socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2018

This morning, Moonshots Capital (www.moonshotscapital.com), led by Kelly Perdew and Craig Cummings , announced its first formal fund, a $19M seed stage fund. We had been doing that for several years, and decided we wanted to start syndicating deals in September of 2014, so we formed Moonshots Capital.

Capital 164

Capital Funding Startup Venture Capital 164

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

There has been much discussion in the past few years of the changing structure of the venture capital industry. The rise of “micro VCs” or seed-stage funds. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). ” Stated simply – if you seed funded Uber at $4.5m

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. Prorata investments rights given investors the right to invest in your future fund-raising rounds and maintain their ownership % in your company as your company grows and raises more capital.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

We all know that funding markets have changed for startups. The trends are well understood: more angels, more seed funds, more crowdsourcing and so forth. We are doing what we do – writing larger checks and playing an active role at the company. Does he blog about venture capital and try to advise entrepreneurs?

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 15, 2010

Heck, stick around and watch me discuss the seed funding debate that is going on right now and what is happening in the VC industry overall. I give a sneak peek at a blog post I’m writing on the topic next week. What advice do you have for people who want to get into venture capital? Don’t. Beyond The Rack.

Venture Capital 210

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Southern California 210

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

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

The best case I’ve seen is our portfolio company Osmo who had already built the product but used crowd-funding to handle inventory management, supply-chain logistics and perfecting the final version of the product. Contrary to popular opinion I actually believe crowd-funding is best used after seed capital or venture capital.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2013

” 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. If we count seed funds and large angels maybe that number goes up by 2x?

Pricing 302

Pricing Seed Funding Invest Venture Capital 302

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

If you track the venture capital industry it would be hard to miss the conversation going on this week over AngelList “Syndicates.” Bowery Capital). It should help some entrepreneurs to better access early-stage capital and should allow some angel investors better access to deal flow. So What’s the Big Deal?

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

As I have pointed out in previous posts , 91% of VCs surveyed believe prices are declining (30% believe substantially) and 77% believe that funding will take longer than it has in the past. The earlier the round, the less capital you need and the more reasonable your valuation the less time that is needed generally to raise capital.

Startup 150

Startup Capital Funding Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

There are many times when being overly capitalized before you’re ready is a negative. We want money to make some acquisitions (investors would prefer to fund M&A if they know specific deals – not to encourage bad behavior. Availability of Capital. But this strategy great depends on point 3.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had seen many cycles and decided that since I was going to do it all over again I should write about it. I decided to write about my experience and to be blunt. On December 3rd Brad Feld wrote a one paragraph blog post titled “ Raising Venture Capital &# in which he linked to my blog. That changed very quickly.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

Amplify provides seed stage capital to the tune of $50,000 to $150,000 in companies with a viable product that are demonstrating some degree of traction. Although the first draft of this post began when Kluge was a proud member of NextSpace; as of this writing we have moved to a bigger office to accommodate our expanding team.

Web Design 103

Web Design Social Media Design Seed Funding 103

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

It’s true the some VCs have started writing so many checks that they resemble stock pickers but the majority of us still have less than 10 board seats at any time and tend to go pretty deep so the result is that we care deeply about where we commit our time. And finally it comes down to the good old instinct test.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

We believe this consistency in leadership and intuition for where the markets were going in the heady days of 2019–2021 helped us to stay sane in a world that momentarily seemed to have lost its mind and since we have new capital to deploy in the years ahead perhaps I can offer some insights into where we think value will be derived.

Startup 408

Startup Venture Capital Writing Invest 408

socalTECH

APRIL 8, 2014

There seems to a perpetual shortage of local venture capital investors in the region, despite the huge growth in startup activity here, particularly along Silicon Beach. We''ve also had a pretty wide range of check writing in terms of amount. Those are the kinds of gems we''re looking to invest in, and those could be anywhere.

Seed Funding 220

Seed Funding Santa Monica Funding Startup 220

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

JUNE 9, 2015

With top-ranked accelerators Lauchpad LA closing its doors and Y Combinator rebranding itself as a seed fund, it seems fair to ask the question, “Are Accelerators Dead?”. My Forbes co-contributor Geri Stengel concurs that something is happening in the Volunteer State, writing last month about that state’s emerging women entrepreneurs.

Startup 100

Startup Class LAMP Santa Barbara 100

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. He had raised about $500,000 in seed funding that lasted a long time. Maybe the market views this as not worth the price you paid?

Startup 290

Startup Funding Venture Capital Pricing 290

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2015

In the old days there usually weren’t convertible notes on early-stage deals and there weren’t party rounds with 20 angels or 6 seed funds. When I offer post money and allow the entrepreneur the decision of how much they want to raise I’ve found that entrepreneurs are a lot more focused about not over-capitalizing.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 150

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

Amplify provides seed stage capital to the tune of $50,000 to $150,000 in companies with a viable product that are demonstrating some degree of traction. Although the first draft of this post began when Kluge was a proud member of NextSpace; as of this writing we have moved to a bigger office to accommodate our expanding team.

Web Design 40

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 40

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 17, 2012

Available seed funding, check; another one down for the startup ecosystem checklist. Although, unlike Rocktr, Perez was on the prowl to raise a real seed round and was finding the Toronto venture capital scene a bit stale. As I toured, he even went on to explain some of the seed funding he does along with incubation.

Startup 109

Startup Incubator Seed Funding Platform 109

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

Professional angels / former entrepreneurs / seed funds – In Silicon Valley there are people like Ron Conway, Jeff Clavier, Mike Maples and many more. The key to getting money is that the people writing the check trust you. Also, make sure that your investors are accredited. Most people don’t love networking.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

For a high-volume seed fund that adds many portfolio companies every year (such as our friends at 500 Startups who invest in over 100 distinct companies annually), the cost of a bad affirmative decision (a false positive) is quite low, since it accounts for a relatively small portion of their total fund.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 17, 2012

Available seed funding, check; another one down for the startup ecosystem checklist. Nasser explains their project, Eightshit.me , a goofy crowdsourced Twitter avatar tool that received some traction and a write up in Fast Company. “We Perhaps, what intrigued me most about Peek’s story was his beginnings in building Rocketr.

Startup 56

Startup Incubator Seed Funding Platform 56

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Brad was openly writing about this and it felt like he was giving the VC playbook away for free! Most prefer not to say this publicly for two reasons: 1) they have an entire portfolio of startups, many of whom are raising capital and 2) they prefer not to be attacked publicly or seem “anti entrepreneur.” What hogwash.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

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. The expanding pool of angel, seed, and super seed funds is another.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

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. They seed funded my second company and even let me buy some IP in exchange for debt to get started. We built a long-term relationship.

Startup 285

Startup Venture Capital Sales Software Review 285

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

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

► August (3) Venture Capital - What's the rush? StrongMail Systems (Digital Messsaging Infrastructure Software) Status: VC-backed (Sequoia Capital, Globespan and Evercore) Lesson: Trust your gut. . Venture Capital Funding 7. I'm 30, now will you take me seriously? Inventing Stuff, Obviously Impossible?

Startup 40

Startup Email Venture Capital CTO Hire 40

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

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

This has been especially true for angels or seed investors as there is a new thesis that less capital is needed to start Internet companies so more money is being spent at this phase of the funding lifecycle. I’m a venture capital investor so I will still be looking to make investments. In the end.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 10, 2011

At Sony, he didn’t feel like he could “steer the ship” and get his ideas heard so he left and started GUBA, GUBA had no seed funding. 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.

Angel 302

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. Here’s why. Take a look at the chart below.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217