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. In fact, far better if you haven’t raised venture capital. This is minutes 8-11.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

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. I always tell founders … “An investors job is to deploy capital and make a return. You can short-hand this as “engagement.”

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

One of the hardest things about the fund-raising process for entrepreneurs is that you’re trying to raise money from people who have “asymmetric information.” I thought I’d write a post about how to talk about valuation at a startup and give you some sense of what might be on the mind of the person considering funding you.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2020

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined a long time ago from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Funding or rollout stage.

Resource 171

Resource Startup Organization Incubator 171

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

My view: “Spending any time or energy trying to game the ‘definition’ of your round of fund raising is a total waste. There weren’t a lot of seed funds in 2007 so this was often done by angels, funding consortia or sometimes early-stage funds that existed then (First Round Capital, True Ventures, SoftTech VC, etc.).

Seed Funding 399

Seed Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 399

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. Prorata investments rights given investors the right to invest in your future fund-raising rounds and maintain their ownership % in your company as your company grows and raises more capital.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

socalTECH

MARCH 29, 2012

In yet more money for the subscription e-commerce sector in Los Angeles, Quarterly , a startup which delivers monthly, curated gifts from cultural influencers via subscription, has raised $1.25M in a funding round. The funding was first disclosed in a regulatory filing this week. READ MORE>>.

Commerce 166

Commerce Writing Demand Los Angeles 166

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 5, 2019

Due to the overwhelming demand to pitch at our last event in San Diego, we're throwing an exclusive PitchFest speed dating event where you will be pitching to over 20 investors one-on-one! At this San Diego Event, we will be showcasing some of the newest early-stage venture funds and angel groups in the San Diego area!

San Diego 100

San Diego Venture Capital Angel Summary 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2013

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined before from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Funding or rollout stage. Do it right and enjoy real progress in each step of the journey.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Funding Incubator Startup 102

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Why you should set up a board at the seed round of funding I know these days with SAFE documents and rolling convertible notes many founders prefer not to set up a board early on. What happens at the A-round of venture capital? How does control start to change at the B-round of funding? But it’s quite rare.

Startup 236

Startup Venture Capital Tips Capital 236

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

Most relevant to startups is the push to fund initiatives and technologies that can help prevent or protect against extreme wildfires; rising sea levels and hurricanes; new agriculture resource management; and “climate-smart” technologies. ” Climate resiliency .

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

To grow faster businesses need resources in today to fund growth that may not come for 6 months to a year. Venture capital isn’t right for many business but if you do want to raise from a VC at some point you need to understand that often investors care more about growth than profits. See appendix if you want to know more on this.)

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2013

” In the article I discussed the downside of raising capital at a too high of a price and referred people to a previous article I had written encouraging founders to raise “ At the Top end of Normal ” as opposed to stratospheric prices. If we count seed funds and large angels maybe that number goes up by 2x?

Pricing 302

Pricing Seed Funding Invest Venture Capital 302

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2011

Thiel is providing his mentees with capital to make their startups a reality. When you don't accept capital from someone else, you aren't beholden to anyone else's input. An inflated sense of financial well-being can result in sloppy budgeting and accounting as you write checks here and there without pause.

Startup 92

Startup Capital Blogging Ideas 92

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2016

I even prefer to fund entrepreneurs who have experience some level of set-backs in their careers or startups because I think it brings a humility to decision-making that I find healthy. In London when founders failed they were ostracized in the press and culturally I believe it became harder to raise capital.

Startup 261

Startup Press Blogging .Net 261

Xconomy

OCTOBER 1, 2019

Now, as demand for engineered DNA rises, a handful of startups are vying to become the go-to provider for researchers looking for improved versions of the DNA sequences. The company has developed an enzymatic approach to writing DNA that can. On Tuesday, the San Diego biotech said it had raised $12.2

San Diego 43

San Diego Research Writing Demand 43

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 15, 2019

The company recently raised a round of funding from Santa Barbara-based ScOps Venture Capital. There's lots of noise in the on-demand tutoring space, especially connecting people virtually, however, in my experience, it's in the best interest of consumers to get in-person, local tutoring. What is HeyTutor?

Startup 113

Startup Venture Capital Beverly Hills Acquisition 113

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2016

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined some time ago from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Funding or rollout stage.

Organization 93

Organization Startup Incubator Ideas 93

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

As I’ve written about recently, at Upfront Ventures we started talking a couple of years ago about wanting to fund stuff with more meaning. I think this is a combination of being realists as venture capitalists that outsized returns in our funds must come from taking on bigger, more impactful projects that can move markets.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

Redpoint Ventures is one of the venture capital firms which has straddled both Northern California and Southern California, with offices in both locations. We've made over 30 investments in Southern California, and that's just in Redpoint, and doesn't include all of the investment we made as Brentwood Venture Capital since the late 70's.

