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. By 2011 the market had started to change dramatically. This is just a quick summary. So we went for it.

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Startup Idealab Funding 290

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

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. Clearly this is is a trend and a topic that is interesting entrepreneurs. In fact, in some ways can be worse for the entrepreneur.

Equity 319

Equity Pricing Venture Capital Entrepreneur 319

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

VCs should be more of a coach than proscriptively telling you what to do. SEO marketing vs. social marketing. I think of VCs as coaches. But successful coaches find a way to get the most out of all the existing players on the field and avoid too much unnecessary trading. I call them “ VCs Seagulls.”

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2018

As an advisor to entrepreneurs and new business owners, I’ve long observed that one of the toughest challenges is people change management in the team. I found some help in this regard in a new book, “ Power Your Tribe ,” by Christine Comaford, who has been a business leadership and culture coach for the past 30 years.

Summary 55

Summary Examples Coach Startup 55

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

And here’s an important point that I think modern entrepreneurs often forget: Investors are “co-owners” of your business. There are just as many bad entrepreneurs who do bad things. how to market our products and company. It surprises me that this is even controversial but in this day-and-age it sometimes is.

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. I usually say something like, “I know this market reasonably well so feel free to pick up the pace and drop from 50k feet to 5k feet. OK, I understand your market is big. Dude, I get it.

Slides 358

Slides Venture Capital Startup Summary 358

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on. But I knew that to be a good decision maker I needed first hand knowledge rather than just a summary from my CTO. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2020

I heard it again recently from a technical entrepreneur who should know better than to believe the old “ Field of Dreams ” sports fantasy movie theme in today’s Internet information overload environment. In fact, having one marketing guru on the team alone won’t get you very far. Give credit.

Marketing 130

Marketing Develop Development Startup 130

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2023

I’ve heard it many times from technical entrepreneurs who should know better than to believe the old “ Field of Dreams ” sports fantasy movie theme in today’s Internet information overload environment. In fact, having one marketing guru on the team alone won’t get you very far. Give credit.

Startup 95

Startup Coach Mentor Social Media 95

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2016

I heard it again yesterday from a technical entrepreneur who should know better than to believe the old “ Field of Dreams ” sports fantasy movie theme in today’s Internet information overload environment. In fact, having one marketing guru on the team alone won’t get you very far. Give credit.

Marketing 89

Marketing Coach Mentor Social Media 89

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2011

Yet a critical mistake I see many entrepreneurs make is that they hand over too much control to their third-parties. They know what is “market&# for your recruits in terms of base, bonus & stock options. You can certainly get coaching from your VC on how to play the negotiations since they do it more often than you do.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Outsource 319

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

If you don’t want to read that post, the summary is: Open source computing drove computing costs down 90%, which spurred innovation in technology. Surprisinly, this strategy works well with many entrepreneurs. This will continue while we’re in a tech bull market and I predict will wane when we’re not.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Capital Software Startup 296

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

TrueCar, an LA-based company, sells more cars now than any physical dealer in the country and recently went public and has a $1 billion market cap. While the costs of starting a tech company have plummeted it still does take money to hire a team, launch products and market oneself. Indeed we have already seen the beginnings.

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Capital Funding 390

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I’ve raised in boom markets and when everybody thought the Internet was a fraud. I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. Executive Summary. If you want to watch the video version summary of my advice on fund raising it’s here. Tell a friend!

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366