TechCrunch LA

APRIL 23, 2020

There’s also a relatively modest request (of only $4 billion) for funding devoted to pilot projects, startup companies, and public clean technology investment initiatives (like LACI). The funding would include $20 billion for utility upgrades. There’s $25 billion in money set aside for public transit and $12.5

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Southern California Los Angeles Rosemead Incubator 261

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 29, 2023

As investors continue pouring funding into artificial intelligence and consumer habits shift, many AI and subscription model startups have been enjoying rapid growth. Source: runwayml.com In June, Runway raised $141 million in funding, nudging its market valuation to an envy-inducing $1.5 Organic milk formula product Bobbie.

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Startup Generative AI Newsletter Tool 210

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. an investment in your company. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. This is where most founders err.

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Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2018

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined some time ago from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Funding or rollout stage. Growth and exit stage.

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Funding Startup Organization Incubator 94

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

Topics we covered: B2B Companies You haven’t seen the full extent to how the correction is going to affect you. I pointed out that throughout history building companies has always taken time and we as a market have put an urgency to rush growth rates. The reality is that when unemployment sinks in demand is likely to get worse.

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Venture Capital Marketing Startup Writing 263

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. Prorata investments rights given investors the right to invest in your future fund-raising rounds and maintain their ownership % in your company as your company grows and raises more capital.

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Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2020

In our business lives we’re having to deal with decisions that could have lasting impacts on our companies without any compass to guide us in the direction we’re heading . He showed industries where demand was likely to hold strong and he outlined a case for how he could protect as many jobs as possible. Empathy can also be financial.

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Demand Guide Customer Custom 215

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2020

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined a long time ago from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Funding or rollout stage. Growth and exit stage.

Resource 171

Resource Startup Organization Incubator 171

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2022

Most business advisors I know will say that writing a business plan is the first step to starting your own business, but I believe that a better first step is to do a self-analysis of your real drivers, strengths, and assumptions before committing to this lifestyle. Assess your own resources as well as funding sources.

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Social Media Writing Ideas Resource 105

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

One of the hardest things about the fund-raising process for entrepreneurs is that you’re trying to raise money from people who have “asymmetric information.” I thought I’d write a post about how to talk about valuation at a startup and give you some sense of what might be on the mind of the person considering funding you.

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Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2013

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined before from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Funding or rollout stage. Growth and exit stage. Marty Zwilling.

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Entrepreneur Funding Incubator Startup 102

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 5, 2019

Due to the overwhelming demand to pitch at our last event in San Diego, we're throwing an exclusive PitchFest speed dating event where you will be pitching to over 20 investors one-on-one! At this San Diego Event, we will be showcasing some of the newest early-stage venture funds and angel groups in the San Diego area!

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San Diego Venture Capital Angel Summary 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

My view: “Spending any time or energy trying to game the ‘definition’ of your round of fund raising is a total waste. There weren’t a lot of seed funds in 2007 so this was often done by angels, funding consortia or sometimes early-stage funds that existed then (First Round Capital, True Ventures, SoftTech VC, etc.).

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Seed Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 399

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 7, 2019

Due to the overwhelming demand to pitch at our last event in Orange County, we're throwing an exclusive PitchFest speed dating event where you will be pitching to over 20 investors one-on-one! At this OC Event, we will be showcasing some of the newest early-stage venture funds and angel groups in the San Diego area!

Orange County 100

Orange County Venture Capital Angel Tech Coast Angels 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2011

Yesterday I saw a Tweet from Chris Sacca fly by that prompted me to want to write a blog post helping entrepreneurs understand why they should push back against VCs asking for “super pro-rata” rights. Obviously the situation is very different in companies where the company isn’t “killing it.”

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Entrepreneur Venture Capital Writing Invest 310

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2022

One of the most common complaints I hear from entrepreneurs is that they are overwhelmed by the workload and stress of starting their company. Then there are the additional challenges of balancing the demands of family and friends. Write it down, but even then, keep it to the top ten priority items or less.

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Startup Tips Entrepreneur Mentor 123

Xconomy

OCTOBER 1, 2019

Now, as demand for engineered DNA rises, a handful of startups are vying to become the go-to provider for researchers looking for improved versions of the DNA sequences. Molecular Assemblies is among the companies working to commercialize what’s known as enzymatic DNA synthesis.

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San Diego Research Writing Demand 43

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2013

One of the most common complaints I hear from entrepreneurs is that they are overwhelmed by the workload and stress of starting their company. Then there are the additional challenges of balancing the demands of family and friends. Write it down, but even then, keep it to the top ten priority items or less.

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Company Companies Startup Entrepreneur 96

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

To grow faster businesses need resources in today to fund growth that may not come for 6 months to a year. 70–80% of the costs of most startups are employee costs so what you’re really talking about when a company is unprofitable is that they are growing their staff ahead of their revenue. Is it one product line or multiple?

