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. But make it competitive.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

I get to do a deep dive on their business model, product roadmap and competitive positioning. The upside for entrepreneurs is the equity in their business. I’ll write about that in a couple of weeks. Writing this bl0g – This blog is a huge creative outlet for me. I get to choose what I write about.

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

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. When you account for competition for talent, the difficulty of retention, the cost of living and the difficulty of rising above the noise – there are many advantages of staying put.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

He did it yesterday, “Mark, I’m going to write a blog post following on from your VC’s aren’t dumb. He is very pleasant when he calls and writes. You may know how much to pay in cash or equity for your new VP Engineering. .” I know it sounds obvious. Trust me – most people don’t do it.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2020

Stegmaier recommends that you start by writing a regular blog, joining a few related campaigns, building a high-quality video, and completing up to a hundred additional lessons before you even launch your own project. Startups need to build a large passionate group of fans before the campaign.

Startup 151

Startup Equity Funding Demand 151

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. You are either bought for stock or for equity. The first being a competitive acquisition offer from a fierce competitor. It’s understandably on everybody’s mind these days.

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316

InfoChachkie

JUNE 4, 2012

Evaluate their sincerity by asking them to accept equity in exchange for all or a portion of their overall compensation. Thus, you have negotiating leverage as long as a legitimate, competitive threat exists. Your commitments to investors must be significant enough to compel them to write you a check. Fallacy: Yes.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Outsource Ideas Technical Review 272

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 16, 2020

As a business advisor and advocate for entrepreneurs, I find myself almost always talking and writing about change. Anything less makes you non-competitive. Work-life balance is not about equity, but about escape. Yet peers and customers notice phone calls and e-mails not returned in twenty-four hours or less.

Startup 153

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Screening 153

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Big thank you to Darius Vasefi , of EyeOnJewels for the write up. o Put a timeframe/money – competition in the picture. If you need money to even hire a developer [means you cannot even excite one person to put in some sweat equity – not a good sign about your ability to motivate people.]. He told them it was now or never.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I still think it’s best to take money from Dave when you’re also partnered with a more focused, hands-on seed-stage VC who brings different things to the table – like more ability to write larger checks in a downturn (for one) or solving a deep crisis that involves super hands-on involvement.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 8, 2019

. “If big companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon are prevented from acquiring startups, that actually reduces competition,” Sirinivasan writes. If big companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon are prevented from acquiring startups, that actually reduces competition. — Balaji S.

Technical Review 144

Technical Review Startup Chief Technology Officer Social Media 144

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

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

Stegmaier recommends that you start by writing a regular blog, joining a few related campaigns, building a high-quality video, and completing up to a hundred additional lessons before you even launch your own project. Startups need to build a large passionate group of fans before the campaign.

Startup 100

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Demand 100

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. Competition and sustainable advantage. List and position your competition, or alternatives available to the customer. Exit strategy.

Slides 94

Slides Competition Sample Sales 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 11, 2023

As a business advisor and advocate for entrepreneurs, I find myself almost always talking and writing about change. Anything less makes you non-competitive. Work-life balance is not about equity, but about escape. Yet peers and customers notice phone calls and e-mails not returned in twenty-four hours or less.

Startup 106

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Screening 106

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2016

Defy teaches them personal finance like how to keep a checking account, the difference between debt and equity, what cashflow is and so forth. Defy Ventures runs business plan competitions and has people like us who attend and give business advice and feedback. She was smart (she started her career in private equity!)

Writing 150

Writing Startup Design Training 150

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

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2016

As a business advisor and advocate for entrepreneurs, I find myself almost always talking and writing about change. Anything less makes you non-competitive. Work-life balance is not about equity, but about escape. Yet peers and customers notice phone calls and e-mails not returned in twenty-four hours or less.

Startup 93

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Screening 93

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I will write more about this in the next 2 weeks. But this mania to not miss out on the next big thing is driving some investors to pay growth-equity prices for traditional market risk (as in, they’re paying up before it is clear there is product / market fit). I believe that. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2013

These commitments should always be positioned in writing as promissory notes, or so-called bridge-loans, which convert to equity at a rate determined by later investors. Managing cash flow is just one of the many ways that entrepreneurs have to think creatively to innovate, beat the competition, and survive. Microloans.

Startup 97

Startup Entrepreneur Equity Examples 97

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Opportunity segmentation and competitive environment. List key competitors and alternatives, highlighting your sustainable competitive advantages, such as patents and trademarks. No mention usually means no plan and not competitive. This is your elevator pitch hook, which you must be able to deliver in 30 seconds.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2014

These commitments should always be positioned in writing as promissory notes, or so-called bridge-loans, which convert to equity at a rate determined by later investors. Managing cash flow is just one of the many ways that entrepreneurs have to think creatively to innovate, beat the competition, and survive. Micro-loans.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Capital Startup Funding 101

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.” If you have a product description, that’s necessary, but not sufficient. Letters of intent or endorsement. Show personal investment.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.” If you have a product description, that’s necessary, but not sufficient. Letters of intent or endorsement. Show personal investment.

Startup 104

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.” If you have a product description, that’s necessary, but not sufficient. Letters of intent or endorsement. Show personal investment.

Startup 101

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 101

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you’re raising a round where a new lead investor would invest $5 million the VC fund must have no less than $100 million and if you’re looking for them to write $15–20 million as the lead their fund realistically should be at least $400 million.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

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. We focus very much on finding employees who are a cultural fit and we share equity when appropriate.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.” If you have a product description, that’s necessary, but not sufficient. Letters of intent or endorsement. Show personal investment.

Tips 88

Tips Startup CTO Hire Press 88

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2015

Stegmaier recommends that you start by writing a regular blog, joining a few related campaigns, building a high-quality video, and completing up to a hundred additional lessons before you even launch your own project. Startups need to build a large passionate group of fans before the campaign.

Startup 53

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Demand 53

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

You don’t have unlimited equity to dole out. She can anticipate reactions to price increases or product changes by customers and she can sustain competitive challenges because she knows the customer will stick by her. I wanted to just write. I like writing. What I’m talking about is making tough decisions.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

socalTECH

MARCH 6, 2017

It seem that now, versus a few years ago, it's a lot more competitive to try to get out and acquire a user profitably for an app. Some of the deals that worked out best for me as an angel were those companies I was telling my cash guy one year that this will be a complete write off. And they are all roller coasters, as you know.

Media 153

Media Mobile Startup Acquisition 153

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2016

Clarify up front the potential for a conflict of interest or violation of a non-compete clause, and confirm the answer in writing. Give away more equity than required to drive the business. Reality check first your sizing of the opportunity, competition, and margins. Late surprises lead to lawsuits.

Startup 62

Startup Patents Entrepreneur Writing 62

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! When I started blogging it was because I was inspired by Brad Feld.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

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

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

The women in the program commit $5,000 and invest as a group of woman in a social venture in exchange for equity. For me, it’s very much showcasing that angel investing is not just writing a check, it’s so much more. NON: I judge a lot of pitch competitions and speak at a lot of conferences. People have to get in the game.

Mentor 84

Mentor Invest Entrepreneur Startup 84