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

socalTECH

JANUARY 29, 2020

This week, Los Angeles-based Crosscut Ventures announced a brand new effort to provide health and wellness to the founders of companies it invests in, helping those founders with well being, mental health, stress management, coaching, and leadership development. Tell us about this new program? It's a comprehensive bucket.

Invest 113

Invest Framework Coach Startup 113

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

She actually IS the prototypical entrepreneur. Just not the kind you would initially read about on TechCrunch. And that’s what I love about her narrative. It represents the great majority of entrepreneurship and eschews the fairytale rags-to-VC-riches stories we so often read about in the press. She never gave up.

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

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. Only naive people believe that but for inexperienced entrepreneurs you can be fooled into the narrative by the press who sometimes write stories without the actual data. PHONE CALLS.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

Many of the entrepreneurs I advise or invest with spend considerable time on the Internet, keeping up with technology, customers, and competitors, but very few feel the need for an early personal presence. Invest your time in networking online, as well as offline. Every future entrepreneur should start by networking.

Product 127

Product Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Technical Review 127

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2023

Savvy entrepreneurs start testing their ideas on potential customers even before the concept is fully cooked. They have enough confidence in their ability to deliver that they don’t worry about someone stealing the idea to get there first, and they don’t forget to listen carefully to critical feedback.

Ideas 126

Ideas Startup Social Media Blogging 126

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?!? I only recently invested and I only got here through persistence.

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2017

Recently the firms two founding partners (and also Managing Partners) —  Fred Wilson and Brad Burnham  — decided to transition management of the firm to Andy Weissman (who joined in 2012) and Albert Wenger (joined in 2008 and writes one of the most thoughtful blogs in our industry ). Lindel Eakman led the discussion with Fred and Andy.

Venture Capital 161

Venture Capital Funding Capital Startup 161

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 5, 2014

For me, after nearly a decade in the trenches of being an entrepreneur I felt I was un-brainwashed from trying to pretend I had all the answers. The more self-assured the VC is and the more impressionable the entrepreneur is the worse the outcome. ” I’ve already blogged about how I work through this process: I triangulate.

Entrepreneur 337

Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Startup Venture Capital 337

Berkonomics

APRIL 7, 2022

Years ago, I led a deal and invested in a company that looked like it had lots of promise to disrupt the women’s clothing industry with special algorithms and an online store. An entrepreneur makes a claim that stretches comfort. How about you and your gut feelings? How I didn’t follow my own advice. To my gut response.

Design 156

Design Blogging Course Email 156

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2019

He is regarded by many as the number-one authority on virtual staffing and personal outsourcing, and is himself a successful entrepreneur based in the Philippines. I was impressed with his summary of the top ten outsourcing mistakes made by entrepreneurs, followed by real guidance on how they can and should be avoided.

Outsource Development 121

Outsource Development Outsource Entrepreneur Summary 121

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

With the an estimated 150K new websites and 7M new pages added to the Internet every day, the biggest challenge for every entrepreneur is to get found, and get some credibility for a new startup. Too many entrepreneurs spend big money on development, only to find out that the solution isn’t quite right. Find potential partners.

Blogging 93

Blogging Invest Startup Writing 93

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

We love capital efficiency until we love land grabs until we abhor over funding until we get huge payouts and ring the bell for more funding until we attract every non-VC on the planet to invest in startups until it crashes and we start the cycle all over again none the wiser. blog here ). I know we spoke about it this week.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2015

Fred Wilson immediately weighed in on her analysis , a meme was born and we were off to the races talking about “Unicorns.” I’m not talking about raising money at a billion dollars. I’m talking about making your company memorable by describing it with a narrative that people will later remember.

Startup 150

Startup Venture Capital Course Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 19, 2009

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. Much is also about luck and timing.

Entrepreneur 288

Entrepreneur Startup Slides Seed Funding 288

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 10, 2020

In response to VCs’ sudden rush to invest in more Black founders , Black venture capitalists and entrepreneurs have penned a bunch of advice on the best way to tap into talent. The program is expanding to Chicago in 2021, the blog post notes. Read the whole HBCUvc blog post here. Among the strategies?

Equity 220

Equity Technical Review Venture Capital Blogging 220

InfoChachkie

JULY 21, 2016

The reality television show Shark Tank makes for entertaining content but many of its underlying messages are potentially detrimental to tech entrepreneurs. Thus, emerging entrepreneurs should parse fact from fantasy by watching the show with an experienced business pro. It is also an inspirational alter call to entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Entertainment Technical Review Ideas 100

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

Consistent with the statistics cited in Why Entrepreneurs Hate (Most) MBAs , the large majority of John and Kyle''s classmates accepted positions at investment banks and consulting firms upon graduation. an email) to about 35 people. blogging, in a sense. If we had a blogging platform then, we would have been blogging.

