Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

We have significant VC commitments (listed below) – every entering company will get $50,000 in funding, mentorship from top VCs and successful entrepreneurs plus free office space. Of these 19 have received funding (10 have received significant amounts of VC funding) and 5 have been acquired (2 for more than $30 million).

Venture Capital 287

Venture Capital Funding Startup GRP Partners 287

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. What kind of deals should I be doing? What stage?

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Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

To see the video of This Week in VC click on this link. What a pleasure that I got to spend an hour talking with both Om Malik (whom I’ve always respected his views) and Paul Jozefak , a venture capital partner at Neuhaus Partners in Germany (and formerly the head of Europe for SAP Ventures).

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Google Web Sites 225

InfoChachkie

MAY 6, 2013

The nasty and brutish deaths of the unfortunate turtles are disquieting , but the process ensures that the survivors are (on average) strong, healthy and able to capitalize on the ecosystem''s resources. There is a similar Darwinian aspect to venture capital investing.

Entrepreneur 246

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Capital 246

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2010

Had a great chat with Jim Armstrong who is a General Partner at Clearstone Venture Partners today on TWiVC. It was especially fun for me because we got the chance to talk about the VC industry and how entrepreneurs should think about the VC industry in addition to discussing deals. Now Google is a VC.

Clearstone 236

Clearstone Venture Capital ReachLocal Google 236

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2009

Handling PR with VCs. This is part of my series on How to Raise VC but could equally be filed under Startup Advice more generally. I recently got a phone call from an entrepreneur whom I respect and who runs a company that I hope will do great things one day. Press doesn’t mean anything other than free advertising.

Venture Capital 291

Venture Capital Press News Startup 291

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 29, 2014

One of the hardest things for most entrepreneurs to know is how hard to push in situations where people tell you “no.” ” But then again most entrepreneurs fail. I’d say less than 20% of of entrepreneurs fit into that bucket. I called it “the worst startup advice I had ever heard somebody give.”

Venture Capital 389

Venture Capital Email Startup Conference 389

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. In 2010 somebody posed the question on Quora, “Is Mark Suster a Successful Venture Capitalist?” “I think the best VCs help drive exits alongside their entrepreneurs. 5 years ago.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

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 noted in Entrepreneurs Shouldn't Pitch Their Ideas To Venture Capitalists , most sophisticated investors place their bets on people rather than opportunities.

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Venture Capital Summary Technical Review Template 211

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

She hasn’t raised any venture capital. She actually IS the prototypical entrepreneur. It represents the great majority of entrepreneurship and eschews the fairytale rags-to-VC-riches stories we so often read about in the press. But Tracy did what entrepreneurs do. That may soon change.

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

I have blogged about some of the downside consequences of the changes and the private information I have says the consequences are much worse than is reported in the press since few people publicly talk about. Does he blog about venture capital and try to advise entrepreneurs? Has written a book on venture capital.

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

Contrast that with a VC conversation I had. In case you don’t know – as VCs we have have 2 sets of customers: LPs (limited partners) who invest money in our funds and entrepreneurs (who we in turn give money to and help support them in building businesses we hope will be valuable). If not, somebody else will.

Customer 341

Customer Custom Venture Capital Software Review 341

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

I use George Bush vs. Al Gore as allegory and I’ve been using it with entrepreneurs for years to sink in a simple point about how to communicate with the market. But the narrative in the press about Al Gore was that he was a smarmy know-it-all. Bush had the opposite narrative in the press. It is election season.

Entrepreneur 370

Entrepreneur Startup Press Venture Capital 370

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

After all, I am no stranger to the publicly expressing the frustrations of dealing with the downside of this industry as I wrote about in 2006 when I was an entrepreneur. But VC is like congress. “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.”

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

If you’ve been following the press about VC funds you’ll know this is no small feat. Perhaps the biggest piece of new news is that after 17 years of operations we’ve changed our name from GRP Partners to Upfront Ventures. Well, the venture capital industry has changed a lot in the past 20 years … and we have too.

Funding 343

Funding Santa Monica Venture Capital Startup 343

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

It’s what life was like as an entrepreneur. But for some strange reason they make you file your progress on fund raising, which is the widely picked up by the press. But this is nothing like the stress of being an entrepreneur. What’s it really like being an entrepreneur? I’m reminded of this feeling.

Blogging 420

Blogging Press Entrepreneur Venture Capital 420

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2010

In today’s post I want to talk about the concept of a VC flightpath. This is my description of a VC process, not one I’ve heard from other VCs so don’t expect it to be accepted nomenclature. I have no idea why, but that’s always how it always felt to me when I was an entrepreneur raising money.

Venture Capital 275

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Capital Ideas 275

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2017

It’s why raising a round of capital often feels like a hollow victory because it almost feels like a temporary reprieve from the Grim Reaper and in a way every new round just sets the bar higher to clear for the next round of financing or the hope of reaching profitability. The best VCs follow up but then so, too, to the best entrepreneurs.

Funding 238

Funding Venture Capital Startup Course 238

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

But honestly there are times when being a VC can feel like that, too. But a couple of people replied with responses of such lack of comprehension that I thought it was worth expanding on for first-time entrepreneurs. She felt that her firm provides significantly more value as an advisor than simply a press shop. VENTURE CAPITAL.

