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

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2010

In my bones I’m convinced that entrepreneurs are more nature than nurture although I know both are involved. Fred Wilson said as much on his blog also. I have recently written extensively on what I believe the 12 characteristics of an entrepreneur are. That is true of all my blog posts. I’m biased, too.

Startup 289

Startup Statistics Entrepreneur Study 289

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. How To Land a Job at Google (or elsewhere) - FairSoftware's Blog , November 9, 2010 It’s been 11 years now that the obvious hit me: the best way to land a job is to do the job , not talk about it. By doing the job.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

The final clip is Fred & I talking about whether “the best product wins” and my assertion that the bias in today’s Silicon Valley dominated tech world there is probably too much emphasis on tech at the expense of how to sell, implement and service customers. Blogging is like Venus Fly Paper. This is classic Fred.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

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

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?!? But the product is called textPlus, not textFree.

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

It's like WordPress, but instead of blogging, it provides an online community, which is self-hosted. That's funding our new product, FanMix, which is a a social media tool. The other reason for building it, is LA is crapped on all the time from a press perspective and entrepreneur perspective. We scaled that to almost $1.4

Startup 242

Startup CTO Coach Blogging Social Media 242

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. Why Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers. My Obsession With The Product - Feld Thoughts , May 3, 2010 For some reason I’ve been doing a lot of interviews lately. You could just outspend.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I wrote the summary notes in this blog post. I would argue that this mostly consists of consumer Internet companies (although not exclusively) and it is predominantly early-stage people who are product gurus and have a mildly technical bend to them. I’m a product geek more than a spreadsheet ninja.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

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. I know many super experienced entrepreneurs who don’t understand the basics of how fund size and age can affect them so I thought it was worth establishing a baseline. Let me explain: 1.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Invest 265

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

Many firms do it in a way that can be more detrimental to entrepreneurs. If you don’t understand the concept of “signaling&# please read the blog post I wrote on Understanding VC signaling. Like Brad Feld I’m syndication agnostic but I have a slight preference toward working with others.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

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

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

Finally, a lot of people asking me about typos on my blog. entrepreneur Wil Schroter (I am an angel investor in Affordit). I also talked about Virgin Money , a product that I have used to lend friends money in the past. I know the product intimately and it rocks. I played with both products and had good experiences.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

InfoChachkie

MAY 22, 2012

The same should be true of an entrepreneur who is attempting to secure money from sophisticated investors. Step 1: The Person, Not The Firm – As Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson make clear in their book Venture Deals , entrepreneurs should identify specific venture partners, rather than target firms as a whole. Prep Steps.

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Capital Research Customer 236

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Brad Feld hadn’t written his seminal “ term sheet series &# and The Funded hadn’t yet been created. And for some strange reason entrepreneurs didn’t share this information. I’ve started from day one trying to build total transparency into my process with entrepreneurs. That’s normal.

Venture Capital 405

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405

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. 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. I loved the product that much. That’s always stuck with me. We’ll see.

Technical Review 278

Technical Review Software Review Startup SoCal 278

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 ). Your contractor wrote a great V1 of the product and it helped you get angel funding. Much of this is unfounded – some is not.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

To be a great entrepreneur you really do need talent. You have to build a product that people really love. There has been all sorts of discussions about marketing on blogs lately. You need to start with an amazing product and no amazing product is built without talent. That’s broadcast not new media.

Entrepreneur 398

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Blogging 398

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. We’re staring to get the hang of how to divide the show up into talking about deals but also talking about issues for entrepreneurs during funding.

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. I’ve blogged about this before and provide a lot more details in these posts: 1. While the costs of starting a tech company have plummeted it still does take money to hire a team, launch products and market oneself.

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Capital Funding 390

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

I’d like to explain as best I can my opinion on what is going on because most of what I hear from entrepreneurs is not only wrong but is reminiscent of what I heard in 1997-2000. ” “This will be great for VCs and bad for entrepreneurs.” When I started blogging it was because I was inspired by Brad Feld.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

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.&#. He listed all of the product releases that were up coming, the customers that were in the pipeline and where he saw his competition moving.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2012

Occasionally on this blog I break away from industry commentary and write more broadly. It’s why I still randomly meet up with people I’ve met on Twitter or this blog. Teams that hang out together work more productively in difficult situations. Entrepreneur Dinners. It’s an obvious temptation.

Startup 319

Startup Organization Entrepreneur Blogging 319

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 2, 2010

It’s the story of persistence in entrepreneurs. As a VC I’m acutely that a “yes&# decision to support an entrepreneur can do just that, yet I only write 2-4 of them per year and maybe another 3-4 as an angel. I try not to go out to entrepreneur events in LA every night – I have work to get done and a family.

Startup 352

Startup Help Blogging Entrepreneur 352