Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

” It’s the most common refrain I hear from investors and even entrepreneurs these days. Let me start with the obvious baseline that most people probably know instinctively: Los Angeles is the 3rd largest technology startup ecosystem in the US. “There’s something going on in LA.” LA By The Numbers.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 2, 2014

Many startups these days are started by young, technical or product founders who are in the idealistic phase of their lives and careers. And it’s why many early-stage companies blow up. Look at many of the high profile companies you know and you can trace some press coverage of high-profile blow-ups in team members.

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Startup Coach Course Snapchat 385

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

This is something I think entrepreneurs don’t totally understand and it’s worthwhile they do. ” Here’s how all the drama started for me. A rounds back then seemed to be anywhere from $2-3 million (LA or NYC) or up to $5 million in Silicon Valley. $5 So VCs started writing some smaller A-rounds.

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Seed Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 399

socalTECH

MARCH 29, 2019

MiLA Capital , the venture capital firm that is behind the Make In LA hardware accelerator, says it has raised its first official venture capital fund, officially closing its first fundraise. Source of the funding for the new venture capital fund was not announced. Size of the fund was not announced. READ MORE>>.

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Capital Funding Startup Venture Capital 191

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2014

Of course this can be done and of course I am a big proponent of the rise of startup centers across the country as the Internet has moved from the “infrastructure phase” to the “application phase” dominated by the three C’s: content, communications and commerce. Local capital matters. Local mentors matter.

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Companies Company Startup Snapchat 369

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2017

One of the hardest decisions entrepreneurs make when they start a company and raise outside capital is figuring out what an acceptable “burn rate” is. The Basics The starting point — the 101 — is knowing the difference between gross burn and net burn. You start from the basics, which is if you raise $2.5

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Last week a company we enthusiastically backed, uBeam , led by a very special entrepreneur, 25-year-old Meredith Perry , announced a $10 million round of financing. Here I make the case that entrepreneurs must stay focused on the prize, not the doubters. Entrepreneurs. ” **. It can be one of the strongest motivators.

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Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

There are certain topics that even some of the smartest people I talk with who aren’t startup oriented can’t fully grok. It’s common cocktail party chatter to hear people confidently pronounce that some well known startup is sure to blow up because, “How could they succeed when they’re not even profitable!”

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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 often describe “chutzpah” as being able to skate right up to the line of acceptability without crossing over it.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2023

Over my many years of mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs and business professionals, I often hear a desire to start a new business, with a big hesitation while waiting for that perfect idea and perfect alignment of the stars. Start today building a bigger network. Success requires a great amount of hard work.

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Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur Software Review 149

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

Let me start by saying that Clayton is one of the most influential people on my thoughts about markets that led to both the concept behind my first startup and my main theses in investing. Startup Grind was a truly awesome conference and Derek the consumate host. He spoke about ROCE (return on capital employed).

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Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

In the days leading up to TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018, The Economist published the cover story, ‘Why Startups Are Leaving Silicon Valley.’ ” Venture capital investors are deploying capital outside the Bay Area more than ever before. ’ The author outlined reasons why the Valley has “peaked.”

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TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 8, 2020

Cybersecurity insurance startup At-Bay has raised $34 million in its Series C round, the company announced Tuesday. The round was led by Qumra Capital, a new investor. At-Bay was founded in 2016 by Rotem Iram and Roman Itskovich, and is headquartered in Mountain View.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2020

Thus smart business professionals are rapidly becoming the new entrepreneurs. As a mentor to startups, I see more startups that are really an individual professional, marketing themselves as a consultant or freelancer in this new gig economy. For existing trained professionals, it’s an opportunity to become an entrepreneur.

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Startup Social Media Course Entrepreneur 164

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

After a decade on the job I’ve started to speak more openly when newer industry colleagues now ask me what I’ve learned. We then help surround founders with other talent who want to join important causes but don’t have the startup idea themselves. Fundamentally venture capital is about human capital.

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Venture Capital Capital CTO Coach Startup 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I was having dinner with a friend last night and we were chatting about venture capital and a bit about what I’ve learned. I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). Don’t even get me started on Demo Days.

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Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

I spend a lot of time with startups and thus hear many companies talk about their approach to sales and their interactions with customers. Starting with a positive. Who else is going to tell a VC if he got a bad reference from an entrepreneur or fellow VC? You’d be very wrong. The press don’t get your financials.

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Custom Customer Venture Capital Software Review 341

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 16, 2020

Its round will be used to speed up its growth through strategic hires and partnerships, according to UNest. Ksenia Yudina initially founded the company to provide financial planning and services to lower- and middle-class families looking for ways to start saving for their children’s education, she said.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2022

Every entrepreneur I know is dismayed by the number of friends who approach them with a line such as “I have an even better idea that will change the world, and one of these days I’m going to get around to starting my own business.” Others are debilitated by their fear, avoid risk at all costs, and never start.

