Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

Understanding “The Funding Angle” I sit at enough board meetings to hear conflicting advice given to entrepreneurs about how to handle PR and announcements at startups. But succinctly this press places a marker in the ground for your company. This is true on all of the major tech blogs. Funding is news.

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Startup Funding News Press 355

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

Brunson’s short and to-the-point blog post, “ It’s Called Networking, Not Using.” One of the most common questions I hear from first-time entrepreneurs is, “How do I meet angels?” It’s why I wrote the blog post on 50 Coffee Meetings. When you want press, it will come.

Venture Capital 407

Venture Capital Press GRP Partners Blogging 407

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. Does he blog about venture capital and try to advise entrepreneurs? Is this investor on AngelList? You betcha.

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2016

You Need to Find Your Mojo A Chip On Your Shoulder A few years ago I wrote a blog post on entrepreneurs with a chip on their shoulders. A chip on one’s shoulder as in, “F**k the system, it’s broken and I want to fix it” is exactly the energy I look for in entrepreneurs. Of course it’s a fine line between hero and hubris.

Startup 150

Startup Press Entrepreneur Funding 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Last week a company we enthusiastically backed, uBeam , led by a very special entrepreneur, 25-year-old Meredith Perry , announced a $10 million round of financing. Here I make the case that entrepreneurs must stay focused on the prize, not the doubters. Entrepreneurs. ” **. It can be one of the strongest motivators.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

“Ok, so this guy can write a blog and source deals but can he make any money?” “I think the best VCs help drive exits alongside their entrepreneurs. So I think it’s now fair to rate me at 9/10 on follow-on fundings. Getting Exits / Driving LP Returns: This was always the knock on me. The monkey on my back.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

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 recently was reviewing a press release for a company in which I’m an investor. I told him that I thought the press release was crap (I think my words, exactly). I get presentations from aspiring entrepreneurs. VC Pitches.

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Press Venture Capital Doc Summary 337

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 4, 2014

Of course it makes no sense to have great people management and a crappy product. ” Of course we all go into businesses expecting to be aligned with our co-founders but over time life changes. Anybody who follows this blog knows that my mom was the most influential person on my entrepreneurial career.

Startup 340

Startup Technical Review Course Press 340

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

I hear a lot of entrepreneurs contemplating their great “idea” for several years with little discernable progress, and looking for money to start. Of course, a real contract or purchase order from a big customer is even better. milestones entrepreneur startup funding business' Traction means forward progress. Marty Zwilling.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

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. I was thinking back to a few previous “insider baseball&# blog debates that raged for several weeks: AngelGate (aka Bin38 secret cabal), convertible debt vs. equity, bubble vs. not, and now the AngelList discussion.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

But a couple of people replied with responses of such lack of comprehension that I thought it was worth expanding on for first-time entrepreneurs. Successful entrepreneurs achieve much through their personal leadership traits that inspire others to do great things with them – sure. Not possible. ” Or there was this one.

Startup 363

Startup Venture Capital Coach Press 363

Xconomy

AUGUST 5, 2016

It’s a question that often circulates in the business press and on tech blogs. Entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have weighed in from time to time and their answers tend to fall into two camps. High school students also make great entrepreneurs because of their natural open-mindedness and drive to take risks.

Entrepreneur 40

Entrepreneur Startup Education Course 40

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

Of course that website isn’t completely up to date but it’s a great resource for seeing the overall picture. Of course unsolicited spam has very low open rates and is filtered by the major providers. In a way it feels intuitive to us – the readers of this blog – because we’re the tech crowd.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2009

Hint: He was an entrepreneur. The same is true of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is so highly valued in the Western World that some people try to convince themselves that they are an entrepreneur, when in fact they would be better off at a Big Dumb Company (“BDC”). Entrepreneur Does Not Equal Inventor.

Entrepreneur 153

Entrepreneur Ideas Writing Startup 153

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

Of course there’s no exact number of VCs you should meet?—?these As a VC I of course want you to come see only me because that means I have no competition and have time to properly get to know you. Remember, I was an entrepreneur for 10 years before a VC). This goes into the heart of my controversial blog post (coming soon!

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

InfoChachkie

MAY 19, 2011

This series describes how entrepreneurs can craft company-changing agreements with BDCs, while avoiding Kiss of Death contract provisions. In Part II of this series, I suggest that entrepreneurs seek agreements in which “what is good for the goose is good for the gander.” Relinquish Press Release Capabilities. Give up Branding.

Outsource Development 193

Outsource Development IP Technical Review Entrepreneur 193

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize. When I first started blogging Digg was still at its peak. My argument is pretty simple. Underbelly.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

InfoChachkie

JULY 23, 2012

Serial entrepreneur, venture investor and startup accelerator pioneer Brad Feld has notoriously mocked traditional marketing throughout his career. When the entrepreneur is obsessed with the product and the company has organized all of its activities around that, it’s very powerful.”. We have never done a press release.

