Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2010

In today’s post I want to talk about the concept of a VC flightpath. This is my description of a VC process, not one I’ve heard from other VCs so don’t expect it to be accepted nomenclature. Even when you’re getting the VC love this reality I imagined couldn’t be further from the truth.

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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. Usually when an investor is asking you your burn rate he or she is referring to net burn — what cash are you consuming. But here’s also a good rule of thumb for you.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2023

The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Once you have some traction, you can approach venture capital organizations , with funding amounts of $1-10 million for the real rollout, often referred to as the “A-round,” or first institutional funding.

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InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

As the authors make clear in the book’s preface, their goal is to create a “definitive guide to venture capital deals” and “demystify the venture capital financing process.” Brad and Jason have been exposing venture capitalists’ secrets since 2005, when they began writing a blog series on Term Sheets at AskTheVC.

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Writing Guide 205

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

VC's love to talk about their successes. Yet most VC's bury their failures under six feet of denial. In the startup world, the former happens when a VC makes a bad investment, and the latter occurs when they miss a great opportunity. Subject: Reference for Twilio. As noted in What Does VC Traction Really Mean? ,

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Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2020

The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Once you have some traction, you can approach venture capital organizations , with funding amounts of $1-10 million for the real rollout, often referred to as the “A-round,” or first institutional funding.

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Resource Startup Organization Incubator 171

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Today I’m handing her the largest A-round check I’ve ever written as a VC as we lead her $10 million A-Round at uBeam. As I’ve written about recently, at Upfront Ventures we started talking a couple of years ago about wanting to fund stuff with more meaning. When I first met Meredith Perry she was 24.

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Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

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. When you’re hiring most reference checkers focus on the person’s former bosses. Just literally this week I had breakfast with a guy giving a reference who said, “He’s brilliant. You REALLY know.

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CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

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). I hate to put us into the pre-seed and seed area, so I am saying literally, first institutional capital.

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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. VC’s money comes from mostly institutional investors called LPs (limited partners). Maybe the market views this as not worth the price you paid?

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

And that was evident on today’s Angel vs. VC panel. There are real changes in the venture capital industry and it would have been fun to talk about them. The VC industry is segmenting – I have spoken about this many times before. So in the past we needed VC to really get a startup going.

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Venture Capital Training Startup Entrepreneur 308

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2013

Yesterday I wrote a post about “ proprietary dealflow for VCs.” ” In the article I discussed the downside of raising capital at a too high of a price and referred people to a previous article I had written encouraging founders to raise “ At the Top end of Normal ” as opposed to stratospheric prices.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

Some people jokingly referred to it in its early days as “Fakester” in contrast to Friendster. Where you can talk about topics that it might not be appropriate for a VC to discuss in writing. We then went on to film an amazing 90 minute discussion afterward for This Week in Venture Capital.

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Social Network Startup Blogging Venture Capital 329

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2018

The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Once you have some traction, you can approach venture capital organizations , with funding amounts of $1-10 million for the real rollout, often referred to as the “A-round,” or first institutional funding.

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Funding Startup Organization Incubator 94

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC. Quick caveats: having fewer investors (3-5) is better than many investors (10-15) and PLEASE make sure you hire a great lawyer who has experience in doing start-ups to avoid pitfalls that will make VC harder down the line. They might be as hard as raising VC.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2018

Government grants start as small a few thousand dollars, but can provide a million dollars or more in capital to new ventures. Another alternative is to find an inexpensive class on grant writing. Specifically, I often point to the NSF or the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program for high-tech startups.

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Funding Technical Review Startup Research 90

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2016

The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Once you have some traction, you can approach venture capital organizations , with funding amounts of $1-10 million for the real rollout, often referred to as the “A-round,” or first institutional funding.

Organization 93

Organization Startup Incubator Ideas 93

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. This is the dreaded “due diligence” process. Market need and size validation.

Technical Review 94

Technical Review Startup Writing Competition 94

socalTECH

DECEMBER 17, 2008

In their case, people write their scripts on a web site, and when they're done, they can submit them to contests with a single click. If you're doing freelance writing, have a story you're trying to sell, there's a whole process of finding out where you're doing well, not doing well, and what responses you have received.

Writing 209

Writing Hollywood Startup Sites 209

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2013

The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Once you have some traction, you can approach venture capital organizations , with funding amounts of $1-10 million for the real rollout, often referred to as the “A-round,” or first institutional funding.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Funding Incubator Startup 102

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. This is the dreaded “due diligence” process. Market need and size validation.

