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

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. I just cover the companies that were funded that week. Finally, a lot of people asking me about typos on my blog. But the honeypot of information in companies is still in email.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 27, 2013

6 or 7 years ago when TechCrunch was at its peak market share (they are still strong but many more tech blogs have also popped up) there was a term for getting covered there called “the TechCrunch bounce.” ” If your company was featured there (in the early days of what people called Web 2.0) Perception = reality.

Blogging 309

Blogging Journal Press Startup 309

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2010

They had received a term sheet from a VC and were wondering whether to work with this firm. I often tell people that raising venture capital is more difficult than getting married. Not so in venture capital. You’re tied at the hip to your VC. But what was the VC like when the chips were down?

Venture Capital 298

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Capital Help 298

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

As I’ve written about before, You’d Have to be a Big Baby to Complain about Being a VC. He shut down his company gracefully and even thought it must have felt like a crap sandwich doing so I’ll bet his reputation is still solid with his backers. I was pretty sure we were going to raise another round of capital.

Blogging 420

Blogging Press Entrepreneur Venture Capital 420

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2010

I recently wrote a piece for Mashable on how to create a company blog. Since it’s already written (and since I promised not to republish on my blog other than a summary) if you’re interested please have a read over there. Summary notes and then I’ll extend: Should you blog? What should you blog about?

Blogging 286

Blogging Startup Writing Summary 286

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

Beware of VC Seagulls, who shit on you and then fly away (or worse yet leave you with Red Herrings). I write this post as a warning to pick your VC’s carefully. I like to say to first-time entrepreneurs, picking a VC is more permanent than marriage. I guarantee this is a bad VC. Let me explain.

Venture Capital 297

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur 297

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2010

I’m often asked by people, “how do I get into VC?&# Well, I know 3-4 VC jobs that are publicly available. Or if you did something really interesting / innovative in a startup company. I’m already 2 weeks late in writing this blog post as my partners keep reminding me. Analyzing industries / companies.

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Technical Review GRP Partners Email 290

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 18, 2010

I’ve been using Chartbeat for over a month now to track performance of my blog and I find myself looking at Google Analytics much less these days. Chartbeat is a relatively young company and product. The next users after that is reading a blog post that I wrote nearly 9 months ago. It’s addictive. Let’s see.

Blogging 287

Blogging Google Screening Mahalo 287

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

I was reading Chris Dixon’s blog tonight. I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. I just completed an exercise where I went out to hire a new associate for my VC firm, GRP Partners.

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 18, 2011

I always try hard to make this blog a place where you can learn lessons rather than an advertisement for portfolio companies. I hope you’ll excuse me when I do the latter in combination with the former to try and explain how I see macro trends and help you think about the mind of a VC. Pose is no different. I still do.

Invest 303

Invest Company Companies Web 2.0 303

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

I always tell founders … “An investors job is to deploy capital and make a return. 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.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. Other founders, “as a privately held company we don’t disclose our valuation.&# Me, “dude, I’m not a journalist. The VC assumes you’ll have an option pool.

Venture Capital 405

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. What kind of deals should I be doing? What stage?

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

I have blogged about some of the downside consequences of the changes and the private information I have says the consequences are much worse than is reported in the press since few people publicly talk about. We led an investment round in a company a while ago in which we wrote a seven-figure check and have taken a board seat.

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. That company was Invoca, which just announced a $20 million fund raise led by Accel. At the time I pointed out: “If I had realized exits almost certainly it would be because I invested in a company that failed.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

And she didn’t start her company in Northern California. Tracy built her company, Recycled Media , out of necessity. She hasn’t raised any venture capital. She drove her company to profitability before paying herself a modest salary. She put all of her savings into her company.

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2011

On my blog I’ve been hesitant to take the topic head on. But last week I noticed a blog post by a woman, Tara Tiger Brown, that asked the question, “ Why Aren’t More Women Commenting on VC Blog Posts? In it she observes that only 3% of the comments on this blog are from women. Please watch this.

Entrepreneur 341

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup Blogging 341

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. Next Wednesday we’ll have Dana Settle of Greycroft Partners, a New York / LA early-stage venture capital fund. We spoke briefly about why. Short answer: no.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

Brunson’s short and to-the-point blog post, “ It’s Called Networking, Not Using.” It’s why I wrote the blog post on 50 Coffee Meetings. It’s why I talk about building VC relationships early – Lines, Not Dots. He would offer his time to Launchpad LA companies. Be helpful.

