Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2013

Based on the final report for 2012 from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), it may appear that IPOs are back as a viable startup exit strategy. For the full year 2012, venture-backed initial public offerings raised $21.5 Identify the right people in the right venture firms.

Venture Capital 101

Venture Capital Startup Capital Seed Funding 101

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2011

I just read the Q1 2011 report from CB Insights , which shows venture capital is back. Back to VCs, Silicon Valley venture capital firms are still the most active. So what can you do to get to the head of the venture capital investment queue? Overall, investors put $7.5 That represents a $1.5

Venture Capital 93

Venture Capital Startup Capital Seed Funding 93

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Or read the quick, informative summary below the image! He is very hands-on and helpful – especially for any company looking into customer acquisition. What better than to have capital from somebody who has actually done it in the trenches? Here’s a summary of our interview. He told them it was now or never.

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Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2011

He and I once took different sides of an debate about whether “VC signaling&# in early-stage deals is a serious problem or not. So it was fun to turn the cameras on him for 45 minutes for a special “NY edition of This Week in VC&# and hearing his views. I’ve also found him to not be dogmatic either. West Coast”).

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Venture Capital Startup Artificial Inteligence 281

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2015

announced they raised $9 million from Sequoia , arguably the best venture capital firm that exists. But the bigger truth is the competition is important. ” In summary: The competitors are the incumbents. Healthy competition keeps you on your toes. Stay focused on your business, your market and your customers.

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Funding Competition Marketing Summary 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2022

The bad news is that it’s still a jungle fight for survival for entrepreneurs of all ages and demographics, with over 80 percent not having access to bank loans or venture capital. Every startup needs a sustainable competitive advantage. If you want to be feared. Money is no substitute for these other treasures.

Startup 112

Startup News Framework Outsource 112

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. kind of like a board for a VC firm). I practice what I preach.

Startup 269

Startup Venture Capital Layoffs Resource 269

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

DECEMBER 27, 2011

You have to understand whether they’re likely to yield revenue growth in the near term OR whether you have access to cheap enough capital to fund your losses until your investments pay off. Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. ” Harsh, but reality.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

I got an email recently from my friend & fellow VC, Jeff Bussgang from Flybridge Capital Partners in Boston. My list of excuses includes: product, pricing, competition and lack of sales support. This includes presentations, ROI calculators, competitive analyses and so forth. In Summary.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2019

The bad news is that it’s still a jungle fight for survival for entrepreneurs of all ages and demographics, with over 80 percent not having access to bank loans or venture capital. Every startup needs a sustainable competitive advantage. If you want to be feared. Money is no substitute for these other treasures.

Startup 94

Startup News Framework Outsource 94

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

There is nothing more pure than building a product, putting it out in the world and seeing paying customers using your product and in some cases loving it. As a startup in this phase you often raise capital, get press, hire staff and everything feels possible. As an early-stage VC I love this phase.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2012

Many VC firms and investment banks receive as many as ten plans per day, so it’s hard to get them salivating. Send the plan without a summary. An Executive Summary is a one page elevator pitch of the whole plan (may be separate from the plan), which gives an investor a net perspective on the key business parameters.

Summary 97

Summary Technical Review .Net Ideas 97

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2016

Angels are most interested to help you scale the business, once you have real customer traction and ready to break out. These are required to show that you have a defensible competitive advantage or at least a barrier to entry. Prepare an executive summary and investor presentation.

Angel 65

Angel Startup Technical Review Social Media 65

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

This applies to both founders and to VC’s that work with them. As a CEO you never stop needing to go on sales calls (or to work the phones in telesales or customer support) and ceasing to do this as your company grows because you’re focusing on investors, recruiting, PR or whatever is a mistake. A quick example.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Many VC firms and investment banks receive as many as ten plans per day, so it’s hard to get them salivating. Send the plan without a summary. An Executive Summary is a one page elevator pitch of the whole plan (may be separate from the plan), which gives an investor a net perspective on the key business parameters.

Summary 97

Summary Technical Review .Net Ideas 97

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

Here is a summary of the top four wrong reasons I see for looking for investors: A desire to start with an impressive infrastructure. Once you have a complete offering, with real revenue from real customers, it’s time to ramp up the business. Organic growth at this stage may be non-competitive.

Startup 101

Startup Entrepreneur Equity Summary 101

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 16, 2015

There’s plenty of capital out there, but there’s also a lot of competition for startup funding. According to Shayne, only 1 out of 1000 business plans might get VC funding. His best advice: take capital where you can get it. Make sure you understand what those expectations are before you close a round of VC funding.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Equity Funding 40

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2011

If you want a very quick primer on all the stuff nobody ever tells you about raising venture capital check out this video where Mark Jeffrey & I break it down on This Week in VC. A summary of what we discussed is below: Not 100% in order of the video, but close. Will a VC sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement)?

