Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

After the weekend kerfuffle over AngelList I was reading Brad Feld’s post on Signal vs. Noise. It’s apropos because there is so much noise these days with email, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, web shows, etc. I agree with Brad that we each need to reduce noise in our daily lives. I enjoy that. Are we in a bubble?

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

Brad Feld visited Los Angeles this past week. I always enjoy spending time with Brad as the antidote to the eco chamber. That seems very Brad to me. Brad was our guest of honor. In his blog he says, “I responded that I thought it was stupid. But I think Brad actually has a point.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

But less as a complaint and more as advice to younger networkers, the more you invest in relationships the more you will get when you need. I know Brad Feld wrote a similar post. Brad is the ultimate giver. Brunson’s short and to-the-point blog post, “ It’s Called Networking, Not Using.”

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

We all could learn a bit more about balance , as Brad Feld has outlined. 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. The Dave I know is a tireless traveler and loyal to his friends the way Brad Feld is. But he knows that.

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InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 22, 2011

I began publishing my blog in 2008. I was hesitant to use my own name, as I did not want my blog to be perceived as a self-promotional vanity project. In addition, my role as Partner at Rincon Venture Partners provided me with a business reason to invest additional time and effort into my humble blog. Do They Believe?

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

My goal in the interview overall was to capture more of the personal side of Fred since so much of his investment thesis and portfolio work already comes out in his blog. Not to mention USV’s investments in MongoDB (10Gen), Lending Club and a host of others. You need to invest in good markets and bad.

Venture Capital 150

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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.

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Writing Venture Capital Blogging Startup 313

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 15, 2011

If he had spent any time reading my blog, he would have understood that I am not a fan of consultants , especially at startups. I do not expect everyone I speak with to be a fan of my humble blog. In addition to the inclusion of my bio on my blog, there is also an easily accessible description of my professional career on LinkedIn.

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InfoChachkie

JUNE 9, 2014

If he had spent any time reading my blog, he would have learned that I am not a fan of consultants, especially at startups. It is acceptable to politely ask for something when you are networking. – I do not expect everyone I speak with to be a fan of my humble blog. It turned out that he was seeking consulting projects at startups.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 24, 2015

Some through blog comments – your place or mine. I was reminded of that when Shafqat Islam weighed in: @msuster @marshallk I built relationships via twitter and blog comments with both of you well before we ever met! I knew Shafqat as a reader on my blog and then I was introduced to him on a trip through New York.

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InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 8, 2011

I recently reviewed Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson’s book Venture Deals , in THIS ENTRY. Thus, I was excited when Brad agreed to chat with me via Skype to discuss the book’s genesis, along with the reaction of his fellow venture capitalists to the book’s revelation of numerous fundraising “secrets.”. There are several.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 22, 2009

I myself recently covered the topic when I spoke about why GRP Partners invested in Ad.ly. GRP Partners invested in GoTo.com which rebranded as Overture. But our investment and the thesis of the team led to huge leaps of innovation that all consumers now benefit from. We all know and trust Brad to be authentic.

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Advertising Technical Review GRP Partners Google 277

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.

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Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2010

After a few days of controversial blog posts I thought I’d try something more light hearted today. I hope some day to emulate Brad Feld in this area. One of the first times we spoke he told me that in his first few years in VC he ended up taking a bunch of meetings with companies in which he knew he would never invest.

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Email Startup Blogging Invest 255

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. First, if the VC does 15-20 of these under one partner then it is certain he can’t spend any time with these investments. There are several reasons why VCs are doing seed investments.

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Invest 265

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2. Many (Union Square Ventures, Foundry Group, True Ventures, GRP Partners, Mike Hirshland at Polaris Ventures) do it the right way – we treat it as a normal investment and we don’t have a “options&# strategy with our investment.

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SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

Brad Feld in Places to Find Developers in Exchange for Sweat Equity While finding a developer to work for sweat equity is an option, I’d assert that you’d be better served by hunting for a technical co-founder that is passionate about creating the company you envision. Go to tech (or other relevant industry) events.

