Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Venture Capital is a tricky industry. When the early teams: angels, lowercase capital & first round capital funded Uber they had no idea it would be one of the most revolutionary ideas of our time. Internally at Upfront Ventures we talk about “high consensus” vs. controversial deals with “high conviction.”

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

” If you don’t create the message about yourself, the market will. As I talked about in “ Is it Time to Learn or Time to Earn ” – overwhelmingly the best economics go to those that start successful companies. And if you want to be a CEO one day you need the messaging to reflect that.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. This question runs from about minute 2 – minute 8. A: It’s not best.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2011

Chris Dixon is one of my favorite people in tech and writes one of the few blogs I read religiously. If you don’t read it and you care about tech & entrepreneurship, you should. He’s thoughtful about markets, investors, products and is always very well reasoned in his arguments.

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Venture Capital Startup Artificial Inteligence 281

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. This overview (executive summary) needs to include: Product and Business What is the product? Have you raised capital? What Is This?

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 264

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. This overview (executive summary) needs to include: Product and Business What is the product? Have you raised capital? What Is This?

CTO Hire 259

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2017

One of the most common complaints I hear from new business owners and startups is about the pain and difficulty raising capital. The “venture capital” model is the only option they know, where they feel they get no mercy, giving up equity and control. Block out sufficient time on your calendar for raising capital.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Equity Capital Entrepreneur 88

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Or, as always, summary notes available below. 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

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

There are many things a VC is looking for in reviewing your business plan but beyond things the like the quality of revenue, margins, OPEX and CAPEX there’s a really simple rule I call, “Cash In, Cash Out, Milestones Achieved.” Let me check my plan.” Yes, I see plans this pedestrian. This is a red flag for VCs.

Venture Capital 247

Venture Capital Capital Funding Demand 247

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

I’ve written a few posts about boards recently as part of a series on the subject. I admit that I haven’t yet read it but I’ve had numerous discussions with Brad over the years about board structure & conduct and consider him a mentor on the topic. Reviewing financial & operational performance.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 11, 2011

I recommend you first review Dharmesh’s article and then listen to Naval’s thoughts. What follows is a summary which paraphrases Naval’s responses. Venture Hacks is educating entrepreneurs on the game theory of how to raise venture capital. We are productizing the raising of capital for startups. ”.

Startup 273

Startup Software Review Summary Technical Review 273

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2016

I understand this instinct for more capital and I have two very different personal experiences: In my first company we raised an A-round of $16.5 I was always fond of saying about fund raising, “When the hor d’oeuvres tray is passed take two and put one in your pocket for later. I have this “How much should I raise?”

Startup 292

Startup Software Review Pricing Entrepreneur 292

socalTECH

DECEMBER 1, 2008

In what looks to be a challenging funding climate for entrepreneurs, we thought it would be interesting to talk to one fund which is still making investments--Saban Ventures (www.saban.com)--a new, digital media focused venture capital fund located in Los Angeles. For those not familiar with Saban Capital, tell us about the fund?

Capital 100

Capital Southern California Media Venture Capital 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Nearly every successful tech startup I’ve observed over the past 20 years has gone through a similar growth pattern: Innovate, systematize then scale operations. There is excitement about the possibilities of real change and an infectious “naive optimism” about how everything is possible. As an early-stage VC I love this phase.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Custom Customer 286

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

Greycroft is Alan’s venture capital firm that recently raised its second fund ($130 million) with offices in both New York and LA. It is the key to “customer development” that Steve Blank talks about. I’ve been to similar events with First Round Capital and True Ventures. I’m going to save that for a future blog post.

Startup 279

Startup Venture Capital Tips Custom Development 279

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” I know this seems obvious but I promise you that even smart people forget this when talking about profitability. Internet scale.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

socalTECH

JUNE 21, 2013

The San Diego firm is headed by Ethan Senturia , who sat down with us to tell us how Dealstruck is trying to help build small businesses and jobs--and also tells us a bit about what it''s like to come from a family full of very successful, and high profile entrepreneurs, and how that has influenced his experience as an entrepreneur himself.

Startup 247

Startup Software Review Entrepreneur Equity 247

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

I’ve always believed it’s been one of the most important attributes of business success yet something very few business leaders talk about. So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A So no whinging about what a long post this is! Creativity. Strange, I know.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

There is all sorts of advice on the Internet about how to raise capital. I’ve raised money as a “hot company” and I’ve raised capital when no one would return my phone calls. Executive Summary. If you haven’t read my post about that, you should. Of course much of it is conflicting.

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 24, 2017

What neither group seems to fully comprehend is that retail needs to fundamentally change to succeed, far beyond the addition of an online component, to meet the experience expectations of today’s generation, an oversupplied global marketplace, and technology for instant pricing and distribution.

Custom 52

Custom Customer Technical Review Summary 52

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 22, 2011

But one theme in pervasive in all my thinking about investing in Internet-based companies: Deflationary economics. When you think about the great achievement of the Internet in aiding content, commerce & communication they include: Large scales of connected people & information never seem before in humanity.

Startup 386

Startup Pricing Marketing Product 386

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

Journalists don’t know enough about your company before the show, don’t have time for proper research, and you will be competing for their time afterward with 49+ other companies that want them to write about you. - File this under both Startup Adivce and Sales & Marketing Advice. They’re human.

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 8, 2018

Steven Johnson, author of How We Got To Now , analyzes technological breakthroughs, looking for patterns that allow entrepreneurs to identify “How We’ll Get To Tomorrow.” We all have hunches, but if we do not diligently document them, we risk losing them. Find problems in the area you are passionate about. Who Has This Problem?

Ideas 69

Ideas Startup Technical Review Santa Barbara 69

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

I recently wrote a post on angel financing covering the topic of convertible notes but I realized I was thinking about the issue more from investor perspective and a very narrow topic of how to price the round. So if you’re casually reading and don’t really care about angel financing – abort now! That’s OK.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

socalTECH

DECEMBER 1, 2008

In what looks to be a challenging funding climate for entrepreneurs, we thought it would be interesting to talk to one fund which is still making investments--Saban Ventures (www.saban.com)--a new, digital media focused venture capital fund located in Los Angeles. For those not familiar with Saban Ventures, tell us about the fund?

Southern California 100

Southern California Media Venture Capital Invest 100

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 3, 2012

A look around technology industry, perhaps the heart of the global revolution, shows a happily working international community all pushing for the common goal of innovation. With this, Silicon Valley has decided to speak out about the stifling affect of immigration law and the impacts that have caused crippling of the American tech industry.

Technical Review 77

Technical Review Startup Offshore Entrepreneur 77

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

was still a term being bandied about. I spent my days meeting companies, figuring out what areas of the market interested me and trying to get a sense for how VCs thought about fair valuations. I thought about things I never had to as an entrepreneur: check size, ownership percentage, deal stage, portfolio construction and risk.

Marketing 305

Marketing Venture Capital Funding Technical Review 305

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2016

It’s a term most of you know as being somebody who is backward or uninterested in learning new technology. You can imagine that if you had spent a lifetime gaining a vocational skill and being a member of a protected industry guild that you wouldn’t be happy with technological change. Actually, the Luddites were worse than this.

Education 150

Education Resource Class Course 150