TechEmpower

AUGUST 7, 2023

Getting something to market and getting funding override any other concerns. Check out our blog post 53 Questions Developers Should Ask Innovators. Please write us at blog@techempower.com ! That’s why the CTO’s attention is on programming for the earliest stage. Is it a tiny crack, or a widening chasm?

CTO Hire 260

CTO Hire Develop Development Fractional VPE 260

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

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2014

It’s not uncommon for me to see a startup business plan “mission” to be the “premier brand” for their product, yet their marketing budget in the financials is trivial. This combination will almost certainly get your plan tossed by potential investors, who understand all too well the need and cost for marketing in today’s environment.

Marketing 102

Marketing Funding Social Media SEM 102

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2015

As an active investor in the Los Angeles technology market we’re always seeking to better understand the data and trends of why our market has grown so rapidly since 2009. The report on the LA Tech Market can be found on this link. It will also serve as home to our partner blogs and to our company announcements.

Marketing 150

Marketing Newsletter Venture Capital Blogging 150

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. People who believe the former believe that you should see the market demand before too many people know you’re “in market.”

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

Fund raising. 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. As a VC I also have to fund raise every three years and these posts 100% apply to VCs raising money, too. It definitely has a “d” in it, as in it’s really not fun, raising.

Funding 236

Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

According to the SEC we’re not allowed to market the fact that we’re fund raising, so I won’t. But for some strange reason they make you file your progress on fund raising, which is the widely picked up by the press. So it is now publicly known that we have closed $150 million in our 4th fund.

Blogging 420

Blogging Press Entrepreneur Venture Capital 420

socalTECH

JUNE 29, 2017

Los Angeles-based venture capital investment firm Upfront Ventures has announced its latest fund, Upfront VI , to the tune of $400M, the company said on Thursday. According to Upfront, the new fund brings its total combined funds under management to nearly $2 billion. READ MORE>>.

Funding 100

Funding Los Angeles Blogging Venture Capital 100

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. First of all, Seth Godin pointed out a long time ago that viral marketing does not equal word-of-mouth. People are more demanding and have more choices than ever before.

Marketing 107

Marketing Invest SEM Startup 107

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

The following are some lessons I learned about early-stage startup marketing. Because market is such a broad topic, I’m restricting these lessons to PR marketing (as opposed SEO, SEM, product marketing, etc.). I call this “marketing futures.&# You need some guidelines to make decisions.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

We are often asked how companies get funded, why VCs make the decisions we make and what we’re looking for in entrepreneurs. At Upfront we’re totally fine funding entrepreneurs who have done multiple businesses in the past – in fact we like it. Tech Market Analysis Upfront Ventures' The results?

Funding 373

Funding Technical Review Startup Screening 373

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2021

In fact, I wrote a previous blog post on “ Why Successful People Focus on the Bottom End of the Funnel.” Like any enterprise sale, you want to think from the perspective of the buyer and what they need to feel confident about the decision to buy a stake or ownership in your fund. that’s your target market. LPs, VCs, everyone.

Sales 375

Sales Startup Invest Funding 375

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

I am super excited to announce that today is a day of lots of new things for my partners & me: A new fund, a new office and a new brand. Let’s start with the fund. We have previously raised funds in 1996 ($200 million), 2000 ($400 million) and 2008/9 ($200 million). This month we closed our 4th fund of $200 million.

Funding 343

Funding Santa Monica Venture Capital Startup 343

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

VC funding. Our perspectives on the topic wax and wane with market cycles. blog here ). Here’s what I believe, but won’t claim to “know” because every time I think I know something the market seems to do something entirely different. Amnesia sets in and we get back on the merry-go-round.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

It had an influence on the people who fund our industry in a negative way as many asset managers who fund our industry read this flawed report. 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. Now they are funding & holding.

Venture Capital 362

Venture Capital Capital Startup Writing 362

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There has been much discussion about VCs doing seed funding in the past year. I’ve written about it myself (Is VC Seed Funding Dead?) and (Is There Really a Signaling Problem with VC Seed Funding?). Knowing What the Seed Funding Policy of your VC is. million of our $200 million fund for seed funding.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

It is simply the most important way to proactively control your career development and how the market perceives you. That was fine with me – the market is the market. That was the market. In today’s market you can prove your worth, in 1991 that was a bit harder. It is neither. She was paid 15% more.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2017

Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. First of all, Seth Godin pointed out a long time ago that viral marketing does not equal word-of-mouth. People are more demanding and have more choices than ever before.

Marketing 67

Marketing SEM Startup Blogging 67

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2013

It’s not uncommon for me to see a startup business plan “mission” to be the “premier brand” for their product, yet their marketing budget in the financials is trivial. This combination will almost certainly get your plan tossed by potential investors, who understand all too well the need and cost for marketing in today’s environment.