Startup 363

Startup Venture Capital Coach Press 363

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Reverse due diligence on the investor is a comparable process whereby the entrepreneur seeks to validate the track record, operating style, and motivation of every potential partner.

Technical Review 138

Technical Review Startup Innocal Offshore 138

From the Venture Trenches

MARCH 27, 2013

The recent firing of Groupon’s CEO Andrew Mason is a cautionary tale of the increased scrutiny and heightened expectations that come from accessing increasingly larger amounts of investment capital. So, whether an entrepreneur raises money or not, they have to have a long-term vision. Is outside capital really required?

Venture Capital 45

Venture Capital Capital Anthem Startup 45

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. We’re staring to get the hang of how to divide the show up into talking about deals but also talking about issues for entrepreneurs during funding.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2013

And a few teams of super talented, educated and bright entrepreneurs make a few mill. It has even gone so far that we now have evocative headlines in the tech press such as “ Buy or Die ,” which is what got me thinking about this post. Almost certainly the startup would have raised some capital. Woo the press.

Press 357

Press Startup Yahoo Venture Capital 357

socalTECH

JANUARY 12, 2017

Barber--who has been in LA for 17 yyears--previously was GM and VP at Fingerprint Digital, and was founder and CEO of Scribble Press, and also served at McKinsey & Co., and was a corporate lawyer. READ MORE>>.

Press 100

Press Venture Capital Los Angeles Startup 100

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 10, 2013

It’s only 12 minutes long and if you’re a first-time entrepreneur (or second time, frankly) I encourage you to watch it if for nothing else than to get a sense that your struggles are universal. Stop reading their press releases or hearing their founder talk about he is crushing it. You psyche each other out.

Startup 412

Startup Press Course Entrepreneur 412

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

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. A day after I published this Changing Structure of VC article I noticed at least one “Angel Prorata Fund” on AngelList.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

Recently I wrote a post arguing to make the definition of a Startup more inclusive than that to which Silicon Valley, fueled by Venture Capital return profiles, would sometimes like to attach to the word. Local Capital – I do believe that you’ll struggle to get a community started without some local capital.

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Press San Diego 378

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

But in my experience as an entrepreneur and now spending my time amongst investors I can generalize that almost all VC investments in early stage technology & Internet investments come down to just four key factors. This post was prompted by an email exchange I had with a young entrepreneur. That’s fine.

Startup 360

Startup Venture Capital Invest Slides 360

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

One of the most common questions I hear from first-time entrepreneurs is, “How do I meet angels?” It’s why I talk about building VC relationships early – Lines, Not Dots. Fill your VC good will, build relationships, be helpful to them not just asking for things. When you want press, it will come.

Venture Capital 407

Venture Capital Press GRP Partners Blogging 407

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2023

Many entrepreneurs are so enamored with their product vision that they believe their own hype and are convinced that the market for their solution is so huge that no one will ask them for independent market research data. Successful entrepreneurs get the job done quickly, without breaking the bank. Martin Zwilling

Statistics 120

Statistics Research Report Newsletter 120

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 27, 2013

I mostly like to have coverage in the tech press where most of my customers (entrepreneurs) and business partners (other VCs) are. But I also need to address the other side of my customer base – the people who fund VCs (they are called LPs). Frankly, every VC’s, too. Kind of obvious.

Blogging 309

Blogging Journal Press Startup 309

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 5, 2022

A few minutes away from downtown Atlanta, Collab Studio ATL describes itself as “a tech-based one-stop shop for content creators, HBCU students and young entrepreneurs to achieve their business goals.” A post shared by Collab Studios (@collabstudiosatl). Image Credits: Robiiiworld (Brandy Merriweather via BStarPR).

Platform 210

Platform Social Media Netflix Content 210

SoCal Tech Calendar

MAY 18, 2012

Please join LAVA, PwC and a distinguished panel of industry experts and local VCs for their insights on the results of the Q1 2012 PwC/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree Report based on data from Thomson Reuters. The MoneyTree Report is a quarterly study of venture capital investment activity in the United States.

LAVA 113

LAVA Study Venture Capital Press 113

SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 24, 2012

The MoneyTree Report is a quarterly study of venture capital investment activity in the United States. As a collaboration between PwC and the National Venture Capital Association, based upon data from Thomson Reuters, it is the only industry-endorsed research of its kind. See [link].

Press 124

Press Venture Capital Study Report 124

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

I often ask entrepreneurs to consider, “What’s your objective? Do you imagine eventually raising VC and trying to build a faster growing company?” 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.

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

SoCal Tech Calendar

MAY 31, 2012

The MoneyTree Report is a quarterly study of venture capital investment activity in the United States. As a collaboration between PwC and the National Venture Capital Association, based upon data from Thomson Reuters, it is the only industry-endorsed research of its kind. See [link] (more)

Report 100

Report OCTANE Press Venture Capital 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I’m an entrepreneur at heart so I’m always inspired when I hear stories about innovation. It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. I need to take some VC meetings. This article originally ran on TechCrunch. I’m in Seattle this week. Of course I have.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317