Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

Brad Feld visited Los Angeles this past week. I always enjoy spending time with Brad as the antidote to the eco chamber. That seems very Brad to me. Brad was our guest of honor. In his blog he says, “I responded that I thought it was stupid. But I think Brad actually has a point.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

We all could learn a bit more about balance , as Brad Feld has outlined. I told him only 2 weeks ago when we were in London together that I wanted to write a blog post that has been in my head for 2 years. How to help his companies. The Dave I know is a tireless traveler and loyal to his friends the way Brad Feld is.

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Startup Venture Capital Email Writing 309

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2013

I miss blogging because it serves as a great repository for me of my current thinking, as a way of organizing my thoughts and clarifying what I think and as a conversation started with so many of you (as Hunter Walk elegantly said, “Blog not to show how smart you are, but in the hope of soliciting feedback from smart people.

Writing 313

Writing Venture Capital Blogging Startup 313

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 15, 2011

It turned out that he was looking for companies he could work with as a consultant. If he had spent any time reading my blog, he would have understood that I am not a fan of consultants , especially at startups. I do not expect everyone I speak with to be a fan of my humble blog. Research? – Self-aware? –

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Networking Blogging Santa Barbara Startup 231

InfoChachkie

JUNE 9, 2014

If he had spent any time reading my blog, he would have learned that I am not a fan of consultants, especially at startups. I do not expect everyone I speak with to be a fan of my humble blog. Yes”, I replied, “I was a seed investor and an Advisor to the company.” Are there any companies I should contact?". Research? –

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Networking Santa Barbara Research Blogging 232

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 8, 2011

I recently reviewed Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson’s book Venture Deals , in THIS ENTRY. Thus, I was excited when Brad agreed to chat with me via Skype to discuss the book’s genesis, along with the reaction of his fellow venture capitalists to the book’s revelation of numerous fundraising “secrets.”. There are several.

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Venture Capital Writing Entrepreneur Blogging 224

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

In his words, [in some instances] “because lots of capital is available, the company takes on the capital and that ends up resulting in no constraints on decision making and so the company decides to do five things in stead of just one.” You are defined by how you serve the companies that are struggling.

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Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 5, 2010

I’ve been meaning to write this post since September of last year when Brad Feld first wrote about the The Founders Visa Movement. I commented briefly on his blog and made a mental note to write a blog post. He started another company on the side while he was working during the day at a technology company.

Technical Review 282

Technical Review Startup High Tech Software Review 282

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 24, 2015

Some through blog comments – your place or mine. I was reminded of that when Shafqat Islam weighed in: @msuster @marshallk I built relationships via twitter and blog comments with both of you well before we ever met! I knew Shafqat as a reader on my blog and then I was introduced to him on a trip through New York.

Networking 150

Networking Blogging Startup Conference 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2010

Fred Wilson said as much on his blog also. That is true of all my blog posts. It is what I love the most about debates and one of the things I love most about blogging. If you take 2,000 of the world’s top performing companies, only 29 (1.5%) are run by women. So it is with entrepreneurship.

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Startup Statistics Entrepreneur Study 289

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

I should note that my friend Brad Feld has written a new book on the subject that I would recommend if you want the bible on the topic. 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.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 22, 2009

I know that advertising is important to inform consumers of offers – the same reason many tech companies use SEM. Our portfolio company did so well that Google copied this approach and out executed Overture. When Brad Feld lists a book on his blog with an affiliate link that he monetizes is that wrong?

Advertising 277

Advertising Technical Review GRP Partners Google 277

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

I invested in LA-based Gogii , one of the fastest growing, most exciting mobile social networking companies you’ve never heard of and maker of a product called textPlus. And if you are – what on earth are you reading such a boring blog as this?!? To put things into perspective, the company has 7.7 More on that later.

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Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2010

After a few days of controversial blog posts I thought I’d try something more light hearted today. I hope some day to emulate Brad Feld in this area. One of the first times we spoke he told me that in his first few years in VC he ended up taking a bunch of meetings with companies in which he knew he would never invest.

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Email Startup Blogging Invest 255

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

Plus, he told us a little bit about how he's helping to build a mini cluster of technology companies in the Silverlake area. It's like WordPress, but instead of blogging, it provides an online community, which is self-hosted. Is the idea to have multiple projects as part of the company? We're also updating the format.

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Startup CTO Coach Blogging Social Media 242

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

By definition, you read blogs. If you care about accessing customers, reaching an audience, communicating your vision, influencing people in your industry, marketing your services or just plain engaging in a dialog with others in your industry a blog is a great way to achieve this. People often ask me why I started blogging.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. We had several emails back and forth where he provided basic details on the concept. And I tried to evaluate the idea and figure out: What did the founder really need here? Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? Was it a case of needing Homework?

