Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2010

Last September I was on a panel with Guy Kawasaki talking about Twitter. I wanted to see two things: Would the second (or sometimes even third Tweet) convert enough people to my blog to make it worth potentially annoying some people on Twitter? He said at the time that he Tweeted 4 times for every story that he wrote. FOUR TIMES!

Blogging 289

Blogging RSS Startup News 289

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

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Now, I’m pretty on the record that being an entrepreneur is about being great at The Do. I’ve talked in the past about how I manage my own creative process. I zone out and think about how things could be different. This is one of the positive signs of ADHD that nobody ever talks about. Startups Are for Doers.

Venture Capital 400

Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

All the data actually suggests with the growth of mobile, inbound sales calls will double from 30 billion to 60 billion in 3 years (source: Kelsey). In a way it feels intuitive to us – the readers of this blog – because we’re the tech crowd. In the US alone there are 30 billion inbound sales calls every year.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Specifically what is often not in the DNA of founders are sales skills. The result is a lack of knowledge of the process and of sales people themselves. I had never had any sales training so everything we did for the first couple of years was instinctual. I boil it down to this: sales people are sales people.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 21, 2011

Guardian News & Media , the firm behind web publisher ContentNext , is in discussions with potential buyers about a possible sale, according to a report from the firm's own site, paidContent. paidContent said that Guardian is working with Coady Diemar Partners on a possible sale. Names of potential buyers were not discussed.

Sales 133

Sales Santa Monica News Blogging 133

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

blog here ). If one entered between 2009-2015 he or she is no doubt in the “hazard” phase where one need to be careful about thinking he know more about the industry than perhaps he do. No – I’m not talking about YOU – everybody is doing it. I know we spoke about it this week.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

TechEmpower

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Here are some items to think about: Have you defined the functionality? Our blog post 53 Questions Developers Should Ask Innovators has a list of questions any good development team would ask. Is user interface and graphic design a necessity? Do you have the basics already defined and merely need them fleshed out?

Software Development 295

Software Development Software Review Develop Development 295

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2015

Any reader of this blog for a period of time will know that I’ve been long YouTube for years. We have made 5 online video investments in total – some we will talk about later this year. We have made 5 online video investments in total – some we will talk about later this year.

SEM 150

SEM Content Platform Acquisition 150

Berkonomics

MARCH 9, 2023

Most of us work in our businesses, either as managers or owners, and rarely step outside to think about how this will end in a perfect world. “Have you figured out what you want to have, or to be, when you reach the end of your personal run in this business life?” It is a fair question to ask. But this is more personal, isn’t it?

Course 156

Course Blogging Email Sales 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2022

This includes your website, blog, and presence on social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, and many more. A while back in a blog article , I pointed out that none of these justify a startup business plan with little or no budget for marketing. Long-term sales. Owned media.

Marketing 127

Marketing Framework Social Media Media 127

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

By definition, you read blogs. This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. People often ask me why I started blogging. I never really expected a big audience or ever thought about it.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2017

We’re expected to be at conferences, events, sales meetings and be publicly visible. People expect blog posts, Tweets, panels, speeches. I have written about this before and often recommend to executives that they do less, but complete more by avoiding the shiny objects and distractions stop us from living up to our true potential.

Activity 297

Activity Blogging Email Startup 297

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

Everybody has a blog these days and there is much advice to be had. On sales I often talk about “ Why Buy Anything, Why Buy Now, Why Buy Me ” as a tool to think about a sales process. On marketing I talk about “ Arming & Aiming ” 4. Think Critically about Your Situation.

Startup 407

Startup Framework CTO Coach Sales 407

socalTECH

MARCH 4, 2010

We thought we'd get the background on the new effort directly from Jason Nazar , CEO and founder of Docstoc, to learn more about the new service. For those who haven't heard yet, tell us about DocStore and what it is all about? It's something like between $50M and $100M in sales per year. It turned out to be 40.

Technical Review 171

Technical Review Rustic Canyon Screening Startup 171

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. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. In sales there are also three rules: Qualify, qualify, qualify.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

I’ve written a few posts about boards recently as part of a series on the subject. 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. In the Early Days. You’ll get empathy. Experience.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2022

Michael delivers field-tested guidance on how to create the core elements of great content for your announcement, your webinars, blog posts, Facebook contests, newsletters, Internet TV, and other initiatives. It’s all about content that will bring the masses to your business: Highly relevant. Lacks a sales angle.

Content 146

Content Newsletter Competition Writing 146

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 1, 2011

I say “struggle to overcome&# because I care about young people entering our industry with a set of realistic expectations about what “normal&# is. I was thinking about all of this as I looked at the logs from my WordPress blog this evening. I started blogging 2 years ago. I did that? Back to zero.

Startup 391

Startup Blogging Venture Capital Writing 391

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

I am fond of quoting that about 70% of my investment decision of an early-stage company is the team. And you need to be careful about giving up control to cofounders as much as VCs. I don’t think VCs care as much about co-founders & economics as people think. Be careful about board construction.

