Both Sides of the Table

JULY 4, 2016

Modern-society is also littered with over-networkers and over-introducers and professional conference attendees. I try to steer entrepreneurs away from over-introducers and I often find myself wanting to be careful about them becoming an investor in companies I back. Focus is almost always the right answer.

Innocal 255

Innocal Conference Help Study 255

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 20, 2013

It’s a shame because the ability to nail these presentations at key conferences can be once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to influence journalists, business partners, potential employees, customers and VCs. So I thought I’d write a piece on how not to suck when you give a presentation. Show some energy! why does this matter?

Slides 399

Slides Startup Conference Writing 399

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

Even artisan-based services, like graphic design and writing good ad copy, have innovative processes and principles. Be accessible on social media, write a blog or articles for industry publications, and participate in conference panels and speaking engagements. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

socalTECH

MARCH 28, 2019

Earlier this month, the annual Montgomery Summit conference was held in Santa Monica, including a special portion of the conference dedicated to the Rise of the Female Entrepreneur. I really got to know the team well, and had grown an appreciation for the companies and portfolio they have built.

Capital 162

Capital Entrepreneur Invest Artificial Inteligence 162

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 16, 2019

With a focus on female venture capitalists and founders, All Raise hosts an annual conference, several in-person and virtual fundraising workshops and networking sessions and, recently, the group began creating curated peer groups for investors. The two All Raise members now sit on the company’s board of directors.

Venture Capital 184

Venture Capital Ideas Los Angeles Tool 184

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. A seed company hasn’t ramped up its cost base. Harry posed these questions.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Writing 263

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

After my board meeting I had to do an interview with a CFO candidate that one of my portfolio companies asked me to speak with. I then had to review a nefarious IP lawsuit filed against another company and help the CEO figure out whether we should just pay it or join forces with the other companies named and fight it.

Software Review 381

Software Review Startup Email Conference 381

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2023

If you can’t write it down, you probably don’t understand it. Writing, audios, and videos are all great ways to do this, since these all facilitate the one-to-many multiplier. Some people learn best from conferences, while other learn best from blogs and other information online. Provide a unique point of view.

Social Media 94

Social Media Media Ideas Writing 94

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about The Silent Benefits of PR in which I pointed out that most young companies I encounter don’t fully grasp the benefits of PR because they are less measurable than product milestones or customer acquisition analyses (like CAC/LTV). In a startup this is a mistake.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2014

This blog started from a series of conversations I found myself having over and over again with founders and eventually decided I should just start writing them.It I see founders who think they can be at every conference, advise multiple companies, do side investments in angel deals, leave the office at 6pm and have a balance life.

Competition 394

Competition Startup Writing Marketing 394

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

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. You now own 20% of a company valued at $50 million but you’ve put in $4m to get that. Why investors care about prorata rights.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic. But succinctly this press places a marker in the ground for your company. Yes, you could tell them in a private internal meeting but nothing builds confidence more than their buddies all telling them, “wow, you work for a great company. ” Why?

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 16, 2011

You should always have a steady stream of “friend of the firm&# hanging around your company. Hot company. You won’t land the big jobs unless you’re in there shaping the discussion about what the company needs, convincing them that they need you before they’re even ready to hire. Hire Fast, Fire Fast.

Startup 410

Startup Writing Press Venture Capital 410

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 11, 2010

It preserves more of their scarce time to deal with the people and companies with whom they want to interact. And when I have time I try to write back. And that’s in addition to portfolio companies, colleagues at work and legitimate deals you’re working on. Or I’m at BOD meetings or conferences.

Email 265

Email Startup Writing Blogging 265

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

Obviously you should have somebody that helps you research journalists, gets you meetings, pitches stories, helps prep you for interviews & helps make sure your writing is cogent. But some CEOs then try to have more junior people in the company take the interview. In a startup this is a mistake. Some final thoughts on PR.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2013

In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA , which I wrote about previously. Having a good sales methodology can help you ensure your company runs more disciplined campaigns and focuses scarce resources on your best opportunities. The first post covered the topic of “P” or pain.

Sales 336

Sales Startup Competition Customer 336

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Today we’re in a world where 10 accelerators are bombarding you with emails to meet their 10-15 companies. And there’s conferences. Oh, the conferences. But they are also a tax on your time with portfolio companies, looking for new investments, running your shop and honestly they are a tax on your family life.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2014

I recently attended and presented at Dave McClure’s PreMoney conference in San Francisco. I wrote my version here and Scott wrote an excellent write-up of his views here. This can’t all be driven by increased company performance). tl;dr version. Each of the two videos is about 10 minutes long.

Venture Capital 309

Venture Capital SaaS Writing Funding 309

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2020

If you can’t write it down, you probably don’t understand it. Writing, audios, and videos are all great ways to do this, since these all facilitate the one-to-many multiplier. Some people learn best from conferences, while other learn best from blogs and other information online. Provide a unique point of view.

