Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

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 addition to helping manage the board Chris also helps represent the interests of the angel investors / common stock holders.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2016

On September 10th of this year I spent an entire day in California State Prison with people who had committed felonies and worked with them on business plans to help them create legal enterprise upon their release as part of Defy Ventures 6-month training program. She was smart (she started her career in private equity!)

Writing 150

Writing Startup Design Training 150

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

As an entrepreneur and startup investor, I have helped create companies which achieved two IPOs which collectively raised over $100 million, as well as two acquisitions which totaled $385 million. However, it is my hope that this article will help you avoid learning the following lessons the hard way. 8 ) Grant Exclusivity.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2012

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. A good investor can do a lot to help a company, but can't make customers buy products.

Technical Review 94

Technical Review Startup Writing Competition 94

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 2, 2014

Now, you’re handling payroll and doing writing as well. You may even discover that you enjoy writing more than crunching numbers. Piaw Na, who spent over six years at Google, writes on Quora that she recommends fresh grads to join a startup instead of big companies. This allows employees to become more versatile and productive.

Startup 102

Startup Social Media Writing Google 102

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

a loan) that is later converted to equity at the time of the next financing. If no financing happened then this “note&# may not be converted and thus would be senior to the equity of the company in the case of a bankruptcy or asset sale. It starts as a debt instrument (e.g. He had already given things his best effort.&#.

Startup 290

Startup Funding Venture Capital Pricing 290

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

I get to do a deep dive on their business model, product roadmap and competitive positioning. I’m not saying I don’t spend time trying to help entrepreneurs that I am not planning to invest it – anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I do. So I spend much time with them and trying to help.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2011

Chris Dixon is one of my favorite people in tech and writes one of the few blogs I read religiously. 3. We then addressed competition in the context of SiteAdvisor and how it is important for journalists, customers, and the companies themselves. If you don’t read it and you care about tech & entrepreneurship, you should.

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Venture Capital Startup Artificial Inteligence 281

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2010

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. A good investor can do a lot to help a company, but can't make customers buy products.

Technical Review 90

Technical Review Writing Competition Tips 90

InfoChachkie

JUNE 4, 2012

As an entrepreneur, I helped create companies which achieved two IPOs and two trade sales totaling $385 million. Hopefully this article and the accompanying six-minute video will help you avoid learning these mission-critical lessons the hard way. Thus, you have negotiating leverage as long as a legitimate, competitive threat exists.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Outsource Ideas Technical Review 272

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

When to get a lawyer - If you plan to be a venture or angel backed technology company (what I mostly write about) the best time to start meeting and getting to know lawyers is long before you ever start your company. I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. Many people start companies arse backwards.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

Most advisors will tell you to write the business plan first (20-30 pages), then distill the key points into a set of Microsoft PowerPoint slides for standup presentations to potential investors. Fuzzy terms like “not user-oriented” or “too expensive” are not helpful. Competition and sustainable advantage. Exit strategy.

Slides 94

Slides Competition Sample Sales 94

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you truly believe that you, your company and your products are exceptional and your company will be valuable then you’re actually doing them a FAVOR by helping them invest in your startup. Keeping it to 8–10 helps you manage the public information flow that will be broader if you see 20 firms and also help you prioritize resources.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

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. Did raising money at a $500 million valuation help secure the $1 billion deal? You are either bought for stock or for equity. It’s understandably on everybody’s mind these days.

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316

InfoChachkie

APRIL 3, 2012

Did you just meet the shy boy who spent his High School years writing in his journal or the boisterous verbal bully who used her wit to hide her insecurities? Did you play any team or individual sports competitively? If the applicant does not appropriately value your startup’s equity, quickly usher them out the door.

Entrepreneur 219

Entrepreneur Startup Equity Journal 219

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Without taking a dime of outside capital, the company has achieved impressive success in a competitive, SaaS market segment, landing companies such as Nike, Intuit, NASA, AutoDesk and PBS. Some of the products I’ve helped validate and launch include GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting and AppFolio. I have always worked on early stage products.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

socalTECH

MARCH 6, 2017

Some might be looking for some liquidity, they might want to sell their app outright, or it could be they want to cut a deal on the publishing side, and get some helping out with advertising and monetization. We are making changes to the user interface, to help limits things like attrition and other things we're trying to avoid.

