Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2019

Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2016

I was speaking recently to the team at NuOrder , an LA-based company we’re an investor in about “realism in startups” — an impromptu talk I have given to any of our portfolio companies who ask. During the Q&A I was asked about how I make investment decisions in early-stage businesses. I fall in love.”

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2023

More than ever before, people want to buy from, work for, and invest in companies that matter. Your company and team members have to be seen as going above and beyond to solve the problems of internal and external customers. Companies that matter focus beyond the buy/sell transaction view of the world.

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TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

The sweeping infrastructure package put forward today by President Joe Biden comes with a price tag of roughly $2 trillion (and hefty tax hikes) but gives startups and the broader tech industry about $1 trillion worth of reasons to support it. ” Climate resiliency . Given the steady drumbeat of climate disasters that hit the U.S.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

There is much discussion online and also in small, private groups, about why the price of technology companies – public and private – are falling. Valuing any company can be difficult because it requires a degree of forecasting future growth & competition and ultimately the profits of the organization.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 18, 2011

What I’d like to do is tell you the story of how the investment came to be, what my thesis is / was and share some thoughts on macro trends. I always try hard to make this blog a place where you can learn lessons rather than an advertisement for portfolio companies. I’m also on record as saying I invest in lines & not dots.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

Competitive (Athlete: skier & rowed at Princeton, hates losing at everything she does). Investment experience (5 years a VC at Battery Ventures). Helped merge company with Seedling – on track to do $20 million combined revenue in 2015 – will now become Chairman). billion IPO), Envestnet (Chicago, $1.25

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Berkonomics

APRIL 11, 2019

An entrepreneur pitches using a deck with no slide for competition. We have no competition.”. That statement has killed more investment deals than almost any other. When asked (as we always do,) the response is “This is new. Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur come out with that one. Do your homework!

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Berkonomics

JANUARY 11, 2018

And good board members can add real value to you and the company. But sometimes there is a barrier, an impossibly high cost not considered, a social backlash never thought of, or competition already covering the idea that is unknown to the originator. Strategic thinking: Board members who ask: “What is the competitive landscape?”

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 26, 2010

Competition. And the reality is that if you have no competition it will likely be perceived as a negative, not positive. And the reality is that if you have no competition it will likely be perceived as a negative, not positive. where do you need to make investments to make up ground and therefore need capital?).

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Berkonomics

AUGUST 31, 2023

Know your market and competition, or don’t spend a dime on anything else. But wait for the mic drop… [Email readers, continue here…] Here’s where some intelligent market research might have saved the company and my investment. Hotels were installing the system; guests were satisfied, and the company was growing.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Many MBA programs still cater too much to the needs of large, corporate management jobs or prepare students to enter big consulting companies or investments banks. If you haven’t read Adam Lashinsky’s awesome new book about Apple , you should. And that leads me to today’s post.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

I actually really enjoyed many of the points Muhammad made about marketing in general and I found myself nodding through the entirety of the article except for it’s core premise. I believe growth hacking is about all of this. I’d like to make the case that the article is wrong. I’d strongly encourage you to read it.

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Berkonomics

OCTOBER 10, 2013

Many CEOs have asked me if I felt an investment banker adds value if the buyer has already been identified. Investment bankers sometimes slow the process by requiring a “deal book” to be prepared containing considerable information about a company to help a buyer. Deal books are expensive to create.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

For much of 2013 I watched the press write articles about how the YouTube “MCNs” (multi-channel networks) were doomed and tried to square that with the data I was watching at the one I invested in, Maker Studios, who has had one hell of a year. I agree with YouTube (that they provide more (hosting, ad sales, etc.)

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2023

Yet everyone has limits, and every investor implicitly has similar limits on what makes a startup investable, or one to avoid at all costs. Even top big-company executives are considered high-risk in a startup environment. For new car companies such as DeLorean and Fisker, designing and testing the product is only the beginning.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

<== Our conclusion was that this isn’t a temporary blip that will swiftly trend-back up in a V-shaped recovery of valuations but rather represented a new normal on how the market will price these companies somewhat permanently. First in late-stage tech companies and then it will filter back to Growth and then A and ultimately Seed Rounds.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2023

Indeed, while the rules and technologies for lead generation have changed, Forrester and other experts still see it as the most effective way for businesses with limited budgets to maximize their return on marketing investment (ROI). It’s also one of the most accountable, with in-depth data provided by search engines about performance.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2014

This week I wrote about obsessive and competitive founders and how this forms the basis of what I look for when I invest. I had been thinking a lot about this recently because I’m often asked the question of “what I look for in an entrepreneur when I want to invest?” To invest in your future.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

I recommend you read Fred Wilson’s recent blog post about the need for a well articulated business strategy before pushing a particular business model. Put simply – you need enough users in a segment who care about what you’re doing to dictate investing further in the product or in sales & marketing resources.

