Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2011

In this three-part series I will explore the ways that the Venture Capital industry has changed over the past 5 years that I would argue are a direct result of changes in the software industry, not the other way around. So it’s unsurprising that typical “A rounds&# of venture capital were $5-10 million. I find this strange.

Venture Capital 334

Venture Capital Software Capital Startup 334

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

VC firms see thousands of deals and have a refined sense of how the market is valuing deals because they get price signals across all of these deals. As an entrepreneur it can feel as intimidating as going to buy a car where the dealer knows the price of every make & model of a car and you’re guessing at how much to pay.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

There is all sorts of advice on the Internet about how to raise capital. I’ve raised money as a “hot company” and I’ve raised capital when no one would return my phone calls. So they develop short-hand ways to qualify things better. So winning means they’re paying the highest price.

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2011

This is the final part of a 3-part series on the major changes in the structure of the software & the venture capital industries. With more competition in early-stage many VCs are investing smaller amounts at earlier stages. But … Downsizing Venture Capital. The series started here if you want to read from the start.

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Capital Cloud Computing Marketing 289

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2023

Projecting financials is a natural extension of the homework every entrepreneur needs to do on customer opportunity size, product costs, pricing, competition and customer value. Project your cash burn rate to keep at least 18 months between venture capital or angel investments. Forecast sales-volume expectations.

Startup 116

Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 116

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2010

I guess it may be impractical for Twitter to acquire Seesmic given it has raised considerable amounts of venture capital (reportedly $12 million) but the broader point for me is that I always believed Twitter should control the client versions of its product. Think about the creative tension. This should be as public as possible.

Acquisition 287

Acquisition Develop Development Conference 287

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

One of the least understood parts of the venture capital industry and venture capital firms is how investment decisions actually get made. I have developed a line of thinking and a common retort for people who ask about some of these deals and I often say, “I don’t mind being wrong.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Startup Invest 150

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

The sweeping infrastructure package put forward today by President Joe Biden comes with a price tag of roughly $2 trillion (and hefty tax hikes) but gives startups and the broader tech industry about $1 trillion worth of reasons to support it. A Biden presidency doesn’t need a Green New Deal to make progress on climate change.

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 19, 2015

Computers and the Internet have now brought in a new era that relies on data to make profitable business decisions in the competitive environment. Below is a full explanation of how small businesses can leverage technology to earn a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Cloud Services. Social Media Automation Tools. CRM Platforms.

Competition 40

Competition Technology Social Media Tips 40

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 7, 2013

The EA Conference annual fast pitch competition offers aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their business idea in 90 seconds or less to a panel of judges, providing high exposure to the investment and Venture Capitalist community. Get 20% off ticket prices by CLICKING HERE. TZ Hookups. William Hsu, co-founder of MuckerLab.

Competition 82

Competition UCLA Entrepreneur Conference 82

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

Fixed price bidding is the only effective outsourcing model.” Getting a fixed price bid works for well-defined short-term projects, like blogging or programming. Fair compensation is the lowest price we can negotiate.” I’ll outsource software development, since I don’t understand it.” Be flexible.

Outsource Development 138

Outsource Development Outsource Summary Training 138

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

He said it was better than the Yellow Pages because he would provide pricing transparency. So when he saw the browser it instantly dawned on him that this would be the greatest customer development tool ever. But also when you’re developing so is your competitor. If it worked in the Yellow Pages, why not on the Internet?

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2021

It provided an industry-leading graphic development interface, but was not so strong on modeling and simulation. As a result, we shared in capturing a new high-end market, without major new marketing or development. Capitalize on shared costs and common distribution. Ability to up-sell customers with related products.

Startup 173

Startup Outsource Development Examples Custom 173

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 8, 2020

The funding is being led by QED Investors; Founders Fund, Susa Ventures, Navitas Capital, and Prudence Holdings also participated. “It’s shameful what property developers have become,” Stech said. They operate on the principle of five F’s: “find, finance, fix, fill or flip” as Stech puts it.

Sales 282

Sales Demand San Diego Funding 282

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2023

Have you set the right price for your entree, and correctly included all costs? Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? Develop metrics with which to measure yourself and use these to incrementally expand and improve your offering as fast as the market and capital will allow.

Startup 112

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 112

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

If you don’t have a destination, don’t waste your money trying to get there, and don’t expect anyone to support you along the way Projecting financials is a natural extension of the homework every entrepreneur needs to do on customer opportunity size, product costs, pricing, competition and customer value. Quantify overhead costs.

Startup 147

Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 147

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2023

For decades, efforts to satisfy customers have been built around demographics – capitalizing on race, ethnicity, gender, income, and other attributes. Customers react poorly when they hear your value claims for them, and see more value to you (bottled water in your hotel room at a high price as a “convenience” to you).

Custom 131

Custom Customer Social Media Training 131

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 15, 2010

No problem to have some developers in remote locations. If you’re an entrepreneur, all else equal you prefer convertible debt because the deal is priced at a later stage when you’re worth more. A good compromise is “convertible debt with a cap&# meaning the conversion price has a limit. Don’t.

