Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2013

I can attest from experience that publishing a regular blog to properly showcase your offering, even before you have it, is a most cost effective approach in time and money. For blogging to work, you need to do it consistently and frequently, at least once a week, or the value evaporates. Populate your team. Cultivate early customers.

Blogging 104

Blogging Product Startup Writing 104

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. Of course there’s no exact number of VCs you should meet?—?these The first in the series is “ Lemons Ripen Early ,” which also has a link to other posts.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Xconomy

MAY 31, 2016

Microsoft plans to invest more in early stage startup companies through a new corporate venture fund, headed by former Qualcomm executives. And at the other end is where you’ll typically see our larger investments and acquisitions,” Kashyap writes. With a formalized venture fund, Microsoft now has a seat at the table.

Funding 62

Funding Artificial Inteligence Cloud Computing Writing 62

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

I can attest from experience that publishing a regular blog to properly showcase your offering, even before you have it, is a most cost effective approach in time and money. So finding time is hard, and good writing is simply not what most people do. Find potential partners. Populate your team. Cultivate early customers.

Blogging 93

Blogging Invest Startup Writing 93

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2013

What I love about writing is that you inadvertently say what many others are thinking and just knowing that somebody else is thinking something similar can be reassuring. Example: Fred Wilson writing his end of 2012 post wrote. “I’ve wanted to write a year end post for days. But of course life isn’t like this.

Writing 313

Writing Venture Capital Blogging Startup 313

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. So I think it’s now fair to rate me at 9/10 on follow-on fundings. I am closing 3 new fundings in April (2 new, 1 follow-on).

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

In that article I talked about how PR drives: recruiting, employee retention, biz dev deals, funding and even M&A and that often “attribution” to your PR activities is unknown. But of course it’s hard to advise people that they should do PR without a guide to how to do it on the cheap or how to do it at all.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

Very few people fund individuals. I know you’re not a tech guy and haven’t done anything other than an HTML course you once took, but if you’re inspirational and a leader you’ll find somebody to moonlight for free to get your prototype built. It is also the best thing to send in advance see here.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

We all know that funding markets have changed for startups. The trends are well understood: more angels, more seed funds, more crowdsourcing and so forth. We are doing what we do – writing larger checks and playing an active role at the company. I have publicly said many times that there is a positive to crowd funding.

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

.” Here’s what I mean … Let’s start with what it takes for a journalist to want to write a story. Do I have an “angle” from which to write the story (first company to do X, company does biggest X, consumer behavior is doing X)? ” Of course not. I am a VC. I hand out money.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

Every tech or major news journal in the country is preparing to write their Snap, Inc (creators of Snapchat, Spectacles, etc) stories and many of them seem to want a “How does it feel to have missed this investment story.” Of course that was a wrong narrative for both companies. Another firm funded them. Mostly kidding.

Snapchat 214

Snapchat Invest Technical Review Dollar Shave Club 214

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2014

I can attest from experience that publishing a regular blog to properly showcase your brand value, even before you have it, is a most cost effective approach in time and money. For blogging to work, you need to do it consistently and frequently, at least once a week, or the value evaporates. Populate your team.

Startup 101

Startup Blogging Writing Google 101

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 18, 2011

I received an inquiry from a reader of my blog and thought I would provide some thoughts, but would definitely welcome input: I am an unpaid CTO of a small startup. Of course, that doesn’t help here. What happens when this round of funding begins to dry up? Please let this be a lesson to everyone – founders and CTOs.

CTO 167

CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity 167

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Every investor expects to see some business traction, both before and after a funding event. If you have neither, and choose to approach an investor, you will get no attention, and probably never again get a shot at funding with that investor. Now investors will pay attention, since scale-up funding is less risky and has a time frame.

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. If I check Twitter it’s usually because I’m waiting for a meeting to start and I never write posts during the day. Just look at what happened with Yuri & Ron funding the YC deals. I enjoy that.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

This isn’t Dave McClure secretly taking over Mark’s blog. I’m just writing verbatim what I wrote in a Quora response years ago. Get even by getting funding, building a great company and always know that the best “f**k-you” in life is success. Sorry for using f**k two posts in a row.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Content Writing Blogging 150

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 18, 2011

I received an inquiry from a reader of my blog and thought I would provide some thoughts, but would definitely welcome input: I am an unpaid CTO of a small startup. Of course, that doesn’t help here. What happens when this round of funding begins to dry up? Please let this be a lesson to everyone – founders and CTOs.

CTO 150

CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

I read commentary or Twitter or blogs and realize that there are also strongly held convictions that there are these evil VCs who do terrible things to mostly altruistic founders. And of course we help with business development introductions and with fund raising events. It has nothing to do with any individual company.

