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

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

On December 2nd, 2006 I wrote the blog post published later in this post when I was CEO of startup Koral about my experiences in pitching VCs. After my company was acquired by Salesforce.com I was asked to stop blogging and they took over my blog as an asset in the sale of the company. My blog was wiped out.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Berkonomics

MARCH 9, 2023

Most of us work in our businesses, either as managers or owners, and rarely step outside to think about how this will end in a perfect world. Investors call this discussion “exit planning” and of course they include themselves in the discussion. Of course, you’ll find another exciting venture and start again.

Course 156

Course Blogging Email Sales 156

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. Find potential partners. Populate your team.

Blogging 104

Blogging Product Startup Writing 104

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

Despite the rush in every academic institution to offer more courses on entrepreneurship, I still haven’t found it to be something you can learn in school. Of course, you can pick up the basic principles this way, but the problem is that the practical rules for success are changing so fast that no academic can keep up.

Startup 142

Startup Case Study Course Entrepreneur 142

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

I’m not saying that lawyers were my screening process – simply that they knew about deals early on and they had voted with their time and pocketbooks so I knew I had a degree of filtering. Of course I went through normal other channels of deal flow. no, I''m not talking about SVB, Comerica, Square1 and the like.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 11, 2011

In this article you’ll discover how to start a blog that makes money. There are four types of blogs; written blogs, video blogs, photo blogs and a combination of these. We’ll primarily be discussing written blogs. There are two different components to make money blogging. Let’s discuss. Not really.

Blogging 83

Blogging Email Writing Sites 83

Berkonomics

APRIL 7, 2022

Looking back at that complete financial loss, I keep thinking of my gut response to the brush–off about inventory being a problem. How about you and your gut feelings? Over the course of these insights here and in my BERKONOMICS series of books and blogs, we explore the use of tools to help overcome this natural tendency.

Design 156

Design Blogging Course Email 156

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

I wrote about this in a blog post last year titled “ It’s Morning in VC ” but I never made the full deck available until now. This year an associate from Upfront Ventures – Glenn Poppe – helped me pull together more information about how our industry is changing.

Venture Capital 362

Venture Capital Capital Startup Writing 362

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2023

It takes more than passion and a course on business basics. Help entrepreneurs with constant learning. Business advisors need to be ready to help at every stage, and I see it beginning to happen. Entrepreneurs don’t need to know everything about business before they start. Mix business learning with doing.

Startup 108

Startup Education Entrepreneur Tool 108

SoCal CTO

APRIL 25, 2017

We have been reading about the LA CTO Forum and we thought it would be a great place to find him/her. I've written before about having an Initial Conversation with a Potential CTO. The above email is SO BAD that I feel compelled to treat this email as a special case so maybe I can help other founders before they send this email.

Email 150

Email Startup Develop Development 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2021

If you are one of the many professionals still trapped between jobs by circumstances outside your control, or are about to dump the loser job you have now, you should be actively defining and starting your own business, in parallel with looking for that ideal job. Use social networking and blogging to get your message out.

Startup 156

Startup Social Network Activity Ideas 156

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 10, 2021

Socially distant hiking in Sedona (we drove there) I recently wrote about my weight-loss journey over the past 18 months where I lost 65 pounds without a fad diet and returned to my college weight. I separately wrote about some food plans I use. I mostly talk about startups, technology & venture capital. It was inspiring.

Coach 538

Coach Startup Guide Journal 538

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. Feedback from your blog will tell you quickly whether anyone agrees with your assessment, and whether you have a customer base waiting. Find potential partners.

Blogging 93

Blogging Invest Startup Writing 93

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Or more directly – they are likely narcissistic resuscitations of your newest features or bragging points that nobody but your marketing team and your mom care about. But mostly they’re thinking, “Will my audience even care about this topic?” Think about Luma Partners. ” Of course not.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

And sometimes I feel happy to help somebody even when we’re just getting to know each other. I was thinking about this yesterday because my assistant Tasha posted a link on Facebook to Paul C. Brunson’s short and to-the-point blog post, “ It’s Called Networking, Not Using.” Be helpful.

Venture Capital 407

Venture Capital Press GRP Partners Blogging 407

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 6, 2020

It takes more than passion and a course on business basics. Help entrepreneurs with constant learning. Business advisors need to be ready to help at every stage, and I see it beginning to happen. Entrepreneurs don’t need to know everything about business before they start. Mix business learning with doing.

Entrepreneur 137

Entrepreneur Tips Startup Education 137

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

A year ago I blogged about one of my most common mantras that applies to sales, biz dev & fund raising alike: “ Time is the Enemy of all Deals.&#. I thought I’d try to offer a framework for thinking about the topic. I thought I’d try to offer a framework for thinking about the topic.

