Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. I wrote the summary notes in this blog post. I funded them 8 weeks later.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 26, 2013

Your executive summary is essentially the cover letter to your business plan: its goal is to get the reader to check out your business plan and, hopefully, to set up a meeting. Here’s how to write an executive summary with impact: 1. Sure you can get help, but the exercise of creating your executive summary is an important one.

Summary 76

Summary Tips Startup Writing 76

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2010

You need to accept the fact that the down economy over the last couple of years has changed the way in which venture capitalists see the world, so you should adjust your strategy and expectations in dealing with them. Here are some recommendations I have heard from the experts: Move your company to Silicon Valley or Boston.

Venture Capital 90

Venture Capital Capital Startup Summary 90

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

VCs strangely never seem to weigh in on other VC funds. As an entrepreneur I never really knew what to make of VC return data. But privately now most VCs I know contend that it has gone much better than they had initially expected. Let me offer you an insider’s take. to “Jeez — they sure are hiring a ton of staff.

Venture Capital 264

Venture Capital Invest Funding Competition 264

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

There is much discussion online and also in small, private groups, about why the price of technology companies – public and private – are falling. Valuing any company can be difficult because it requires a degree of forecasting future growth & competition and ultimately the profits of the organization.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I know all of this because every VC knows this because we’ve all either funded companies that have marketing technology or we’ve seen a pitch with a company that does this. If you haven’t read the other VC fund-raising posts I’ve done as part of this series you can find the whole outline and this first in the series here.]

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

But VC is like congress. “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. As you can see from the chart their data suggests there are about $25 billion of VC distributions per year in the US.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2010

And we’re left with a city with idyllic weather, major commerce, the media center of the world, and a great emerging technology scene. We have many seasoned entrepreneurs who have built successful companies here and made a lot of money for investors and themselves. But we have a great city for building technology companies.

Company 290

Company Companies Technology Startup 290

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

Here are some observations I have from this exposure: If a company moves from strength-to-strength with predictable outcomes, easy financings, low staff turn-over, limited competitive threats then the composition of the board probably doesn’t matter as much. In the best cases boards come together to help the company get through its trough?—?in

Startup 269

Startup Venture Capital Layoffs Resource 269

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 18, 2015

There is a lot of uncertainty about the state of the private, high-growth technology markets and the venture capital markets that underpin them. Perhaps I would call it “Mourning in VC” as in mourning for the days of rational behavior. I spoke last week at the annual Cendana VC/LP conference. Boom and bust.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Pricing Platform Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

Companies were getting funded more easily and many more companies were actually being created. Throughout all of these years I was a full-time VC so Launchpad really came out of evenings and weekends for me. Throughout all of these years I was a full-time VC so Launchpad really came out of evenings and weekends for me.

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Startup Idealab Funding 290

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?

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

So the industry formed around a day of the week when all partners could avoid having company board meetings or traveling. Valuations were enormous relative to progress in companies. Companies with less than $2 million in revenue were asking for $50-60 million valuations and getting them. It was a great learning time for me.

Marketing 305

Marketing Venture Capital Funding Technical Review 305

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There has been much discussion about VCs doing seed funding in the past year. I’ve written about it myself (Is VC Seed Funding Dead?) and (Is There Really a Signaling Problem with VC Seed Funding?). Short summary of my posts: 1. There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series, “ Pitching a VC.&# Getting a meeting with a prominent angel or VC is difficult enough. Some advice on how to do that was covered in this link – Getting Access to a VC. If you haven’t read how to build VC relationships and demonstrate traction make sure to read it.

Venture Capital 277

Venture Capital Startup Email News 277

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

This thinking is largely driven by the venture capital industry (and subsequently Wall Street) who are in search of high margin, highly scalable businesses. It’s nearly impossible to get a services company financed by VCs. And stop effing around trying to create a product company.&#. But it might not.

Services 332

Services Venture Capital IP Startup 332

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

There are very few people in Silicon Valley who have such a precise grasp on what defines success of early-stage startup companies than Eric Ries. And there are very few people who so consistently exceed my expectations when I hear them speak. I interviewed Eric for an hour for - This Week in Venture Capital. 34:00 Imvu.

Social Media 301

Social Media Startup Metrics Media 301

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC. Great companies are built by having great products. And a great product starts with the founder. One great company, AppFolio , filmed all of this user interaction and made the DVD available to me. They might be as hard as raising VC.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

I’m very pleased today to announce that I invested, on behalf of GRP Partners, in Burstly alongside Rincon Venture Partners , an early stage VC in Southern California whith whom we love to work (and were our co-investors on RingRevenue ). I’ll explain in detail below. He knows the ad management and ad network businesses.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

You took the risk to start your company. ” Your VC friends have been egging you on. Her job is to turn up every day with enthusiasm even though her boyfriend just broke up with her, she hasn’t spoken to her best friends in weeks and she’s beginning to wonder whether this idea was really so great after all.