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Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Knowledge Base 153

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. would you want to give up the right to invest in subsequent rounds? Do investors always take up their prorata rights in later rounds?

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Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2022

With the cost of entry at an all-time low, and the odds of success equally low, more and more entrepreneurs are starting multiple companies concurrently. Other prolific entrepreneurs, like Richard Branson and Elon Musk , simply have several startups on the table at any given moment. Optimize your advisers and investors.

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Entrepreneur Startup Resource Course 145

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

I have long advised startup companies that if you don’t control your messaging somebody else will and your potential customers will form impressions of you shaped by somebody else or by nobody at all. It will affect your ability to get the right jobs and promotions as well as your ability to attract talent and capital.

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Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

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.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

We are often asked how companies get funded, why VCs make the decisions we make and what we’re looking for in entrepreneurs. Andrew & Petri posed a question to me, “If Walt Disney were starting his company today, what kind of company would he build? But I’m guessing the narrative is similar elsewhere.

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Funding Technical Review Startup Screening 373

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 25, 2021

The partners at MaC Venture Capital , the Los Angeles-based investment firm that has just closed on $103 million for its inaugural fund, have spent the bulk of their careers breaking barriers. MaC Venture Capital co-founders Marlon Nichols, Michael Palank, Charles King, and Adrian Fenty. Image Credit: MaC Venture Capital.

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Venture Capital Capital Los Angeles Invest 225

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2014

This blog started from a series of conversations I found myself having over and over again with founders and eventually decided I should just start writing them.It Kobe is famous for waking up crazy early every morning and practicing for longer and harder than nearly anybody else in the NBA. The rest you should see for yourself.

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Competition Startup Writing Marketing 394

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. And why I woke up at 4.50am. But this is nothing like the stress of being an entrepreneur. What’s it really like being an entrepreneur?

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TechCrunch LA

MAY 23, 2019

The Los Angeles ecosystem is $76 million stronger today as Fika Ventures , a seed-stage venture capital firm, announces its sophomore investment fund. Fika invests roughly half of its capital exclusively in startups headquartered in LA, with a particular fondness for B2B, enterprise and fintech companies.

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Funding Startup Seed Funding Los Angeles 218

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

A new program, run by the Alliance for Southern California Innovation, is looking to connect startups with Series A funding, according to the group. According to the two, the program recruits and selects top SoCal-based startups that have demonstrated clear market traction and provides introductions to leading venture funds.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

One of the reasons that now is the time to be an entrepreneur is the explosion of startup assistance organizations, usually called incubators or accelerators. Most of these are non-profits, set up by a university to commercialize new technologies, or a municipality to foster business development for the local economy.

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Resource Startup Incubator Seed Funding 159

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 26, 2024

Be careful about investor rights This important variation on money talks is an important consideration for entrepreneurs when seeking an investment from professionals such as VCs. Something like a marriage (and often lasting just as long statistically), your investment partner can be a great cheerleader, coach and resource.

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Coach Venture Capital Statistics News 156

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 22, 2018

In an attempt to boost diversity and inclusion efforts and civic engagement between the growing technology industry in Los Angeles and the community that surrounds it, over 80 venture capitalists and entrepreneurs joined the city’s mayor, Eric Garcetti, and the non-profit Annenberg Foundation to announce PledgeLA. The landmark.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

Kara said “no” because she wanted to start her own company, which she did and I backed. In any job you either find leadership opportunities for your best people BEFORE they ask or other people start asking them to become leaders somewhere else. Leadership is about recognizing your next generation of talent and helping lift them up.

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Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Every so often I find myself caught up in a really hectic 3-4 week schedule where it seems like I float endlessly betweens meetings. I get sucked up in “Do” mode. Startups Are for Doers. Now, I’m pretty on the record that being an entrepreneur is about being great at The Do. Board Meetings. Conferences.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

In my view, starting a new business has never been easier, and according to reports from the Kauffman Foundation , the numbers are here to show it. The rate of new entrepreneurs increased between 2013 and 2019, from 280 out of 100,000 to 310 out of 100,000 of the adult population. Establishing your brand with interactive social media.

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Tips Startup Social Media News 161

TechCrunch LA

MAY 29, 2019

Los Angeles-based PlayVS (pronounced “play versus”) wants to become the dominant platform for amateur esports, starting at the high school level. Eric P: You have a fascinating background as a serial entrepreneur while you were a teenager. Eric P: And this segued into tech startups after meeting Jon Triest from Ludlow Ventures?

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Startup Coach Competition Los Angeles 204

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2021

The best part of being an entrepreneur is having the independence to make your own decisions, the flexibility for a better work/life balance, and personal satisfaction from driving change. The road to business success is filled with challenges and frustrations that most aspiring entrepreneurs never even imagined.

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Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Satisfaction Social Media 174