Help 303

Help Startup Competition Framework 303

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 7, 2013

When I first started writing this blog several years ago I had less followers than you have right now. But the realist in me knew I couldn’t write daily nor could I convince you to think to check out my blog with regularity. And of course the other place I inform myself is on Twitter. Don’t try it at home.

Writing 326

Writing Buzzfeed Social Media Blogging 326

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2017

If you are one of the many professionals still trapped between jobs by circumstances outside your control, or are about to dump the loser job you have now, you should be actively defining and starting your own business, in parallel with looking for that ideal job. Use social networking and blogging to get your message out.

Help 56

Help Startup Social Network Activity 56

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 25, 2019

Despite the rush in every academic institution to offer more courses on entrepreneurship, I still haven’t found it to be something you can learn in school. Of course, you can pick up the basic principles this way, but the problem is that the practical rules for success are changing so fast that no academic can keep up.

Tips 122

Tips Startup Case Study Course 122

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about The Silent Benefits of PR in which I pointed out that most young companies I encounter don’t fully grasp the benefits of PR because they are less measurable than product milestones or customer acquisition analyses (like CAC/LTV). I wrote about how to build relationships with journalists in this post.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2020

I find myself struggling to fully relax at bedtime, with my mind spinning about the world that lies ahead and the infinite amount of weekly decisions I’m having to process. Of course that doesn’t change the outcome, but it’s the humane thing to say. But you should know that everybody is in exactly this mind space. To say it simply ….

Demand 215

Demand Guide Customer Custom 215

socalTECH

MARCH 4, 2010

We thought we'd get the background on the new effort directly from Jason Nazar , CEO and founder of Docstoc, to learn more about the new service. For those who haven't heard yet, tell us about DocStore and what it is all about? I offered to bring in pizza and stay late one night to help, and was expecting 10-12 people.

Technical Review 171

Technical Review Rustic Canyon Screening Startup 171

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

As a VC with scores of startups in our portfolio we have ringside seats to many, many fund raising processes plus I had to raise money across about 5 different rounds of capital as an entrepreneur so I’ve developed some thought on the process that I hope can be helpful to some of you before you start. Below is the outline Upfront.

Funding 236

Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 6, 2012

Jason’s inspiration for this 6 ½ minute talk was a blog entry he wrote in 2008, which went viral within the startup community. Always the serial entrepreneur, Jason is expanding Docstoc’s mission to include not just documents, but a variety of tools that help entrepreneurs run their businesses, such as ebooks and videos.

Entrepreneur 279

Entrepreneur Startup eBook Course 279

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

Everybody has a blog these days and there is much advice to be had. Of course triangulation is a mathematics term that is used in sailing and other activities to help you better navigate when you don’t have your bearings. The most helpful type of advice in my mind are frameworks for how to solve a problem.

Startup 407

Startup Framework CTO Coach Sales 407

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

I often talk about what I’m looking for when I meet with an entrepreneur. Of course passion isn’t enough. But without a passion for what you do I am dubious about your chances for success. But what about the reverse? Are your investors truly passionate about what you do? It seems obvious.

Venture Capital 373

Venture Capital Startup Course Entrepreneur 373

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. They help create confidence amongst your staff in your future. But first you need to know about Reg D filings.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2018

We do this not just because it’s the right thing to do but also we believe it will help drive large and differentiated returns. The first session we had was a company training session in sexual harassment and misconduct in which we had an outside speaker talk about what is appropriate and what is not.

Venture Capital 284

Venture Capital Coach Ideas Startup 284

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 13, 2009

I'm hoping you can help me figure out who I should be connecting with on this. I find myself speaking at various venues in Los Angeles to tell people (most often service providers) about how I've used social media and particularly my blogs, LinkedIn, twitter and topic hubs as part of my own services business.

Social Media 167

Social Media Los Angeles Media Angel 167

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. But aside from choosing the time of day to focus on signal vs. noise, Brad’s post got me thinking about another question – what is signal and what is noise? They could chat about it with their peers or mentors.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2023

It’s still popular these days for startup founders to operate in stealth mode, meaning no details about the idea or progress are shared with anyone until the big reveal and rollout. Entrepreneurs talk to customers and competitors talk to each other about the new trends and technologies they see. Optimize your web history and presence.

Marketing 105

Marketing Startup Search Engine Optimization Ideas 105

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. Let me be clear about this. Does he blog about venture capital and try to advise entrepreneurs?

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

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. Today I want to talk about the process and how to allocate your time. Of course there’s no exact number of VCs you should meet?—?these

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

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. Find potential partners. Populate your team.

Startup 101

Startup Blogging Writing Google 101

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 10, 2013

TechCrunch interviewed me and asked me to talk about failure. So I spoke for 12 minutes about my own failures. Stop reading their press releases or hearing their founder talk about he is crushing it. We all know that people who truly are crushing it rarely talk about it. You psyche each other out. I prefer the opposite.

Startup 412

Startup Press Course Entrepreneur 412