Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

I got an email recently from my friend & fellow VC, Jeff Bussgang from Flybridge Capital Partners in Boston. Jeff (also an HBS alum) co-teaches the LTV course with Professor Eisenmann about a student of theirs who had written a blog post about sales taking on some of my previous assertions. Specifically, 1.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

Just as I was getting the swing of things the world shifted beneath my feet and the stock market went into a free fall and venture capital all but shut down for nearly a year. We not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k?—?$15 15 million first checks but we also have three growth funds. Over the past 2.5

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Bain Capital Ventures' Jamison Hill. We are in phase three of the influencer economy,” Bain Capital Ventures senior principal Jamison Hill, who led the firm’s investment in the influencer shoutout marketplace Cameo , tells TechCrunch. Podfund , for example, writes checks sized between $25,000 to $50,000 to emerging podcasters.

Platform 170

Platform Marketing Tool Venture Capital 170

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

This time by the efforts of Adeo Ressi to introduce a new kind of structure called “ convertible equity.” My initial reaction to Adeo when we spoke was that while it may have solved some issues (debt versus equity) it didn’t solve the ones that I’ve been warning entrepreneurs about most loudly.

Startup 354

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

When an entrepreneur takes on investors who take equity (i.e. The board is where large equity investors get their representation. I really like it when independent directors write a check into the company. That way somebody who writes $25,000 gets $50,000 worth of stock plus warrants. obviously make an exception.

Startup 187

Startup Writing Venture Capital Oracle 187

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2018

I have seen this in cases where a fight would take the CEO’s time & attention away from important business dealings or where the cost of not settling is huge (as in, inability to raise more capital until the dispute is resolved). It might be that you assess the situation and realize you can’t win if you were to carry on the fight.

Startup 199

Startup Writing Demand Equity 199

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

Boards are not appointed to be founder-friendly lapdogs for the 1–3 founders who start companies and usually own the largest equity positions in the company. The rise of crowd funding saw the first wave of founders gleeful that they could raise capital without having to deal with terrible VCs. Those seldom get reported.

Startup 217

Startup Technical Review Equity Report 217

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. Is outside capital really required? Groupon raised seven series of private equity before going public.

Venture Capital 45

Venture Capital Capital Anthem Startup 45

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. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. In sales there are also three rules: Qualify, qualify, qualify.

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Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

There are many times when being overly capitalized before you’re ready is a negative. Plus, most early-stage M&A fails so this isn’t likely a good use of capital for a young company). Availability of Capital. ” Whatever answers they have manufactured the only thing I hear is, “Because we can.”

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

In many ways I think general purpose writing & thinking skills are as valuable as math skills. He spoke about ROCE (return on capital employed). The numerator (return) encourages more sales, which is fine. Venture Capital. New company in Boston with a model called “royalty capital.”

Venture Capital 403

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

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

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

Yesterdays’ equity round of $1.6 million, brings the company’s aggregate amount of capital raised to $2.5 25 Years of Writing Code. At BigVisible, he coached teams at Capital Group as part of a large 1,400 person company-wide agile transformation. million Raised. and Schlumberger.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Software Review Bertelsmann Technology 88

Berkonomics

JANUARY 16, 2014

Access to capital unavailable to either partner singly. Example: salary, equity, joint venture, etc… Can the business afford it? Create roles and guidelines in the potential partnership: What role and responsibility will each of the partners have including operation, financial, sales, marketing, etc.? Access to new technologies.

Technical Review 204

Technical Review Startup Examples Metrics 204

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

Often when startups who have raised venture capital need another round of financing they will turn to their existing investors to give them money before raising from outsiders. a loan) that is later converted to equity at the time of the next financing. It starts as a debt instrument (e.g.

Startup 290

Startup Funding Venture Capital Pricing 290

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

First Principles. Steve Blank , January 25, 2010 10 Tips for Adding Game Mechanics to a Non-Gaming Service - ReadWriteStart , September 21, 2010 Startups & VCs: Learn How to Design, Market, & Eat Your Own. -

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

InfoChachkie

JUNE 4, 2012

As an entrepreneur, I helped create companies which achieved two IPOs and two trade sales totaling $385 million. Rationale: My idea is so mind-blowingly fantastic that I must immediately spend some of my precious capital to protect it. Public relations at a startup is a sales process. Secure Your Intellectual Property Too Early.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Outsource Ideas Technical Review 272

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

” It was meant both as a call to those writing angel checks into other people’s companies that they ought to think about putting that capital toward themselves either by becoming a startup founder or (and this was my real point) by taking an under-market salary in a company where they can learn the right skills to do it in the future.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

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. The problem is that stakeholders, like marketing and sales, don’t know what the latest version of the roadmap is.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2013

Every startup needs access to capital, whether for funding product development, for initial rollout efforts, acquiring inventory, or paying that first employee. These commitments should always be positioned in writing as promissory notes, or so-called bridge-loans, which convert to equity at a rate determined by later investors.

