Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

We’ve been dying to tell you all for a while that we had raised a new venture capital fund and of course given SEC filing requirements the story was somewhat already scooped by the always-in-the-know Dan Primack a few weeks ago. Wait, didn’t you just raise a fund? Was it hard to raise the fund?

Venture Capital 396

Venture Capital Funding Technical Review Startup 396

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

And they need it because nobody senior at Stripe, Discord, Coinbase or for that matter Facebook, Google or Snap is leaving without a ton of incentives to do so. And they need it because nobody senior at Stripe, Discord, Coinbase or for that matter Facebook, Google or Snap is leaving without a ton of incentives to do so.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

Rolf Winkler wrote a piece in the WSJ about A16Z’s returns in which he says they “lag behind Sequoia, Benchmark and Founders Fund.” Scott Kupor of A16Z responded with a comprehensive overview of valuation methodology in a post that while accurate feels more targeted at sophisticated Limited Partners (LPs) who invest in funds.

Venture Capital 264

Venture Capital Invest Funding Competition 264

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

Understanding “The Funding Angle” I sit at enough board meetings to hear conflicting advice given to entrepreneurs about how to handle PR and announcements at startups. Is Funding a Worthy Announcement? There are reasons you may delay funding announcement but rarely reasons not to announce.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2021

Anyone who works with entrepreneurs will tell you that all are different. Others are really marketers out to make money fast, and believe that they can entice customers to any offering. These are the ultimate chess players in the game of business, always looking to be two or three moves ahead of the competition. Opportunist.

Entrepreneur 134

Entrepreneur Framework Mentor Web 134

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

If you’re funding the same stuff as everybody else and if you started your activities when the clues were obvious you’re much less likely to drive enormous returns. When Fred Wilson funded Twitter I guarantee you it wasn’t obvious that it was a billion dollar idea. Almost nobody believed and now look at it.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

InfoChachkie

MAY 26, 2016

Should millennial entrepreneurs go to college? If you believe the mythology surrounding the handful of entrepreneurs who did not obtain a degree, you may think that the path to entrepreneurial success is enhanced by avoiding college. As a young person, I shared your desire, ‘to do great things.’ Get More Than A Degree.

Entrepreneur 150

Entrepreneur Case Study Education Seed Funding 150

Berkonomics

MARCH 30, 2012

You have enough in savings to get started, but how and where do you go to find additional funding sources? When searching for funding, one of your primary tasks should be to start where it is easier, and proceed from there. Crowd Funding: The Internet is at work here, especially for obtaining early stager seed money.

Funding 192

Funding Entrepreneur Startup Invest 192

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 12, 2022

As an angel investor and a mentor to entrepreneurs I still see this every day. Hill attributes his ten rules of success to Andrew Carnegie, who was in his prime well before that, over a hundred years ago, but I believe the principles are still relevant. Successful entrepreneurs do what they need to do without being told how to do it.

Technical Review 119

Technical Review Ideas Entrepreneur Customer 119

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

I thought I’d try to look at it from a different lens, that of the entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur you should assume that. Typical questions: What do you think of management? How well do you know them? Have you looked at competition? How well financed is the competition? People call their friends.

Pricing 292

Pricing Entrepreneur Technical Review Venture Capital 292

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2022

As a mentor to many business professionals and owners, and aspiring entrepreneurs, I find a wealth of innovative ideas, but often less insight on what it really takes to transform ideas into an income stream that can excite new customers into long-term business success. Investors expect this step to be proven successful before funding.

Ideas 145

Ideas Startup Case Study Writing 145

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 10, 2013

It’s only 12 minutes long and if you’re a first-time entrepreneur (or second time, frankly) I encourage you to watch it if for nothing else than to get a sense that your struggles are universal. It’s why I believe startup coaches are so important and I wish I know more great ones. You psyche each other out.

Startup 412

Startup Press Course Entrepreneur 412

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2021

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. Fundraising is indeed brutally tough at all stages, and seed funding is the hardest to find.

Software Review 123

Software Review Seed Funding Funding Startup 123

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

VC funding. We love capital efficiency until we love land grabs until we abhor over funding until we get huge payouts and ring the bell for more funding until we attract every non-VC on the planet to invest in startups until it crashes and we start the cycle all over again none the wiser. “Well, do you guys do that? .

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2011

Other writers, like Guy Kawasaki, have irreverently called some of these “entrepreneur lies,” but I prefer to think of them as innocent over-enthusiasm or over-confidence that can kill your deal. No investor wants to wait that long for his return, or fund the years of waiting. All we have to do is get 1% of the market.”

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Funding Innocal Competition 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2014

Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Competition Patents Resource 110

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

High-profile entrepreneurs and investors, Peter Thiel, for example , have left. “It’s hard to make a difference in San Francisco as a single entrepreneur,” said J.D. “It’s not as a hard to make a difference as a successful entrepreneur in Columbus, Ohio.” ” J.D. Here's why.

Venture Capital 279

Venture Capital Startup Capital Entrepreneur 279

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2012

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. Fundraising is indeed brutally tough at all stages, and the seed funding is the hardest to find.

