Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 20, 2021

There are other social networks in the list of 300 “major sites” recognized by Wikipedia that entrepreneurs use for networking, depending on where you are in the world, like Viadeo, Ryze, and Sina Weibo, but talking to friends on Facebook probably won’t help you. Volunteer to help out with entrepreneur activities at your local university.

Entrepreneur 143

Entrepreneur Social Network Activity Networking 143

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

In the VC insider baseball world a discussion has gone on about “VC platforms” over the past 5 or so years. 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.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Platform Startup Resource 150

Both Sides of the Table

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.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

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. 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.”

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

Email readers, continue here…] Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally-generated funds. And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup.

Venture Capital 266

Venture Capital Class Invest Equity 266

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

Beware of VC Seagulls, who shit on you and then fly away (or worse yet leave you with Red Herrings). I write this post as a warning to pick your VC’s carefully. I like to say to first-time entrepreneurs, picking a VC is more permanent than marriage. I guarantee this is a bad VC. There are many great VCs.

Venture Capital 297

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur 297

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

We have significant VC commitments (listed below) – every entering company will get $50,000 in funding, mentorship from top VCs and successful entrepreneurs plus free office space. Of these 19 have received funding (10 have received significant amounts of VC funding) and 5 have been acquired (2 for more than $30 million).

Venture Capital 287

Venture Capital Funding Startup GRP Partners 287

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. At the time I pointed out: “If I had realized exits almost certainly it would be because I invested in a company that failed. “I think the best VCs help drive exits alongside their entrepreneurs.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

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). After that it’s domain experience, access to VCs and deep pockets. It’s hard for me to imagine that angel investing outcomes judged 10 years from now will have a drastically different profile.

Invest 280

Invest Angel Venture Capital Yahoo 280

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2019

There are other social networks in the list of 200 “major sites” recognized by Wikipedia that entrepreneurs use for networking, depending on where you are in the world, like Orkut, Viadeo, and Sina Weibo, but talking to friends on Facebook probably won’t help you. Volunteer to help out with entrepreneur activities at your local university.

Networking 90

Networking Entrepreneur Social Network Activity 90

Berkonomics

APRIL 28, 2012

This important variation on “money talks” is an important consideration for entrepreneurs when seeking an investment from professionals such as VC’s. Something like a marriage (and often lasting just as long statistically), your investment partner can be a great cheerleader, coach and resource.

Coach 174

Coach Venture Capital News Statistics 174

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

Or if you’re a VC raising from LPs you have to list all of your deals, your investment value, your carrying value, your multiples, your IRRs, TVPIs, DPIs, etc along with net cashflows plus your previous LPAs. 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

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2015

Every entrepreneur should do the same due diligence on a potential investor that smart investors do on their startups. Investors are human and subject to human tendencies, whether they are your rich uncle, an angel investor with personal funds or a venture capital investor with institutional money. Academic coach investors.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Coach Invest Sample 108

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

AUGUST 2, 2018

The Los Angeles Dodgers , along with Elysian Park Ventures , the private investment firm created by the ownership group behind the Los Angeles Dodgers specifically for investments in entrepreneurs in the areas of sports, technology, and entertainment, have launched and funded a new venture called E|L1.

Los Angeles 113

Los Angeles Redondo Beach Angel Coach 113

Both Sides of the Table

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.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

SoCal Tech Calendar

JANUARY 12, 2012

Speakers: Tarang Shah is a venture capital professional. At SoftBank Capital, a venture capital fund, he helped with investments in mobile, digital media and enterprise software startups totaling $50 million; Ash Kumra is a business coach, speaker and entrepreneur. See [link] (more)

SoCal 100

SoCal Southern California Coach Venture Capital 100

Both Sides of the Table

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.

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Startup Idealab Funding 290

Both Sides of the Table

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.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

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, ".

Entrepreneur 232

Entrepreneur Startup Equity Technical Review 232

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 12, 2012

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Steve Blank, author of Four Steps To The Epiphany , Stanford Professor and noted entrepreneur. The subject discussed in the video below is Steve’s belief that Venture Capitalists should begin their careers as operational entrepreneurs. The Alchemy Of A Great Venture Capitalist.

