Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2014

Not so long ago, training to meet the press and television reporters was a realm reserved for top business executives only. Ask Eric Migicovsky, founder of Pebble , who raised over $10 million on the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform for his relatively low-tech wristwatch with programmed clock faces. Handling different media formats.

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Press Social Media Startup Training 105

Xconomy

NOVEMBER 30, 2018

Elliott Management, a New York-based activist hedge fund, has had San Diego-based Mitek Systems in its crosshairs for months.

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Press San Diego Funding Technology 60

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. One of the most important aims of a fund-raising process is to keep similar firms at the same stage of your process. Why 8–10 and not just 3–4?

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Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

It represents the great majority of entrepreneurship and eschews the fairytale rags-to-VC-riches stories we so often read about in the press. So Tracy began keeping a blog about … (what else?) If you haven’t read my blog posts on why Tracy chose the right strategy it’s worth a read.

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Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Ever notice how some companies tend to be in the press all the time and your big new product launch struggled for inches? Here’s what’s going through his/her head: Is this story “newsworthy” or am I being asked to publish a press release? ” Can you imagine that ever getting inches in the press?

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Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 10, 2013

I made many classic first-time mistakes which serves both as my warning signal of which teams to avoid funding (if I perceive they will make critical mistakes often led by hubris) and also as my source for coaching others. Stop reading their press releases or hearing their founder talk about he is crushing it. I prefer the opposite.

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Startup Press Course Entrepreneur 412

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2014

Concentrate elsewhere on the near-term marketing activities (which are also expensive) for this round of funding. There are many more, but these should get you started: Create a professional website and blog. A blog is critical, and essentially free (your cost is creating content). Get exposure for your expertise.

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Marketing Funding Social Media SEM 102

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. In London when founders failed they were ostracized in the press and culturally I believe it became harder to raise capital.

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Startup Press Blogging .Net 261

Xconomy

MAY 24, 2019

Inhibrx, developer of protein drugs targeting cancer and other diseases, has raised $40 million from the hedge fund Viking Global Investors as the biotech steers several programs through early-stage clinical trials. The La Jolla, CA-based company was founded in 2010 by Mark Lappe, Brendan Eckelman, and Quinn Deveraux.

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Press Research Funding Invest 67

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. Contrary to popular opinion I actually believe crowd-funding is best used after seed capital or venture capital. I have no money?

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Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

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. “Ok, so this guy can write a blog and source deals but can he make any money?” I am closing 3 new fundings in April (2 new, 1 follow-on). 5 years ago.

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Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

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.

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Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

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.

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Xconomy

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Backed by $20 million in Series A funding from Versant Ventures, San Diego-based Jecure aims to develop a new class of drugs to treat an advanced form of fatty liver disease called. Feldstein has been studying the liver for nearly 20 years, and his research now forms the basis of a newly launched company called Jecure Therapeutics.

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UCSD Press San Diego Class 64

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2022

Not so long ago, training to meet the press and television reporters was a realm reserved for top business executives only. Ask Eric Migicovsky, founder of Pebble , who raised over $10 million on the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform for his relatively low-tech wristwatch with programmed clock faces. Handling different media formats.

Media 118

Media Tips Social Media Startup 118

Xconomy

NOVEMBER 22, 2016

Among the many questions swirling around the incoming Trump administration is the fate of ambitious biomedical science projects that require federal funding. Its focus is funding biomedical projects that might. While that question hangs in the air, the state of California’s own precision medicine plan is moving ahead.

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Press Funding PMI San Diego 40

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. THE FULL STORY. PHONE CALLS.

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Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

So they create a task list of all the marketing activities an organization can do: press releases, web site updates, customer case studies, blog posts, daily Tweets, Facebook fan page, attending conferences, etc. You have a marketing department with three people. They’re tasked with doing … marketing.

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Activity Conference Press Case Study 164

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 14, 2010

So they create a task list of all the marketing activities an organization can do: press releases, web site updates, customer case studies, blog posts, daily Tweets, Facebook fan page, attending conferences, etc. You have a marketing department with three people. They’re tasked with doing … marketing.

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Startup Press Development Team Review SEM 323

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

But don’t let this information get out into the general press and don’t market more than a few months out. Market to Your Target Audience – I’ve seen a lot of startups who like to write blog posts on life as an entrepreneur. I talked about that in detail on this post about how to blog as a startup.

