Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

I pointed to several Economist articles I had read that mapped historical prices of real estate for 400 years and how on average property values grow at no more 1.5% above inflation yet in many markets in the US & Europe prices were rising at 10-25% per year. Logic tells me the following: It is hard to make money angel investing.

Invest 299

Invest Angel Technical Review Venture Capital 299

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 18, 2022

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor. Highlight your world-class team as the secret sauce.

Competition 133

Competition Patents Resource Invest 133

Berkonomics

APRIL 13, 2017

The dominant player in any niche controls pricing for all those under it, and often sets the risk profile for new entrants into the niche if the dominant player’s products or services fill the needs of customers at reasonable prices and quality. Do you have a world-class management team? Have you created high barriers to entry?

Patents 291

Patents Pricing Ideas Marketing 291

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

Yet as a business advisor I am convinced that making the jump from a startup to a the next unicorn takes a different mindset, and actions most entrepreneurs are reluctant to face. Then there is the pressure to go public ( IPO ), and open your investment to thousands, maybe millions, of small investors.

Startup 151

Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2014

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor. Highlight your world-class team as the secret sauce.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Competition Patents Resource 110

Berkonomics

MAY 27, 2021

If you take money from knowledgeable investors, you will be required to create a board as a part of the investment process. The average board for a company taking outside investment money is five. More importantly, no entrepreneur or CEO can do it all alone, especially in a rapid growth scenario. So, why go through the effort?

Resource 156

Resource Acquisition Class Help 156

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

This was an audience of mostly first-time entrepreneurs. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs. So here is what I have been telling entrepreneurs privately for the past 6 months. I believe a bubble occurs when a market is willing to pay greater than intrinsic value for an asset class. I believe that.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

They often create the biggest tensions between investors who are investing at different stages in the business. 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. Thus begins the dance.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

Entrepreneurs sometimes assume an initial agreement with an angel is a commitment, so they start spending before any money is received. It’s true that angel investors typically do not present entrepreneurs with overly complicated deal structures, especially when compared to venture capitalists. Seat on the board.

Invest 91

Invest Angel Startup Pricing 91

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2023

You need a good cook, good marketing, and first-class service. 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 set the right price for your entree, and correctly included all costs?

Startup 112

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 112

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event for the early investors, including the entrepreneur or the founders. Promissory notes come before any equity, and most late equity investments come before early equity investments, even of the same class of security.

Angel 120

Angel Sales Pricing Equity 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2015

Here is my summary of some major considerations that every entrepreneur needs to evaluate against the cost and effort to attract equity investors: Completing a grant application is real work. Otherwise find an inexpensive class on grant writing. Experts are available but expensive. Don’t try the grant process alone the first time.

Pricing 100

Pricing Equity Technical Review Research 100

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2016

You need a good cook, good marketing, and first-class service. 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 set the right price for your entrée, and correctly included all costs?

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 93

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

But the reality is that “global warming” massively blunted the effects of winter and my prognosis for VC fundings of entrepreneurs in 2017–2018 is now very sunny indeed. So VCs made fewer investments at lower prices and generally on terms that were more favorable to investors relative to 2015. billion into Uber.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Funding Startup 150

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 5, 2022

A few minutes away from downtown Atlanta, Collab Studio ATL describes itself as “a tech-based one-stop shop for content creators, HBCU students and young entrepreneurs to achieve their business goals.” “I feel like the studio has the potential to be a great place for creators like me to thrive.

Platform 210

Platform Social Media Netflix Content 210

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2019

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor. Highlight your world-class team as the secret sauce.

Competition 120

Competition Patents Resource Invest 120

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. That’s why investors say they invest in people (bet on the jockey, not the horse), rather than the idea. The operations superstar.

Technical Advisors 123

Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 123

socalTECH

MAY 25, 2016

Santa Monica-based March Capital Partners (www.marchcp.com) has just announced a brand new, $240M venture investment fund, led by longtime venture investing veterans Jim Armstrong, Sumant Mandal, Gregory Milken and Jamie Montgomery. What is the investment focus for this fund? It's all about the entrepreneur.

Southern California 113

Southern California Capital Funding Invest 113

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

There are bootcamps, startup classes, video interviews – the sources are now endless. When I meet other VCs I’m constantly asking how they decide which investments to make, when to pass, when to do follow-on rounds, when to sell a company vs. when to go long, etc. What is a founder to do?

Startup 407

Startup Framework CTO Coach Sales 407

Berkonomics

JANUARY 20, 2010

Email readers continue here.]. Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally-generated funds. You will realize much more from the ultimate sale of your business even if at a considerably lower price than if splitting the proceeds with investors.