Media 153

Media Mobile Startup Acquisition 153

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

A friend helped him get out of this situation and changed Matt’s life forever. He is very hands-on and helpful – especially for any company looking into customer acquisition. Big thank you to Darius Vasefi , of EyeOnJewels for the write up. o Put a timeframe/money – competition in the picture. The answer?

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

We try to hire deeply analytical associates to can help companies problem solve and who make us better investors. So we like to behave like we don’t know any better than you – we can just bring an outside perspective to help spar you and make you a better decision-maker through the process. That’s healthy.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

From the Venture Trenches

MARCH 27, 2013

Yet despite his ability to raise over $1 billion of private equity and to build an organization that is worth $5 billion as of this writing, Mason was shown the door. Groupon raised seven series of private equity before going public. Money raised from friends and family typically come with few constraints and very simple terms.

Venture Capital 45

Venture Capital Capital Anthem Startup 45

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

Natalia Oberti Noguera is on a mission to help change the demographic of investment with her Pipeline Fellowship. Pipeline Fellowship teaches women to become angel investors and become a more powerful and helpful voice in the investment world. NON: I judge a lot of pitch competitions and speak at a lot of conferences.

Mentor 84

Mentor Invest Entrepreneur Startup 84

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 28, 2012

I faced the same challenge not being able to form a team because most people joined the competition with friends that they had already planned on working with. It was a wonderful feeling to win in a competition for the 3 rd time in a row, but much more rewarding that finally it was for my idea, creating something from my vision.

Startup 100

Startup Ideas San Diego Mentor 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

He listed all of the product releases that were up coming, the customers that were in the pipeline and where he saw his competition moving. Who’s going to help you with improving your marketing / positioning to become a clear platform category leader like Twilio? There’s you and your killer CTO co-founder.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

With new micro VC entrants into to early-stage investing plus increased competition from angels, incubators and the like – traditional VCs have taken notice. It’s one thing to invest in a later-stage (say a C round) to help with growth, it’s another to fund companies who are already valued in the billions.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Capital Software Startup 296

InfoChachkie

JUNE 25, 2009

Working with startup lawyers also minimizes the risk of losing control of your adVenture, as they can help you avoid common fundraising and investor pitfalls. Some startup attorneys will accept a portion of their initial fees in the form of equity. Some companies use lawsuits as an arrow in their competitive quiver.

Technical Advisors 124

Technical Advisors Technical Review IP Patents 124

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

In many ways I think general purpose writing & thinking skills are as valuable as math skills. I believe, though, that they need to be taught more in the context of helping people develop meaningful careers that position them to succeed financially in the changing world in which we live. Then there is a royalty rate.

Venture Capital 403

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

thought it would be helpful to put some of my thoughts into a blog post and hopefully spur some conversation in the comments and over email. We had to write a CRM to keep track of them all. equity debate. There is no competition. More tiers = more complication = more confusion. What’s going to happen in the future?'

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

We both felt that the critical reasoning skills and writing skills were critical to our career development. Competition: Chegg (has raised $144 in debt and equity)—estimated by Steven Carpenter ( TechCrunch ) to be 10x more unique visitors than BookRenter (during peak book renting seasons) with nearly $140mm in revenues for 2010. -New

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

He has set up an office, a process & people around him that are helpful to entrepreneurs in need of hands-on skills in a mass service way. Helped get the first security to ever be sold over the internet with a credit card. Helped acquire BuyDirect from CNET – later sold to Beyond.Com. I am impressed with his approach.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2014

While sizing up the alternatives, I couldn’t help but pick up a recent book by Karlene Sinclair-Robinson with the creative title of “ Spank the Bank: The Guide to Alternative Business Financing.” Managing cash flow is just one of the many ways that entrepreneurs have to think creatively to innovate, beat the competition, and survive.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Capital Startup Funding 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2013

While sizing up the alternatives, I couldn’t help but pick up a new book by Karlene Sinclair-Robinson with the creative title of “ Spank the Bank: The Guide to Alternative Business Financing.” Managing cash flow is just one of the many ways that entrepreneurs have to think creatively to innovate, beat the competition, and survive.

Startup 97

Startup Entrepreneur Equity Examples 97

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Valuing any company can be difficult because it requires a degree of forecasting future growth & competition and ultimately the profits of the organization. Brad was openly writing about this and it felt like he was giving the VC playbook away for free! I better roll up my sleeves and help my companies get funded.”

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150