Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. I explain in the video what happened in my first company (e.g. A: It’s not best.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2010

Modern investors love to first read a two-page summary of your business plan, formatted like a glossy marketing collateral sheet, with text well laid out in columns and sidebars, and a couple of relevant graphics. You may have already found several articles, web pages, or books about writing the perfect executive summary.

Summary 55

Summary Writing Competition Metrics 55

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

While the management of a startup company deals with the day-to-day decision-making within the company (strategy, budgets, goals, tasks, compensation) ultimately the Board of Directors has the legal governing responsibilities for these things. Equally it could vote to increase the stock option plan to 99% of the company.

Startup 204

Startup Writing Framework Summary 204

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

Most sophisticated investors ignore them, focusing their attention on an entrepreneur's pitch and presentation materials, financial forecast and executive summary. As such, the primary goal of your executive summary is to open the door to an in-person meeting. Entrepreneurs routinely seek my advice regarding their executive summaries.

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Summary Technical Review Template 211

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 5, 2019

The panels of seasoned and newer investors will focus on Early-Stage Venture Investing: How to meet investors, pitch them, and what it really takes to get them to write you a check! As an additional benefit, entrepreneur 1/4 page summaries will be given to the investor speakers and attendees. See [link] (more)

San Diego 100

San Diego Venture Capital Angel Summary 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

There has been much discussion in the past few years of the changing structure of the venture capital industry. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). 15 years ago we were at the peak of Internet hype with the launch of many over-capitalized businesses with a market size & opportunity was limited.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

Just as I was getting the swing of things the world shifted beneath my feet and the stock market went into a free fall and venture capital all but shut down for nearly a year. We not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k?—?$15 15 million first checks but we also have three growth funds. Over the past 2.5

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 11, 2011

Investor in Twitter, Foursquare, DISQUS, and (by Naval’s own admission) “a lot of other companies you have never heard of”. What follows is a summary which paraphrases Naval’s responses. Venture Hacks is educating entrepreneurs on the game theory of how to raise venture capital. Former Founder Epinions.

Startup 273

Startup Software Review Summary Technical Review 273

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

There are very few people in Silicon Valley who have such a precise grasp on what defines success of early-stage startup companies than Eric Ries. I interviewed Eric for an hour for - This Week in Venture Capital. should companies do spreadsheets / plan / have a hypothesis for success? how do you handle internal company morale?

Social Media 301

Social Media Startup Metrics Media 301

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2011

Chris Dixon is one of my favorite people in tech and writes one of the few blogs I read religiously. He is the CEO of Hunch , company that I believe is solving a very big problem that I have been telling entrepreneurs needs to be solved for the past 2 years. I’ve also found him to not be dogmatic either. West Coast”).

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Venture Capital Startup Artificial Inteligence 281

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. This overview (executive summary) needs to include: Product and Business What is the product? What are related products/companies?

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 264

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. This overview (executive summary) needs to include: Product and Business What is the product? What are related products/companies?

CTO Hire 259

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. I’ve seen too many companies go off track by a VC hell bent on the team pursuing the VCs strategy which at times is about chasing the next shiny object. Most VCs are book smart. I call them “ VCs Seagulls.”

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Or, as always, summary notes available below. Huge thank you to Steve De Long for the write up. Yeah, that was when I changed for me…” “…there was so much positive feedback on demystifying this one element of venture capital. But, in fact, I would rather have an executive summary than a pitch deck. was starting.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2017

of all Statistics are Made Up ” My summary is an example I use often: when I consumed reports from Goldman Sachs about the future predictions of mobile phone penetration for a report I was working on for a client I would call the analyst to ask how she calculated her data because I wanted to be sure of my conclusions.

Venture Capital 182

Venture Capital Statistics Writing Report 182

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Or read the quick, informative summary below the image! Don’t and you might make one catastrophic mistake that leaves you in the annals of Effed Companies. He is very hands-on and helpful – especially for any company looking into customer acquisition. Here’s a summary of our interview.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. One of them is profitability.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

Of course you could start your own company. As I talked about in “ Is it Time to Learn or Time to Earn ” – overwhelmingly the best economics go to those that start successful companies. Of course I’m not suggesting people shouldn’t start a company. For many people that’s the right answer.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Many MBA programs still cater too much to the needs of large, corporate management jobs or prepare students to enter big consulting companies or investments banks. I got an email recently from my friend & fellow VC, Jeff Bussgang from Flybridge Capital Partners in Boston. In Summary. And that leads me to today’s post.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. Other founders, “as a privately held company we don’t disclose our valuation.&# Me, “dude, I’m not a journalist. The VC assumes you’ll have an option pool.

