Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 22, 2014

As somebody who has to rub shoulders with big tech companies often I can tell you that there is much blood spilled in the competitive trenches of Apple, Twitter, Facebook, Google and so on. Powerful countries & companies act powerful because they can. But let’s put this into perspective. Changes to algorithms.

Press 418

Press Journal Startup Competition 418

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 23, 2010

The best format for this person would have been a spreadsheet like input screen because 50 actions at a time might relate to one person or one company. One example is Quora. I encourage all product teams to ask to speak to the customer who would use your product repetitive, all day long and understand how they work.

Design 284

Design Product Screening Examples 284

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

In the initial phases of any new market you’re developing a product (hopefully with a minimal set of features), getting feedback from customers, refining your product based on user feedback and then re-launching your product. I believe that over capitalizing companies too early often favors the VC. Rinse & repeat.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 22, 2010

In designing GUI interfaces for people coming from the green-screen world we built applications that would be great for desktop publishing, not customer service reps. Even in 2010 I think most companies err too much on the side of complexity. Many companies do this these days – not all do. Learn from them. You MUST.

Design 325

Design Startup Web 2.0 Tips 325

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Someone on Quora recently asked me to answer the following question: How can I avoid repeating the big job disappointments of my past? I did this twice in my career and it allowed me to assess the people, culture and veracity of the company's value proposition before I joined full time. Silver Lining.

RSS 229

RSS Entrepreneur Startup Email 229

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

Eventually a successful startup will grow into a big company. Growth will slow, partly due to internal limits and partly because the company is starting to bump up against the limits of the markets it serves.” The company hasn’t really reached ‘ escape velocity ‘ which means it must not be working.”

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review 390

InfoChachkie

JUNE 27, 2011

My response was brief and straightforward, which is common of popular Quora answers (as discussed in How To Write An Effective Quora Answer ). For instance, if you think that you will close three paying customers in the next two months, tell the VC that you plan on signing-up two paying customers during the following three months.

Entrepreneur 270

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Resource 270

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

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). The only way for a company to be overvalued is if there’s someone willing to pay that price. I spent time on college campuses. I attended events.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

But some CEOs then try to have more junior people in the company take the interview. Heck, even in a big, successful company like Salesforce.com the CEO, Marc Benioff, still takes many of the interviews himself. You need somebody who is helping push out information on what is up-and-coming in the company. Give real answers.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

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). The only way for a company to be overvalued is if there’s someone willing to pay that price. I spent time on college campuses. I attended events.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

I’m an investor at [Big Name, Large Fund VC] and recently came across [Your Company]. It looks as though you’ve built a very interesting business, and I’d love to spend some time getting a better understanding of your future plans for the company and if there is an opportunity to partner with [My Firm].

Venture Capital 294

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Email Equity 294

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

You invest across many funds just as VCs invest across many companies. Let’s look at some great companies. Is it right that VCs had no involvement in persuading Sheryl Sandberg to join the fledgling company? So I can make a huge difference in the company’s trajectory. They are also less than 10 years old.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 18, 2012

Feeling lost on LinkedIn or Quora or can’t qualify to join ResearchGate ? The idea for exploreB2B resulted from my own experience in business development for a young consulting company and my brother’s enthusiasm for tech and social media. ExploreB2B might be the place for you. What inspired them to find it?

Networking 71

Networking Help Social Media Platform 71

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2011

This version has some additional details on a portfolio company I’ve invested in, which are disclosed below. No private head nods are given to small startup companies to help them prepare. Any company who develops products reliant on iOS spends weeks crapping their pants before WWDC. It’s madness. What is a startup to do?

Google 325

Google Press Marketing Content 325

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers - SoCal CTO , November 1, 2010 I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Who better to answer than the company's engineering lead. Over the last few weeks, the Real Ventures team has met with easily 50 companies. Here they are: DO.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

I applied to hundreds of jobs: low-level VC roles, startups jobs, even to big tech companies. Big companies rejected me outright or gave me a courtesy interview before rejecting me. Here’s one possible explanation – Job titles in a startup mean something different than titles in a large company. Kanye West. Advisory Board.

Startup 191

Startup Product Technology Venture Capital 191

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

AOL was controlled by one company and the Internet was distributed. AOL controlled the services, taxed companies to access users and decided what was good or bad. If you were a newly minted, venture-backed consumer Internet company you had to have a deal with AOL to reach your customers. companies versus the Web 1.0

Social Network 318

Social Network Networking Web 2.0 Startup 318

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I’ve raised money as a “hot company” and I’ve raised capital when no one would return my phone calls. I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. I’ve raised in boom markets and when everybody thought the Internet was a fraud. Why buy now?

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

Explaining that customers were. able to sign up online and rent the car, with only $50,000 invested in the company, which went towards the website, database and beta car. She called it the “Quora for shopping,” which is two words that this 500 women at Women 2.0 This is the main objective of any company.

Conference 77

Conference Startup Technical Review Software Review 77

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

I was asked by somebody recently in a private message on Quora about whether the individual should leave his comfortable job to become an entrepreneur. There is no shame in being an exec at a company or whatever.&#. Every one of these events (with names changed) has happened to companies I’ve worked at or closely with.

Entrepreneur 384

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 384

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2011

I was asked by somebody recently in a private message on Quora about whether the individual should leave his comfortable job to become an entrepreneur. There is no shame in being an exec at a company or whatever.&#. Every one of these events (with names changed) has happened to companies I’ve worked at or closely with.

Entrepreneur 176

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 176