Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2013

So when I meet with GRP portfolio companies that do enterprise sales I try to emphasize the following: 1. This might mean helping customers buy traffic, arb’ing deals, helping with RTB pricing or trading, etc. Integrate PS Work Into Sales & Marketing Processes. At a minimum co-ownership of the IP.

Software Review 321

Software Review Software Services Company 321

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 6, 2022

Last week, we talked about about the “de-stonkifying” of the market. The company’s stock tanked by more than 26 percent, representing a $230 billion reduction in market cap and a $31 billion drop in Zuckerberg’s personal net worth. Hello friends, and welcome back to Week in Review !

Marketing 246

Marketing Newsletter Technical Review News 246

Berkonomics

MARCH 4, 2021

Over the years, as I managed my several computer companies as CEO or executive chairman, I made the decision to go to market with a brand-new product that had never before been exposed to my customer’s marketplace. Changing the rules to fit the market. As a product marketing effort, it was a failure.

Artificial Inteligence 240

Artificial Inteligence Marketing Press Resource 240

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2021

As an advisor to new business owners, I’m accustomed to seeing primarily the simple traditional product pricing strategies , usually driven by competitor prices, or cost plus a reasonable margin. I often wonder whether you as the entrepreneur have worked as hard on your pricing strategy as you have on your innovative solution.

Pricing 145

Pricing Startup Competition Examples 145

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. While Google and Facebook will buy “acquihires” (at least as of Dec 2011), many acquirers hate the idea of buying companies that aren’t profitable. If you don’t, somebody else WILL!” ” The Details.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

When convertible debt first started being introduced as a “faster, cheaper way to get startups funded” they didn’t have pricing built into them. A standard entrepreneur retort I heard back then (2008-09) was “I don’t know what my company is worth now. They’ll get priced soon enough by a VC.”

Startup 354

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

Nor do they exist in the investors of early-stage companies. They are the lifeblood of many companies yet they are different than the traditional technology startup DNA so the ways that you hire, motivate, compensate and assess performance of these individuals will be different. My first startup was no different.

Sales 382

Sales Help Startup Pricing 382

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 21, 2024

How do you value pre-revenue companies? Last time we examined ten different ways to value companies already in revenue, usually beyond the early stage. For those of us who’ve invested in early-stage companies, especially technology startups, we have confronted a universal problem.

Invest 306

Invest Startup Email Competition 306

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). Today we’re in a world where 10 accelerators are bombarding you with emails to meet their 10-15 companies. You have to decide where to lean in on follow-on rounds.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

VC firms see thousands of deals and have a refined sense of how the market is valuing deals because they get price signals across all of these deals. As an entrepreneur it can feel as intimidating as going to buy a car where the dealer knows the price of every make & model of a car and you’re guessing at how much to pay.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 18, 2021

First, let’s recall the four “P’s” of marketing. Marketing is a science devised to help drive customers to your door. There are lots of ways to define how to market well, including the four P’s of marketing (1): product, price, promotion and place. More we are taught in marketing classes.

Marketing 156

Marketing Demand Class Pricing 156

Tech.Co

JUNE 22, 2021

Shopify is planning to strike a blow at Amazon by entering the affiliate marketing space. But, it also represents another swipe at Amazon's near-monopoly control of the affiliate marketing space. Understand the costs with our complete Shopify Pricing Guide. Why Would Shopify Expand into Affiliate Marketing?

Marketing 164

Marketing Buzzfeed Guide Platform 164

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2014

If you’ve watched any industry in the last 20 years where technology has begun to transform how the industry works the results are always predictable driven by what Clay Christensen appropriately called “ The Innovator’s Dilemma ” (one of the most influential books that changed my thinking about markets).

Truecar 338

Truecar Startup Hulu Pricing 338

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

What price? Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). What stage?

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2020

Traditional marketing may be adequate for linear growth, but it likely won’t catapult you to Amazon’s unicorn status , or make waves in the business world. For example, I usually hear about an aggressive marketing budget, with a plan to penetrate a few big retail chains, and some videos to catch your attention on YouTube.

Marketing 170

Marketing Startup Examples Custom 170

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

Since Arrested Development is back I thought I’d resurrect Gob Bluth’s answer when he was told he needed a “business model” – he quickly figured out that he was missing one so he asked Starla, the Bluth company secretary, if she would be his business model. You need product / market fit.

Startup 401

Startup Custom Customer Technical Review 401

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.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

socalTECH

MAY 20, 2021

Carpinteria-based construction management software developer Procore Technologies priced its IPO last night, saying it will sell 9,470,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $67.00 The company starts trading this morning on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol PCOR. The IPO was underwritten by Goldman Sachs & Co.,

Pricing 113

Pricing Santa Barbara Software Development Capital 113

socalTECH

MAY 10, 2021

Carpinteria-based construction management software developer Procore has set its estimated initial IPO pricing, saying in a filing today that it now expects an initial offering price of betweenn $60.00 The company has applied to list on the NYSE under the symbol PCOR. and $65.00 Piper Sandler, Stifel, and William Blair.

