socalTECH

OCTOBER 23, 2012

However, the recent surge in startup activity has attracted a lot more capital into the area, including a significant amount of capital from LA's latest fund: Karlin Ventures (www.karlinvc.com). TX Zhuo: Karlin Ventures is an early stage venture fund based in LA. We are going to focus most of our investments in LA.

Funding 253

Funding Startup Invest Commerce 253

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. 10 is the new 3. ” Well.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

Until recently it was headquartered 2 blocks from our offices in Santa Monica so we literally saw it emerge under our feet and we proudly invested in the last 3 rounds of financing. How could Bird really be worth the reported $2 billion valuation that I read about in this press? having raised $300 million?—?less

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

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

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

Competitive (Athlete: skier & rowed at Princeton, hates losing at everything she does). Investment experience (5 years a VC at Battery Ventures). For starters we’re an LA-based venture fund who invests nationally (and sometimes internationally, but less so). billion IPO), Envestnet (Chicago, $1.25 billion).

Venture Capital 408

Venture Capital Startup Outsource Development CitySearch 408

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

Even then private market investors can paper over valuation changes by investing at the same price but with more structure so it’s hard to understand the “headline valuation.” No blog post about how Tiger is crushing everybody because it’s deploying all its capital in 1-year while “suckers” are investing over 3-years can change this reality.

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

Berkonomics

APRIL 11, 2019

An entrepreneur pitches using a deck with no slide for competition. We have no competition.”. That statement has killed more investment deals than almost any other. If you are raising funds, list “do nothing” as a viable competitor in your slide deck. When asked (as we always do,) the response is “This is new.

Competition 120

Competition Slides Research Sales 120

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

leadership, mentorship, competitiveness, communications, relationship-building?—?and I’ve become fond of saying “if I had a dollar for every person who told me just how much they loooooved Kara Nortman, I’d have a 10x fund.” I called an (ex) LP to tell him about her and my goals for her. So What Does All This Mean?

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

AOL co-founder and former chief executive officer Steve Case’s venture capital fund, Revolution , deploys capital to companies “outside of the hotbeds.” Lots of firms are now talking about this pretty actively.”. Today, Washington, DC-based Revolution is announcing its latest fund. It’s a flawed strategy.’

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Funding Seed Funding Activity 211

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2023

Yet everyone has limits, and every investor implicitly has similar limits on what makes a startup investable, or one to avoid at all costs. If you need investors, it’s important that you understand their filters, and even if you are funding your own efforts, you need to recognize the red flags. Huge ramp-up time and money required.

Invest 98

Invest Sites Technical Review Social Media 98

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?” To invest in your future.

Startup 409

Startup Invest Venture Capital Writing 409

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2018

The benefits you will receive from doing even some basic planning before you hit the fund raising trail are enormous. Many points will seem obvious but since I observe many fund-raising processes as a VC I can tell you that most people get even the basics wrong. The next pass is the “competitive pass”?—?have

Funding 215

Funding Startup Venture Capital News 215

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

On the one hand, you’re over paying for every investment and valuations aren’t rational. We operate at scale and speed unprecedented in human history.” * I first wrote about the changes to the Venture Capital ecosystem 10 years ago and this still serves as a good primer of how we arrived at 2011, a decade on from the Web 1.0

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 10, 2013

Many CEOs have asked me if I felt an investment banker adds value if the buyer has already been identified. Investment bankers sometimes slow the process by requiring a “deal book” to be prepared containing considerable information about a company to help a buyer. Deal books are expensive to create.

Invest 207

Invest Competition Pricing Startup 207

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2023

Indeed, while the rules and technologies for lead generation have changed, Forrester and other experts still see it as the most effective way for businesses with limited budgets to maximize their return on marketing investment (ROI). It’s also one of the most accountable, with in-depth data provided by search engines about performance.

Marketing 114

Marketing Invest Social Media SEM 114

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

Fund raising. But it’s critical for your business, for you as a leader and people who excel at fund raising have an extreme advantage over those who do not. As a VC I also have to fund raise every three years and these posts 100% apply to VCs raising money, too. It definitely has a “d” in it, as in it’s really not fun, raising.

Funding 236

Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2023

The first thing to remember is that banks only do loans – they generally don’t do equity investments like angels and venture capitalists (and vice versa). You have to get past how great the product is to address clearly what your business rationale is, why it is different from the competition's, and why it will succeed.

Equity 121

Equity Technical Advisors Funding Ideas 121

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

In their passion and excitement about a new product or service, entrepreneurs tend to continually narrow the scope of potential competitors, and often claim to have no direct competitors. Competition for your new hydrogen fuel auto engine is not limited to other hydrogen auto engine offerings, or even other autos.

