TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Capitalism is fundamentally about timing, since market competition is about finding opportunities before others. Between TechCrunch today and my former roles in venture capital, I’ve had the opportunity to practice timing a lot. It’s the only way forward in capitalism, and it’s worth every investment you can make.

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

Simple metrics and your personal knowledge of the industry can’t keep up with all the relevant competitive forces. That means that many companies are now forgoing the rush to go public (IPO), in favor of major equity investments from specialized venture capital funds, such as Japan’s SoftBank.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

I like the ten steps he outlines, which I characterize here as follows: Seek major capital infusion. They need a large infusion from venture capitalists, private equity, bank loans, or mezzanine financing. Managing business growth is more than metrics. Most entrepreneurs are mavericks, and their passion drove their new business.

Startup 97

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 97

socalTECH

DECEMBER 11, 2017

Cloud Capital--has managed to coax those equipment rental yards into the digital age, and how the company has tackled other challenges in focusing its business. We sold that to a very large private equity company. Cloud Capital. Those need to be in place before applying capital. BigRentz is based in Irvine.

Startup 174

Startup Metrics Customer Custom 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2019

For a successful launch and scalable growth, they need to establish many checkpoints, with metrics to assess their progress and alignment with the vision. Capitalize on what already exists. Build your brand equity and relationships with customers. Don’t let that communication fade post-launch.

Startup 88

Startup Demand Training Customer 88

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

I like the ten steps he outlines, which I characterize here as follows: Seek major capital infusion. They need a large infusion from venture capitalists, private equity, bank loans, or mezzanine financing. Managing business growth is more than metrics. Most entrepreneurs are mavericks, and their passion drove their new business.

Startup 108

Startup Sales Metrics Entrepreneur 108

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2018

Capitalize on the lessons from early adopters and competitors. Smart startups save cost and time by capitalizing on the pivots of others before them. Most equity investors tend to avoid truly disruptive technology startups, since they take longer and more money to scale.

Startup 65

Startup Social Media Study Research 65

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

I like the ten steps he outlines, which I characterize here as follows: Seek major capital infusion. They need a large infusion from venture capitalists, private equity, bank loans, or mezzanine financing. Managing business growth is more than metrics. Most entrepreneurs are mavericks, and their passion drove their new business.

Startup 56

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 56

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Without taking a dime of outside capital, the company has achieved impressive success in a competitive, SaaS market segment, landing companies such as Nike, Intuit, NASA, AutoDesk and PBS. Greathouse: Did you decide to bootstrap the business from the start or did you initially plan to take in investor capital? I’ve been there.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2014

Capitalize on the lessons from early adopters and competitors. Smart startups save cost and time by capitalizing on the pivots of others before them. Most equity investors tend to avoid truly disruptive technology startups, since they take longer and more money to scale.

Technology 103

Technology Entrepreneur Study Research 103

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2013

I like the ten steps he defines, which I can summarize here as follows: Seek major capital infusion. They need a large infusion from venture capitalists, private equity, bank loans, or mezzanine financing. Managing business growth is more than metrics. Most entrepreneurs are mavericks, and their passion drove their new business.

Sales 96

Sales Metrics Startup Entrepreneur 96

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 16, 2015

There’s plenty of capital out there, but there’s also a lot of competition for startup funding. His best advice: take capital where you can get it. If your product is capital-intensive this can be a good financing option. Expect to be diluted by 20-25% with each equity round. Vendor funding. Venture debt.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Equity Funding 40

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2010

I’ve heard the following so many times that it still makes me scratch my head, “if those guys are going to get rich off of our backs then we’re going to look like fools if we don’t have equity.&#. I’ve already made clear that I think raising equity from “strategic money&# is an oxymoron.

Startup 298

Startup Sales Slides Metrics 298

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2016

Capitalize on the lessons from early adopters and competitors. Smart startups save cost and time by capitalizing on the pivots of others before them. Most equity investors tend to avoid truly disruptive technology startups, since they take longer and more money to scale.

