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The Audacious Plan to Make Electricity as Easy as WiFi

Both Sides of the Table

The reality is that as VCs we have limited allocations of where we can spend our time so we want to attach ourselves to projects in which we, too, can be passionate. Meredith came to see me along with the CTO Marc Berte. I seldom hire patent attorneys during due diligence but this was too important. It was impressive.

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People Management: Startup Teams Should Dip but not Skip

Both Sides of the Table

As your organization grows and you hire senior staff where you are no longer managing every employee directly the issue of how to manage people that are not your “direct&# reports arises. You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on.

Startup 308
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A Few Key People Really Can Make a Huge Difference

Both Sides of the Table

It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. I was meeting with a first-time CEO of a very promising young startup recently and offering my advice on what his priorities should be. There’s you and your killer CTO co-founder. I don’t write about LA but I write from LA.

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8 Tips To Get the Most Out of Your Investors and Board

Both Sides of the Table

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. In his spare time he raised nearly $30 million. Each of your angels or seed investors may have 20-30 investments. What Rob wrote in his post is right.

Tips 365
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Want to Know How VC’s Calculate Valuation Differently from Founders?

Both Sides of the Table

Due to competitive markets we ended up with a pretty good term sheet until we needed to raise money in April 2001 and then we got completely screwed. I’m not sure I really even need to write this at length because Nivi absolutely nailed the topic in his article “ The Option Pool Shuffle.&#. That’s normal.

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10 Entrepreneur Milestones That Make Funding Easy

Startup Professionals Musings

Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. A CEO who has “been there and done that” is traction, especially if teamed with a financial lead (CFO) and a product lead (CTO). It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.”

Funding 112
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10 Keys to Startup Traction That Investors Look For

Startup Professionals Musings

Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. A CEO who has “been there and done that” is traction, especially if teamed with a financial lead (CFO) and a product lead (CTO). It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.”

Startup 104