Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2023

One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?” They just aren’t prepared for the life they want, and are really asking me how to learn to be an entrepreneur. It takes more than passion and a course on business basics. Learning doesn’t have to be all work.

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MAY 25, 2013

After all, I am no stranger to the publicly expressing the frustrations of dealing with the downside of this industry as I wrote about in 2006 when I was an entrepreneur. But VC is like congress. “I don’t know the exact math, but I hear it again and again: the top 2% of firms generate 98% of the returns in venture capital.”

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SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

My primary role was “chief psychologist&# and as I’ve learned over the past few years the same has been true as a VC. Some entrepreneurs make the mistake of never devolving power. Naturally the countries reacted negatively to reporting to a centralized figure in the UK (and of course to no longer reporting to the CEO).

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MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. I divided success into the phases of venture capital and 18 months into writing my first check here was my view (details on each in the link above). Sourcing high-quality leads : 9/10. None have exited.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2015

One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?” They just aren’t prepared for the life they want, and are really asking me how to learn to be an entrepreneur. It takes more than passion and a course on business basics. Learning doesn’t have to be all work.

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NOVEMBER 19, 2009

(In case it’s not obvious it’s a play on the Nike slogan, “Just Do It.&# ) I believe that being successful as an entrepreneur requires you to get lots of things done. Entrepreneurs make fast decisions and move forward knowing that at best 70% of their decisions are going to be right. This paralyzes most people.

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NOVEMBER 18, 2012

It’s what life was like as an entrepreneur. But this is nothing like the stress of being an entrepreneur. As I’ve written about before, You’d Have to be a Big Baby to Complain about Being a VC. What’s it really like being an entrepreneur? I’m reminded of this feeling. And so it goes again.

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AUGUST 10, 2013

It’s only 12 minutes long and if you’re a first-time entrepreneur (or second time, frankly) I encourage you to watch it if for nothing else than to get a sense that your struggles are universal. It’s why I believe startup coaches are so important and I wish I know more great ones. ” We learn from mistakes.

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InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

Adeo Ressi is a serial entrepreneur turned investor and entrepreneur advocate. Adeo Co-Founded the entrepreneur-friendly website The Funded and he is the Founder and CEO of The Founder Institute , whose goal is to create and foster local startup ecosystems across the globe. In Adeo''s words, ".

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DECEMBER 14, 2014

and I thought if we brought the community together for common purpose we could create more of a sense of community to help new entrepreneurs get funded, assemble teams, raise profiles and help with biz dev, product, etc. Throughout all of these years I was a full-time VC so Launchpad really came out of evenings and weekends for me.

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MAY 20, 2018

Every entrepreneur wants to hear “yes” during the fund-raising process but I would argue that being too risk averse and not pushing hard enough and be willing to hear a “no” is what holds back many people from “yes.” Possibly offend and entrepreneur leading to reputation risk amongst other entrepreneurs.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2016

One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?” They just aren’t prepared for the life they want, and are really asking me how to learn to be an entrepreneur. It takes more than passion and a course on business basics. Learning doesn’t have to be all work.

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MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. They are venture bankers not investment bankers.

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JANUARY 4, 2014

Of course it makes no sense to have great people management and a crappy product. ” Of course we all go into businesses expecting to be aligned with our co-founders but over time life changes. I have seen it first-hand in my VC career many, many times. If you give up after this you’re not an entrepreneur.

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JULY 19, 2015

Entrepreneurs could learn about loneliness of success: nobody talks about. Of course that’s true. The Yo-Yo Life of a Tech Entrepreneur. Advisors / Coaches / Mentors. But needed to be seen. Mark Suster (@msuster) July 19, 2015. And the immediate reaction was obvious – that failure can be pretty lonely, too.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 21, 2018

One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?” They just aren’t prepared for the life they want, and are really asking me how to learn to be an entrepreneur. It takes more than passion and a course on business basics. Learning doesn’t have to be all work.

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MARCH 23, 2015

So part of playing an effective coach is helping the team to see the answer for themselves. We talk a lot about his schooling, his early jobs as a developer and then as a VC and we talk about his decision to spend winters in Los Angeles. Fred is generous with his time and advice and I hope has shaped a generation of VCs for the better.

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JUNE 29, 2011

Yesterday I wrote Part 1 of the series on the changes to the software industry over the past decade that has led to changes in the venture capital industry itself. These trends have put pressure on traditional VCs. .&# Surprisinly, this strategy works well with many entrepreneurs. Or at least venture-style returns.

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JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. With small amounts of money invested (sub $3 million) the risks are reasonably low for most VCs and the consequences of bad decisions or decisions a VC has limited say in is tolerable.

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JULY 19, 2011

And yes, VC’s, too. Yet a critical mistake I see many entrepreneurs make is that they hand over too much control to their third-parties. Negotiate directly with your VC or acquirer with lawyers present in the room. VCs : VCs are often on your side and usually act in an ethical manner. Recruiters. You name it.

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FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I acted as the occasional mentor, advisor and coach to Ethan. And I had been telling my partners for a couple of years that I thought Ethan was one of the more talented entrepreneurs I had come across in San Francisco. And I certainly didn’t want him having to trapse up-and-down Sand Hill Road informing every VC of his next idea.

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FEBRUARY 1, 2015

*. What is the role of a VC for entrepreneurs? I suppose it can be different for every founder and for different VCs but I’d like to offer you some context on what I think it is and it isn’t. I was recently contacted by an entrepreneur who was consider a few different business models for his company.

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MARCH 28, 2010

And of course there was the Michael Porter’s “ 5 Forces.&# Frankly, I kind of found all of this stuff to be bullshit (bull shiitake?) I come from a world that if the coach wasn’t yelling at you, it meant he didn’t care. I found that most VC’s never gave me any feedback when I was pitching. Me: “LOL.

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JANUARY 1, 2016

But of course all of these things are intertwined. We’re a national venture capital investment firm but with our roots firmly in Los Angeles. Obviously you need to be mentally flexible enough to spot if your instincts were wrong and a change of course is necessary. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get).

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JANUARY 16, 2012

There is all sorts of advice on the Internet about how to raise capital. Of course much of it is conflicting. I’ve raised money as a “hot company” and I’ve raised capital when no one would return my phone calls. And of course I’ve sat on the other side of the table: As a VC.

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JUNE 8, 2014

Changes in the Software World & in Venture Capital. But notably you had the following changes: Horizontally scalable computing & storage systems, which meant you required less capital up front for hardware. Venture Capital. And then the world changed. Changes in the Startup Ecosystem. We have invested $17.3

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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. Sure, of course I am. Why did you raise VC from Polaris & how have they been to work with? Advice, coaching, intros? Here’s the link.

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JULY 27, 2013

Last year I wrote a blog post on entrepreneurs with a chip on their shoulders. A chip on one’s shoulder as in, “F**k the system, it’s broken and I want to fix it” is exactly the energy I look for in entrepreneurs. Seth is one of the most decent human beings in the venture industry so the rant was off base.

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JUNE 1, 2015

I often tell people I learned more about how to become an entrepreneur by being president of my fraternity than any college course I ever took or any paid job I ever had. Of course it was infinitely more challenging. But of course they still cared about their jobs, their work product and their careers.

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