Pricing 113

Pricing Software Development Software Capital 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 29, 2021

As a business consultant, I often have to remind small business owners that their marketing needs to be more interactive, versus the traditional “ push ” model, where you broadcast your message to as many people as possible. Marketing must be everyone’s top priority. Market solutions as an experience or an event.

Custom 168

Custom Customer Marketing Social Media 168

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

What price? Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). What stage?

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Berkonomics

JUNE 12, 2025

How much risk you and your company are willing and able to tolerate over time? Most people believe that early stage companies should take risks aggressively because there is less to lose and much more to gain with each risky bet or decision. What might happen when gas prices rise again to untenable levels? Your average is 100%.

Resource 156

Resource Pricing Email Design 156

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 28, 2020

Even as oil companies are getting crushed by the collapse of demand for energy in the wake of international shutdowns responding to the global pandemic, investors representing one of the world’s savviest financiers are placing a small bet on electric charging as the future of transportation.

Funding 267

Funding Pricing Los Angeles Custom 267

socalTECH

JULY 23, 2021

Los Angeles-based soda company Zevia has its IPO on Thursday, launching itself onto the public markets on the New York Stock Exchange at ZVIA. The company priced at $14.00 The price was at the midpoint of its originally estimated $13.00 The company is backed by Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ).

Marketing 113

Marketing Pricing Los Angeles Software 113

socalTECH

JUNE 11, 2021

La Jolla-based biopharmaceuticals startup Janux Therapeutics said early this morning that it has priced its IPO, offering up 11,400,000 shares of its common stock at $17.00 The company begins trading this morning on the Nasdaq Global market under the ticker symbol JANX.

Pricing 113

Pricing Avalon Capital Marketing 113

socalTECH

AUGUST 17, 2021

El Segundo-based Wpromote is launching a new marketing technology platform, the company said today, which it says will help complement its performance marketing services. Pricing on the tools were not announced.

El Segundo 113

El Segundo Platform Marketing Pricing 113

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. It’s about looking out for and catching the next major marketing wave before others have grokked it. I laughed as I did at much of his rant.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review SEM SEO Marketing 384

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 19, 2018

Lizzie Francis will join the company as Chief Operating Officer, coming from Brilliant Ventures where she will remain a managing partner. She also serves on the board of Shoes of Prey, a custom shoe company currently aimed at the women’s market. Francis formerly acted as CMO at Gilt Group and CMO at JustFab.com.

Marketing 203

Marketing Sales Platform Los Angeles 203

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2013

I researched the pricing of the car at TrueCar – not because we’re an investor – but because it gives you complete price transparency over what other people in your area paid for a car. “Invoice price” is an equally meaningless marketing tool. But I digress. Talking about changing the world.

Conference 398

Conference Technical Review Truecar Software Review 398

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.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire GRP Partners 359

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 27, 2021

That’s how much Los Angeles-based ServiceTitan , a startup founded just eight years ago is worth now, thanks to some massive tailwinds around homebuilding and energy efficiency that are serving to boost the company’s bottom line and netting it an unprecedented valuation for a vertical software company, according to bankers.

SaaS 292

SaaS Glendale Statistics Los Angeles 292

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2020

Many entrepreneurs are so enamored with their product vision that they believe their own hype, and are convinced that the market for their solution is so huge that no one will ask them for independent market research data. Peruse company reports from your business domain. Conduct your own customized market research.

Marketing 157

Marketing Statistics Research Report 157

TechCrunch LA

MAY 3, 2022

The company Winters was working for sponsored her MBA to Harvard Business School, and it was there that she came up with the idea for Upgrade. “I The company, which raised $1.7 All of the stylists are independent contractors and set their own pricing. The price a consumer pays depends on the stylist chosen.

Tool 179

Tool Custom Customer Marketing 179

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

Here is the warning: The execution of partnership equity allocations and of a good incentive program using equity is often mismanaged, damaging the corporate capitalization structure and even affecting the outcome of subsequent investment into the company. How about the price per share? There are some rules.

Equity 256

Equity Class Pricing Sales 256

Berkonomics

JULY 13, 2017

Have you developed a prototype, alternate pricing schemes, even a PowerPoint mock-up to show to potential buyers? I would be very, very nervous without testing the product in the market as early as possible, ready to make changes and enhancements before committing to production and release.

Resource 256

Resource Pricing Organization Product 256

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2014

We both agree that the later-stage valuations are being driven up to a point that feels irrationally priced [he uses b-round SaaS valuations as an example and I am willing to be even more broad based]. The only point we didn’t seem totally aligned on was what we happening to the “middle of the VC market.”

Venture Capital 309

Venture Capital SaaS Writing Funding 309

Berkonomics

JULY 6, 2017

Know your market and competition, or don’t spend a dime on anything else. Well, here is one of those, and it deals with market research first and foremost. Here’s where some intelligent market research might have saved the company and my investment. Let me tell you a short story at my own expense.

Competition 266

Competition Research Summary Pricing 266