Competition 166

Competition Funding Startup Patents 166

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. Venture Capital is a tricky industry. Far from it.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2019

This morning's interview is with Kevin O'Connor , a longtime investor and serial entrepreneur, who is now running venture capital investment firm ScOp Venture Capital. Tell us a little bit about the firm? What types of companies are you making investments in? Kevin O'Connor: It's 100 percent our own funds.

Venture Capital 145

Venture Capital Startup Invest Capital 145

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally generated funds. There is a lot to say about retaining control. Better yet, the valuation of your enterprise is often higher than if the same investment were taken from a professional investor.

Venture Capital 295

Venture Capital Startup Class Invest 295

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I Know Everybody Told You to Send Your Fund-Raising Decks as a Link. Here’s Why You Should Just Send the Deck I know you have your document sending tool to send your fund-raising deck to VCs and track who read your deck, which pages they read and how much time they spend on each page. Many of my colleagues do, too.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Tech.Co

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Read on to find a financing option that suits you, whatever your business's specialism, needs, and financial profile, or jump to a specific funding type below. It's competitive though – last year 18,000 applicants competed for only 12 slots. Learn more and apply here Deadline: April 1 2.

Technical Review 193

Technical Review Software Review Startup Competition 193

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

I recommend you read Fred Wilson’s recent blog post about the need for a well articulated business strategy before pushing a particular business model. Put simply – you need enough users in a segment who care about what you’re doing to dictate investing further in the product or in sales & marketing resources.

Startup 401

Startup Custom Customer Technical Review 401

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. If you don’t believe in your bones that you’re amazing then it’s no wonder you don’t want to sell them on making the investment.”

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Conventional wisdom says I shouldn’t tell you this because I invested in their main competitor, MakeSpace. Clutter is LA based and many of my friends invested. But the bigger truth is the competition is important. When we funded Sam , Rahul and team at MakeSpace > 2.5 Healthy competition keeps you on your toes.

Funding 150

Funding Competition Marketing Summary 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I’m super excited to announce that GRP Partners led the investment in Ethan Anderson’s new company MyTime (link has LA-based merchants but will give you a good feel for the product). When Ethan was considering leaving Google we talked about it. In the same year they won Business Insider’s Startup competition.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 29, 2010

I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. Competitiveness - One attribute that I believe most VCs look for in entrepreneurs is competitiveness. I replay things in my mind about why I lost and I try to correct my mistakes. I had to say it.

Competition 296

Competition Entrepreneur Startup GRP Partners 296

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

There is much discussion online and also in small, private groups, about why the price of technology companies – public and private – are falling. Valuing any company can be difficult because it requires a degree of forecasting future growth & competition and ultimately the profits of the organization.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

It’s that time of year where we think about new beginnings. VC firm policy or fund analysis. Most associates need some entrepreneurial experience before actually making investments. Ability to source information easily to help build a thesis around companies / industries / competition. Portfolio community building.

Help 365

Help Invest Venture Capital Technical Review 365

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

My first suggestion is that entrepreneurs need to forget the old myth that all they need to do is sketch an idea on a napkin, and investors will line up to invest. At these stages, it’s all about you, and your ability to communicate and execute effectively. Non-credible funding request or unreasonable valuation.

Funding 123

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Invest 123

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2019

With the advent and popularity of crowdfunding platforms, including Kickstarter and IndieGoGo , as a winning alternative for funding your new venture, I find that many aspiring entrepreneurs are confused about the need to ever seek a professional angel investor. Consider the need for multiple rounds of funding.

Funding 119

Funding Startup Platform Examples 119

Berkonomics

APRIL 19, 2012

Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur state, “We have no competition.” That statement has killed more investment deals than almost any other. If you are raising funds, list “do nothing” as a viable competitor in your slide deck. Well, come to think of it, this is especially true in such an instance.

Competition 189

Competition Slides Sales Ideas 189

SoCal CTO

MAY 19, 2010

I’m planning on going to a Tech Coast Angels mixer tomorrow and the topic for me is whether there is angel funding out there for startups that don’t meet classic VC models. Can you raise $750K - $1M with no future investments planned? And I’m really wondering about that. See investment criteria #1 from TCA.

Invest 205

Invest Angel Tech Coast Angels Pasadena Angels 205

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

There is all sorts of advice on the Internet about how to raise capital. I now observes the fund raising process as a profession. This is the fund raising perspective from both sides of the table. Fund raising (as is much of life) is a sale – pure and simple. Partners make investment decisions. Tell a friend!

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

socalTECH

APRIL 12, 2017

Wallach on investments out of a new fund, Inevitable Ventures. How did you end up here in Los Angeles doing investments? I was the youngest person at the firm, fresh to LA, super excited about everything, and I gravitated towards those smaller deals in the venture space. Ron chose me to manage those investments.

Invest 157

Invest Startup Hollywood Echo Park 157

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