Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2010

Thursday night was the unveiling of the newest batch of Launchpad LA companies. The VC’s & executives were then asked to make “commitments&# (in writing) to 3-5 of the companies that they felt they could make some sort of contribution to. Have a look at the companies below.

Companies 276

Companies Company Startup Southern California 276

InfoChachkie

JUNE 9, 2014

It was a rather hapless soul who was seeking my help networking within Santa Barbara''s startup community. In the fifteen minutes that we chatted, the caller made some shocking networking mistakes. It is acceptable to politely ask for something when you are networking. Are there any companies I should contact?".

Networking 232

Networking Santa Barbara Research Blogging 232

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

Burstly, a Santa Monica based company, provides an open and free ad management platform that helps mobile application developers better monetize their inventory. As I naturally get asked all the time why we invested in Company A or Company B, I thought I’d just put forth my thesis in writing.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Companies Company 282

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

Our profile this morning is with Network Automation , a Los Angeles company competing in the IT automation market. Southern California--despite the lack of huge, name brand firms-- has a significant number of enterprise software companies, of which Network Automation is just one. You are self funded too, we recall.

Networking 214

Networking IBM IBM Pacific Palisades 214

InfoChachkie

MARCH 8, 2011

As highlighted in the movie The Social Network , the Winklevoss brothers are embroiled in a protracted lawsuit with Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Facebook. They claim that Mr. Zuckerberg “stole” their idea of creating a social network for the Harvard student community. If you haven’t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for.

Writing 150

Writing Social Network Ideas Entrepreneur 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 16, 2011

It should stick in your head as a metaphor for networking. You should always have a steady stream of “friend of the firm&# hanging around your company. Hot company. Help them write other stories. One day they’ll write yours. 50 coffee meetings. For getting outside of your comfort zone. Job Hunting.

Startup 410

Startup Writing Press Venture Capital 410

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 14, 2009

Cliff Allen is someone I've known for quite a few years and he's a go to person for me when I'm thinking about issues around marketing, sales, technology, startups and networking. I moved into writing software to analyze audience data, and wrote a lot of computer graphics software. for face-to-face general networking events.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Networking Marketing Startup 150

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

FEBRUARY 18, 2011

I’m not an advisor & I’m not privy to any internal information at your company, I have no right to tell you what to do. Even writing this could hurt me. I writing as a friend. Hell, even cable operators do that when they have disputes with networks. I don’t want that. Twitter, I’m a friend.

Writing 301

Writing Email Press Mobile 301

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

<== Our conclusion was that this isn’t a temporary blip that will swiftly trend-back up in a V-shaped recovery of valuations but rather represented a new normal on how the market will price these companies somewhat permanently. First in late-stage tech companies and then it will filter back to Growth and then A and ultimately Seed Rounds.

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

InfoChachkie

APRIL 21, 2013

How did Sarah Penna create one of YouTube''s most successful networks? As noted in YouTubers Come Of Age , YouTube has progressed from its initial incarnation as a repository of random videos to a number of vertically focused, professionally managed networks. which evolved into the biggest YouTube network, called Maker Studios. .

Networking 214

Networking Startup Santa Barbara RSS 214

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

SoCal CTO

MARCH 18, 2010

More Visible Networking? I started out as screenwriter, went into local television, ran ad sales in the west for AOL and joined Facebook in the companies very early days. I also serve as CEO of a small media companies that profile “Tomorrow’s Most Exciting People Today”. I help internet companies make money. I run a lot.

Startup 225

Startup Los Angeles Twiistup Social Network 225

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 2, 2009

On Facebook (and nearly all social networks that preceded it) the relationship was always reciprocal – if I accept your invitation to follow me then I have to follow you. Twitter, by contrast, started as an open platform where people let anybody see what they were writing. Facebook. So why is this important for businesses?

Social Network 235

Social Network Writing Tool Startup 235

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

In the Beginning … This is a very important post to me because I find myself giving this advice all the time and if you don’t follow the basic advice here you can cause yourself much heartache down the line – even if your company ultimately becomes über successful. It’s hard enough to build a successful company.

Startup 365

Startup Technical Advisors IP Ideas 365

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

I’m still planning to write some in depth pieces on the topic but I thought, “given that this is about how video will consume the Internet over the next 5 years, what better way to exemplify this than with a 10-minute video.” Yes, it’s lower quality than network, primetime television. ” It no longer does.

GRP Partners 371

GRP Partners Content Technical Review Press 371

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

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2009

I’ve watched people who went to the top schools, got the best grades and worked for all the right companies flame out. This post covers the first out of 10 that I’ll write about. When I launched my second company I was new to Silicon Valley. My company was relatively unknown. Excite, Ask Jeeves and Lycos?