Startup 417

Startup Course Venture Capital Writing 417

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2010

Understand Personality Types – One of the benefits of working for a big company (Accenture) was that we had lots of speakers come in and train us in topics like leadership, creativity, presentations, strategy, etc. Then I verbalize this out loud with a filter, “This is great stuff. 25% of VCs are expressives, like you.

Slides 358

Slides Venture Capital Startup Summary 358

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

What I love about my job is getting to see teams of super-early-stage companies develop ideas that while raw have potential to make an impact on the market. Clearly the founders and senior executives of a company are the most valuable resources and their time should be maximized on the most valuable tasks.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Metrics Startup Sales 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Venture Capital is a tricky industry. As is often said if you don’t get at least a few fellow VCs (and entrepreneurs) scratching their heads you may not be funding ideas with enough upside. Internally at Upfront Ventures we talk about “high consensus” vs. controversial deals with “high conviction.”

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2016

I think this is so engrained in the psyche of many Americans that in times of great need many still won’t speak out publicly about what they say privately. Can you accept a person for president that you simply would never hire at your company for being such an obvious liar? Summary — What You Need to Do I don’t need to go on.

Summary 150

Summary Media Technical Review Startup 150

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2015

Investors are human and subject to human tendencies, whether they are your rich uncle, an angel investor with personal funds or a venture capital investor with institutional money. Here is a summary of some key investor stereotypes that generally need to be avoided: Investment sharks. Don’t assume you will be the exception.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Coach Invest Sample 108

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

There are many problems with this: - Your chances of being selected aren’t great. When you are selected you share the stage with 49 other companies (in the case of TechCrunch50. It is a great show but would be 10x more valuable if it were TC20). Most people pay attention to the first 5 companies. Maybe 10.

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2017

It conjures up a range of emotions anytime I’ve privately expressed my opinion to thought leaders in our industry that I believe it is one of the most innovative companies in digital media. The 30-minute interview of Jonah Peretti is here but my summary in the notes below. Others are skeptical, “Ha! But I digress.

Buzzfeed 210

Buzzfeed Media Content News 210

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

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2018

As an active angel investor, I’m accustomed to hearing entrepreneurs pitch their expectation to quickly create a new dominant brand, based on their disruptive technology. These are companies that not only have a familiar brand, but carry from five to 35 billion dollar valuations. Tools allow marketing in a much more targeted way.

Marketing 57

Marketing Startup Entrepreneur Social Media 57

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

That great productivity drain that we somehow all buy into. I shifted my thinking a few years ago after I read Tim Ferris’s book The Four Hour Workweek (link is to a short summary I wrote). I spend tons of time each day on portfolio company issues. I submitted a term sheet to a company yesterday. I think so. [I

Email 314

Email Product Startup Writing 314

InfoChachkie

JUNE 27, 2011

In particular, Marcia Brown’s 1947 retelling of the classic French folktale Stone Soup is a veritable playbook for how to start a venture. Plot Summary. Your child will also learn the value of a tangible representation of a venture. It is flattering to be asked to share your insights and VCs are as subject to flattery as anyone.

Entrepreneur 270

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Resource 270

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2010

I recently wrote a piece for Mashable on how to create a company blog. Since it’s already written (and since I promised not to republish on my blog other than a summary) if you’re interested please have a read over there. Summary notes and then I’ll extend: Should you blog? Now I’m a VC.

Blogging 286

Blogging Startup Writing Summary 286

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

Once a buyer decides they want to make a purchase the first thing most companies will do is check out what other options are out there to make sure they’re not making an uninformed decisions. Either way, it’s natural that buyers “shop around” so expect it as a healthy part of the process. We are hands on.

Sales 150

Sales SaaS Startup Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 12, 2016

In all my time investing I have never seen such a senior revenue officer join a company at this stage. It was a high bar but even then I must admit that my experience in working with Trevor has exceeded these expectations. If you’re a consumer software company your buyer is your user. The reason is simple.

Software 105

Software Mobile Artificial Inteligence Oracle 105

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 22, 2011

But one theme in pervasive in all my thinking about investing in Internet-based companies: Deflationary economics. When you think about the great achievement of the Internet in aiding content, commerce & communication they include: Large scales of connected people & information never seem before in humanity. Here’s what I mean.

Startup 386

Startup Pricing Marketing Product 386

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2010

No advice I give will ever apply to 100% of companies, 100% of startups or even 100% of tech startups. I just want to state that up front because while I believe that this post will apply to most startup technology companies out there, I’m sure there will be exceptions. Great inches eked out on tech blogs or industry rags.

Startup 293

Startup Sales Marketing Product 293