Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

I’ve taken to saying, “Email is our personal to-do list that anybody adds to – whether they know us or not.” about their marathon 4-hour sessions to get to zero inbox or somebody else claiming email bankruptcy ( definition if you don’t know it already ). I have taken to limiting my outbound email.

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Email Product Startup Writing 314

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I was having dinner with a friend last night and we were chatting about venture capital and a bit about what I’ve learned. Today we’re in a world where 10 accelerators are bombarding you with emails to meet their 10-15 companies. Products that ship late and place entire companies under serious stress.

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Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

In writing anything positive about any of the companies I’m not suggesting that it means that I prefer them to any of their competitors. I just cover the companies that were funded that week. Also, some of the deals I write about I have actually seen as part of their fund raising process. Really!). Enter Xobni.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 15, 2012

One the most frequent questions asked of me by entrepreneurs is, "How can I become a Venture Capitalist?" The inquiry is common because being a VC is (to an entrepreneur, at least) a sexy job. I define a "VC" as, "a professional investor who deploys third-party funds into relatively early-stage companies."

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Venture Capital Technical Review Invest RSS 242

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2010

I’m often asked by people, “how do I get into VC?&# Well, I know 3-4 VC jobs that are publicly available. Well, aside from it showing discipline and intelligence – we always get flooded with emails when we recruit and when you have to manage volume you need to go for obvious filters. Are we elitist?

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Venture Capital Technical Review GRP Partners Email 290

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2012

And in most cases I would heed Fred Wilson’s advice about the “double opt-in” email for intros – where you ask for permission before green-lighting an unsolicited introductions. At a minimum you’re obligating them to ignore the email and feel like an arse for not responding to your introduction.

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Email Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 359

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

So, you are close to selling your company, and counting the profits a bit early. Some companies, especially those financed by angel or VC investors, have good, formal stock option plans with properly priced options set to reward all employees and managers in the event of a corporate sale. Well, that’s human nature.

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Sales Venture Capital Writing Email 480

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “Pitching a VC&# – the outline is here. You’ve pitched several angels and VC’s. Your friends and advisers tell you that this means you need revenue because in this economy VC’s will only fund businesses with revenue. Unfortunately your advisers are wrong.

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Venture Capital Guide Startup Technical Review 309

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2010

They had received a term sheet from a VC and were wondering whether to work with this firm. This experience made me want to dig into my archives, re-write & publish this piece. I often tell people that raising venture capital is more difficult than getting married. Not so in venture capital.

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Capital Help 298

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 8, 2012

Once people who do not know you and have no vested interest in your company's success begin expending their time, money and resources to leverage your value proposition, you are gaining traction. These updates will demonstrate your ability to execute upon your stated objectives and will help you stay top-of-mind in the VC's chaotic world.

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Venture Capital RSS Customer Custom 265

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Generally speaking in venture capital financings the legal documents will specify that only “major investors” (a threshold set in the agreement – which can be $500,000 investor or more). We led an investment round in a company a while ago in which we wrote a seven-figure check and have taken a board seat.

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

Here’s Why You Should Just Send the Deck I know you have your document sending tool to send your fund-raising deck to VCs and track who read your deck, which pages they read and how much time they spend on each page. Your deck should be so good that a VC asks you for permission to show it to his or her portfolio companies.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

Too Techie - Tone down emphasis on the technology underlying your venture; an interested investor will perform tech diligence at the appropriate time. No VC Fit - Match your venture with appropriate funding source. The Company. Explain your team's experiences that are relevant to the success of your current venture.

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Venture Capital Summary Technical Review Template 211

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

When venture capitalists scale back investing activities it can be very swift and leave many companies that are in the process of fund raising hung out to dry. I would argue that the shut-down of September 2009 was equally severe yet there are signs that this “VC Ice Age” has begun to thaw. Short answer – yes.

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Venture Capital Startup Invest Funding 263

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

He writes with a great perspective and is well worth reading. I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. I just completed an exercise where I went out to hire a new associate for my VC firm, GRP Partners.

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

It’s apropos because there is so much noise these days with email, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, web shows, etc. If I check Twitter it’s usually because I’m waiting for a meeting to start and I never write posts during the day. I don’t think any serious VC or angel thought it was “collusion.&#

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Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

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. So what does a VC do when he or she isn’t ready to say “no” or perhaps might like to talk with you in a year but not now?

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

VC's love to talk about their successes. Yet most VC's bury their failures under six feet of denial. This latest round valued the company in excess of a billion dollars, entering them into the overly-hyped Unicorn Club. <Note: I edited a few comments from Jeff's email, none of which related to our meeting in 2008.>

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Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

If you follow the tech media you would be subject to a lot of narrative biases that are completely off base – and this includes the value of email and phone calls. It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. THE FULL STORY.