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Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

socalTECH

DECEMBER 31, 2018

What was the biggest news for your company in 2018? We do, as of the writing of this in early December, seem to be seeing a correction at this time. On Demand). Amazon has razor thin profits compared to their revenue but Bezos doesn't care he just wants growth and world domination and has a market cap of $763B.

Southern California 100

Southern California News Class Writing 100

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 17, 2019

The new information, gleaned from recently unsealed court documents , provides new insight into the company’s past activities and what that might mean for its upcoming IPO. There’s a new autonomous trucking company coming out of stealth. We’ll share more soon. Email me or send a direct message to @kirstenkorosec.

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San Fernando Los Angeles Commerce News 217

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

Tech companies have spent the past decade or more developing innovations that can be applied to old-world industries like agriculture, construction, energy, education, manufacturing and transportation and logistics. As with most of Biden’s big infrastructure initiatives, there are startups tackling these issues.

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Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

As I’ve written about recently, at Upfront Ventures we started talking a couple of years ago about wanting to fund stuff with more meaning. I think this is a combination of being realists as venture capitalists that outsized returns in our funds must come from taking on bigger, more impactful projects that can move markets.

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Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Do you need a board when you first start you company? Time based as in “a guaranteed right for 12 months, which can be renewed by mutual board consent” and event based “a guaranteed right until the company has raised $x million from new investors.” How does control start to change at the B-round of funding?

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Startup Venture Capital Tips Capital 236

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2013

Well, a down round is even more complicated than having no demand for your investment round. First, a down round sends a signal that something is wrong with your company. If we count seed funds and large angels maybe that number goes up by 2x? ” (before fund raising). A down round. That’s why. We know that.

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Pricing Seed Funding Invest Venture Capital 302

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2016

I even prefer to fund entrepreneurs who have experience some level of set-backs in their careers or startups because I think it brings a humility to decision-making that I find healthy. You also ran the risk that if you hired employees quickly and then demand wasn’t as strong as expected it was incredibility hard to fire people.

Startup 261

Startup Press Blogging .Net 261

Jason Nazar

MARCH 22, 2011

I recently hosted a panel at the Twiistup Conference about LA tech companies. I have some pretty specific thoughts on the differences between companies in the two cities, as I wrote about in my previous post A Tale of Two Tech Cities. Challenge #1 – Tech Companies are Not Typically Started by Technologists.

Company 111

Company Companies Startup Twiistup 111

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

I had an enjoyable conversation this morning with a young team straight out of college this morning and they were calling to ask advice on how to approach fund raising (angels vs. VCs, how to select a VC, etc.) So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. FourSquare.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. There is an inherent value that any company has. I acknowledged this in the article.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2016

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined some time ago from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Funding or rollout stage. Growth and exit stage.

Organization 93

Organization Startup Incubator Ideas 93

InfoChachkie

MARCH 4, 2013

Business Lessons From The Dark Side Of The Moon. • Obtain Customer Feedback Before You Release Your Product - Musicians spend their entire youth writing songs and performing them in front of live audiences, which ensures that their initial album is validated by their fans before they enter the recording studio.

Startup 269

Startup Cloud Computing RSS Writing 269

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” To grow faster businesses need resources in today’s financial period to fund growth that may not come for 6 months to a year.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

I think we've done some of the really exciting companies in LA, including most recently Clicker, Machinima, BUZZmedia, and SVnetwork. A lot of people don't know it, but we also have an early growth fund, Redpoint Omega, which also gives us the flexibility to invest as little as $50,000 in a company, which we do quite often.

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Redpoint Southern California Cornerstone OnDemand Invest 154

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 25, 2016

It is no secret that the number of private companies with valuations in excess of one billion dollars has skyrocketed since the start of 2014. The inevitable outcome will be the collapse of the weakest companies, while those with sound underlying business models will be recapitalized with reasonable valuations.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Invest Venture Capital 100

InfoChachkie

MARCH 18, 2013

In order to extract value beyond your Angel investors' cash, you must first assess three important parameters: (i) the relative strength of their personal brand, (ii) their ability to add operational value, and (iii) the amount of care and feeding they will demand from you.

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Angel Technical Review RSS Entrepreneur 217

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 15, 2019

The company recently raised a round of funding from Santa Barbara-based ScOps Venture Capital. There's lots of noise in the on-demand tutoring space, especially connecting people virtually, however, in my experience, it's in the best interest of consumers to get in-person, local tutoring. What is HeyTutor? Here's the reason why.

Startup 113

Startup Venture Capital Beverly Hills Acquisition 113

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. Brad Feld hadn’t written his seminal “ term sheet series &# and The Funded hadn’t yet been created. You’ll need to hire and retain talen to grow your company.

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Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405