Redpoint 154

Redpoint Southern California Cornerstone OnDemand Invest 154

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2: As expected at least one person accused me of writing this post because I want to see lower valuations. I have conversations with entrepreneurs and other VCs on a daily basis about fund raising, the prices of deals, how much companies should raise, etc. I acknowledged this in the article. I’m just making the commentary.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

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. Brad Feld hadn’t written his seminal “ term sheet series &# and The Funded hadn’t yet been created. Industry standard post your first round of funding will be 15-20%.

Venture Capital 405

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405

InfoChachkie

MARCH 18, 2013

In order to extract value beyond your Angel investors' cash, you must first assess three important parameters: (i) the relative strength of their personal brand, (ii) their ability to add operational value, and (iii) the amount of care and feeding they will demand from you. If the pitch sounds good, they are "in."

Angel 217

Angel Technical Review RSS Entrepreneur 217

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 25, 2016

If such write-downs only impacted the faux unicorns and their avaricious investors, there would be little need for alarm. For instance, a company-friendly investor typically only participates in a follow-on funding round beyond their pro rata participation with the Founders’ explicit approval.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Invest Venture Capital 100

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!” To grow faster businesses need resources in today’s financial period to fund growth that may not come for 6 months to a year.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 17, 2019

Harris writes: “The figures, dating back to 2016, paint a picture of a company desperate to meet over-ambitious autonomy targets and one that is willing to spend freely, even recklessly, to get there. .” Uber is in talks with Softbank Vision Fund and Toyota to raise $1 billion for its self-driving unit Uber ATG.

San Fernando 217

San Fernando Los Angeles Commerce News 217

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Given how efficient markets are when a large market like LA starts to blossom it attracts capital pretty quickly. billion in venture capital to LA’s technology startups and 2014 will shatter that figure. Both are massively funding other LA tech companies through what Fred Wilson once defined as “recycled capital.”

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

I had an enjoyable conversation this morning with a young team straight out of college this morning and they were calling to ask advice on how to approach fund raising (angels vs. VCs, how to select a VC, etc.) So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. It’s not you.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

In the Los Angeles startup world, there are lots of high profile, buzzy companies which have lots of attention and funding--but which haven''t earned a dime of revenue. We caught up with CEO and co-founder Brett Rossman to learn more about the company and how it''s been able to grow, profitably, all without raising a dime of outside capital.

Startup 239

Startup El Segundo Marketing Media 239

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2012

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined before from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Funding or rollout stage.

Resource 94

Resource Startup Organization Incubator 94

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

The company--which is in the business of operating a content delivery network (CDN) to accelerate the delivery of web graphics, multimedia, applications, and more to end users-- recently disclosed it more than doubled its revenues in 2012, and has grown to over 230 employees--all due to a huge amount of demand for CDN services by its customers.

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2015

They suffered in trying to live up to public perceptions and the demands to continue their successes. In both cases the biopics portray suffering souls who find extreme and sudden success that casts them into the public eye in a way that they weren’t prepared for. Mark Suster (@msuster) July 19, 2015. Of course that’s true.

Press 150

Press Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2011

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined before from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Funding or rollout stage.

Startup 92

Startup Organization Incubator Ideas 92

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

And he was still in the process of raising additional capital, so it was equity only. Bottom line, if there’s significant development, you need capital or a founder needs to go source the equity-only developers. and if you can’t then you better start thinking of ways to raise enough funds to be able to pay them something.

CTO Hire 241

CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity Develop 241

Jason Nazar

MARCH 22, 2011

1 of a product up and running in a few months weeks getting thousands of users for next to no capital, in Los Angeles many folks will take over a year and spend a million dollars just to get a beta product ready. Challenge #3 – There Needs to Be More Institutional Capital in Los Angeles.

Company 111

Company Companies Startup Twiistup 111

socalTECH

JULY 20, 2011

Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based HitFix (www.hitfix.com) an online news site focused on entertainment, announced it had raised $2M in a funding round. We thought it was a real opportunity to bring in some taste-maker editors, who could write specifically for that audience, and break news. Why the new funding round now?

News 173

News Entertainment Startup Bertelsmann 173

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 28, 2013

In addition to his leadership position with EdgeCast, Alex is a partner in several venture capital funds, and a board member of numerous companies including Web.com (NASDAQ: WWWW). Additionally, he has extensive application development, web hosting, and data center build-out and management experience. Alex earned a B.A.

SaaS 92

SaaS Cloud Computing CIO Web 92