TechEmpower

AUGUST 21, 2023

At TechEmpower, we’ve conducted more than 50 technical reviews for companies of all sizes, industries, and technical stacks. Other common scenarios that we’ve seen: Scaling and new markets: Your company and product are established, and now you’re scaling or going after new markets. Will they resent scrutiny from the outside?

Technical Review 260

Technical Review Development Team Review Software Review TechEmpower 260

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2014

But of course great teams build great companies and great startup leaders know that they must always be recruiting. Yet most startup companies I’ve ever worked with or observed make one crucial mistake: They assume that their recruitment process for a candidate is over when that person accepts his or her offer. You must win.

Press 341

Press Startup Email Sales 341

TechCrunch LA

MAY 11, 2018

In the battle royal to become the last dock-less scooter startup standing ( and un-besmirched by poop ), Bird has inked what it is characterizing as exclusive deals with Ninebot (the parent company of Segway ) and Xiaomi ( yes, that Xiaomi ), for rights to their supply of scooters for ride-sharing in the U.S.

Santa Monica 228

Santa Monica San Diego Summary Los Angeles 228

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 3, 2022

These now provide better quality, better paying, and more exciting jobs than big companies. Don’t be limited by only non-real-time communications, implied with emails, texts, and online forums. You need to step out of your comfort zone to socialize, meet new people, and collaborate with peers, company leaders, and mentors.

Social Media 125

Social Media Summary Startup Mentor 125

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

Most sophisticated investors ignore them, focusing their attention on an entrepreneur's pitch and presentation materials, financial forecast and executive summary. As such, the primary goal of your executive summary is to open the door to an in-person meeting. Entrepreneurs routinely seek my advice regarding their executive summaries.

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Summary Technical Review Template 211

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

If you want the whole deck you can find it on SlideShare but I’ve written up a short summary with commentary below. The best way of thinking about this “value capture” accrued to VCs and not public-market investors is to look at what happened a generation ago. trillion in value.

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital Capital Startup Funding 292

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I know that you can use an email system with this to track my open rate, whether I forwarded the email, the IP address where I read it, whether I was on a mobile device or a wired computer and you can tell who else read the document. I would likely open up your deck, read it again and begin contemplating your company again.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

My answer always varies as I examine each deal, sometimes deferring and passing on an investment because of an uneasy feeling about the entrepreneur, even if the business plan seems able to capture the market. And great management can morph a company to adopt without destroying the culture of the company in the process.

Venture Capital 120

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Ideas Summary 120

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

My answer always varies as I examine each deal, sometimes deferring and passing on an investment because of an uneasy feeling about the entrepreneur, even if the business plan seems able to capture the market. And great management can morph a company to adopt without destroying the culture of the company in the process.

Venture Capital 120

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Ideas Summary 120

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

Here are some observations I have from this exposure: If a company moves from strength-to-strength with predictable outcomes, easy financings, low staff turn-over, limited competitive threats then the composition of the board probably doesn’t matter as much. In the best cases boards come together to help the company get through its trough?—?in

Startup 269

Startup Venture Capital Layoffs Resource 269

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

I recently wrote a post about why I didn’t think early-stage startups should have COOs. To be clear, I said that most companies I see pitching have COOs & I don’t have a rule against it. I’ve had several COOs at companies in which I’ve invested. I expected it to be controversial and it was.

Startup 292

Startup CTO Hire Sales Email 292

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 10, 2010

I get these frequently via Twitter, Facebook or email. But I do like to try and make time for some and I’ll admit I’m a bit random about it. I provided my email address and he sent me a 688 word email (e.g. I felt I had committed so I read and responded to the email. I don’t mind.

Help 332

Help Email Mentor Blogging 332

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

the most counter-intuitive fund-raising advice you’ll ever get I’m about to offer you some fund-raising advice that flies directly in the face of what most conventional wisdom will tell you. VCs (and LPs) have a vested interest in having more data, whether they want to invest in your company / firm or not.

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2019

Hearing views from Bill Gates on how the world deals with issues like climate change, Jack Dorsey talk about the role of social platforms and government and discussions with Kevin Systrom (Instagram), Todd McKinnon (Okta), etc were fascinating. What Should We Talk About at Board Meetings? I think this analogy can hold for boards.

Startup 234

Startup Slides Venture Capital Course 234

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2014

If you have smart investors and board members this time could be some of your most valuable because you get a 1-1 dialog about your business without all of the pomp & circumstance of a formal board meeting. You can get their reaction to your company progress and to the strategic topics you plan to cover at the board meeting.

Startup 325

Startup Summary Email Ideas 325

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2013

I’ve been writing a series on a simple methodology that we used at my first enterprise software company. It was useful because I was new to sales and as the CEO it gave me some comfort to feel more informed about how our leads where going and to know the likelihood of our hitting our quarterly goals. Maybe they don’t?

Sales 328

Sales Customer Custom Examples 328

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

Email readers, continue here.] And great management is able to morph a company to adopt without destroying the culture of the company in the process. What if you were the investor and someone walked into your office handing you a business plan executive summary that floored you with its brilliance?

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Summary Entrepreneur Incubator 240

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2023

His professional background includes having held marketing-executive roles at big companies as well as startups. Here is my summary of the seven most successful lead-generation vehicles he and I still recommend today, despite the popularity of viral marketing: Search-engine marketing. Email marketing. Social-media advertising.