Venture Capital 405

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

In the original version of his post, Andy writes. “I don’t know the exact math, but I hear it again and again: the top 2% of firms generate 98% of the returns in venture capital.” According to FLAG Capital there are 100 active VCs (as defined by making at least $1 million in VC per quarter for 4 consecutive quarters).

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2015

Every investor in your startup, even friends and family, normally expects a share of your company (equity), which means your return for all your effort goes down quickly. Otherwise find an inexpensive class on grant writing. Of course, nothing is really free in the business world. Seek funding from multiple sources concurrently.

Pricing 100

Pricing Equity Technical Review Research 100

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 3, 2012

His talk was especially intriguing, as he attended UCSB, but dropped out to start a clothing design company. The more you play around with ideas and you write them down, the better. This is a lead up into an executive summary. Resources – what contacts, capital, facilities and other assets will be required to execute the idea?

Ideas 266

Ideas Guide Startup Santa Barbara 266

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

I recommend that you start by writing down the attributes you would want people to think about when they think about your brand. Whatever you’re trying to brand – your company, your community or yourself – this is the first exercise I would recommend that you start with. Think about venture capital.

Startup 304

Startup Venture Capital Los Angeles Woodland Hills 304

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

I always tell founders … “An investors job is to deploy capital and make a return. If you truly believe that you, your company and your products are exceptional and your company will be valuable then you’re actually doing them a FAVOR by helping them invest in your startup. an investment in your company.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. I wrote the summary notes in this blog post. That notes only told part of the story.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 16, 2011

After 4 years of retail she went to “the other side of the business&# working for a clothing brand where she sold apparel to department stores and other companies. Below is a nice summary of our interview with some great quotes from Joanne. In the next generation everybody (including women (are going to write code).&#.

Startup 311

Startup Sales Venture Capital Entrepreneur 311

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

Short summary of my posts: 1. There are positive benefits to the right VCs being involved early – especially if your company or the economy hits bumps in the road. How this works: I try to set a price that feels like a fair balance between GRP and the company. I’ve written about it myself (Is VC Seed Funding Dead?)

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

Yesterday I wrote Part 1 of the series on the changes to the software industry over the past decade that has led to changes in the venture capital industry itself. If you don’t want to read that post, the summary is: Open source computing drove computing costs down 90%, which spurred innovation in technology. That’s wise.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Capital Software Startup 296

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 8, 2018

His talk was especially intriguing, as he attended UCSB, but dropped out to start a clothing design company. The more you play around with ideas and you write them down, the better. This is a lead up into an executive summary. Resources – what contacts, capital, facilities and other assets will be required to execute the idea?

Ideas 69

Ideas Startup Technical Review Santa Barbara 69

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

.” If you don’t read any more of the post, the summary lesson learned for entrepreneurs is this: Product-centric founders often over-intellectualize their communications and therefore fail to sell their concepts to the masses. This does not mean you shouldn’t solve big, complex problems or write complex code.

Entrepreneur 370

Entrepreneur Startup Press Venture Capital 370

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

Great companies are built by having great products. One great company, AppFolio , filmed all of this user interaction and made the DVD available to me. They are people who built and sold companies and have a bit of money. The key to getting money is that the people writing the check trust you. Go research it.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

There is much discussion online and also in small, private groups, about why the price of technology companies – public and private – are falling. Valuing any company can be difficult because it requires a degree of forecasting future growth & competition and ultimately the profits of the organization.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This is a long post, so I put an executive summary here if you want to get the point without reading all the detail. If you plan to read the post you can skip the summary if you want. Many people are visual thinkers.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

Bio summary: Aaron Ross is the founder of CEOFlow , which helps CEOs understand how to create predictable revenue, through guidance, groups and consulting. Who this is for: This is for CEOs of companies that have either raised $1m+ in capital or have $1m+ in revenues. Just write me). Unsure which session to attend?

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

Bio summary: Aaron Ross is the founder of CEOFlow , which helps CEOs understand how to create predictable revenue, through guidance, groups and consulting. Who this is for: This is for CEOs of companies that have either raised $1m+ in capital or have $1m+ in revenues. Just write me). Unsure which session to attend?

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

Bio summary: Aaron Ross is the founder of CEOFlow , which helps CEOs understand how to create predictable revenue, through guidance, groups and consulting. Who this is for: This is for CEOs of companies that have either raised $1m+ in capital or have $1m+ in revenues. Just write me). Unsure which session to attend?

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40