Venture Capital 407

Venture Capital Press GRP Partners Blogging 407

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2012

I had been hanging around Klout for a year and many of my friends had angel funded the company and were champions. He was an early investor in Klout and was the most compelling voice I had heard on why the company would become hugely relevant. Nobody had any sound logic on why Klout would be successful. His latest passion?

Cornerstone OnDemand 303

Cornerstone OnDemand Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup 303

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2018

If you’re an entrepreneur who would like to see this clause in more startups please ask your VC to include it in future term sheets and link to it from their home page. “We We strive to invest in companies that are consciously working to create a diverse leadership team?—?one Ours is: upfront.com/inclusion.

Venture Capital 284

Venture Capital Coach Ideas Startup 284

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

You can watch the video above for a very brief overview of why we rebranded and where we see our place in the VC ecosystem along with what has changed in our industry. I often advise startup companies not to try and pin all of your brand equity into an announcement. We have a few portfolio companies going through brand changes.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Startup Blogging Platform 324

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2009

This is part of my series on How to Raise VC but could equally be filed under Startup Advice more generally. I recently got a phone call from an entrepreneur whom I respect and who runs a company that I hope will do great things one day. In your VC pitch your PR page should take no longer than 30 seconds – Wait.

Venture Capital 291

Venture Capital Press News Startup 291

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 26, 2014

And what’s up with this crazy new blog design? But for now … Every year we run a big VC, LP & Tech Summit in Los Angeles (this year downtown) to showcase the best of our community and invite others from around the country. I look forward to being back to blogging next week. Well … more on that next week.

Startup 290

Startup Blogging Venture Capital Los Angeles 290

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2017

Union Square Ventures (USV) has been one of the most successful venture capital firms of the past 10–15 years and continues to be a leader in our industry. Lindel is no stranger to thorny venture capital issues — he was arguably amongst the most successful LPs of his generation. Maybe that’s USV, too.

Venture Capital 161

Venture Capital Funding Capital Startup 161

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 10, 2014

My blog had been looking tired for a year or two. I considered changing to a blog publishing platform that would allow me to change the visual design more easily myself. He wrote a nice blog post describing the project to redesign my website. He was able to take Jess’s design concepts and get them built into my blog.

Blogging 294

Blogging Design Venture Capital Screening 294

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2010

What that means is that in a typical week I might see 10-15 new company pitches. I have Twitter chats, respond to blog comments, trade emails, respond to comments on This Week in VC. I remember! &# You’re the guy who built the Twitter plug-in for blogs. Tags: Raising Venture Capital Startup Advice.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Blogging Conference Email 288

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

But honestly there are times when being a VC can feel like that, too. And it got me thinking about all of the people like him behind the scenes who never get recognized for their significant contributions to the success of companies. VENTURE CAPITAL. And finally that brings me to obvious topic of venture capital.

Startup 363

Startup Venture Capital Coach Press 363

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

If you’ve been following the press about VC funds you’ll know this is no small feat. Perhaps the biggest piece of new news is that after 17 years of operations we’ve changed our name from GRP Partners to Upfront Ventures. Well, the venture capital industry has changed a lot in the past 20 years … and we have too.

Funding 343

Funding Santa Monica Venture Capital Startup 343

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2009

I wanted to also post the series here to have it as a resource on my blog for future entrepreneurs who stop by. One of the questions I’m most often asked as a VC is what I’m looking for in an investment. I once had a debate with a prominent VC on a panel. My company was relatively unknown. Yeah, right.

Entrepreneur 338

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Google 338

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

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. Ever notice how some companies tend to be in the press all the time and your big new product launch struggled for inches? I am a VC.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

This thinking is largely driven by the venture capital industry (and subsequently Wall Street) who are in search of high margin, highly scalable businesses. It’s nearly impossible to get a services company financed by VCs. And stop effing around trying to create a product company.&#. But it might not.

Services 332

Services Venture Capital IP Startup 332

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

One of the advantages of blogging, using social media, public speaking, etc as a VC is that you get a more nuanced view of these shifts by watching your own successes and failures. But succinctly this press places a marker in the ground for your company. They help create confidence amongst your staff in your future.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 1, 2011

That was back when VCs weren’t so quick to respond to emails. I was thinking about all of this as I looked at the logs from my WordPress blog this evening. People who comment to me privately about how surprised they are by how rapidly I’ve “built a name for myself in VC&# remind me of this fallacy.

Startup 391

Startup Blogging Venture Capital Writing 391

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. He and I once took different sides of an debate about whether “VC signaling&# in early-stage deals is a serious problem or not. If you don’t read it and you care about tech & entrepreneurship, you should.

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Venture Capital Startup Artificial Inteligence 281

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