject. I admit that I haven’t yet read it but I’ve had numerous discussions with Brad over the years about board structure & conduct and consider him a mentor on the topic. In the Early Days.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

It got me thinking, which for me is always the sign of a good blog post. When you are selected you share the stage with 49 other companies (in the case of TechCrunch50. Most people pay attention to the first 5 companies. By company 22 it’s hard to remember what any of them did. I think Robert’s right. .

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

We’re here for Greycroft’s CEO Summit – a gathering of the CEO’s of their portfolio companies with guest speakers covering topics including how to build your team, PR, customer development, etc. I’m going to save that for a future blog post. I’m going to save that for a future blog post.

Startup 279

Startup Venture Capital Tips Custom Development 279

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2021

I was in pretty good athletic shape until 35 but after kids, starting my own companies, travel and age I slowly lost the habit of working out enough to consider myself an athlete. I promised to write about my fitness journey one day to try and help anybody else considering trying to get back into fitness. of all people?—?could

Startup 332

Startup Writing Activity Summary 332

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you truly believe that you, your company and your products are exceptional and your company will be valuable then you’re actually doing them a FAVOR by helping them invest in your startup. an investment in your company. Today I want to talk about the process and how to allocate your time. these are simply guidelines.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 22, 2014

The story on Uber has been written about ad nauseam, which is why I’ve been reluctant to weigh in. It’s not just about people like me who can (and do) turn up in nearly any city in the US and immediately book a ride. Powerful countries & companies act powerful because they can. Grievances – yes.

Press 418

Press Journal Startup Competition 418

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

about their marathon 4-hour sessions to get to zero inbox or somebody else claiming email bankruptcy ( definition if you don’t know it already ). Here’s the thing: I actually do care about responding to people. You’re writing a freaking blog post! I spend tons of time each day on portfolio company issues.

Email 314

Email Product Startup Writing 314

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 11, 2011

Investor in Twitter, Foursquare, DISQUS, and (by Naval’s own admission) “a lot of other companies you have never heard of”. What follows is a summary which paraphrases Naval’s responses. When great companies really hit, all the investors want in and there isn’t enough room. Former Founder Epinions. That is the great constant.”.

Startup 273

Startup Software Review Summary Technical Review 273

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

Somebody asked the question, “What do you think about the term ‘Silicon Beach?” Brad wrote up his answer here – you should read it because it’s very instructive for how I believe communities ought to think about naming conventions. In his blog he says, “I responded that I thought it was stupid.

Startup 304

Startup Venture Capital Los Angeles Woodland Hills 304

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 5, 2018

I just returned from a week’s vacation in the mountains where I had almost no Internet access but was aware that Ronan Farrow had published a damning sexual misconduct article about Les Moonves, the Chairman & CEO of publicly traded company CBS Corporation. They owe it to shareholders and the company to investigate for themselves.

Report 177

Report Mentor Startup Journal 177

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. I wrote the summary notes in this blog post. That notes only told part of the story.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 13, 2011

I intro’d him to the COO of a growing tech company about maybe working together. I get emails all the time from people asking me on a first date and saying, “how about if I buy you dinner.” And given that I travel enough and have dinners with portfolio companies, etc. Talk about more than just biz.

Venture Capital 397

Venture Capital Startup Email Networking 397

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. I explain in the video what happened in my first company (e.g. A: It’s not best.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

If you read this blog often you'll know that I'm a huge fan of First Round Capital. One example is that they introduced a program where their founders can pool together shares from their company and exchange them for a small portfolio of other First Round Capital companies. I'm a huge fan of this innovation. and Half.com.

Capital 284

Capital Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 284

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

I have never been more optimistic about the impact that the tech startup community is having on cities in America or about the role that cities outside of San Francisco / Silicon Valley can play in our future. Not all of these products & companies came from Silicon Valley but the overwhelming majority did. KickStarter?

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Capital Funding 390

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2011

A few weeks ago I was reading a blog post by MG Siegler that really struck a chord. I have written about this topic in regards in different ways before and if you haven’t read them I think they’re probably both worth a glance: 1. I recently was reviewing a press release for a company in which I’m an investor.

Press 337

Press Venture Capital Doc Summary 337