Seed Funding 100

Seed Funding Software Review Entrepreneur Funding 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

.” And even the venerable Fred Wilson weighed in with how people “ leading vs. following ” in funding rounds play different roles and have different skills. Must be doing something right! If you know, VCs end up writing sizable checks into their own funds, which is important in better aligning interests.

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

Competitive sportswoman. Tells me she wants to do operational stuff so she joins a small team of people running City Search. Getting involved with political events and fund raisers. She was everything I was looking for in an entrepreneur to back. What was she doing with Soleil Moon Frye? We’re in LA.

Startup 398

Startup Design Downey Activity 398

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.” As an entrepreneur it can feel as intimidating as going to buy a car where the dealer knows the price of every make & model of a car and you’re guessing at how much to pay.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2016

I’ve spoken before about our desire at Upfront Ventures to fund really big ideas that solve hard problems, are science led and if successful will both have a positive effect on people’s lives as well as make great financial returns. We’re not Pollyannaish about this. In short, we’re after venture returns. They have raised $14 million to date.

Company 207

Company Companies CTO Coach Funding 207

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 17, 2012

However, certain questions can be tricky for an entrepreneur to answer. Below are five common questions an entrepreneur will encounter when seeking venture funding. Handled appropriately, these questions provide investors a window into an entrepreneurs’ soul, which minimizes the chances of a future misalignment.

Entrepreneur 253

Entrepreneur Google Invest RSS 253

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. I have seen bad behavior from later-stage VCs, believe me. Do investors always take up their prorata rights in later rounds? ” Some do, some don’t.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2020

As an angel investor and a mentor to entrepreneurs I still see this every day. Hill attributes his ten rules of success to Andrew Carnegie, who was in his prime well before that, over a hundred years ago, but I believe the principles are still critically relevant. Without imagination, entrepreneurs can never dream up new ideas.

Technical Review 126

Technical Review Ideas Entrepreneur Customer 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2020

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. The short answer is that some banks will help, if you do your homework. Bankers do not contribute equity. An impressive team.

Technical Advisors 162

Technical Advisors Tips Startup Equity 162

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2015

As an angel investor to startups, I’m still surprised to find entrepreneurs who expect investors to give them money, and assume no strings attached. Would you do that if it was your money? Every funding term sheet is followed by a set of milestone commitments, which should not be considered optional suggestions.

Funding 106

Funding Entrepreneur Startup Report 106

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

NOVEMBER 29, 2014

This week I wrote about obsessive and competitive founders and how this forms the basis of what I look for when I invest. I had been thinking a lot about this recently because I’m often asked the question of “what I look for in an entrepreneur when I want to invest?” So I did, in fact, invest in myself.

Startup 409

Startup Invest Venture Capital Writing 409

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 8, 2021

“Intrapreneurs” are entrepreneurs inside big companies, who do corporate spin-offs. Unlock shareholder value , which the spin-off can do as an independent entity. Grow faster , which a spin-off can do outside the parent company. Yet spin-offs seem to most often fail to launch in the real world.

Company 125

Company Companies Startup Examples 125

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2013

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. Fundraising is indeed brutally tough at all stages, and the seed funding is the hardest to find.

Software Review 106

Software Review Funding Startup Seed Funding 106

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 3, 2022

billion company in the brutally competitive beauty industry, especially one with such broad appeal. After all, Glossier’s founder and CEO Emily Weiss is very, very far from the first entrepreneur to profit off of our desire to look good. allocate 98% of their funding to startups helmed by men. And who cares?

Startup 280

Startup Netflix Los Angeles Innocal 280

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

All true entrepreneurs operate off a set of tenets that are built into their psyche, or drilled into them from training and mentors. I assert that designers have a lot in common with entrepreneurs, since both must innovate and start a deep understanding of what their customer really wants (“customer-centered”).

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Design Ideas Competition 103

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2012

I have seen some entrepreneurs go into first meetings willing to share almost anything about their company. I’ve seen this back fire on entrepreneurs who say things like, “Well, we’re not talking financials with investors yet.”. We’re not really fund raising yet so I’m not prepared to have that discussion.”. “So What did he do?

Technical Review 316

Technical Review Venture Capital Customer Custom 316

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

I’ve written about the topic of convertible debt at length before specifically about how angels & entrepreneurs should think about pricing. Convertible debt is an investment that “converts&# into equity in the future usually at a discount to your next funding round price and sometimes has a “cap&# (maximum price).

Equity 319

Equity Pricing Venture Capital Entrepreneur 319

Tech.Co

MAY 25, 2018

If you’re an early-stage entrepreneur, technology has served you well. Still though, when founders are seeking funding, “ 75 percent of the venture capital goes to three states: Massachusetts, New York, and California,” said Steve Case in an interview with Recode. Watch our video series at SXSW 2018 with The Case Foundation.

Startup 140

Startup Technical Review Competition Software Review 140

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

in a funding led by Orange County's Okapi Venture Capitalis looking to help direct to consumer brands use better data to direct their marketing and other efforts. What does your startup do? How we do hat, is we've built an analytics platform, Daasity, for data-as-a-service. Dan LeBlanc: Daasity is about two years old.,

Startup 113

Startup Platform Commerce San Diego 113