Berkonomics

MAY 22, 2014

Bill Payne has been actively involved in angel investing since 1980, funding over 50 companies and mentoring over 100 more. He is the recipient of the coveted “Hans Severiens Award form the Angel Capital Association, its highest honor. . I don’t fund new companies that have prepared PPMs for investment. By Bill Payne.

Writing 199

Writing Invest Entrepreneur Equity 199

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

As a member of the local angel group Selection Committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! Every startup needs both a business plan and an investor presentation, completed before you formally approach any investors.

Slides 94

Slides Competition Sample Sales 94

socalTECH

MARCH 16, 2017

Earlier this week, Derek Norton , a long time advisor to the media, Internet, and technology industry in Los Angeles, announced a brand new venture capital fund called Watertower Ventures (www.watertowerventures.com). That's the first time organized, institutional, managed capital is coming into a company, right after friends and family.

Invest 145

Invest Funding Capital Startup 145

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

“The climate-oriented investment in Biden’s new plan would be roughly ten times what came through ARRA,” wrote Shayle Kann, a partner with the investment firm, Energy Impact Partners. ” Climate resiliency . Given the steady drumbeat of climate disasters that hit the U.S.

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2014

I recently attended and presented at Dave McClure’s PreMoney conference in San Francisco. I wrote my version here and Scott wrote an excellent write-up of his views here. Here is the video of the presentation that I gave that preceded our debate. tl;dr version.

Venture Capital 309

Venture Capital SaaS Writing Funding 309

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 8, 2019

Responding to Elizabeth Warren’s call to regulate and break up some of the nation’s largest technology companies, the venture capitalists that invest in technology companies are advising the presidential hopeful to move slowly and not break anything. In this case the barrier would be reduced access to capital. ”

Technical Review 144

Technical Review Startup Chief Technology Officer Social Media 144

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 15, 2010

Jason started the Open Angel Forum in response to his frustration that entrepreneurs were being charged by some angel organizations to present at their events. Asking young companies with limited capital to pay to present to a group of potential investors is insane. In my next post I will write about one of the five companies.

Angel 254

Angel Startup Tech Coast Angels MyShape 254

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

” There are a lot of data points that one can observer to get a sense of the venture capital markets – both LP fundings into venture and VC financings of startups. The full presentation & data can be downloaded on SlideShare. Relatively harder to raise capital. State of the Market. Most flat rounds.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Course Marketing 150

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2016

We caught up with Steve Seigel , the executive producer and one of the stars of the new startup pitch program Hatched (www.hatchedtv.com), to learn more about those areas, as well as how he ended up going from investment banking, to running a healthcare startup here in LA, to hosting a television pitch show. You don't have that luxury in TV.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Invest Competition 100

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Huge thank you to Steve De Long for the write up. My initial desire to blog came from something that’s always been my approach to investing – I’m a nerd and I love to play with the technology and part of my approach has really been to understand things both at a user level and at a reasonably deep tentacle level. Brad on blogging.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 5, 2010

Her experience includes helping startups for many years, and board positions on the Rocky Mountain and New Mexico Venture Capital Associations, New Mexico Angels, as well as several startups. We invest in early stage IT startups and then oversee those portfolio companies through to exit. Stephanie: I love building companies.

Venture Capital 65

Venture Capital Capital Entrepreneur Competition 65

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 8, 2011

At one level it’s a terrible return on time investment, but on another level, it’s a really positive one. Writing a book is very different from writing a blog. One, I wanted to know what it was like to write a book. We… take apart how venture capital firms actually work and how the VCs get compensated.

Venture Capital 224

Venture Capital Writing Entrepreneur Blogging 224

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 17, 2017

He eventually founded and sold consumer health firm ViSalus to a public company and is now back making investments, in technology companies, as a venture capitalist here at Los Angeles-based HashtagOne (www.hashtagone.com). What's the theme of your investments? That's why we have investments in Heal, Saucey, and FragMob.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review 100

socalTECH

JANUARY 18, 2011

What that did, is it helped us to expand the service to help publishers do the following: identify what content to write, how to distribute that content to various mediums, and how to monetize that content. Journalists are notorious for not wanting to write based on revenues or commercial intersts, or having anyone tell them what to write.

Marketing 232

Marketing Funding Content Writing 232

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2013

The reality is that angel investors are humans, and personal traits often make or break the relationship, even before the investment is considered. On the top line, angel investors look to invest in entrepreneurs that have an almost unwavering passion and sense of urgency. Here are some key ones they look for: Talks and writes well.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Entrepreneur Course Patents 109

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

When venture capitalists scale back investing activities it can be very swift and leave many companies that are in the process of fund raising hung out to dry. But any entrepreneurs raising capital should keep in mind that this opening of the markets could possibly be temporary. Why did the VC markets freeze so quickly?

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Startup Invest Funding 263

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2010

By Adam Hoeksema According to a report distributed by the Angel Capital Education Foundation , total startup funding from venture capital funds, state funds, and angel investors totals approximately $20.8 Surprisingly, friends and family contributed nearly three times the amount of capital to thousands of startups each year.

