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Venture Capital is About Human Capital

Both Sides of the Table

Entrepreneurs are supposed to have insights that others don’t have and we’re supposed to be good judges about which entrepreneurs and executives have both the most clever ideas and the right skill sets to do transformational things against all odds. Fundamentally venture capital is about human capital. Nothing fancier.

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What Makes an Entrepreneur? Four Letters: JFDI

Both Sides of the Table

I had a picture in the office of my first company with the logo above and the capital letters JFDI. (In In case it’s not obvious it’s a play on the Nike slogan, “Just Do It.&# ) I believe that being successful as an entrepreneur requires you to get lots of things done. Good entrepreneurs are wrong often.

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Realistic Entrprenuers Guide to Venture Capital

SoCal CTO

Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of TechEmpower , a Los Angeles Web Development firm, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO. He has been the CTO for several start-ups, most notably eHarmony. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO?

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Ryan Blair, HashtagOne: From Gang Member, To Entrepreneur, To Anti-VC

socalTECH

I want to invest in entrepreneurs that have the capacity to be number one at whatever they are doing, and do it within our skill base, which is direct-to-consumer. So, now, as a VC, I swore I'd never treat entrepreneurs like those VCs treated me. I love entrepreneurs. It was really the same business, but with less capital.

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Attorney and Startup Business Advisor – Aaron Shechet

SoCal CTO

I feel too many people are discouraging, and as a result, too many entrepreneurs are discouraged and give up. We are not “finders” and usually serve the role of advisor and attorney. Sometimes we draft business plans and coach the entrepreneurs on their pitch, and sometimes we even help develop a business model.

Startup 150
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Product Manager Entrepreneur Mark Geller

SoCal CTO

He has a really interesting background as a product manager and now an entrepreneur. On the one hand, an entrepreneur should not be overly paranoid and should know the ropes that VCs and other professional investors generally will not sign NDAs to see the concept or a prototype--and even if they did, it would not provide much protection.

Product 150
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Interview with Bong Koh, LifeCrowd

socalTECH

Andy Wen was the CTO of Christianity.com, and the CTO of early online education firm VCampus, and he also ran the product and web security for eTrade, as well as started a company called Lighthound deals, like a Groupon. Tony Adam is an advisor, he was formerly at MySpace. Bong Koh: The experience there has all been positive.

Startup 271