Venture Capital 174

Venture Capital Invest Class Entrepreneur 174

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2011

Alain Theriault, better known as StartupCoach , tells entrepreneurs that, on your way to being a great chef, you don't start by writing a cook book (business plan), you work in the kitchen for a while, you learn some tools of the trade, you experiment with a few recipes, you test on willing clients. then you can start writing a recipe. (not

Entrepreneur 91

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Metrics 91

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

He shared tons of information about how how they were using marketing to quantitatively make marketing decisions at HauteLook and acquire customers for prices that were far cheaper than similar companies. Like any firm we of course invest in the San Francisco Bay Area where 33% of my personal boards are. What does that mean?

Venture Capital 360

Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup Invest 360

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

FEBRUARY 9, 2020

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. That’s why investors say they invest in people (bet on the jockey, not the horse), rather than the idea. The operations superstar.

Technical Advisors 123

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Startup High Tech 123

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2012

Entrepreneurs sometimes assume an initial agreement with an Angel is a commitment, so they start spending before any money is received. It’s true that Angel investors typically do not present entrepreneurs with overly complicated deal structures, especially when compared to venture capitalists. Seat on the board.

Pricing 89

Pricing Startup Entrepreneur Angel 89

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2011

With more competition in early-stage many VCs are investing smaller amounts at earlier stages. We all know the result of the over-funding of the asset class – poor returns in aggregate for the industry. That’s certainly good for our industry in terms of future returns for investors but I would argue also for entrepreneurs.

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Capital Cloud Computing Marketing 289

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Things that make it investment-grade for outside investors will also benefit you, since you are the ultimate investor. Many entrepreneurs scare away potential investors by claiming that their technology represents “truly disruptive technology.” Investors invest in people - not just ideas. Marketing, sales, and partners.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

Tech.Co

OCTOBER 28, 2020

A just-announced partnership between the social giant TikTok and the ecommerce giant Shopify could mint a brand-new class of TikTok-friendly ecommerce stores. They'll also need to invest time and money into iterating their campaign approach until they figure out what works. Cost (paid monthly). Cost (paid annually). Staff accounts.

Help 149

Help Platform Startup Social Media 149

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 27, 2013

17, entrepreneurs, investors, civic leaders and other key players in the tech industry will gather at the historic Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, Calif. startups attracting over $847 million in investment funds in 2012 alone, the city’s diverse resources are often too separated. 3 startup ecosystem in the world, with L.A.

Los Angeles 101

Los Angeles Angel Startup Venture Capital 101

socalTECH

MAY 30, 2019

Richards--a serial entrepreneur who has been involved in a number of technology companies here, including NTI Group (sold to Blackboard), Internships.com, MP3.com, All of this has fundamentally changed the efficiency of the market, with prices anywhere from fifty to seventy-five percent lower. Your finance has to be world class.

Content 193

Content Social Network Coach Help 193

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2015

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor. Highlight your world-class team as the secret sauce.

Startup 118

Startup Competition Patents Resource 118

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. So the people who invest in VC funds have two problems.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The poor performance of the asset class (this analysis has largely been wrong as I pointed out here –> most analyses were clumsy rear-view mirror looks at the data). Limited Partners or LPs (the people who invest into VC funds) have taken notice as 2014 is by all accounts the busiest year for LPs since the Great Recession began.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2015

I saw a few friends politely suggesting that “now was a great stock buying opportunity” meaning that given the stock market is off by 10% it was a great chance to buy and lock in presumably low prices before the market rises again. If the next 30 days stays calm then investment will pick up. So, too, investments.

Marketing 150

Marketing Venture Capital Startup Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

Not an investment philosophy “ I understand the sentiment of this post and it’s how I view AngelList (like email), but I feel like it loses a nuance about AngelList. Babak Nivi is one of the most understated, helpful & important people on the entrepreneur / startup scene in NorCal. My view for entrepreneurs.

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2013

The one word the best entrepreneurs never accept. You can’t just name your own price.” I had a business class seat due to status of flying a lot and my family was in economy. I’ve been pitched by hundreds of entrepreneurs who never actually asked me whether I would invest. Stay with me.

Sales 416

Sales Class Training Technical Review 416

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2010

Helping entrepreneurs succeed. Middle Market Investment Banking. An on-line community for entrepreneurs. Joyent - An Enterprise Class Cloud Computing Company funded by Intel Capital, provides the most comprehensive cloud solution available today. Redpoint Ventures (www.redpoint.com). Silicon Valley Bank (www.svb.com).

Southern California 113

Southern California Tech Coast Angels IP Orange County 113