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

JUNE 18, 2023

All the investment money in the world won’t make your company succeed, if you have the wrong team. investors invest in people, not ideas) Effective and timely go-to-market. Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? Show return on investment, growth rates, and market penetration.

Startup 112

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 112

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

In my experience, here are some of the key elements of that “second-stage” of entrepreneurship: Move from small investors to major venture capital. Startups usually think in terms of a million to 10 million dollar infusions, but aspiring unicorns usually need to seek financial investments of hundreds of millions, or even a billion dollars.

Startup 151

Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2020

Others do far too little, assuming the viral effect and word-of-mouth will soon kick in, and sales will suddenly grow exponentially. There is no magic lever for growth, so several initiatives are required, with metrics to assess value returned. Ask every employee to focus on sales. Shorten the close cycle to grow faster.

Search Engine Optimization 131

Search Engine Optimization Startup Social Media Metrics 131

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

All the investment money in the world won’t make your company succeed, if you have the wrong team. investors invest in people, not ideas) Effective and timely go-to-market. Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? Show return on investment, growth rates, and market penetration.

Startup 156

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 156

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

A firm like ours has almost 100 different investments across all the various partners so we get to see some businesses very intimately. " Revenue doesn't pay your bills, GM does  —  @msuster 2/ Founders obsess with revenue as a vanity metric. Some even grow "bad" revenue just to show growth.

Software Review 242

Software Review Technical Review Pricing Metrics 242

InfoChachkie

MAY 22, 2012

The steps outlined below represent an ideal approach to raising capital from sophisticated investors. Send them a private message via Twitter or Quora that contains a compelling link relevant to their investment focus. Major League baseball pitchers spend far more time preparing to pitch than they actually do pitching.

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Capital Research Customer 236

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

I like the ten steps he outlines, which I characterize here as follows: Seek major capital infusion. But to scale the business, they need the complementary expertise, experience, connections, oversight, and new capital connections of a formal board of directors. Switch your attention from product development to sales.

Startup 97

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 97

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. If you hire 6 sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business for 4-6 months. “COGS” represents the amount that each sale costs you.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

Customers today quickly get beyond these, and put a competitive priority on the experience of others, reflected in reviews and social media, and their own total experience with your sales process, delivery, returns, and support on their schedule. You need to be part of a larger ecosystem. Find funders who seek long-term returns.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

socalTECH

MAY 17, 2019

Perspectium recently raised a funding round from TVC Capital. David Loo: Ultimately, at the C-level, the CIO requires data metrics and intelligence, in order to compete and make decisions and take actions to further a company's agenda. What is Perspectium? What specific problem were you seeing?

SaaS 113

SaaS Startup Customer Custom 113

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. He believes that one of the financial metrics taught at business schools and reinforced by Wall Street has accelerated offshoring of industries.

Venture Capital 403

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

One area I’ve had much discussion with the companies in which I’ve invested in is bringing on board an operationally focused CFO. It freed up Ophir to grow out our sales organization, to work more closely with agencies, to innovate on product and to raise capital. Here’s the dilemma. HR & Legal.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Metrics Startup Sales 150

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. Things that make it investment-grade for outside investors will also benefit you, since you are the ultimate investor. Marketing, sales, and partners. Financial forecast and metrics.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

I like the ten steps he outlines, which I characterize here as follows: Seek major capital infusion. But to scale the business, they need the complementary expertise, experience, connections, oversight, and new capital connections of a formal board of directors. Switch your attention from product development to sales.

Startup 108

Startup Sales Metrics Entrepreneur 108

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2018

All the investment money in the world won’t make your company succeed, if you have the wrong team. investors invest in people, not ideas) Effective and timely go-to-market. Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? Show return on investment, growth rates, and market penetration.

Startup 81

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 81

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. Really, we're the sales and marketing arm of those companies. Cloud Capital. They invested in 2014, and asked me to meet with Dallas Imbimbo, the CEO and Founder.

Startup 174

Startup Metrics Customer Custom 174

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

Put simply – you need enough users in a segment who care about what you’re doing to dictate investing further in the product or in sales & marketing resources. I see many companies these days just race to raise capital. They see capital raising at the success validator. You need product / market fit.

Startup 401

Startup Customer Custom Technical Review 401

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

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

I like the ten steps he outlines, which I characterize here as follows: Seek major capital infusion. But to scale the business, they need the complementary expertise, experience, connections, oversight, and new capital connections of a formal board of directors. Switch your attention from product development to sales.