Technology 57

Technology Startup Study Research 57

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 20, 2014

Leave it to me to spend 14 hours in Dallas on the very day that three of my favorite industries crush capital… * Social marketing, with $14M through Bessemer Venture Partners and Harrison Metal Capital to Main Street Hub. WordPress, by way of $15M via North Bridge Growth Equity in WPEngine.

Technical Review 71

Technical Review Commerce Yahoo Web 71

socalTECH

MARCH 6, 2017

Los Angeles-based Maple Media (maplemedia.io) recently announced a big, $30M funding from Shamrock Capital, to assemble a collection of mobile applications in the utility, productivity, games and entertainment verticals. A lot of what we've been looking at are the metrics. What's the idea behind Maple Media?

Media 153

Media Mobile Startup Acquisition 153

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Quantify existing skin-in-the-game, by insiders and outsiders, including sweat equity and capital. Financial forecast and metrics. Include a current valuation estimate.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Quantify existing skin-in-the-game, by insiders and outsiders, including sweat equity and capital. Financial forecast and metrics. Include a current valuation estimate.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

We had a special edition of This Week in Venture Capital this week shooting out of the Next New Networks offices in New York. Our guest was Mo Koyfman of Spark Capital. The Spark Capital website (it’s one of my favorites). Company grew by more than “400% each year” for past few years [assume growth metric = revenues].

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Quantify existing skin-in-the-game, by insiders and outsiders, including sweat equity and capital. Financial forecast and metrics. Include a current valuation estimate.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

I'm working quite a bit with startups who are leveraging social media, but I'm finding it hard to predict success and metrics. And how can an early stage company think about social media relative to important startup metrics (see [link] )? I'm sure that you had to think about that at Google and United Online. How did you do that?

Product 150

Product Entrepreneur Social Media Google 150

CEO Flow

FEBRUARY 27, 2009

By Connie Loizos, of peHUB (Thomson-Reuter’s private equity blog). They don’t take into account that the metrics involved in outbound sales (owing to customer acquisition costs) makes that data meaningless. “A New Support Group for CEOs Emerges&#.

Sales 40

Sales Metrics Organization Customer 40

CEO Flow

FEBRUARY 27, 2009

By Connie Loizos, of peHUB (Thomson-Reuter’s private equity blog). They don’t take into account that the metrics involved in outbound sales (owing to customer acquisition costs) makes that data meaningless. “A New Support Group for CEOs Emerges&#.

Sales 40

Sales Metrics Organization Customer 40

CEO Flow

FEBRUARY 27, 2009

By Connie Loizos, of peHUB (Thomson-Reuter’s private equity blog). They don’t take into account that the metrics involved in outbound sales (owing to customer acquisition costs) makes that data meaningless. “A New Support Group for CEOs Emerges&#.

Sales 40

Sales Metrics Organization Customer 40

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

CircleUp is an online social marketplace that supports direct equity investments from individual investors to small private consumer and retail companies. There are a sea of writeboard walls with rainbow scribbles of metrics and brainstorms. image EPA/Andrew Gombert. I guess nice guys don’t finish last after all.

Startup 104

Startup Technical Review Search Engine Optimization Los Angeles 104

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

He believes that one of the financial metrics taught at business schools and reinforced by Wall Street has accelerated offshoring of industries. He spoke about ROCE (return on capital employed). Venture Capital. New company in Boston with a model called “royalty capital.” I don’t believe it.

Venture Capital 403

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Berkonomics

JANUARY 16, 2014

Access to capital unavailable to either partner singly. Example: salary, equity, joint venture, etc… Can the business afford it? Clarify operation responsibilities and metrics used to measure performance. Addition of new services or product lines. Addition of essential expertise and knowledge to propel the business forward.

Technical Review 204

Technical Review Startup Examples Metrics 204

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

EcoMom’s metrics improved throughout this process and that’s when I decided to invest. To conclude, I note that we’re all in the same ecosystem (angels, seed, VC, growth equity, IPOs) and should view each other as collaborative even though we sometimes compete. EcoMom Makes a Breakthrough in its Search for Funding.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292