Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

One of the hardest things about the fund-raising process for entrepreneurs is that you’re trying to raise money from people who have “asymmetric information.” 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. So why does a VC ask you?

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

Several years ago I made an appearance in a burgeoning new podcast called “20 Minute VC,” which by now needs no introduction. Topics we covered: B2B Companies You haven’t seen the full extent to how the correction is going to affect you. A seed company hasn’t ramped up its cost base. Harry posed these questions. That may happen.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Writing 263

socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2019

This morning's interview is with Kevin O'Connor , a longtime investor and serial entrepreneur, who is now running venture capital investment firm ScOp Venture Capital. Congrats on the new name for your venture capital firm. What types of companies are you making investments in?

Venture Capital 145

Venture Capital Startup Invest Capital 145

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2011

tl;dr version: If you’re an entrepreneur or VC or will be working in this industry - buy this. When I first started as a startup CEO in 1999 there were no guides on raising venture capital. 3) VCs are anal about things like voting thresholds, seniority of their stock, protective provisions, etc.

Venture Capital 304

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Guide Blogging 304

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2018

If you’re an entrepreneur who would like to see this clause in more startups please ask your VC to include it in future term sheets and link to it from their home page. “We We strive to invest in companies that are consciously working to create a diverse leadership team?—?one Ours is: upfront.com/inclusion.

Venture Capital 284

Venture Capital Coach Ideas Startup 284

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. I explain in the video what happened in my first company (e.g. This is wrong.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

socalTECH

JANUARY 29, 2019

Los Angeles-based HeyTutor , an online marketplace for finding tutors, has raised $1M in its Series A funding, the company announced on Tuesday, from Santa Barbara-based ScOp Venture Capital, the venture investment firm led by serial entrepreneur and investor Kevin O'Connor.

Venture Capital 113

Venture Capital Capital Santa Barbara Los Angeles 113

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. Remember that the goal of an email to a VC or an introduction from a trusted mutual connection is simply to get you the meeting. This is part of a series on how to improve your fund raising game. The first post & the full outline if you click the link.)

Venture Capital 261

Venture Capital Slides Email Funding 261

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2013

I spent countless hours with VC firms, startups & LPs (the people who invest in VC firms). On my first real day back the first thought I have is that most entrepreneurs don’t manage their VC relationships as well as they could. It’s best to think of your VC partnership as a customer.

Venture Capital 309

Venture Capital Summary Organization Entrepreneur 309

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

I always tell founders … “An investors job is to deploy capital and make a return. If you truly believe that you, your company and your products are exceptional and your company will be valuable then you’re actually doing them a FAVOR by helping them invest in your startup. an investment in your company.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? And the truth is that several entrepreneurs prefer it this way.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

I recently got an email from a friend who had been approached by a well known VC. “Hi [entrepreneur], I hope all is well. I’m an investor at [Big Name, Large Fund VC] and recently came across [Your Company]. It's big, well known & we've invested in all of these really cool companies].

Venture Capital 294

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Email Equity 294

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 20, 2020

More than ever, the banks and lenders today require personal guarantees from entrepreneurs, and even from CEO’s of angel or some VC funded businesses. Starting and running a small or growing business can be a challenge to the most confident and optimistic entrepreneur. A novel reward for the entrepreneur from the board.

Company 156

Company Companies Venture Capital Entrepreneur 156

SoCal Tech Calendar

APRIL 4, 2018

Friday, April 6, 2018 -- International Entrepreneur Rule. Why it matters: 51 percent of our nation's $ 1 billion + VC backed companies have at least one immigrant founder. This shows the importance of immigrant entrepreneurs to the US economy. What is it? Why does it matter? And where does it stand? See [link] (more)

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Capital Company 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 31, 2018

Editor's note: As we head into the new year, we've been featuring reflections on 2018 from notable investors, entrepreneurs, and others from Southern California's technology community. Here's Marc Averitt of Okapi Venture Capital (www.okapivc.com). What was the biggest news for your company in 2018?

Venture Capital 113

Venture Capital Capital Southern California News 113

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

I became a VC 12 years ago in 2007 when the pace of deals was much slower. As I was trying to figure out the role I wanted to play in the VC world I decided I wanted to focus on businesses that were building deeply technical products to solve problems for business users. We not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k? $15

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 7, 2015

Who makes more money, entrepreneurs or venture capitalists? Jason concludes that: A top founder takes much more risk, at least on paper, but can make a lot more than even the best VC of all time. A pretty good VC probably makes more than a pretty good and successful founder. The Answer: “Yes and No”.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Capital .Net Entrepreneur 100

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."

Venture Capital 242

Venture Capital Technical Review Invest RSS 242

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2017

Union Square Ventures (USV) has been one of the most successful venture capital firms of the past 10–15 years and continues to be a leader in our industry. Lindel is no stranger to thorny venture capital issues — he was arguably amongst the most successful LPs of his generation. Maybe that’s USV, too.