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Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2018

Some started asking him for very specific analyses to be completed on his data and wanted his company to crunch the numbers. Note: If you enjoy my posts please subscribe to my newsletter by adding your email below. She had emailed with a partner at a big VC fund and he had passed the request to a junior associate.

Funding 217

Funding Newsletter Venture Capital Email 217

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Your goal should be to turn your VCs into extended members of your team to get real value from them. Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. Email updates frequently.

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Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Capitalism is fundamentally about timing, since market competition is about finding opportunities before others. When should you start a company? What company should you start? When should a VC invest? When should you join a company? There are VCs who get a string of wins that is far from chance.

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Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

Of course we fund companies in good markets and bad. In venture our goal is to fund companies over a 10-year+ time horizon, which is the time it takes to build truly transformational companies. Up next I’ll publish all of the LP (people who invest in VCs) data we gathered and what we believe this signifies.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Marketing Writing 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2010

Thursday night was the unveiling of the newest batch of Launchpad LA companies. We held a 90-minute demo session where 150 of LA’s VC’s and senior technology executives watched the LPLA V2 group present in small groups of 12-15 each. Have a look at the companies below. We’re excited to work with them.

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Company Companies Startup Southern California 276

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

But VC is like congress. In the original version of his post, Andy writes. “This essay is dedicated to the great VC’s on my board who I am lucky to work with: Sameer Gandhi from Accel, Jeremy Liew from Lightspeed, and Kirsten Green from Forerunner. . Their data looks at tech VCs. Because they know him or her.

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

I told him only 2 weeks ago when we were in London together that I wanted to write a blog post that has been in my head for 2 years. Dave is terrible with email. He’s so bad that his email auto-responder tells you he likely won’t email you back. I knew him well before he became a VC. How to help his companies.

Startup 309

Startup Venture Capital Email Writing 309

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 5, 2010

Last week at an angel investor forum I was privileged to meet Stephanie Spong, who is a Principal with EPIC Ventures, an increasingly rare early stage VC firm. Stephanie: I am a venture capitalist currently based out of Santa Fe, New Mexico, with EPIC Ventures. Stephanie: I love building companies. Marty Zwilling.

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Venture Capital Capital Entrepreneur Competition 65

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

This is a blog post I really didn’t want to write. I didn’t want to write it because I have mixed feelings about AngelList. I didn’t want to write it because the bloggosphere doesn’t always do nuance well. So why I am writing it then? As Shervin said, it’s just email. A few reasons.

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2014

I got three calls from another big name, big check VC. It’s super hard not to want to spend more time with these companies. For all the things he’s likely known for, he probably hasn’t yet built a strong relationship as an early stage venture investor (he invests often in later-stage deals where he is very respected).

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Email 333

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. Back to regular writing this week so check back in. if you get some value out of the notes consider checking out his company or Twitter feed). How did you get into VC? (9:30

Capital 265

Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265

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

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Huge thank you to Steve De Long for the write up. Yeah, that was when I changed for me…” “…there was so much positive feedback on demystifying this one element of venture capital. The value of Pitch Decks; Brad’s personal preferences on deal presentation; and Brad’s practice of accepting cold approaches via email.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

John Lusk, along with his Co-Author Kyle Harrison, leveraged their humble company''s newsletter into The MouseDriver Chronicles , a New York Times bestselling book. However, a number of them wanted to vicariously experience the startup world through John and Kyle''s venture. an email) to about 35 people. From 35 To 500 Readers.

Newsletter 233

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

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. How can I raise the bar?

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Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 16, 2011

You should always have a steady stream of “friend of the firm&# hanging around your company. You send them update emails. Hot company. Help them write other stories. One day they’ll write yours. Raising money from angels and VCs some day? Are You a VC? You invite them to cocktail parties.

Startup 410

Startup Writing Press Venture Capital 410

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 1, 2011

That was back when VCs weren’t so quick to respond to emails. People who comment to me privately about how surprised they are by how rapidly I’ve “built a name for myself in VC&# remind me of this fallacy. I hope to offer experiences from being an entrepreneur and being a VC.&#. Nothing comes quickly.

Startup 391

Startup Blogging Venture Capital Writing 391

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

“Yes&# was given to me by one of my favorite angel investor / seed VC’s to work with – John Greathouse of Rincon Venture Partners and author of the blog InfoChachkie that you should check out because it is filled with great info from a guy who has been a very successful operator.

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Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293