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CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity Develop 241

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Kathy Sierra at Business of Software 2009 - Business of Software Blog , May 4, 2010 "In the old days, getting customers was easy. Bending over: How to sell to large companies - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , May 24, 2010 This is a guest post by Steve Hanov , who blogs about programming and startups.

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Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

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.

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Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

I recently wrote a blog post on understanding how the size and age of a venture capital fund might affect you when you’re raising money. In a world of The Funded, VentureHacks and entrepreneur blogs this kind of informations spreads like wildfire. This is part of my ongoing series on Understanding Venture Capital.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Invest 265

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2013

It was based on an excellent book I had just read by Brad Feld & Amy Batchelor (his wife). Anyway, as I winnowed my way through the comments section of my blog post on relationships I realized my own wife has posted a response! As she is quite accomplished in her own right so I take her opinion very seriously.

Tips 418

Tips Startup Email Blogging 418

InfoChachkie

MAY 22, 2012

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. Subscribe to their blog. Prep Steps. The keyword here is authentic.

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Venture Capital Capital Research Customer 236

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2010

I tend not to go into heat when I hear the latest buzz on the tech blogs about the latest gadgets. Here are 4 areas / companies that I’m excited about: 1. I actually wrote a long blog post about this but I’m trying to get TechCrunch to publish it before putting it on my blog. We’ll see.

Technical Review 278

Technical Review Software Review Startup SoCal 278

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I wrote the summary notes in this blog post. Bijan Sabet – investor & board member in some small companies you might have heard of like Twitter, Tumblr, Boxee & OMGPOP – took issue with the whole notion that you even need a Powerpoint deck anymore. And did I really just try to drop an SAT word into my blog post?

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Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

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. Brad Feld hadn’t written his seminal “ term sheet series &# and The Funded hadn’t yet been created. You’ll need to hire and retain talen to grow your company.

Venture Capital 405

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

If you don’t understand the concept of “signaling&# please read the blog post I wrote on Understanding VC signaling. There are positive benefits to the right VCs being involved early – especially if your company or the economy hits bumps in the road. So here it is: We carved out a total of $7.5

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Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

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 ). Many people start companies arse backwards. This is one of the biggest source of future problems for the company. Our lives are intertwined.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

There is much discussion online and also in small, private groups, about why the price of technology companies – public and private – are falling. Valuing any company can be difficult because it requires a degree of forecasting future growth & competition and ultimately the profits of the organization.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

That prompted Fred Wilson’s blog post appealing to the industry to make these simplified term sheets standard. Last to weigh in was Brad Feld whose blog post argues that the only 2 terms that should be negotiated are amount raised & valuation. The best series was done by Brad Feld on his blog here.

Funding 252

Funding Venture Capital Startup Blogging 252

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

I asked some of the participating VCs, and they told me their attorneys had figured out a way to keep their stealth-mode companies stealthy.Yes, this strategy is not for every company. Often times when companies raise “bridge” financing (this is money from internal investors. We spoke briefly about why. Short answer: no.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

Not all of these products & companies came from Silicon Valley but the overwhelming majority did. Open source computing, which reduced costs to start a company by 90%. To be clear we will continue to see great infrastructure companies built and these will mostly come from Silicon Valley. All great communication companies.

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Startup Venture Capital Capital Funding 390

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2012

Occasionally on this blog I break away from industry commentary and write more broadly. The travel companies offer brochures showing private beaches and phenomenal sights. It’s why I still randomly meet up with people I’ve met on Twitter or this blog. You get a feel for the company “vibe.”

Startup 319

Startup Organization Entrepreneur Blogging 319

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers - SoCal CTO , November 1, 2010 I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Who better to answer than the company's engineering lead. It may be that all the doomsayers are right. But I don’t think so. This post is an accusation. call to arms.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

Brad Feld told me that TechStars makes each company practice the 1 or 2-minute pitch the first week of the program. Whenever somebody visits a TechStars office they go around and meet the companies and hear these pitches. I plan to do this with the next Launchpad LA class.

Startup 315

Startup Help Class Sales 315

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I’ve always been a big believer that just a couple of key individuals make all of the difference in a company’s success. Your highest priority right now is hiring the 1 or 2 people that are going to join your company and make a difference. Look at what Brad Feld has done for Boulder.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2011

Experiences way beyond any hack-a-thon, startup blog or your current company engagement can enrich your thinking and challenge you to think more broadly about the solutions you offer in the market. I love reading Eric Reis, Steve Blank, Clay Christenson, Brad Feld and others. Often it’s not the best course. It globalizes.

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Class Writing Web 2.0 Offshore 334

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 2, 2010

I always encourage people to allocate a few extra stock options to those that join super early when your company is risky and they just believed in you. Create an internship at your company where one doesn’t exist. I started blogging because Brad Feld blogged. It turned into this blog.

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Startup Help Blogging Entrepreneur 352