Startup 217

Startup Technical Review Equity Report 217

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

My goal in the interview overall was to capture more of the personal side of Fred since so much of his investment thesis and portfolio work already comes out in his blog. Fred has of course been a public mentor to us all with his market-defining terminology that he popularized including “freemium” and “mobile first.”

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 15, 2014

” I have been weighing in slowly on the topic over the past few weeks on Twitter but have avoided writing a blog post about it until now. Of course I know it’s not “private” but I’m dealing with people I know. I first discovered him or her as a commenter on Fred Wilson’s blog.

Technical Review 329

Technical Review Blogging Examples Startup 329

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

We’re excited to continue to grow our investment professional staff and will continue to do so over the course of 2013 & 2014 with our new fund. I became aware of Sam several years ago as I started noticing his name repeated in the comments section of my blog. Of course – some people can be remote.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2016

I even prefer to fund entrepreneurs who have experience some level of set-backs in their careers or startups because I think it brings a humility to decision-making that I find healthy. I find it distracting that when you click on a link you’re taken away from the main blog and need to hit the back button to remember to finish the article.

Startup 261

Startup Press Blogging .Net 261

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

In case you missed all the kerfuffle this weekend, I posted this blog post originally on TechCrunch. This is a blog post I really didn’t want to write. I didn’t want to write it because I have mixed feelings about AngelList. So why I am writing it then? A few reasons. You should read this post.

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

There is a battle between entrepreneurs who try to change the world and solve a meaningful problem and those who write take-down pieces with no apparent personal benefit other than attention. Of course the naysayers are out again. . “A lie travels around the globe while the truth is putting on its shoes.” ” **.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2011

Yesterday I saw a Tweet from Chris Sacca fly by that prompted me to want to write a blog post helping entrepreneurs understand why they should push back against VCs asking for “super pro-rata” rights. Of course every firm breaks its rules to get into a deal, but they put pressure on you by saying that they can’t.

Entrepreneur 310

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Writing Invest 310

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

First it was street-style photography, then came the launch of her popular fashion blog WeWoreWhat. million in funding from Rebecca Minkoff and other unnamed investors. Podfund , for example, writes checks sized between $25,000 to $50,000 to emerging podcasters. Naturally, these were also the first business to get funded.

Platform 170

Platform Marketing Tool Venture Capital 170

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

The news blogs will cover the what, how and how much but I want to focus on the “why” and try to be instructive of what I think makes for a great A-round startup. I speak a lot on college campuses and entrepreneur events and amongst the most common things I’m asked to talk about are: What do VCs fund?

Design 150

Design Ideas Startup Writing 150

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. Of course that website isn’t completely up to date but it’s a great resource for seeing the overall picture. Much more data in the full post. THE FULL STORY. PHONE CALLS.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2020

Each of these decisions could be a blog post in its own right but for today I want to avoid tactical advice and offer something more about your temperament as you wade through complexity and deal with decisions that affects the lives and the livelihoods of others. Of course that doesn’t change the outcome, but it’s the humane thing to say.

Demand 215

Demand Guide Customer Custom 215

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

You’re writing a freaking blog post! I had a pre breakfast with a CEO of a company in which I invested talking about his next fund raising round. I called another about his fund raising (DUDE – you never called me back! ). Fund raising. Plus, he’s a loyal reader of this blog. Operations.

Email 314

Email Product Startup Writing 314

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

APRIL 17, 2012

In his blog he says, “I responded that I thought it was stupid. I recommend that you start by writing down the attributes you would want people to think about when they think about your brand. And of course a place of idyllic weather, culture and a lifestyle. ” And of course it’s not a true assessment.

Startup 304

Startup Venture Capital Los Angeles Woodland Hills 304

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. Also, some of the deals I write about I have actually seen as part of their fund raising process. Others I have not.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

You join teams that got good write-ups on TechCrunch, have great VCs, have star CEO’s, whatever. Writing a book will be fun. “Getting the band back together” doesn’t stop for me with just our fund. David is also frequently an inspiration for a story on my blog. After 6 months – you know.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

And of course we talked about many of my views of building startups. I spoke a lot about the need for “personal branding” which I plan to write about soon. And we had these vans and mobile kegs in the back, and we would go to golf courses. I’ve got guys getting funded at 23! At the time he was 42, 43.

Startup 337

Startup Entrepreneur Ideas Venture Capital 337

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I was reading Danielle Morrill’s blog post today on whether one’s “ Startup Burn Rate is Normal. We want money to make some acquisitions (investors would prefer to fund M&A if they know specific deals – not to encourage bad behavior. Of course a lot of this also comes down to investor trust.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 1, 2013

Aspiring creators learn by connecting with top web filmmakers and YouTubers on a topics specific to the web: developing a web series, producing web series, writing for genres like comedy & sci-fi, directing, editing, camera, Kickstarter funding, show hosting, distribution, and marketing. How does it work?

Web 93

Web USC Course Guide 93