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socalTECH

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

It's like WordPress, but instead of blogging, it provides an online community, which is self-hosted. The other amazing thing, is getting access to people like David Cohen and Brad Feld. Early on in college, we built a product called Blog Hoster, which allowed you to create white label blogs. Thanks for the time!

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Startup CTO Coach Blogging Social Media 242

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

So it’s really hard to draw too many conclusions about whether the investment really makes sense because often you learn stuff in the fund raising about the future strategy of the company that might make you much more excited than somebody on the outside might be. Finally, a lot of people asking me about typos on my blog.

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Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

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. Bending over: How to sell to large companies - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , May 24, 2010 This is a guest post by Steve Hanov , who blogs about programming and startups. Here’s why.

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Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

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

InfoChachkie

MAY 22, 2012

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. Subscribe to their blog. If you haven’t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly Infochachkie articles!

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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. In an early round of investment where there is not an extremely high price relative to normal valuations this is anything but benign. Back then VentureHacks didn’t exist.

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Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405

Xconomy

OCTOBER 29, 2018

In September, Backstage Capital , a venture investment firm seeding early-stage startups led by women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community, launched a $36 million fund to help support black women founders.

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Los Angeles Invest Capital Entrepreneur 107

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. That’s always stuck with me. We’ll see. I’m not that public about my weight.

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Technical Review Software Review Startup SoCal 278

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I wrote the summary notes in this blog post. In VC there are the obvious people including Bijan, Brad Feld, Fred Wilson, Josh Kopelman and Bryce Roberts. And did I really just try to drop an SAT word into my blog post? Use something like, “I noticed you invested in a couple of companies in the x,y,z space.

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Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Xconomy

OCTOBER 10, 2017

They all attend historically black universities, and their invitation into the Silicon Valley investment world is part of a new initiative to change the statistics about African-Americans in the tech industry. Only about one percent of investment professionals at VC firms are black, according to.

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Venture Capital Statistics Mentor Invest 67

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 ). When we invest they are often the company counsel so we see them at board meetings. And Brad Feld. Our lives are intertwined.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

That prompted Fred Wilson’s blog post appealing to the industry to make these simplified term sheets standard. Last to weigh in was Brad Feld whose blog post argues that the only 2 terms that should be negotiated are amount raised & valuation. The best series was done by Brad Feld on his blog here.

Funding 252

Funding Venture Capital Startup Blogging 252

socalTECH

JUNE 27, 2013

We caught up with Mark Suster , one of Upfront''s General Partners and a well known blogger and technology personality, the new fund, and how his blogging is now driving the firm''s investment activity. As you probably know, two thirds of our investments go into Los Angeles. Tell us about the new fund?

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Funding Venture Capital Los Angeles Social Media 196

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

I’ve blogged about this before and provide a lot more details in these posts: 1. We have invested $17.3 One measure of CincyTech’s overall impact is that in 2013, its portfolio companies represent 80% of total seed and early stage capital invested in Southwest Ohio. The Foundations of the Seattle startup community.

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Startup Venture Capital Capital Funding 390

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

When I started blogging it was because I was inspired by Brad Feld. Brad was openly writing about this and it felt like he was giving the VC playbook away for free! I always wanted to work with Brad for this reason so I started blogging because I figured if transparency worked for Brad I would try the same approach.

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Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

We spoke about the changes to an “accredited investor&# proposed by Chris Dodd – This would be bad for angel investing. He is the author of “ Joel on Software ” and I was a reader nearly 10 years ago when I had never heard of Fred Wilson, Brad Feld and VentureHacks didn’t exist. We spoke briefly about why.

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Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

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. The Scene Will Kill You - Brad Hargreaves , November 7, 2010 If you’ve taken a deep dive into tech startups, you know about the scene.

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Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. Look at what Brad Feld has done for Boulder. But it did take Brad as a public spokesman, consummate networker and successful VC to help create legitimacy to let David’s ideas flourish. My recipe for Seattle or your community: 1.

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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. I don’t try to optimize for who might be a great investment opportunity or somebody that I really “should know.” Speaking at events.

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