Venture Capital 340

Venture Capital Slides Doc Startup 340

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

Capital of course drives scale advantages and when you have “winner take most” markets it also has a way of scaring away some investors from investing in the 3–5th “me too” competitors. You can expect some strong competition, but it’s unlikely that there will be 5 great scooter companies.

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

All of that are in this week’s episode of This Week in VC. Summary notes, as always, provide below. He wanted to build direct customer relationships to get product feedback but only 2% of customers would ever return their registration cards. To say he has had an impact on the web would be an understatement.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

And of course I’ve sat on the other side of the table: As a VC. This is not just the perspective of a VC although I can’t say I have zero VC bias. This is not just the perspective of a VC although I can’t say I have zero VC bias. Executive Summary. Fund raising is bloody hard. Why buy me?

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

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 don’t intend either, Burstly has respectable and strong competition.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2020

with $15 million to Prove It The venture capital world has started firing up a few cylinders again and looking for businesses that it believes will help us all succeed in ways that resonate with new ways of working as we begin to return to work. This had a dual purpose?—?the this is classic community management.

Software 234

Software Startup Tool Platform 234

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2010

Back to VCs, Silicon Valley venture capital firms are still the most active. So what can you do to get to the head of the venture capital investment queue? Mass mailing your business plan to every VC in the book won’t get you any credibility or traction. Massachusetts and NY states also have high numbers.

Venture Capital 49

Venture Capital Capital Startup Invest 49

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2014

There’s a healthy balance between allowing a design team to dream up functional requirements, talk with customers, analyze competitors and for technical projects – research the latest cool-kid tools to play with. In summary – I have been involved with software development for 25 years. CEOs are time-driven creatures.

Software 344

Software Startup Design Course 344

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

That, plus I love the space of high-customer-service, focused eCommerce for moms worried about what their kids eat & wear.&#. I was saying that I was happy it was all out in the open because I felt at least everybody could now understand the issues & opportunities from the perspectives of angels, entrepreneurs and VCs.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2020

I support their summary of the seven capital assets that are the core required to create a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem, and produce real economic value for your startup and the rest of us: Intellectual capital – ideas, information, technologies. Financial capital – revenue, equity, debt, funding.

Resource 131

Resource Startup Capital Mentor 131

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

The first of question is about qualifying your potential customers aka leads. Assume competition and assume within the buying organization you have enemies. One thing I observed was that many customers wanted an “on premise” version of our software and were willing to pay extra money for it. Why Buy Anything ?

Sales 150

Sales SaaS Startup Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2011

You just have to deal with some insufferable VCs and journalists for a while. It is the same movie I saw 10 years ago when every VC would say to me, “yeah, I get that you’re an online document sharing service, but what’s going to happen when Microsoft enters the market? million customers. You’ll be dead.”. Tell that to DropBox.

Google 325

Google Press Marketing Content 325

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

Use the fact that you were on an anointed list to build credibility when you eventually approach journalists (and VC’s, customers, employees). I became quite good friends with a journalist at the Financial Times and eventually helped her as she wrote a book on the venture capital industry. It started socially.

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

► August (3) Venture Capital - What's the rush? StrongMail Systems (Digital Messsaging Infrastructure Software) Status: VC-backed (Sequoia Capital, Globespan and Evercore) Lesson: Trust your gut. . Venture Capital Funding 7. I'm 30, now will you take me seriously? Zondigo, Inc. Relaxing 2.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Email CTO Hire 40

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 12, 2016

So riffing off the famous Andy Grove statement that “only the paranoid survive” and believing that “only the most exceptionally talented startup teams survive” — most get washed out by the constant cycle of change and competition. And of course we welcome Microsoft Ventures. Why Invest? This is the area where Tact has crushed it.

Software 105

Software Mobile Artificial Inteligence Oracle 105

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 22, 2011

If you’re a startup and you haven’t read my summary of Clay Christensen’s seminal work please do. In the simplest form, new startups have a product that is INFERIOR to that offered by the competition but at a dramatically lower price with the seller opting for a very thin margin on their product. Why Deflationary Business Win.

Startup 386

Startup Pricing Marketing Product 386

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2017

The 30-minute interview of Jonah Peretti is here but my summary in the notes below. Jonah was working on his masters thesis and he asked Nike to produce a customized shoe with the word “Sweatshop” on it. And I have been so fascinated by the emotions that BuzzFeed arouses that I asked Jonah if I could do the interview myself.

Buzzfeed 210

Buzzfeed Media Content News 210