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Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2013

They want the perfect feature set, the PR company lined up to do the perfect press release, they want maximum coverage, rave reviews, viral adoption and they want to sit back and then wait for the signups to come roaring in. Take some comfort in Fred Wilson’s blog post about MeetUp and the 20-year-build.

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Startup Press Product Blogging 371

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. Often we are asked to get involved in executive-level recruiting.

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Startup Technical Review Equity Report 217

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. I was thinking back to a few previous “insider baseball&# blog debates that raged for several weeks: AngelGate (aka Bin38 secret cabal), convertible debt vs. equity, bubble vs. not, and now the AngelList discussion.

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Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Xconomy

JULY 21, 2017

Agtech startup Plenty has reeled in $200 million in financing as the company presses forward on its plans to build a global network of indoor vertical farms. Softbank Vision Fund of Japan led the Series B funding round for South San Francisco, CA-based Plenty.

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Networking Invest Press Funding 66

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. So what are Rob’s secret hacks that he didn’t spill in his blog post? . What Rob wrote in his post is right. Email updates frequently.

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Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

Tim encouraged us to set up a blog and start talking openly about what we were doing as a company and inviting comments. But it seemed strange to me that we would openly talk about stuff rather than waiting for a big announcement to the press. Being transparent about our workload, our struggles, our fund raising, whatever.

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Organization Customer Custom Tips 280

Xconomy

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

Mitek Systems, which is being targeted for takeover by a subsidiary of Elliott, billionaire Paul Singer’s activist hedge fund, has unanimously rejected its $380 million offer. ASG pointed out in a press release announcing the offer that the. Read more » Reprints | Share: UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS.

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Press Mobile Funding Capital 49

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 24, 2012

I wrote a blog post on how to work with lawyers at a startup nearly two-and-a-half years ago. This was 2005 when I had no exits under my belt, no blogs … nobody was looking. I told David, “Look at the changes we’ve seen in the VC / funding market. It was very widely read. It should be: Local; Right-sized; and.

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Venture Capital Startup Los Angeles GRP Partners 299

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. I first discovered him or her as a commenter on Fred Wilson’s blog. And we’re promoting apps like this in the tech press and funding it. I have a blog and a voice.

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Technical Review Blogging Examples Startup 329

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

I had a narrative in my head that I didn’t want to fund apps that would help husbands cheat on their wives or help kids send naked photos. What I *SHOULD HAVE* considered was that I was in college in a time when there were no digital cameras and I’m very thankful for that or I likely wouldn’t be writing this blog post today.

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Snapchat Invest Technical Review Dollar Shave Club 214

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

She was lamenting that some startups simply see their PR company as merely somebody who corrals the press when you want to get some inches. She felt that her firm provides significantly more value as an advisor than simply a press shop. I had dinner with my friend Brooke Hammerling , founder of Brew PR recently. And I agree entirely.

Startup 363

Startup Venture Capital Coach Press 363

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. I actually enjoyed it.

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Blogging Content Press Startup 328

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

Some of the standout technology innovators include: ClippPR : ClippPR provides businesses with a simple way to track any type of online activity — press releases, videos, blog mentions, etc. The foundation of the ecosystem is growing exponentially each month.”.

Social Network 111

Social Network Social Media Press Technical Review 111

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. Prorata investments rights given investors the right to invest in your future fund-raising rounds and maintain their ownership % in your company as your company grows and raises more capital.

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Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2013

Concentrate elsewhere on the near-term marketing activities (which are also expensive) for this round of funding. There are many more, but these should get you started: Create a professional website and blog. A blog is critical, and essentially free (your cost is creating content). Get exposure for your expertise.

Marketing 106

Marketing Startup Social Media SEM 106

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

I am inspired by the constant innovation in our industry by First Round Capital like the Dorm Room Fund , their expansion to Philadelphia (I hope they also have a secret plot to replace Andy Reid while there), the exchange fund and other initiative. And I don’t want to be complacent. How does this changing world affect me?

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Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 14, 2015

I answered. ” Ezra was recently a Kauffman Fellow (meaning a tribe of aspiring VCs who get apprenticeship and have a cohort of classmates, many of whom will go on to be VCs), is a senior associate at a Chicago-based fund called Chicago Ventures and is an alum of my alma mater, University of Chicago, GSB. My other secret on blogging?

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Blogging Writing Email Startup 150