Social Media 126

Social Media Media Ideas Writing 126

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 20, 2016

Dave’s note: Here comes my favorite “tell-it-like-it-is” CEO, Kim Shepherd, with another of her pieces from her experience managing a completely virtual company with over one hundred employees located through the United States and beyond. . By Kim Shepherd. Isn’t that someone you want on your team?

Writing 120

Writing Sales Networking Conference 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 16, 2010

As the day approached I noticed that there was a conference in LA that I wanted to attend. The day before the conference I thought about rescheduling this meeting but then thought, “oh, well. I’ll honor the commitment I made.&# So I didn’t go to the conference. It’s too close to the meeting date.

Startup 346

Startup Conference Century City Email 346

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2015

Five-and-a-half years ago I first met Chamillionaire at a tech conference in LA. If you want to get schooled by a guy who’s done it all I suggest watching this video interview I did with him that has already been watched 55,000 times or if you prefer a summary version in writing it’s here.

Conference 150

Conference Slides Social Media Summary 150

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2013

She entered you reservation by writing in a time slot in a paper calendar and you were in. and then took the lid off of the product by announcing the company – I wrote about that here. They unveiled the app the the Launch conference and unanimously won 1st prize by all 10 judges. It sounds crazy, right?

Development Team Review 324

Development Team Review Course Mobile Writing 324

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

I had a chance to discuss AngelList Syndicates with Naval at Michael Kim’s Cendana LP/VC conference on a panel with Naval, Roger Ehrenberg (IA Ventures) and Mike Brown, Jr. If you know, VCs end up writing sizable checks into their own funds, which is important in better aligning interests. Must be doing something right!

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

SoCal Tech Calendar

JANUARY 22, 2010

Such grants offer non-dilutive funding, confer validation from peers, and provide invaluable feedback from experts. In the current financial environment, these government grants are becoming more important as traditional sources of funding early-stage life science companies dry up.

Research 100

Research Funding Writing Conference 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Conferences. But trust me when I say that my observations across many startups (and other companies, frankly) is that not enough time goes into thinking. If you’re not taking this zone-out down time I’ll bet you’re not having enough strategic reflection on your job, your company, your strategy. Board Meetings.

Venture Capital 400

Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

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. What else are we hearing? We’ll share more soon. Deal of the week.

San Fernando 217

San Fernando Los Angeles Commerce News 217

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

When you raise money from investors you produce information that you are told they want and care about: A fund-raising deck that articulates your company strategy, plans, team, market, competitors and so forth. 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

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2021

Every person and every company needs a set of core values. This may mean attending industry conferences, taking college courses, or reading some key books. It may be time for you to start your own blog, write a book, or volunteer as a speaker at public events in your domain. You can’t be a leader without values.

Entrepreneur 132

Entrepreneur Course Satisfaction Guide 132

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. Just 3 years ago there was talk of institutional investors “not being able to write small enough checks.” Thus the amount of money that companies have raised before going public had doubled since the Great Recession.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Creating awareness for your brand and products is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. Ever notice how some companies tend to be in the press all the time and your big new product launch struggled for inches? More strategic.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

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

InfoChachkie

JULY 30, 2012

I always enjoy a great guerilla marketing story, such as TestFlight’s use of T-shirts and Tacos to gain Steve Jobs’ attention at Apple’s 2011 developers’ conference. Thus, I was inspired when I heard about the impact collaboration-in-the-cloud innovator Central Desktop made at the April 2012 San Francisco ad:tech conference.

Marketing 209

Marketing Conference RSS Angel 209

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

Some people do the conference circuit too much, get involved in lots of side projects and attend every entrepreneur dinner. For those companies that I don’t find that interesting I don’t have to spending any more time on. But let’s face it, as a VC you spend time with whichever companies you want.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

SoCal Tech Calendar

JANUARY 23, 2009

Such grants offer non-dilutive funding, confer validation from peers, and provide invaluable feedback from experts. In the current financial environment, these government grants are becoming more important as traditional sources of funding early-stage life science companies dry up.

Research 100

Research Funding Southern California Writing 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

The truth is – there isn’t a “right&# answer so for your company. And these ideas have ways of seeping into board discussions with portfolio companies as in, “have you ever thought about trying A, B or C?&# For early-stage consumer companies I would be careful not to market futures at all.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

socalTECH

MAY 5, 2010

Yossi, who is co-chairing the upcoming Israel Conference (www.theisraelconference.org) here in Los Angeles next month, recently sat down with us to talk about entrepreneurship, why Israel has been able to become such a center of high tech--and what Southern California might be able to learn from the Israeli culture. READ MORE>>.

High Tech 150

High Tech Southern California Writing Conference 150