SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

My 1,000th Post on This Blog - Tim Berry's Blog - Planning Startups Stories , July 21, 2010 HTML5 video markup, compatibility and playback - Niall Kennedy's Weblog , February 8, 2010 Your Product Needs a Soul - ArcticStartup , February 12, 2010 Product Friday: Monetizing Content is a Product Problem - This is going to be BIG.

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Pitching a VC “ There’s a great meme developing this morning on the need to simplify funding terms and documents. That prompted Fred Wilson’s blog post appealing to the industry to make these simplified term sheets standard. I have this mentality, too.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Blogging 252

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2011

On my blog I’ve been hesitant to take the topic head on. But last week I noticed a blog post by a woman, Tara Tiger Brown, that asked the question, “ Why Aren’t More Women Commenting on VC Blog Posts? In it she observes that only 3% of the comments on this blog are from women. But then the truth sets in.

Entrepreneur 341

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup Blogging 341

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. 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. I am closing 3 new fundings in April (2 new, 1 follow-on).

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

socalTECH

JUNE 27, 2013

Despite the increase in startup activity in Southern California, local venture capital funds are still few and far between, and a large chunk of the funding here is still from Sand Hill Road. The firm just announced that new fund, and a new name, Upfront Ventures (www.upfront.com). Tell us about the new fund?

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Funding Venture Capital Los Angeles Social Media 196

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. I just write.

Blogging 150

Blogging Writing Startup Email 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

No blog post about how Tiger is crushing everybody because it’s deploying all its capital in 1-year while “suckers” are investing over 3-years can change this reality. million, our Seed Funds mostly between $200–300 million and have delivered median ownerships of ~20% from the first check we write into a startup. It’s just math.

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Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

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.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

.” Here’s what I mean … Let’s start with what it takes for a journalist to want to write a story. Do I have an “angle” from which to write the story (first company to do X, company does biggest X, consumer behavior is doing X)? I am a VC. I hand out money. How differentiated is that?

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

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

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

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. We are doing what we do – writing larger checks and playing an active role at the company. I have publicly said many times that there is a positive to crowd funding.

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

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. Populate your team. Cultivate early customers.

Blogging 104

Blogging Product Startup Writing 104

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 15, 2010

He had followed me on Twitter and sent me a nice message about my blog. So when I saw the merely mortal Tristan with a normal sized Twitter following I clicked through to his link, saw his blog, saw that he was a second year at Stanford and just thought, “hey, he seems like an interesting guy. before having 300k followers!).

Social Network 347

Social Network Networking Blogging RSS 347

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

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. You’re reading their press releases or blog posts. A funding announcement is a stand-alone event.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

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?

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2015

Blogging is one of the best ways to do this and build a brand, even before you have a product or service. Thus I recommend that every entrepreneur start blogging in parallel with solution development for the following benefits: Get customer idea feedback before you commit resources. Develop an efficient and effective writing style.

Blogging 110

Blogging Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media 110

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

In case you missed all the kerfuffle this weekend, I posted this blog post originally on TechCrunch. This is a blog post I really didn’t want to write. I didn’t want to write it because I have mixed feelings about AngelList. So why I am writing it then? A few reasons. You should read this post.

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

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. They might own 8% of your company after the first funding but demand up to 33-50% of your next round of financing.

Entrepreneur 310

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Writing Invest 310

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

You’re writing a freaking blog post! I had a pre breakfast with a CEO of a company in which I invested talking about his next fund raising round. I called another about his fund raising (DUDE – you never called me back! ). Fund raising. Plus, he’s a loyal reader of this blog. Operations.

Email 314

Email Product Startup Writing 314

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. So finding time is hard, and good writing is simply not what most people do. Find potential partners. Populate your team. Cultivate early customers.

Blogging 93

Blogging Invest Startup Writing 93

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2024

Credit: Apex Today, Apex announced their Series B funding round, led by XYZ Ventures and CRV, with participation from Upfront. And if you spend much time in LA, you’ll quickly realize that we’re in a groundswell of space and defense startups. Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with Ian on This Week in Startups.

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CalTech USC UCLA Los Angeles 237

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

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

I said, ''Hey, listen were going to start writing this newsletter and it''s going to highlight our trials and tribulations, our failures and our successes. The opening paragraphs of that first newsletter are indicative of the captivating and accessible writing style, which eventually cultivated a huge audience. blogging, in a sense.

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Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

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

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

Because my wife is a superstar she published them all on a blog here along with much other wonderful type-A mom advice. Jody didn’t exactly have an easy time fund raising because he’s not one of the prototypical Silicon Valley funded entrepreneurs. He had just written another one of his way-over-the-top blog posts.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

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

APRIL 21, 2010

In writing anything positive about any of the companies I’m not suggesting that it means that I prefer them to any of their competitors. I just cover the companies that were funded that week. Also, some of the deals I write about I have actually seen as part of their fund raising process. Others I have not.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

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? . He is very pleasant when he calls and writes. Rob does it.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Start-up Lessons. &# If you want to subscribe to my RSS feed please click here or to get my blog by email click here. I’m reluctant to put it into writing because people get so passionate about this issue and many disagree. Yesterday I wrote a blog posting on founder vesting (see here ).

Startup 365

Startup Technical Advisors IP Ideas 365

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

I told him only 2 weeks ago when we were in London together that I wanted to write a blog post that has been in my head for 2 years. I would love for prospective investors in Dave’s fund to call me personally to learn about “the real Dave.”. When my pal Dave started his venture fund, 500 Startups, he was ridiculed.

Startup 309

Startup Venture Capital Email Writing 309

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2014

Yet along with “authenticity” they are two of the key attributes I look for when I meet with companies I may consider funding one day. This is how Upfront Ventures came to fund Tristan Walker – one of the most talented and passionate entrepreneurs with whom we work whose new company is called Bevel. And we did.

Startup 419

Startup Entrepreneur Design Funding 419

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 8, 2011

Of the 80 companies that have completed the program since its 2007 inception, 49 have received funding, 8 have been acquired and 8 have ceased operations. I began our discussion by asking Brad what motivated him to co-author Venture Deals , rather than continuing to share venture capitalists’ secrets via his Ask The VC blog.

Venture Capital 224

Venture Capital Writing Entrepreneur Blogging 224

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.

Technical Review 329

Technical Review Blogging Examples Startup 329

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 15, 2010

We started this week’s show with a Q&A session where I answered viewer questions about fund raising and the VC industry. If you enjoy this blog I think you’ll enjoy watching the first 14 minutes of this video (just click on the image of me below).

Venture Capital 210

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Southern California 210

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. I’m not sure I really even need to write this at length because Nivi absolutely nailed the topic in his article “ The Option Pool Shuffle.&#. Back then VentureHacks didn’t exist. That’s normal.

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Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2016

I remember the same disdain from people when I started blogging or using Twitter. A bit like a blog that is put out regularly but not overly edited or self-conscious about word choices or typos. I LOVE writing. But writing takes more time and some days I don’t have that. Why would a VC do that? I do these, too.

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Snapchat Blogging Venture Capital Writing 200