Berkonomics

JUNE 29, 2017

If you have been following our recent insights, you’ll be up to speed knowing that professional investors negotiate tough terms, from provisions of control over asset acquisition, eventual sale of the company, future investments, forced co-sale when others attempt to sell their shares and more.

Invest 243

Invest Entrepreneur Sales Startup 243

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). Of course these are great places to network with other investors, meet great entrepreneurs and keep your connections strong with senior execs at larger companies like Yahoo!,

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

socalTECH

JANUARY 29, 2020

This week, Los Angeles-based Crosscut Ventures announced a brand new effort to provide health and wellness to the founders of companies it invests in, helping those founders with well being, mental health, stress management, coaching, and leadership development. Tell us about this new program? It's a comprehensive bucket.

Invest 113

Invest Framework Coach Startup 113

Berkonomics

MAY 13, 2021

important point of that book, which was written to prompt discussion between entrepreneurs, professional managers, and their boards of directors about issues that could unite them or strain the relationships between them. Expert help and good planning can reduce the time to market, saving cash in the process.

Resource 156

Resource Coach Invest Activity 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 11, 2022

Great entrepreneurs are not just idea people and then managers, they are extraordinary leaders. Most investors admit that they invest primarily in people, not ideas, and they inherently believe that they can sense this leadership ability needed to get the rapid growth and 10x return we all strive for.

Coach 114

Coach Framework Entrepreneur Tool 114

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). For most entrepreneurs it will be the first time and also will have such a profound impact on their future financial situation that it’s hard to objectively handle the exit process in the way a seasoned pro can.

Invest 280

Invest Angel Venture Capital Yahoo 280

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 3, 2021

These days, I seem to often hear from entrepreneurs who are struggling to find a mentor, or complaining about their lack of effectiveness. Most entrepreneurs view a mentor as someone older and more experienced who takes the time to personally give guidance, advice, and takes an emotional investment in your success.

Mentor 151

Mentor Coach Entrepreneur Press 151

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2021

It takes much the same preparation to make you the best entrepreneur, or the best job candidate. Here are some tips from both his perspective and mine to stave off the coming summer “brain drain” and focus on the next step of employment, or starting a whole new career as an entrepreneur: Create and control your Internet image.

Startup 168

Startup Tips Coach Networking 168

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2022

The key elements of leadership in a company, both individual and organizational, are less tangible, but very critical in setting a market value for investment, acquisition, or going public. In the investment community, these leadership elements are often called “goodwill.” Leadership brand development.

Technical Review 129

Technical Review Funding Organization Metrics 129

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2023

Any startup coach or business advisor will tell you that, on your way to being a great chef, you don't start your journey by inventing the ultimate entre. 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.

Startup 112

Startup Metrics Coach Marketing 112

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin. Of course, not every entrepreneur wants to tackle this challenge. Separate marketing from sales for further leverage.

Sales 147

Sales Metrics Guide Startup 147

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2013

Great entrepreneurs are not just idea people and then managers, they are extraordinary leaders. Most investors admit that they invest primarily in people, not ideas, and they inherently believe that they can sense this leadership ability needed to get the rapid growth and 10x return we all strive for.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Coach Framework Tool 101

Berkonomics

MARCH 2, 2017

As an early stage investor, the first test for me is whether “my” entrepreneur is flexible in both the plan and execution of his or her vision (since from experience almost everything about a business plan changes over time), and whether s/he, no matter what age or experience, is coachable. Doctoral theses have been written on this subject.

Coach 120

Coach Entrepreneur Press Ideas 120

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2016

Any startup coach or business advisor will tell you that, on your way to being a great chef, you don't start your journey by inventing the ultimate entre. 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.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 93

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 28, 2015

Most entrepreneurs believe they are “different,” but they can’t quite understand how. The classic book, “ Hunting in a Farmer's World: Celebrating the Mind of an Entrepreneur ,” by serial entrepreneur and business coach John F. All this made more sense to me as Dini defined the types of entrepreneurs into four categories.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Slides News Startup 106

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2019

Great entrepreneurs are not just idea people and then managers, they are extraordinary leaders. Most investors admit that they invest primarily in people, not ideas, and they inherently believe that they can sense this leadership ability needed to get the rapid growth and 10x return we all strive for.

Coach 96

Coach Framework Entrepreneur Tool 96

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2014

Most entrepreneurs believe they are “different,” but they can’t quite understand how. A recent book, “ Hunting in a Farmer''s World: Celebrating the Mind of an Entrepreneur ,” by serial entrepreneur and business coach John F. All this made more sense to me as Dini defined the types of entrepreneurs into four categories.

Entrepreneur 109

Entrepreneur Startup News Slides 109

Both Sides of the Table

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. Do they have influence?

Funding 189

Funding Software Review Entrepreneur Venture Capital 189

socalTECH

DECEMBER 30, 2020

    We became the largest accelerator in Southern California with 80 investments in over 30 countries globally. We now invest in more companies, include better trainers and involve 3 times more investors in the demo days. it's hard to describe just how good our investment, growth, operations and outreach team is.