Marketing 233

Marketing Blogging Startup Venture Capital 233

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

TechCrunch ran my article yesterday as a guest post but I wanted to have a copy here for anybody who missed it and for future readers of this blog. Having been through this all before myself I would like to tell a cautionary tale that can happen to the best of us: The Yo-Yo life of the tech entrepreneur. We were based in London.

Entrepreneur 308

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Conference 308

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 10, 2010

When I started blogging I had an idea. I would take all of the one-on-one conversations that I have with entrepreneurs from the things I’ve learned and just write them up for anybody to read. Yet they of course need to serve notice. No, of course not! Or it may just be a junior programmer, sales rep or accountant.

Startup 294

Startup Press Course Writing 294

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2012

I read this story on Ivan Kirigin’s blog that shows that Quora was posting which articles you’re reading to other people without your consent. I even had some reservations about writing this blog post this because I have no desire to p**s off other investors or great entrepreneurs. Of course not.

Blogging 328

Blogging Content Press Startup 328

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

The new war for platforms has mostly been waged by Andreessen Horowitz who have raised astounding amounts of capital and therefore had the fees to put into providing more services for entrepreneurs. From an entrepreneur’s perspective we’re asked to assist in a lot of situations.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Platform Startup Resource 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Of course I have. I’m an entrepreneur at heart so I’m always inspired when I hear stories about innovation. It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. Passionate Entrepreneurs & Ambassadors. This article originally ran on TechCrunch. Can’t list them all.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. Of course I went through normal other channels of deal flow. I attended events. I hustled.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

After all, I am no stranger to the publicly expressing the frustrations of dealing with the downside of this industry as I wrote about in 2006 when I was an entrepreneur. The best VCs don’t try to help entrepreneurs. Get to the entrepreneurs earlier next time. Get to the entrepreneurs earlier next time.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

Tonight I was reading a good blog post ( here ) from Sean Powers with Alistair Croll on preparing yourself for the TC50 “bump” – the rise in traffic that a company gets from presenting at TechCrunch 50. We listened way too much to what the press said. Create a great press-kit that you have easily accessible on your website.

Startup 310

Startup Venture Capital Press Journal 310

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. Of course I went through normal other channels of deal flow. I attended events. I hustled.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

InfoChachkie

JULY 18, 2012

Entrepreneurs are inundated with success stories, but far less is written about ventures that do not succeed. Most entrepreneurs do not have the guts to publicly discuss a venture gone awry. However, Eric recently posted the following insights on his blog. Of course). Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan. .

RSS 170

RSS Technical Review Capital Email 170

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

The part of the movement that resonates the most with me (in my words) is that entrepreneurs should keep their capital expenditures really low while they’re experimenting with their product and determining whether there is a large market for what they do. This benefits you, the entrepreneur. It takes options off of the table.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2011

And a guy that I had seen several times comment to me on Twitter & my blog, Brian Sierakowski (from the Greater Baltimore Tech Council) had sent me a Tweet asking if I’d come to meet entrepreneurs in Baltimore. Go figure When pressed harder they said they liked seeing The White House. 2-for-2 on Twitter serendipity.

Startup 299

Startup Training Course Email 299

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

Because my wife is a superstar she published them all on a blog here along with much other wonderful type-A mom advice. I was saying that I was happy it was all out in the open because I felt at least everybody could now understand the issues & opportunities from the perspectives of angels, entrepreneurs and VCs.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

But the status symbol of this milestone is driving investors, entrepreneurs, the press and everybody into thinking you magically can achieve this status in a matter of a few years with a great team and an astounding idea. For a fee, of course. ” The title is a misnomer as it isn’t THAT kind of blog post.

Technical Advisors 150

Technical Advisors Startup Writing Blogging 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

And here’s an important point that I think modern entrepreneurs often forget: Investors are “co-owners” of your business. The functions of an early-stage board are pretty obvious and well understood: Providing introductions to customers, biz dev partners, recruits, the press, other investors, etc. Mentorship.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

And of course we talked about many of my views of building startups. My mom was an entrepreneur – she was kind of my inspiration for entrepreneurship. And we had these vans and mobile kegs in the back, and we would go to golf courses. Then everyone just started calling me a serial entrepreneur.

Startup 337

Startup Entrepreneur Ideas Venture Capital 337

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 16, 2013

The presentation is meant to give an unbiased overview of how to get involved in the tech community; what blogs to read, who to follow on Twitter, who the angel investors are, what areas in LA are home to the most startups and what resources there are to further educate yourself.

Rustic Canyon 74

Rustic Canyon Startup Los Angeles Class 74

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

I hear a lot of entrepreneurs contemplating their great “idea” for several years with little discernable progress, and looking for money to start. Of course, a real contract or purchase order from a big customer is even better. Traction means forward progress. These show you have the ability to make the connections you need.

Startup 104

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

I hear a lot of entrepreneurs contemplating their great “idea” for several years with little discernable progress, and looking for money to start. Of course, a real contract or purchase order from a big customer is even better. Traction means forward progress. These show you have the ability to make the connections you need.

Startup 101

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 101