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. Other founders, “as a privately held company we don’t disclose our valuation.&# Me, “dude, I’m not a journalist. The VC assumes you’ll have an option pool.

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Tech.Co

JULY 12, 2016

Brogan Bambrogan, the colorful cofounder of futuristic travel startup Hyperloop, left his position as CTO at the company less than two weeks ago. A few days before Bambrogan left, Afshin Pishevar also departed the company without explanation. Today, he’s suing a former colleague for harassment. ” Lots of Threats.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Today I’m handing her the largest A-round check I’ve ever written as a VC as we lead her $10 million A-Round at uBeam. 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. Meredith came to see me along with the CTO Marc Berte.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

Working hard together at a big company just isn’t the same. The truth is you really don’t know how your teammates or your bosses will perform in good times and bad. You hire people who look good on paper. You join teams that got good write-ups on TechCrunch, have great VCs, have star CEO’s, whatever.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

A good early-stage CEO needs to be accessible, to be accountable for producing results and should be establishing the cultural norms of the company through direct leadership at all levels. But issues do arise as your company grows. This applies to both founders and to VC’s that work with them.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Thursday, March 1, 2007 Entreprenuer Network Great post by Ben Kuo - The Importance of the “Network&# to Entrepreneurs - the informal connections between people in the technology industry here who have a vested interest in helping entrepreneurs take their companies to the next level.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, March 20, 2007 Kevin Federline Search Engine Just saw a post - Sleep with a pop star, get your own branded search engine. He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO. He has been the CTO for several start-ups, most notably eHarmony. in Computer Science.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 13, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, March 13, 2007 8 Ways the Internet has Changed Software Marketing Great post - 8 Ways The Internet Changed Software Marketing - is an interesting take on how different it is these days to market software. He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO. Good stuff. in Computer Science.

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SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Saturday, February 17, 2007 A Different Kind of Incubator - The Hive I recently met with The Hive a new incubator in Orange County. This company was started by Victoria Duff (who many of us know from back in the late 90s), Phillis Lane (who I have known for quite a few years) and Jon Bukosky.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Monday, March 12, 2007 MyShape Article - Analyst Misses the Point The NY Times did a piece today on MyShape, a start-up in Pasadena - Log in Your Measurements, and the Clothes May Fit. “They’re probably a little ahead of their time,&# she said. in Computer Science.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 5, 2007

However, there are lots of companies that are making money from open source and freemium models. A friend of mine has a company that builds open source applications in spaces that are a bit less innovative than Elgg, but they do very well financially through the packaging and support models. in Computer Science.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2013

Our industry just took one big step towards legitimacy with the hiring of renowned media exec Ynon Kreiz to run Maker Studios. This followed an investment late last year by Time Warner in the company in a round totaling $36 million , led by Rachel Lam , head of their investment group. billion deal to Disney.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, March 20, 2007 Time Rich, Time Poor and Apple Jeremy Liew at Lightspeed Venture Partners has an interesting post: Time Rich or Time Poor? In it he separates web consumers into: Time Rich (more time than money) and Time Poor (more money than time).

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

By spending more time educating your board on your business you get more valuable advice from them. Your goal should be to turn your VCs into extended members of your team to get real value from them. Growth like this, this early in a company’s lifecycle rarely happens. In his spare time he raised nearly $30 million.

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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 26, 2010

The sales team doesn’t like me to give demos,&# I usually think to myself, “a follow up meeting probably isn’t necessary.&# Similarly if you need your CFO to walk me through your financial model you’re probably not the right investment for me. years as a VC, “You don’t want to raise money from me.

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socalTECH

JANUARY 3, 2011

Jamie tells us the interesting story behind how the company started plus how the company managed to quickly land investor interest. in funding from Charles River Ventures, First Round Capital, DFJ Frontier, and angel investors. I had just sold my last company, Phonetag, and was starting to look at doing new things.

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SoCal Delicious

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Read more » Recent Press The New York Times April 22, 2009 - A Company Plans to Market Illiquid Assets CNBC.com April 8, 2008 - Social Stock Picking Reuters April 6, 2009 - Bit.ly Main February 23, 2010 Advice for CTO Founders: Dont Let Business Kill the Business Founding a technology company is an amazing thing.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Thursday, March 22, 2007 Discussion Creation Among Bloggers - LinkedIn, Blogging and Discussion Groups Ive been participating in a Yahoo Group that are users of LinkedIn and who are Bloggers: [link] Its an interesting group of folks from diverse backgrounds. in Computer Science.