Southern California 113

Southern California Technical Review Santa Monica Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 23, 2022

Many of you business leaders I work with, and entrepreneurs I mentor, have a great strategy and an innovative solution , but struggle with building and motivating the team necessary to run your business. Spend time coaching and mentoring team members. Help them learn more about your vision and future market goals.

Mentor 108

Mentor Social Media Coach Customer 108

socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2019

With Startup Boost, we had dozens of investors, service providers, successful entrepreneurs, and major industry leaders (including Microsoft, Google, Softbank, REME, and TechStars) coalesce around our initiative to help early stage companies get to the next level. For many founders, this type of mature leadership doesnt come naturally.

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Software Review Startup Coach 157

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 31, 2017

Most entrepreneurs believe they are “different,” but they can’t quite understand how. The classic book, “ Hunting in a Farmer's World: Celebrating the Mind of an Entrepreneur ,” by serial entrepreneur and business coach John F. All this made more sense to me as Dini defined the types of entrepreneurs into four categories.

Entrepreneur 54

Entrepreneur News Slides Startup 54

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

Successful entrepreneurs like Tony Hsieh of Zappos and Chris McCormick of L.L.Bean have long realized that networking is no longer something that you do to get what you want, but requires listening and relationship building to do what the other party wants, with a win-win outcome. Master listening to learn where other people live.

Networking 106

Networking Entrepreneur Social Media Coach 106

Both Sides of the Table

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. Most top tier VCs return about 3x invested capital and outlier funds (the best of a vintage) might return 6-8x. It’s a market, after all. Yeah, true.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 22, 2017

In my activities as an angel investor, and my work with new ventures seeking investment, I find the “due diligence” stage to be fraught with the most risk. Usually this stage only really starts after an investor has expressed serious interest, or already informally agreed to invest.

Invest 59

Invest Startup Doc Slides 59

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2020

The key elements of leadership in a company, both individual and organizational, are less tangible, but very critical in setting a market value for investment, acquisition, or going public. In the investment community, these leadership elements are often called “goodwill.” Leadership brand development.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Organization Coach Invest 124

Frank Addante

OCTOBER 12, 2021

We build and invest in startups with impact. Our focus is on helping entrepreneurs build businesses that focus on social and environmental challenges. We have a Startup Studio and Early Stage Investment Fund. We provide a startup studio which incubates and accelerates businesses and a pre-seed / seed investment fund.

Startup 105

Startup Case Study Ideas Invest 105

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

It turns out it actually takes time to build a high-growth business with differentiated intellectual property and roll out large, enterprise-class marketing solutions. At the time I pointed out: “If I had realized exits almost certainly it would be because I invested in a company that failed. ” Still. None have exited.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

When you raise money from investors you produce information that you are told they want and care about: A fund-raising deck that articulates your company strategy, plans, team, market, competitors and so forth. These collective sets of documents form the basis of what somebody looking at investing would call “financial due diligence.”

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

They de-risk hardware companies by focusing on the team, the technology, the market, and the manufacturing with their in-house experts as well as their global network. Perks include office space, prototype lab, production facilities, mentoring, and investments up to $150,000 in the first 4 months. Industrial designer in residence.

Startup 40

Startup Invest Chatsworth Mentor 40

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2010

Bockerstette, Main Street Venture Fund Angel investing in most parts of the country remains a relatively informal and unstructured process. Professional angel investing takes time, knowledge, skills and resources. The trophy investor understands these challenges and has developed a professional process to manage his investments.

Entrepreneur 83

Entrepreneur Mentor Invest Angel 83

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 14, 2011

The debt market has pretty much shut down for people, though there is some money coming out of the SBAs that have been somewhat helpful. And, the equity markets are certainly a more challenging environment. Mike Napoli: Actually, we are seeing entrepreneurs. Mike Napoli: I think it was the entrepreneur.

Tech Coast Angels 231

Tech Coast Angels Technical Review Angel Southern California 231

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. They are likely taking losses on their first project with the entrepreneur so they select carefully.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

Every investment so far in this YC batch (and there have been a lot) has been done on a convertible note.&#. I have to say that I didn’t take the question to mean that convertible debt had won for the entire market, but either way it’s clear that convertible debt has become an increasing trend.

Equity 319

Equity Pricing Venture Capital Entrepreneur 319

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

While firms define platforms differently, let’s just say they are the services that a VC offers outside of investment capital and partner time on boards or providing intros. Examples of VC platform services include: recruiting, marketing, design support, inside sales reps, consulting, accounting services and so forth.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Platform Startup Resource 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

Most entrepreneurs believe they are “different,” but they can’t quite understand how. The classic book, “ Hunting in a Farmer's World: Celebrating the Mind of an Entrepreneur ,” by serial entrepreneur and business coach John F. All this made more sense to me as Dini defined the types of entrepreneurs into four categories.

Entrepreneur 95

Entrepreneur News Slides Startup 95

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2012

Successful entrepreneurs, like Tony Hsieh of Zappos and Casey Sheahan of Patagonia , have long since realized that influence is no longer something that you do to someone to get what you want, but requires listening and relationship building to do what they want, with a win-win outcome. Master listening to learn where other people live.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Social Media Coach Help 106