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socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2019

This morning's interview is with Kevin O'Connor , a longtime investor and serial entrepreneur, who is now running venture capital investment firm ScOp Venture Capital. Kevin sold his last company, Santa Barbara-based Graphiq, in July of 2017 to Amazon, but has a long history of successful companies, including founding DoubleClick.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

leadership, mentorship, competitiveness, communications, relationship-building?—?and I called an (ex) LP to tell him about her and my goals for her. Kara said “no” because she wanted to start her own company, which she did and I backed. Leadership is about recognizing your next generation of talent and helping lift them up.

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socalTECH

OCTOBER 23, 2012

We sat down with TX Zhuo , who is heading up the firm's venture investments, about the fund and his path here after a recent stint at Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors fund in Palo Alto. We are going to focus most of our investments in LA. We have four investments so far, two of which are public.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.

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Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 21, 2019

Often, we joke together as managers of companies or of people that our goal is “world domination” or “to crush the competition.” But that is a number in a vacuum without at least two other measures: return on investment (ROI) and percentage of net profit to revenue. How about companies formed to profit and give to charity?

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

I’m over-paying for every check I write into the VC ecosystem and valuations are being pushed up to absurd levels and many of these valuations and companies won’t hold in the long term. On the one hand, you’re over paying for every investment and valuations aren’t rational. dot-com bonanza. Seed has become an option factory for many.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

It’s that time of year where we think about new beginnings. Portfolio company support & analysis. Associates often shadow partners at board meetings so that they can help follow up with the company on important initiatives between board meetings. And believe me they were vocal about it. Industry reviews.

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TechCrunch LA

APRIL 26, 2022

We first met the Chicago-based company and its founder and CEO Vitaly Alexandrov last year when we reported that Food Rocket launched in the Bay Area , going up against the likes of Amazon Fresh, DoorDash, Instacart and Gopuff, which is no easy feat given each of the company’s footprint. We are creating new habits of customers.

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Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

We love capital efficiency until we love land grabs until we abhor over funding until we get huge payouts and ring the bell for more funding until we attract every non-VC on the planet to invest in startups until it crashes and we start the cycle all over again none the wiser. Too much money too early often f s companies up.

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TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 28, 2020

There’s a new company that’s sitting on top of some of the fastest growing consumer-facing businesses in the world — liquor and marijuana delivery — and its name is Pacific Consolidated Holdings Group. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 29, 2010

I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. Competitiveness - One attribute that I believe most VCs look for in entrepreneurs is competitiveness. I replay things in my mind about why I lost and I try to correct my mistakes. I had to say it.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I’m super excited to announce that GRP Partners led the investment in Ethan Anderson’s new company MyTime (link has LA-based merchants but will give you a good feel for the product). BuildOnline (the company I founded) has just announcement plans to be more aggressive in growing in the US. Let me not bury the lede.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2015

We have made 5 online video investments in total – some we will talk about later this year. YouTube takes too high of a revenue split (45% vs. 30% that Apple and many other distribution companies take – FWIW, YouTube argues this is because their costs are much higher since they host and stream the video).

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2014

I was at a dinner recently in Chicago and the table discussion was about building great companies outside of Silicon Valley. It’s not the great companies you build, it’s the silent killer of those that should have been build locally and weren’t. Think about Facebook had it stayed in Boston.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

Danielle goes through some commentary from Bill Gurley, Fred Wilson and Marc Andreessen about burn rate and then goes on to discuss her own burn rate and others publicly weigh in. But what IS the right amount of burn for a company? I often see companies burning $100,000 per month (net) looking to raise $6-8 million.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

I’m very pleased today to announce that I invested, on behalf of GRP Partners, in Burstly alongside Rincon Venture Partners , an early stage VC in Southern California whith whom we love to work (and were our co-investors on RingRevenue ). Naturally I’m excited about this investment or I wouldn’t have done it.

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SoCal CTO

MAY 19, 2010

What if you believe you have a company that will be a profitable $10M company with obvious exits? Can you raise $750K - $1M with no future investments planned? And I’m really wondering about that. I’m a regular reader/listener of the Frank Peters Show that talks about Angel Investing.

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