Venture Capital 161

Venture Capital Funding Capital Startup 161

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

And I am often approached by entrepreneurs in cities which don’t have a vibrant VC community. You can build a meaningful company just about wherever these days. Just ask the people of Portland, Seattle, Boulder, Iowa, Princeton, Dallas or countless other cities that don’t have enough venture capital.

Venture Capital 365

Venture Capital Marketing Santa Barbara Startup 365

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened?

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup LAMP Marketing 466

socalTECH

JUNE 29, 2017

Okapi Ventures. Fund size: $60M (Okapi Ventures III) Managing Directors: Marc Averitt, Sharon Stevenson, Jeff Bocan, John Waller Investment interests: Seed and early-stage companies in the technology and healthcare IT sectors and has also invested in medical device and medical diagnostic startups. Fika Ventures.

Southern California 178

Southern California Venture Capital Capital Artificial Inteligence 178

socalTECH

JUNE 5, 2013

There''s been a constant drumbeat from both local entrepreneurs and investors on the lack of venture capital sources in Southern California. So, anytime a new, Southern California venture capital investor show ups, technology entrepreneurs usually flock to their doorstep. READ MORE>>.

Venture Capital 214

Venture Capital Capital Southern California Funding 214

Berkonomics

JANUARY 6, 2022

First, the marginal exit event: Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event for the early investors, including the entrepreneur or the founders. Conversely, I have praised and seen others praise VCs who volunteer to eliminate participation clauses even before knowing the ultimate sales price in a deal.

Venture Capital 156

Venture Capital Sales Pricing Equity 156

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2013

He said he wanted to found this company (he had founded a previous company that sold for about $300 million) because he thought the Internet was a big idea. Dorrian is an entrepreneur. His imagination of what is wrong with VC has captured perfectly in satirical format what ails our industry. He is that.0001%

Venture Capital 315

Venture Capital Rancho Palos Verdes Entrepreneur Ideas 315

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Understanding Venture Capital. I recently wrote a blog post on understanding how the size and age of a venture capital fund might affect you when you’re raising money. I believe these VC funds have suffered some amount of reputation fall out. Let me explain: 1.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Invest 265

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Picking a VC is hard. So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. Most VCs are book smart. VCs should be more of a coach than proscriptively telling you what to do. You want a VC who will spar with you but then STFU and let you get on with things.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

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.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

In the VC insider baseball world a discussion has gone on about “VC platforms” over the past 5 or so years. While firms define platforms differently, let’s just say they are the services that a VC offers outside of investment capital and partner time on boards or providing intros.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Platform Startup Resource 150

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. I often tell people that raising venture capital is more difficult than getting married. Not so in venture capital. You’re tied at the hip to your VC. But what was the VC like when the chips were down?

Venture Capital 298

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Capital Help 298

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

One of the least understood parts of the venture capital industry and venture capital firms is how investment decisions actually get made. You’d be surprised how many firms are “dictator VCs” – even those that don’t formally acknowledge it internally. ” Some firms are collegiate.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Startup Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital. Not so in venture capital. You’re tied at the hip to your VC. You’re tied at the hip to your VC. Get to know VCs over a long period of time so that when you’re ready to get engaged you feel you know their character.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur Capital 288

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

However, most often, these funds are solicited by a well-meaning entrepreneur from investors who are not qualified as accredited investors under the law (currently requiring a proved income of $200,000 a year or $1 million in net worth for an individual investor). Professional angels: This is the arena where I work and play.

Venture Capital 295

Venture Capital Startup Class Invest 295

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2010

It’s meant to be a bit provocative but the reality is that I give this advice to entrepreneurs all the the time and I usually leave the “e&# off of the end. I learned all of this myself on your side of the table raising money at my first company. Let’s say the company had raised $15 million. It is 2010.

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 289

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

.” There are a lot of data points that one can observer to get a sense of the venture capital markets – both LP fundings into venture and VC financings of startups. They point to some widely known facts: financings & valuations are up massively over the past 7 years and non-VC money has entered the system.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Course Marketing 150

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 26, 2020

The Los Angeles startup community is joining the rest of the world in mourning the death of NBA superstar, entrepreneur and investor Kobe Bryant who was killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif., Bryant launched his venture career with partner and serial entrepreneur Jeff Stibel back in 2013, according to Crunchbase.

Venture Capital 359

Venture Capital Los Angeles Legalzoom Calabasas 359

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

One of the questions I’m most often asked is, “what’s it like being a VC?&# I’ve been a VC for nearly 3 years now. I always start my answer to this question with, “you’d have to be a pretty big baby to complain about being a VC.&# At least for the best entrepreneurs. That’s true.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312