Marketing 106

Marketing Startup Social Media SEM 106

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In the first post in this three part series I described why I believe the VC market froze between September 2008 – April 2009. When the market run started in March people were relieved that “the world wasn’t ending” so they started spending again. Unemployment coupled with a stock market drop will stop this spending cold IMHO.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Startup Funding Technical Review 269

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 11, 2013

Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. First of all, Seth Godin pointed out a few years ago that viral marketing does not equal word-of-mouth. People are more demanding and have more choices than ever before.

Marketing 99

Marketing Entrepreneur Startup SEM 99

Xconomy

JULY 7, 2020

Gaithersburg, MD-based Novavax, which has never before brought a product to market, announced the federal award Tuesday. The money is the latest allocation made out of the funds allocated to Operation Warp Speed (OWS), a multiagency effort to assist companies in readying effective COVID-19 vaccines.

Funding 109

Funding Help Marketing Product 109

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

Very few people fund individuals. You cannot be just a biz dev type, salesperson, marketing genius or whatever and divorce yourself from product. Market validation – This one is optional but important. At an angel round you can get away with no market validation. Team: You need a team. but the point is the same.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

socalTECH

MARCH 18, 2014

Irvine-based Bitvore , a startup developing big data and intelligence-gathering software which pulls information from both public and private data sources for businesses, said this morning that it has closed a $4.5M, Series A funding round. The funding was led by serial entreprenur Yuri Pikover, as well as $1M from crowdfunding.

Software 227

Software IBM IBM Social Media 227

socalTECH

DECEMBER 15, 2014

One of the highest profile startup accelerators in Los Angeles, LaunchpadLA , is officially shifting its model and getting out of the startup accelerator market--handing over its space to General Assembly, with its various partners embarking on different activities. READ MORE>>.

Venture Capital 178

Venture Capital Blogging Los Angeles Activity 178

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2023

Of course, their answer is that the second intends to get to market faster, but every engine has limits regardless the fuel applied. Count on six months from beginning the funding process until a new check is cashed. Always add 20 percent to your best estimate of funding requirements when approaching investors.

Search Engine Optimization 103

Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media Equity 103

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. That said, they likely also are a bit under pressure because of the loss of the reality of funding and investors to keep your equity component down.

CTO 167

CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity 167

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 30, 2019

Nine years after launching its online magazine, and three years after diversifying into the subscription box business , FabFitFun has raised $80 million in a growth round of funding led by Kleiner Perkins with participation from its previous investors Upfront Ventures and NEA. .

Newsletter 212

Newsletter Los Angeles .Net Platform 212

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2012

Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. First of all, Seth Godin pointed out a few years ago that viral marketing does not equal word-of-mouth. People are more demanding and have more choices than ever before.

Marketing 95

Marketing Startup SEM Blogging 95

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

I recently read a book I’d highly recommend to every reader of this blog called “ Yes, 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive &# by Robert B. No cookies for guessing which reason they use to market to us. Cialdini who is also author of a very well received book called “ Influence &# (which I plan to read).

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

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. That said, they likely also are a bit under pressure because of the loss of the reality of funding and investors to keep your equity component down.

CTO 150

CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity 150

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. They asked LPs to rush to get into their next side-car fund to have access to this great deal plus the LPs also get the “benefit” of investing in their next fund.

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

socalTECH

MAY 9, 2013

Los Angeles-based Yektra announced this morning that it has raised $3M in a Series A funding round. Yekra says it is a digital entertainment distributor connected with an affiliate marketing system. The funding came from Maurice Gallagher, Bray Capital, Shay O''Brien, and Michael Rogers. READ MORE>>.

Platform 127

Platform Demand Entertainment Social Network 127

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2010

It’s not uncommon for me to see a startup business plan “mission” to be the “premier brand” for their product, yet their marketing budget in the financials is trivial. This combination will almost certainly get your plan tossed by potential investors, who understand all too well the need and cost for marketing in today’s environment.

Marketing 94

Marketing Startup Social Media SEM 94

Xconomy

APRIL 17, 2020

In the real world, the journey to a vaccine OK’d under emergency guidelines is more likely to take 12 to 18 months, said Marks, who runs the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, on a Friday teleconference hosted by the Commonwealth Fund and the Alliance for Health Policy Teleconference for Media and Policymakers.

Marketing 93

Marketing Research Media Ideas 93

Xconomy

MAY 15, 2017

The company, which operates a network of online markets for outsourcing biomedical research services and supplies, has raised $24 million in a new round of venture funding. Founding CEO Kevin Lustig said Scientist.com will use the additional cash to expand its operations.

Outsource 79

Outsource Marketing Research Web 79

Xconomy

MAY 9, 2019

billion in new capital late Thursday as it priced an initial public offering that set its market capitalization at $82.4 Ride-hailing giant Uber secured $8.1 billion , according to calculations by The New York Times and other news outlets.

Marketing 88

Marketing Pricing News Capital 88