Startup 97

Startup Entrepreneur Equity Examples 97

socalTECH

AUGUST 4, 2011

Jeff Zwelling is the co-founder of Convertro (www.convertro.com), a Los Angeles company focused on helping companies track how their marketing efforts are leading to sales conversions. Instead, after a private equity firm offered to buy YLighting, we negotiated to keep the technology that we had developed. Jeff Zwelling.

Startup 210

Startup Marketing Customer Custom 210

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

…” I’ll write soon on my views of why I believe Instagram took off as a social network and what I think comes next. 99.9999% of you won’t be contemplating raising capital at $500 million any time soon or selling for a billion. My friend Christin Herron of Intel Capital weighed in on the issue.

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

What better than to have capital from somebody who has actually done it in the trenches? Matt’s commitment to re-investing in tech startups is reminiscent to this great Fred Wilson post of “recycling capital. &#. Big thank you to Darius Vasefi , of EyeOnJewels for the write up. He told them it was now or never.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

Most advisors will tell you to write the business plan first (20-30 pages), then distill the key points into a set of Microsoft PowerPoint slides for standup presentations to potential investors. Marketing, sales, and partners. Describe marketing strategy, sales plan, licensing, and partnership plans. Exit strategy.

Slides 94

Slides Competition Sample Sales 94

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I will write more about this in the next 2 weeks. I guess that makes USV, Spark Capital, Foundry Group, Accel, Benchmark, Revolution (along with several others) pretty happy right now. source: Capital IQ. source: Capital IQ. Still, market amnesia by ordinarily rational actors always surprises me. I believe that.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

But any entrepreneurs raising capital should keep in mind that this opening of the markets could possibly be temporary. Three reasons: There is a relative valuation between the price a VC pays and their expectations of what it will exit for in an IPO or trade sale. I put my money on the latter.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Startup Invest Funding 263

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

How To Pitch A Product - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , August 4, 2010 I've said a bunch of times on this blog that the perfect pitch is a very short intro to provide context followed immediately by a demo. We had to write a CRM to keep track of them all. equity debate. More tiers = more complication = more confusion.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

We’re a national venture capital investment firm but with our roots firmly in Los Angeles. But putting no time into anchoring your beliefs because you’re too busy executing sales, marketing, support, product & engineering is an easy recipe for leadership drift. You don’t have unlimited equity to dole out.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

Who this is for: This is for CEOs of companies that have either raised $1m+ in capital or have $1m+ in revenues. We intend the group to be mostly CEOs of B2B companies and companies with some direct sales. Just write me). Date & Time: Friday, March 13. Session #1, for CEOs with VC investors or over $1m raised.

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

Who this is for: This is for CEOs of companies that have either raised $1m+ in capital or have $1m+ in revenues. We intend the group to be mostly CEOs of B2B companies and companies with some direct sales. Just write me). Date & Time: Friday, March 13. Session #1, for CEOs with VC investors or over $1m raised.

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

Who this is for: This is for CEOs of companies that have either raised $1m+ in capital or have $1m+ in revenues. We intend the group to be mostly CEOs of B2B companies and companies with some direct sales. Just write me). Date & Time: Friday, March 13. Session #1, for CEOs with VC investors or over $1m raised.

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

Who this is for: This is for CEOs of companies that have either raised $1m+ in capital or have $1m+ in revenues. We intend the group to be mostly CEOs of B2B companies and companies with some direct sales. Just write me). Date & Time: Friday, March 13. Session #1, for CEOs with VC investors or over $1m raised.

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I still think it’s best to take money from Dave when you’re also partnered with a more focused, hands-on seed-stage VC who brings different things to the table – like more ability to write larger checks in a downturn (for one) or solving a deep crisis that involves super hands-on involvement.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292