Startup 56

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 56

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2016

All the investment money in the world won’t make your company succeed, if you have the wrong team. investors invest in people, not ideas) Effective and timely go-to-market. Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? Show return on investment, growth rates, and market penetration.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 93

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2013

I like the ten steps he defines, which I can summarize here as follows: Seek major capital infusion. But to scale the business, they need the complementary expertise, experience, connections, oversight, and new capital connections of a formal board of directors. Switch your attention from product development to sales.

Sales 96

Sales Metrics Startup Entrepreneur 96

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2010

I’ve observed the following scenario in both of my companies and in countless others I’ve advised or invested in: - your company becomes moderately high profile in a few press articles. If a company wants to invest in your company and you haven’t read that post please do. million in sales.

Startup 298

Startup Sales Slides Metrics 298

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Draw Your Ideas - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 16, 2010 I saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month. Through advertising or direct sales, these sites harvest intent. friend of mine asked me to chat with a startup he’d invested in. Tesla is not. It's a great talk. Your Process Doesn’t Work.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

socalTECH

JUNE 1, 2012

My other co-founder, Rusty Jenkins, was also with that company, doing sales. We will be opening up a a round of funding soon, as soon as we have some metrics and have been live in the market, and hope to raise some money and capital in the next thirty days. We're also funding it out of pocket.

CTO Coach 223

CTO Coach Startup Mobile Artificial Inteligence 223

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2016

Others do far too little, assuming the viral effect and word-of-mouth will soon kick in, and sales will suddenly grow exponentially. There is no magic lever for growth, so several initiatives are required, with metrics to assess value returned. Ask every employee to focus on sales. Shorten the close cycle to grow faster.

Search Engine Optimization 57

Search Engine Optimization Startup Social Media Metrics 57

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. Things that make it investment-grade for outside investors will also benefit you, since you are the ultimate investor. Marketing, sales, and partners. Financial forecast and metrics.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

If you invested in the first angel round of a startup company it is usually very hard to sell your stock – usually for many years if ever at all. The earlier you invest the higher the chances the company won’t work out and thus you pay a lower price than later-stage investors. Private markets for stocks are the opposite.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

And finally, Scott demonstrated his internal management tool for managing the metrics of his business. Company plans to use the capital to build out sales and marketing and r&d. -a led by Altos Ventures and Maverick Capital, with Larry Braitman. Current round: $4.2mm led by Spark Capital and Foundry Group.

Zag 248

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 248

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As a startup in this phase you often raise capital, get press, hire staff and everything feels possible. because three years ago we made an investment in hiring Ted Conbeer (now SVP of Strategy) who was formerly with Bain & Company and was director of customer insights at Tough Mudder. As an early-stage VC I love this phase.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

socalTECH

APRIL 4, 2011

Clark Landry: We're working with Rincon Venture Partners, Crosscut Ventures, Lerer Ventures, Thrive Capital, the Founder Collective, and Baroda Ventures. Those can be sales, coupon redemptions, or downloads. We're looking to staff up pretty aggressively, and are buildling out our engineering team, sales team, and ad operations team.

Advertising 198

Advertising Startup Santa Monica Social Network 198

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. Things that make it investment-grade for outside investors will also benefit you, since you are the ultimate investor. Marketing, sales, and partners. Financial forecast and metrics.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2012

All the investment money in the world won’t make your company succeed, if you have the wrong team. investors invest in people, not ideas) Effective and timely go-to-market. Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? Show return on investment, growth rates, and market penetration.

Startup 96

Startup Writing Metrics Marketing 96

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 17, 2019

As a business advisor, when I bring this up, at best I will hear the defense that you are focused on the strategy of the moment, such as such as how to increase sales, or reach a new market. Seek out and capitalize on emerging opportunities. The result is a business plateau that hits you like a ton of bricks.

Technical Review 87

Technical Review Customer Custom Competition 87

InfoChachkie

JULY 20, 2015

The latest evidence of the city’s dynamic startup ecosystem is the recent announcement by Citrix to investment significant resources in the Santa Barbara Innovator’s Program. Many of these individuals become restless in their youthful “retirement” and begin investing and advising young companies. From Lynda.com ’s recent $1.5

Santa Barbara 100

Santa Barbara Startup Sales Entrepreneur 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

Because at least while the VC spigot is open and flowing for high-potential individuals that fit a pattern that some VCs seem to favor they can access cheap capital that isn’t terribly dilutive and can use the to fund development and swing for the fences with limited focus on monetization. Or anybody who remotely resembles you.

Venture Capital 412

Venture Capital Startup Funding Snapchat 412

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

We love capital efficiency until we love land grabs until we abhor over funding until we get huge payouts and ring the bell for more funding until we attract every non-VC on the planet to invest in startups until it crashes and we start the cycle all over again none the wiser. VC funding. It forces innovation. I’ve seen it.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150