Venture Capital 210

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Southern California 210

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

During my time in Silicon Valley, I was struck by the fact that most successful entrepreneurs seemed to personally know and regularly hear from all the “movers and shakers” who had the investment capital and leadership they needed. Relationships are key to finding opportunities, building trust, and continuous learning.

Startup 113

Startup Custom Customer Technical Review 113

Berkonomics

MARCH 5, 2020

And fifth: Competitive risk. . If there are high barriers to entry with such protections as patents, long development time already spent or contracts with the major potential customers, then the risk of a competitor with more resources jumping into the frothy pool and taking advantage of the demand created by the company is minimized.

Outsource Development 156

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 156

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 9, 2017

Competitors, seeing a successful development of a niche, flock into the competitive void with products or services built with a fresh view of the current environment. LivingSocial took in $583 million in capital in 2010 and 2011 with little left in time to show for the investment and tremendous dilution to the founders.

Pricing 120

Pricing Invest Email Competition 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

Have you set the right price for your entree, and correctly included all costs? Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? Develop metrics with which to measure yourself and use these to incrementally expand and improve your offering as fast as the market and capital will allow.

Startup 156

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 156

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2019

Fixed price bidding is the only effective outsourcing model.” Getting a fixed price bid works for well-defined short-term projects, like blogging or programming. Fair compensation is the lowest price we can negotiate.” I’ll outsource software development, since I don’t understand it.” Be flexible.

Outsource Development 121

Outsource Development Outsource Entrepreneur Summary 121

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 26, 2010

Competition. And the reality is that if you have no competition it will likely be perceived as a negative, not positive. And the reality is that if you have no competition it will likely be perceived as a negative, not positive. where do you need to make investments to make up ground and therefore need capital?).

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital Slides Competition Education 313

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

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020

For decades, efforts to satisfy customers have been built around demographics – capitalizing on race, ethnicity, gender, income, and other attributes. Customers react poorly when they hear your value claims for them, and see more value to you (bottled water in your hotel room at a high price as a “convenience” to you).

Custom 158

Custom Customer Social Media Satisfaction 158

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2021

It's important that the CEO define alternatives and have a very clear view on how he will use the proceeds, including the option of not raising any outside capital at all. The CEO is the check and balance on the constant parallel pushes for more development, more marketing, and more growth. Craft an operational plan and make it work.

Startup 163

Startup eHarmony Networking Guide 163

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 5, 2010

Her experience includes helping startups for many years, and board positions on the Rocky Mountain and New Mexico Venture Capital Associations, New Mexico Angels, as well as several startups. Marty: What events led you to your commitment to venture capital investing? Stephanie: I love building companies. Oh, I couldn’t do that!”

Venture Capital 65

Venture Capital Capital Entrepreneur Competition 65

Berkonomics

MARCH 14, 2019

And fifth: Competitive risk. . If there are high barriers to entry with such protections as patents, long development time already spent or contracts with the major potential customers, then the risk of a competitor with more resources jumping into the frothy pool and taking advantage of the demand created by the company is minimized.

Outsource Development 120

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 120

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

But that doesn’t mean that people are paying rational prices as investors based on intrinsic value. Rational people can disagree and some may argue that today’s prices are rational and under-pinned by economic drivers. All of that might be true, but the 2006 price might still be over-valued. source: Capital IQ.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

You have to understand whether they’re likely to yield revenue growth in the near term OR whether you have access to cheap enough capital to fund your losses until your investments pay off. Have easy access to capital by investors who are committed to building businesses at Interent scale. Internet scale.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

We talked with Noah about how the company grew out of a business plan competition at the University of Southern California, his recent funding from the Maverick Angels, as well as how the firm hopes to stand out among a crowded list of comparison shopping sites. We then went out to raise money, and got started on development.

USC 207

USC CPC Sites Startup 207

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2010

This episode of This Week in Venture Capital featured Michael Montgomery, president of Montgomery & Co. You have to be selected to present and it is typically reserved for companies that have already raised early-stage capital and are well into revenue growth. Should you use investment banks to raise venture capital?

Venture Capital 242

Venture Capital Mission Ventures Capital Help 242

socalTECH

APRIL 26, 2017

Eugene Cho is CEO of San Diego-based Echo Laboratories (www.discover-echo.com), a startup which is developing a new kind of microscope. Eugene Cho: We have developed the first and only hybrid microscope. We've created an alternative, a hybrid microscope for the price of one. So we had to raise capital to meet orders.

Tech Coast Angels 124

Tech Coast Angels Startup Sales Slides 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2020

Sponsor some friendly competitive events with prizes. These can easily start new trends, or capitalize on existing ones. Apple expanded their business exponentially with app developers, and Amazon found new ways to make their suppliers look and act like they are part of the business.

Marketing 170

Marketing Startup Examples Custom 170

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As a startup in this phase you often raise capital, get press, hire staff and everything feels possible. In the case of MakeSpace we had huge initial successes in New York City as Rahul led the scaling of our drivers, our trucks and our warehouses and we figured out the right price points to beat the local competition.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Custom Customer 286

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

If you develop a strong set of KPIs for how you manage your business and then develop a regular pack that the board is used to seeing it shouldn’t require extra work to prep the quarterly board metrics pack. No great board wants you distracted with doing a whole bunch of financial analysis that is strictly for board purposes.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226