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socalTECH

MARCH 26, 2014

One of the biggest areas where the cloud is transforming business is in small and medium sized businesses--where suddenly, companies are able to leverage software which wouldn''t be available, or are too costly for them to implement individually, but where the cloud access suddenly makes it affordable and easy.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

This is part of my Startup Advice series. I had a picture in the office of my first company with the logo above and the capital letters JFDI. (In I spent nearly a decade building software for large companies and then advising companies on the same. Good entrepreneurs have a penchant for doing vs. over-analyzing.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2014

After my first Tweet with the Notorious mothafucka quote , I thought about my role as a VC and I Tweeted the following. I spent an hour on the phone working with Sam Rosen, the CEO of MakeSpace on a senior exec he is considering hiring. I’ve done that 20 times so I gave her my quick feedback on terms. Roger Ehrenberg.

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socalTECH

MARCH 31, 2014

In today''s electronic world, there is an immense number of data sources creating millions of data points that companies are hoping to make sense of. There are lots of products that might look for any mention of a product name or company name, and yes, we do that--but more importantly, we are also analyzing situations that arise.

Orange County 245

Orange County Startup News IBM 245

socalTECH

OCTOBER 4, 2010

The company provides SAT, ACT, and other similar test preparation courses and related software. To hear about the company, we spoke with Ramit Varma , co-founder of the company. It was us, funding ourselves from credit cards, literally, to a company that is now on par with Kaplan and Princeton Review.

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InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

And for many companies a good deal of their business is still closed over the phone–through their call centers. This is especially true for companies with expensive and complex products or services that are more consultative in nature, like insurance, financial services, home services, education and travel, etc.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2017

When you run a startup you’re always on borrowed time. You have cash in the bank, a monthly burn rate and a “cash out” date that few in the company truly comprehend. I’ve never met a founder who wasn’t acutely aware of his or her ticking time bomb and the sense that failure and humiliation is a real possibility.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Course 238

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 25, 2008

The firm is announcing a substantial Series D funding round today, so we spoke with the firm's CEO, Jason Howe, to get the details on the company and what it's doing. Jason Howe: What we do at Awarepoint is, at the 10,000 foot level, is RTLS - Real Time Location Services. Congrats on funding. Explain what your products do?

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I’ve always been a big believer that just a couple of key individuals make all of the difference in a company’s success. It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. There’s you and your killer CTO co-founder. I need to take some VC meetings. Me: “Bullshit.

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SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network) - 500 Hats , November 1, 2010 I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. Who better to answer than the company's engineering lead. How to Take Down Facebook -- Hint: It Ain't Twitter. But I don’t think so. call to arms.

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Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Frank Addante

MARCH 26, 2007

► August (1) Invest in Transparency & Active Communication ► July (1) The Fear of Success ► May (2) Optimized for Speed = 30% Waste Happy 1st Birthday Rubicon Project! ► August (3) Venture Capital - What's the rush? ► October (1) New Video! the Rubicon Project's Secret to Succes.

Outsource Development 40

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SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

August was a slow month in terms of traffic and I was away for a lot of the month, but there were some really great posts at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. On the other hand, I meet plenty of people who complain bitterly about corporate politics—sometimes even in the companies they run.

Startup 191

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Frank Addante

JANUARY 23, 2007

► August (1) Invest in Transparency & Active Communication ► July (1) The Fear of Success ► May (2) Optimized for Speed = 30% Waste Happy 1st Birthday Rubicon Project! ► August (3) Venture Capital - What's the rush? ► October (1) New Video! the Rubicon Project's Secret to Succes.

Outsource Development 40

Outsource Development Develop Development Product 40

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

► August (1) Invest in Transparency & Active Communication ► July (1) The Fear of Success ► May (2) Optimized for Speed = 30% Waste Happy 1st Birthday Rubicon Project! ► August (3) Venture Capital - What's the rush? Venture Capital Funding 7. ► October (1) New Video!

Startup 40

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 16, 2016

Computer Vison Startup Nanit If you follow me on Snapchat ( msuster ) you might already know that I’ve been looking at and investing in a number of companies in the computer vision space. Today I am so excited to announce our latest investment in the category —  Nanit  — which is a smart baby monitor.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

It’s the company that evokes fear into more startups and venture capitalists looking to fund eCommerce businesses than any other potential competitor. Sam moved back to NY and we announced our seed round of capital, which we led. Tech Market Analysis Upfront Ventures makespace' And could we then compete?”

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SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Great content again in September that meets at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. Chris Dixon , September 12, 2010 My most useful career experience was about eight years ago when I was trying to break into the world of VC-backed startups. knew he would bring immense value to me and the company.

Startup 191

Startup Product Technology Venture Capital 191

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2011

I’m in the team centric sphere so every investment decision I make first & foremost centers on this plane. It’s my belief that through exceptional leadership you attract great teams that do more than the sum of the parts. I made an investment in a company with deep domain knowledge. ON LEADERSHIP.

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