Entrepreneur 338

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Google 338

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2011

The truth is I have been thinking a lot about the topic, I just haven’t been writing about it. But this coming generation is much more likely to be inspired by The Social Network and want to be entrepreneurs. AWS helped lower the cost of starting a company by 90%. million to launch a SaaS software company and we took $2.5

Entrepreneur 341

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup Blogging 341

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. Social networks exacerbate the problem.

Email 265

Email Startup Writing Blogging 265

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

What is it about the content delivery network market which has enabled Santa Monica-based EdgeCast to go from startup to over $100M in revenues in only a few, short years? We caught up with James Segil , the firm's President, to hear the story behind that big growth at the company. We've grown really fast.

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 18, 2010

Chartbeat is a relatively young company and product. I’m only writing about the product because I’m passionate about it. But I can always see the correlation between writing a blog or publishing on a social network and traffic. In fact, I’m surprised by how antiquated Google Analytics feels.

Blogging 287

Blogging Google Screening Mahalo 287

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 19, 2009

Over the past 12 months, I've had roughly 284,000 people come visit that site and get exposed to things I write. Be interested in what they write. Plan out how you will interact with what they are writing. I keep my blogs separate from by company web site. And make sure you spend time visible networking.

Social Media 222

Social Media Services Media Blogging 222

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. Of course these are great places to network with other investors, meet great entrepreneurs and keep your connections strong with senior execs at larger companies like Yahoo!, I don’t. Co-founder discontent.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

socalTECH

AUGUST 6, 2012

Santa Monica-based Demand Media (www.demandmedia.com) has seen its share of ups and downs as one of the highest visibility technology and media companies to come out of Southern California's technology ecosystem in recent years. But, they could not write, and did not know what to write from the travel perspective.

Demand 240

Demand Media eHow Content 240

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 13, 2011

With all these companies vying for attention & others just here to soak up the vibe I thought I’d write a much broader piece on how startups can make the most of their attendance at conferences & events. Write them in advance and request meetings. So why not go in on the dinner with two other companies.

Conference 289

Conference Startup Technical Review Writing 289

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

If I’m interested I get to spend more time with them, if I’m not I don’t have to – A few companies per month come in that have fascinating business ideas that warrant my spending more time trying to understand their people, company, technology and market. I get paid to network – I love meeting people.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

I have long advised startup companies that if you don’t control your messaging somebody else will and your potential customers will form impressions of you shaped by somebody else or by nobody at all. Yet as obvious as it is to create messaging for your company, many people don’t consider their personal brands.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

socalTECH

JANUARY 23, 2013

If you are a millenial entering the workforce, what would you be most comfortable with -- a tool designed to work and look like a social network, or a tool built around an old fashioned corporate enterprise software UI? The new tools is available for a monthly subscription for companies. READ MORE>>.

Tool 190

Tool Services Social Network Template 190

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

SEO / SEM are promotional techniques for marketing through the Google distribution channel, which have yielded huge benefits to many companies – Yelp being a prime example. But my contact told me that many viral videos start through close networks on Reddit where a degree of formal and informal collaboration of individuals takes place.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. Either way, don’t assume that the entire room is up to speed on your company. tip: write it down when asked / parked). Congratulations.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

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!).

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

…” I’ll write soon on my views of why I believe Instagram took off as a social network and what I think comes next. Instagram happens to be one of the few social networks I regularly use along with Twitter. Let’s say your company is currently valued at $15 million. Was this a good thing?

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 10, 2010

It makes networking much more difficult / awkward. It is really impractical to try and glance at somebody’s name / company when it’s by their belly. Make the company name just as big. – And while you’re at it, make the other 50% say their company name. Maybe more. Make all of our lives easier.

Conference 291

Conference Organization Startup Writing 291

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 10, 2009

While you’re at it put in a link (if you don’t blog or want to link to your company at least link to your LinkedIn or Facebook profile). And write a short bio about yourself. Tags: Social Media social networking Twitter. Anything.

Tips 216

Tips Social Media Social Network Santa Monica 216

Berkonomics

MARCH 13, 2014

Companies also need an inciting incident, because, more often than not, you often will depend upon selling your story to someone. What is the inciting incident for your company? I found myself explaining all this recently to a company team that was pitching me on its story. They wanted to come to pitch to my angel network.

Invest 237

Invest Examples Networking Writing 237

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

If you know, VCs end up writing sizable checks into their own funds, which is important in better aligning interests. M&A discussions (where your company is buying or being bought). Therefore of course they need to be more selection when writing checks and can’t spread their bets across 75 deals. founder fighting.

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356