Marketing 114

Marketing Invest Social Media SEM 114

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you truly believe that you, your company and your products are exceptional and your company will be valuable then you’re actually doing them a FAVOR by helping them invest in your startup. an investment in your company. Today I want to talk about the process and how to allocate your time. these are simply guidelines.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Or, as always, summary notes available below. The value of Pitch Decks; Brad’s personal preferences on deal presentation; and Brad’s practice of accepting cold approaches via email. But, in fact, I would rather have an executive summary than a pitch deck. Very few people can do a good job with a presentation that is emailable.”.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 13, 2011

Here’s my advice: A got an email from a young, super bright entrepreneur today. I intro’d him to the COO of a growing tech company about maybe working together. He responded by emailing the COO and asking him to lunch. And given that I travel enough and have dinners with portfolio companies, etc.

Venture Capital 397

Venture Capital Startup Email Networking 397

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 10, 2013

Plus, if you haven’t prepared to talk about Canada vs. Mexico you might come across as unprepared and the board will pick up on this. You’re looking to get their experiences from other companies and to challenge your thinking. How to deal with “topic creep?” ” Simple. Does Anybody Have any Questions?

Startup 312

Startup Course Summary Product 312

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2019

That is the basic function of a board meeting and this is often 2–4 hours depending on how early-stage or late-stage the company is. Every now and again you hit severe turbulence where people are grabbing the arm rests and panicked about what might happen next. These existential moments come up with companies and with boards.

Networking 262

Networking Startup Tips Course 262

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

These courses all proved to be serious influences on turning the dream of starting their own company into a reality. On the first day of class, Professor Greathouse told his students, “Take a look around the class, these are the people you will most likely start a company with,” and boy was he right. Share and Enjoy.

Class 231

Class Startup Santa Barbara RSS 231

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

I took the opportunity this past week to publish summary notes of some of the VCs and entrepreneurs I had interviewed on This Week in VC. if you get some value out of the notes consider checking out his company or Twitter feed). TWIVC Summary – Richard de Silva. The company later sold for around $300 million. Thank you.

Capital 265

Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

I recently got an email from a friend who had been approached by a well known VC. He sent me an email asking whether the approach was real and whether he should take it seriously. Here is the email he received (reprinted without names with his permission). No reason not to call him but I wouldn’t get too excited about it.

Venture Capital 294

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Email Equity 294

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 20, 2020

His professional background includes having held marketing-executive roles at big companies as well as startups. Here is my summary of the seven most successful lead-generation vehicles he and I still recommend today, despite the popularity of viral marketing: Search-engine marketing. Email marketing. Social-media advertising.

Customer 146

Customer Custom Marketing Startup 146

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2010

I recently wrote a piece for Mashable on how to create a company blog. Since it’s already written (and since I promised not to republish on my blog other than a summary) if you’re interested please have a read over there. Summary notes and then I’ll extend: Should you blog? What should you blog about?

Blogging 286

Blogging Startup Writing Summary 286

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. I explain in the video what happened in my first company (e.g. A: It’s not best.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

I spoke about the topic on Fox Business News yesterday in a great session with TechCrunch50 winner RedBeacon and will post it along with my other VC Videos when Fox puts it on their website. It’s about building long-term relationships and showing traction over time. ahead of thinking about you). Let’s be honest.

Venture Capital 277

Venture Capital Startup Email News 277

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

It’s true that some later-stage private equity firms like to fund “roll ups” (a company that acquires many related companies in it sector), but this is seldom the domain of VCs. Note: If you enjoy or are learning from this series please subscribe by entering your email below?—?it Summary Raising money is a daunting process.

Venture Capital 247

Venture Capital Capital Funding Demand 247

Tech.Co

MARCH 9, 2020

From analytical reporting tools to helpful integrations such as email and Slack prompts, you'll be able to run your whole business, not just your remote work teams, in a more efficient manner. But if you follow a few best practices, you should be able to keep you and your company safe. Check In Effectively. Project Management Software.

Tips 157

Tips Software Review Study Email 157

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

One example is that they introduced a program where their founders can pool together shares from their company and exchange them for a small portfolio of other First Round Capital companies. It is clear that he is simply passionate about being a VC and participating in this industry. I'm a huge fan of this innovation.

Capital 284

Capital Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 284

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2019

Based on my own career with small companies as well as large ones, I assure you that it’s a lot more satisfying for everyone, as well as productive, working in a happy business environment. Most people are happiest when they are feeling smarter about their job. Focus on improving work habits that have the biggest payback.

Satisfaction 91

Satisfaction Mentor Summary Class 91

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Or read the quick, informative summary below the image! Don’t and you might make one catastrophic mistake that leaves you in the annals of Effed Companies. He is very hands-on and helpful – especially for any company looking into customer acquisition. Here’s a summary of our interview.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2009

With the LeWeb conference about to start in Paris I thought the timing of this post would be appropriate. I do about 15 in person meetings / week … that’s about 750 / year. That’s still about 400 new meetings that I do every year. This is part of my ongoing series with Startup Advice.

Startup 322

Startup Conference Email Venture Capital 322

socalTECH

JUNE 21, 2013

Instead of equity, the company is aimed at profiting profitable small businesses with business debt funding from investors, to help those businesses grow and get to the next level. Ethan Senturia: Dealstruck is trying to solve the problem of successful, growing, mid-sized companies. What is Dealstruck?

Startup 247

Startup Software Review Entrepreneur Equity 247