Technical Review 90

Technical Review Writing Competition Tips 90

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2012

The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Once you have some traction, you can approach venture capital organizations , with funding amounts of $1-10 million for the real rollout, often referred to as the “A-round,” or first institutional funding.

Resource 94

Resource Startup Organization Incubator 94

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2011

The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Once you have some traction, you can approach venture capital organizations , with funding amounts of $1-10 million for the real rollout, often referred to as the “A-round,” or first institutional funding.

Startup 92

Startup Organization Incubator Ideas 92

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

You are writing about the essentials of business. I am planning right not to write a post about how startups often get SEO wrong. A few years ago “venture capital” was a revenue model. We also represent a few larger companies with international issues. Any thoughts on my recent post Startup Metrics ? That's great.

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Startup SEO Pepperdine Blogging 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

Christensen, “We subsidize their education in fields for which there are no jobs” he said in referring to the fact that many courses at universities are still taught with skills that aren’t relevant to the 21st century needs of the US workforce. He spoke about ROCE (return on capital employed). Venture Capital.

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Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. GRP Partners last fund is the single best performing VC fund in the US (prequin data) for its vintage year). Absofuckinglutely.

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Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

As many of you know I run a weekly webcast called This Week in VC that’s getting between 25-35,000 weekly views across ThisWeekIn.com, YouTube & mostly iTunes. there was no frame of reference for the value. My key take away – frame of reference in pricing is important. Yesterday’s show floored me.

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Startup Venture Capital Pricing Writing 303

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

They come in the form of personal references. No rule is ever absolute no matter how it sounds when one writes a blog. My company had raised venture capital in April 2001 but we were told that there may never be any more coming. Hell – we fought against the VC’s together!

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Startup Venture Capital Sales Software Review 285

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2015

As I write these words I already imagine my next deposition in which I’m asked to read this out loud. I started writing about problems when founding a startup years ago but the problem has gotten worse. Make sure you have standard vesting – even before your raise capital. *. Lawsuits. No acceleration.

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Startup IP Writing Ideas 150

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 17, 2012

The Toronto angel and Venture Community tends to be quite a bit different out here, as I could tell from the conversations I had with many of the entrepreneurs. Nasser explains their project, Eightshit.me , a goofy crowdsourced Twitter avatar tool that received some traction and a write up in Fast Company. “We

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Startup Incubator Seed Funding Platform 56

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2009

The same article refers to several other people who are coming back to blogging: Liza at Maui Blog and the futurist Chris Saad. Bill Gurley , a well known VC from Benchmark Capital, seemed to have a 2-year hiatus from blogging and has now picked up the pace. And I’m loving the renaissance. Thank you, Twitter.

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Blogging Venture Capital Startup Social Media 219

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 2, 2010

As a VC I’m acutely that a “yes&# decision to support an entrepreneur can do just that, yet I only write 2-4 of them per year and maybe another 3-4 as an angel. You can also spend time with a newer startup helping them navigate the world of product management, venture capital or team building.

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Startup Help Blogging Entrepreneur 352

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2010

Steven knew that from a fund perspective he wasn’t going to earn the amount of money that a typical VC might look for since we were selling early. I had initially called them wondering if they’d fund my third venture. I’d like to get involved with capital efficient companies early in their lifecycle. So what is my thesis?

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Entrepreneur GRP Partners Venture Capital Invest 321

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 10, 2011

Part 1: Inside the mind of an angel investor and how it differs from professional seed investors and VC. Today, innovation is happening at an increasingly faster rate and , that being true, Thomas thought it was more efficient to match capital to ideas than execute the ideas himself. Hope you all enjoy. Interview with Tom McInerney.

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Angel Startup Ideas .Net 302

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , July 11, 2010 I just reviewed several hundred startup pitches for Capital Factory. The collapse of the IPO market and dysfunctional math in the venture capital community has stacked the odds against you. Angel vs VC? - Here’s why.

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Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

As an advisor to many entrepreneurs, I still hear frequently the irrational exuberance that crowdfunding is the quick alternative for startups that are passed over by overly demanding angels or venture capital investors. In reality, crowdfunding has become a major startup funding vehicle, expected to reach $3.62

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2020

As an advisor to many entrepreneurs, I still hear frequently the irrational exuberance that crowdfunding is the quick alternative for startups that are passed over by overly demanding angels or venture capital investors. Startups need to build a large passionate group of fans before the campaign.

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