Venture Capital 239

Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur SaaS 239

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

If you read this blog often you'll know that I'm a huge fan of First Round Capital. They have totally changed the way you run a VC firm, investing heavily in systems & events for their founders that are pushing the boundaries of the way our industry works. Investing Strategy. and Half.com. and Half.com.

Capital 284

Capital Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 284

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 28, 2013

There are other social networks of the 200 or so now recognized by Wikipedia that entrepreneurs use for networking, depending on where you are in the world, like Orkut, Netlog, and Sina Weibo, but talking to friends on Facebook probably won’t help you. Volunteer to help out with entrepreneur activities at your local university.

Networking 100

Networking Entrepreneur Social Network Activity 100

socalTECH

AUGUST 10, 2012

Southern California has the one of the largest gathering of organized angel investment groups, and a huge crop of startup accelerators: there's only one problem, which is they don't naturally work together. With the VC ranks shrinking, founders need to tap every source of capital out there. The conflict is built in.

Angel 174

Angel Southern California Pasadena Angels Coach 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2012

Business groups like TiE-The Indus Entrepreneurs and EO-Entrepreneurs Organization are places to meet people you can help, as well as people who can help you. Volunteer to help out with entrepreneur activities at your local university. Attend an investment conference. Join a local investment group.

Activity 97

Activity Networking Entrepreneur Startup 97

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.

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Software Review Startup Coach 157

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’ve written about the topic of convertible debt at length before specifically about how angels & entrepreneurs should think about pricing. Clearly this is is a trend and a topic that is interesting entrepreneurs.

Equity 319

Equity Pricing Venture Capital Entrepreneur 319

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2012

You’re on a first date with a VC – how much should you tell them? When is it appropriate for a VC to call your customers? There is no universal answer and my discussions with various VCs on these topics have yielded many differing opinions. When I was raising money I pitched to several VCs. The First Meeting.

Technical Review 316

Technical Review Venture Capital Customer Custom 316

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

So part of playing an effective coach is helping the team to see the answer for themselves. My goal in the interview overall was to capture more of the personal side of Fred since so much of his investment thesis and portfolio work already comes out in his blog. You need to invest in good markets and bad.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

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

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

Hamet Watt is a longtime serial entrepreneur, who just recently join LA''s Upfront Ventures (www.upfront.com) as a Venture Partner. Hamet was previously co-founder at bLife and MoviePass, founded NextMedium, and was Entrepreneur-in-Residence with True Ventures, among other experience. Congrats on the new position.

Entrepreneur 191

Entrepreneur Startup Metrics Capital 191

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2012

A while back I heard a talk by Dave McClure, a long-time angel investor, who also proclaims to be one of the “new breed” of venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, as CEO of 500Startups , which is either a micro-VC seed fund, or a startup incubator, or both. The hard part for entrepreneurs is figuring out what it takes to play.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Startup Seed Funding Incubator 101

Both Sides of the Table

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. Some have moved into later stage investments in an effort to “put logos on their websites.&#

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Capital Software Startup 296

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 25, 2016

There are other social networks in the list of over 200 now recognized by Wikipedia that entrepreneurs use for networking, depending on where you are in the world, like Orkut, Netlog, and Sina Weibo, but talking to friends on Facebook probably won’t help you. Volunteer to help out with entrepreneur activities at your local university.

Networking 63

Networking Social Network Activity Entrepreneur 63

Tech.Co

MAY 25, 2018

If you’re an early-stage entrepreneur, technology has served you well. The barriers to entry when it comes to launching a company require less tension and a lot less capital. The Case Foundation invests in people and ideas that can change the world. In fact, for the most part, all you need is a laptop and Wi-Fi connection.

Startup 141

Startup Technical Review Competition Software Review 141

Both Sides of the Table

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. Most experienced VCs won’t push you to give up founder control at this stage of the business nor should they. There are just as many bad entrepreneurs who do bad things.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2010

For extroverted people I recommend that entrepreneurs have an “executive summary&# slide up front that cuts to the chase. And because as a VC or as a CEO or senior exec you get presented to all the time we’re extra sensitive to it. 25% of VCs are expressives, like you. Most entrepreneurs are.

Slides 358

Slides Venture Capital Startup Summary 358