Newsletter 233

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

We don’t lay claim to being the only VC to change or think about the future or to having the only or best strategy. Simply – we believe it’s hypocritical to sit with tech startups every day and talk about the need to innovate while ourselves making no major changes. When he starts his blog I’ll let you know.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Startup Blogging Platform 324

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2009

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute: Tenacity. Every entrepreneur starts with an idea that they believe makes sense.

Entrepreneur 291

Entrepreneur Startup Google Yammer 291

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

This is the fourth article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). The first three skills I espoused were: access to the highest-quality deal-flow, domain knowledge of the topic area in which you’re investing and access to VCs to help fund the next stages of development.

Invest 283

Invest Angel Startup Marketing 283

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 18, 2014

Why You Need to Be Sure You’re Not the Sucker ” I talked about how VCs (or other investors) get deals sent to them and how to interpret a referral. I wrote here about the importance of proprietary dealflow . I wrote here about why I avoid party rounds. I seek out great entrepreneurs. End of story.

Venture Capital 337

Venture Capital Invest Ideas Entrepreneur 337

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2010

This is part of my series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. The best entrepreneurs focus on details.

Entrepreneur 286

Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire Sales 286

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

A few months ago I wrote a post called “ Invest in Lines, Not Dots.&# It was my investment philosophy that observing teams’ performance over time was far more insightful than reacting to how good of a product demo they do, how good they present Powerpoint slides or how great tech blogs say they are. Let me explain.

Entrepreneur 330

Entrepreneur Marketing Venture Capital Hulu 330

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2015

I’m so tired of seeing young entrepreneurs get screwed by their angel investors on convertible notes and I know I can’t convince you not to do it so I’d like to offer one simple bit of advice to help you avoid getting screwed (at least on one part of your note). They get their full investment as a 1x liquidation preference.

Entrepreneur 150

Entrepreneur Pricing Venture Capital Angel 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2014

Savvy entrepreneurs start testing their ideas on potential customers even before the concept is fully cooked. They have enough confidence in their ability to deliver that they dont worry about someone stealing the idea to get there first, and they dont forget to listen carefully to critical feedback.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Social Media Startup Blogging 102

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. This is not something to be concerned about. A primer on “pro-rata” rights.

Entrepreneur 310

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Writing Invest 310

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2020

Savvy entrepreneurs start testing their ideas on potential customers even before the concept is fully cooked. They have enough confidence in their ability to deliver that they don’t worry about someone stealing the idea to get there first, and they don’t forget to listen carefully to critical feedback.

Ideas 124

Ideas Tips Marketing Social Media 124

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

I remember it even way back in kindergarden when my Saturday school teacher tried to tell me about Noah and Adam & Eve. While many of my friends bragged about their 5 condos in Florida I kept talking about how the real estate market was in a bubble – their gains an illusion. It has always stood with me.

Invest 299

Invest Angel Technical Review Venture Capital 299

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

I often talk about what I’m looking for when I meet with an entrepreneur. Above all else I’m looking for a genuine passion for what the entrepreneur is doing. But without a passion for what you do I am dubious about your chances for success. But what about the reverse? It seems obvious.

Venture Capital 373

Venture Capital Startup Course Entrepreneur 373

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 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. I am a VC. I hand out money.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 26, 2020

“It will be making investment decisions year round instead of twice a year. ” Given the profusion of accelerator programs globally, the move to a rolling admissions schedule likely makes sense, giving entrepreneurs more flexibility around when and how they join. Blumenthal explained the switch in a blog post.

Startup 177

Startup Los Angeles Invest Platform 177

InfoChachkie

JULY 16, 2012

In addition, a number of advertisers have invested significant resources into creating libraries of video content which effectively communicate brand and product attributes but are incapable of eliciting a particular action, such as: clicking to a landing page, completing a lead form, or initiating a purchase. What’s So Cool About Coull?

Customer 226

Customer Custom Entrepreneur Advertising 226

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

By definition, you read blogs. This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. People often ask me why I started blogging. I never really expected a big audience or ever thought about it.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

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

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

The best entrepreneurs in our industry focus on it year-round as opposed to just once every 18 months. Lemons ripen early The hardest thing about fund raising is how dispiriting it can be. But it’s critical for your business, for you as a leader and people who excel at fund raising have an extreme advantage over those who do not.

Funding 236

Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236