Startup 388

Startup Slides Outsource Development Sales 388

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

We don’t lay claim to being the only VC to change or think about the future or to having the only or best strategy. Simply – we believe it’s hypocritical to sit with tech startups every day and talk about the need to innovate while ourselves making no major changes. When he starts his blog I’ll let you know.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Startup Blogging Platform 324

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

an email) to about 35 people. blogging, in a sense. If we had a blogging platform then, we would have been blogging. I''m not talking about one or two people responding, we get 10, 15, 20 responses for a particular problem. Again, the story wasn''t about how our product was just knocking it out of the park.

Newsletter 233

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

Technology Council

SEPTEMBER 26, 2008

An audience of about fifty people heard three panelists speak on “The New Business Boosters; How Blogging, Widgets and Streaming Video Can Make Your Marketing Efforts Take Off“ As that title [.]

Blogging 100

Blogging Marketing Writing Education 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2016

I remember the same disdain from people when I started blogging or using Twitter. I think that’s what people actually like about it. A bit like a blog that is put out regularly but not overly edited or self-conscious about word choices or typos. Why would a VC do that? It’s not overly produced but it sure is authentic.

Snapchat 200

Snapchat Blogging Venture Capital Writing 200

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. But aside from choosing the time of day to focus on signal vs. noise, Brad’s post got me thinking about another question – what is signal and what is noise? They could chat about it with their peers or mentors.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

Recently I wrote a blog post about how I hated losing, but I embrace it. My starting line with every entrepreneur is that everything I learned about being an entrepreneur I learned from F’ing it up on my first business. I plan to write a whole separate blog post about this quote because it’s always stuck with me.

Startup 247

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Writing 247

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2010

Los Angeles gossip and technology blog Lalawag , run by Sean and Laurie Percival, has been sold. The blog--which the Percivals had announced on September 16th that they would shut down--has been acquired by Valley Girl Inc. , Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed. Sean Percival is VP of Online Marketing at MySpace.

Draper 166

Draper Blogging Web Los Angeles 166

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2010

You read about Mark Zuckerberg or the guys at FourSquare, Twitter or Zynga. But that’s a bit like reading about your state lottery winner and feeling bummed out because you haven’t won despite years of trying. I have a friend who I estimate is worth about $500 million. Startups are hard. I have sympathy.

Blogging 407

Blogging Tips Press Startup 407

Tech.Co

FEBRUARY 19, 2021

Martin Rushe, the CEO and founder of Selz wrote a blog post announcing the deal. There's nothing particularly unique about what Selz does. Shopify has even partnered with TikTok to facilitate in-app sales for small businesses. Physical Product Sales. Digital Product Sales. Service Sales. Square Online.

News 136

News Acquisition Platform Sales 136

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 11, 2011

We talked about a lot of great stuff in the video including how to do sales calls and a how a new “culture of writing&# is emerging as a critical skill set in business today. We also talked about why Jon decided to leave Google to become an EIR at a VC firm (Polaris) – minute 33. Good comment community = viral blog.

Buzzfeed 354

Buzzfeed Content Tips Blogging 354

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

Our sales guys were on the front line and heard what they needed to win deals. He decided that our largest customers would be involved in the setting of our priority lists (we did some of this internally in the early years but we saw it mostly as a sales process). So I started thinking about the “Inside Out&# organization.

Organization 280

Organization Customer Custom Tips 280

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 18, 2016

According to Julie Ask, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester in this CNBC article , developing a retail app costs about $2 million, plus 80 percent on top of that each year to maintain it. RetailNext data shows that sales over the 2015 Thanksgiving weekend were down by 4.7 MYTH: Development costs are too high.

Mobile 40

Mobile Sites Customer Custom 40

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 18, 2012

Mark is a Partner at GRP Partners and authors one of the most widely read startup blogs, BothSidesOfTheTable. Find A Concept You Are Passionate About. Mark admitted that one of the mistakes he made early in his career was pursuing a business concept about which he was not passionate. Number one is sales. Life is sales.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Startup Conference Santa Barbara 272

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

As a VC with scores of startups in our portfolio we have ringside seats to many, many fund raising processes plus I had to raise money across about 5 different rounds of capital as an entrepreneur so I’ve developed some thought on the process that I hope can be helpful to some of you before you start. Below is the outline Upfront.

Funding 236

Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2023

Startups that haven’t updated their website since rollout, or publish a new blog once a month or less, won’t be followed for valuable content. In this context, content is like advertising, unless customers see you every day, they won’t remember anything about you, good or bad. Avoid “sales speak” and pushing your product.

Content 104

Content Customer Custom Marketing 104

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2011

On this blog I’m often trying to combine lessons for entrepreneurs and market commentary. I have long wanted to write about FNAC (feature, not a company) because it’s part of my normal lexicon to push teams that present to me to think harder about where the economics in their industry is coming from. It lingered.

Email 270

Email Writing Blogging Competition 270

Xconomy

JUNE 3, 2016

States have been fighting to collect sales taxes from online retailers since the dawn of the e-commerce age. But today, online companies that sell services rather than merchandise also need to be concerned about state sales taxes. For example, medical services are generally not subject to sales tax.

Sales 62

Sales Company Companies Software Review 62