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Startup Sales – Why Hiring Seasoned Reps May Not Work

Both Sides of the Table

A while back I wrote a bunch of posts on Sales & Marketing and have been meaning to get back to that theme for a while. Even if you don’t have “direct&# sales I would tell you that “everything is a sale&# including fund raising, hiring, getting press and doing business development.

Sales 346
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How I Got the Monkey Off My Back – Today Was a Good Day

Both Sides of the Table

That company was Invoca, which just announced a $20 million fund raise led by Accel. At the time I pointed out: “If I had realized exits almost certainly it would be because I invested in a company that failed. Lemons ripen early, great companies take time.” 5 years ago. ” Still. Since then?

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Why Your Startup Doesn’t Need a COO

Both Sides of the Table

It’s very common for startup companies to have COO’s. In a mature company it’s often like a presidential chief of staff. They will often run all of the daily reports into them covering off for finance, sales, marketing, biz dev & HR. And I decided that his startup company was not MY deal.

Startup 325
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Be Careful About Being a Meddling Startup CEO

Both Sides of the Table

recently wrote a post talking about how some VCs meddle in operating company decisions or some executive teams are too reliant on VCs to jump in and make hard calls for them. In practice it can be a fine line between sparring partner / coach and stepping over the line to brute-force persuasion. ” Of course I agree with this.

Startup 150
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How Boards Need to Evolve Over Time

Both Sides of the Table

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. If you raise millions of dollars from professional investors it is no longer “your” company but a shared company that you control. In the Early Days. Mentorship.

Startup 325
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The Perils of Founder Fighting

Both Sides of the Table

Yesterday I wrote a post about “ the politics of startups ” in which I asserted that all companies have politics, which in its purest sense is just about understanding human psychology. One wants to build a company that will be around in 10 years – financial outcome be damned! Those are the easy cases.

Startup 340
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This is How Startups “Level Up” After Raising Money

Both Sides of the Table

One of the interesting things about being a VC is that you often see companies in transition. I also see companies as they move from having taken $1-5 million from me to their next round where they raise $8-15 million from Series B investors and sometimes I lead at this round (we’re stage agnostic but 80% of our deals are seed & A).

Startup 381