Funding 90

Funding Startup Blogging Invest 90

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

” I hear it when I visit LPs (the people who invest in VCs) all across the country, “Yeah, I haven’t been out there for a few years but I keep hearing that something is going on there.” When you begin to peel back the onion some surprising data presents itself. LA By The Numbers. But even this is changing.

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2012

The reality is that angel investors are humans, and personal traits often make or break the relationship, even before the investment is considered. On the top line, angel investors look to invest in entrepreneurs that have an almost unwavering passion and sense of urgency. Here are some key ones they look for: Talks and writes well.

Entrepreneur 117

Entrepreneur Technical Review Course Patents 117

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

Even venture capitalists who sit on boards where they have significant investments often forget this point. They write into their investment documents that they will occupy a seat on the board for as long as they are invested in the company, thinking of this as a protection for their investment and tool for them to influence growth.

Class 179

Class Coach Invest Sales 179

Jason Nazar

DECEMBER 7, 2008

If the limited partners who fund venture firms either a) change the percent of funds they allocate to VCs or b) don’t come through on their capital calls, we’ll all quickly find the venture community becoming drastically constrained. So what does this mean for internet entrepreneurs?

Venture Capital 44

Venture Capital Rustic Canyon Capital Clearstone 44

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

You join teams that got good write-ups on TechCrunch, have great VCs, have star CEO’s, whatever. Writing a book will be fun. So I patiently waiting until there was a good opportunity to bring Stuart on board and took the opportunity when it presented itself. Sometimes life presents that opportunity, sometimes it does not.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2012

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. A dysfunctional team, or even one naysayer in a critical position can stall your investment.

Technical Review 94

Technical Review Startup Writing Competition 94

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

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

Men have dominated the world of investment. There were only 22% women who invested in 2012. Natalia Oberti Noguera is on a mission to help change the demographic of investment with her Pipeline Fellowship. TechZulu speaks with Natalia about Pipeline Foundation and her goals to change the face of business and investment.

Mentor 84

Mentor Invest Entrepreneur Startup 84

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 27, 2010

The reality is that angel investors are humans, and personal traits often make or break the relationship, even before the investment is considered. On the top line, angel investors look to invest in entrepreneurs that have an almost unwavering passion and sense of urgency. Here are some key ones they look for: Talks and writes well.

Entrepreneur 96

Entrepreneur Angel Technical Review Course 96

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2010

Bockerstette, Main Street Venture Fund Angel investing in most parts of the country remains a relatively informal and unstructured process. Professional angel investing takes time, knowledge, skills and resources. Professional angel investing takes time, knowledge, skills and resources.

Entrepreneur 83

Entrepreneur Mentor Invest Angel 83

Steve Reich

FEBRUARY 15, 2012

They have to be aggressive, and they have to be willing to write a check. When you present to the Angels at any level, work to find out who informally leads the group. He is a long-time Angel, a former Chairman at TCA, and has invested in more startups that most of us will see in 2 lifetimes. How do you find that Angel partner?

Tech Coast Angels 40

Tech Coast Angels Angel Pasadena Angels Startup 40

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2010

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. A dysfunctional team, or even one naysayer in a critical position can stall your investment.

Technical Review 90

Technical Review Writing Competition Tips 90

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. Information Asymmetry - The biggest problem that presenters face in large (5+ people) is information asymmetry. Congratulations. Does that sound ok?&#.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

InfoChachkie

APRIL 25, 2011

Although many are entertaining, most fail to provide entrepreneurs with a sufficient return on their time investment. If you are a leader at a startup and you are reading a business book, you are not closing customers, raising capital, improving your product, or spending time with your loved ones. No doubt, he did. Prototype Your Work.

Technical Review 279

Technical Review Blogging Class Entrepreneur 279

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

We want to invest in early-stage technology enabled startup businesses – upfront in the funding cycle. In fact, 90% of our investments are either Seed or A-round investments (10% are B-round). We’re a national venture capital investment firm but with our roots firmly in Los Angeles.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Many MBA programs still cater too much to the needs of large, corporate management jobs or prepare students to enter big consulting companies or investments banks. I got an email recently from my friend & fellow VC, Jeff Bussgang from Flybridge Capital Partners in Boston. And that leads me to today’s post.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

Most people suck at presenting to big groups. It’s a shame because the ability to nail these presentations at key conferences can be once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to influence journalists, business partners, potential employees, customers and VCs. – No great presentation can be delivered like a conversation.

Startup 362

Startup Twiistup Slides Screening 362

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

The result is that the Main Street Venture Fund consistently has more money available than good opportunities for investment. After considering about 200 investment opportunities over the past two years, we have established a decision making process to identify trophy entrepreneurs and startups. Participation. Partnership.

Funding 106

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Activity 106

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

I’m writing this post to make sure you’re all on that same playing field. The problem of amplification: The problem got worse as the data flowed out to the “bulge bracket&# investment banks. They got the data feed either from the research company or from the investment bank. What are you on about?

Statistics 415

Statistics Startup Report Research 415

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

We wrote up a business plan, and won a USC business plan competition, which allowed us to get funding from the University and raise venture capital we needed to begin development on the plan. What's the story behind the idea--where did it come from, and how did you decide to present it at the business plan competition?

USC 207

USC CPC Sites Startup 207