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

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 29, 2023

While the market isn't short of spritely, innovative entrepreneurs, harsh economic headwinds combined with a pullback in investor spending have made it harder than ever for budding businesses to break through. Source: runwayml.com In June, Runway raised $141 million in funding, nudging its market valuation to an envy-inducing $1.5

Startup 213

Startup Generative AI Newsletter Tool 213

TechEmpower

AUGUST 7, 2023

Increasing competitive advantage? Getting something to market and getting funding override any other concerns. Please write us at blog@techempower.com ! Exploring new technologies? The answer is: it depends. The role of a CTO varies as the company matures. cto , infotech , innovation , product , project , saas

CTO Hire 260

CTO Hire Develop Development Fractional VPE 260

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

It’s not hard to find people willing to write the narrative that “venture capital is not an asset class” or “venture capital has performed terribly.” It had an influence on the people who fund our industry in a negative way as many asset managers who fund our industry read this flawed report.

Venture Capital 362

Venture Capital Capital Startup Writing 362

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

At the Upfront Summit in early February, we had a chance to have many off-the-record conversations with Limited Partners (LPs) who fund Venture Capital (VC) funds about their views of the market. A normal VC fund raises a new fund every three years if they are strong performers.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Marketing Seed Funding 150

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. People who believe the former believe that you should see the market demand before too many people know you’re “in market.”

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2010

Last week, the University of Southern California 's Viterbi School of Engineering announced that it had established a new, business plan competition, the Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition ([link] specifically aimed at students in the engineering school. Why a business plan competition, and why in engineering school?

Competition 154

Competition Southern California Mentor USC 154

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

VC funding. Our perspectives on the topic wax and wane with market cycles. Here’s what I believe, but won’t claim to “know” because every time I think I know something the market seems to do something entirely different. the more money you give a startup the faster they grow. I have strong opinions.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2022

I recommend that you always use brainstorming, or expert feedback, to define similar approaches and markets, before proceeding to produce and sell a solution that may be expensive to change later. Investors expect this step to be proven successful before funding. Write down your business model and five-year plan.

Ideas 145

Ideas Startup Case Study Writing 145

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The rise of “micro VCs” or seed-stage funds. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). 15 years ago we were at the peak of Internet hype with the launch of many over-capitalized businesses with a market size & opportunity was limited. On the surface the narratives have been.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. On the product side, once you have a proven product and business model, all you need is money to build inventory, and a sales and marketing operation to drive the business.

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2021

If you don’t have the time to write things down, or your writing skills leave something to be desired, don’t be afraid to get some help. No executive I know writes all his own contracts, but every smart one owns every one that is written for him, and understands every element.

Sample 137

Sample Writing Mentor Content 137

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

In reality, crowdfunding has become a major startup funding vehicle, expected to reach $3.62 He points out that the word crowd precedes funding in crowdfunding. Of course, if the campaign does not meet or exceed the funding objective, you get nothing. billion globally by 2030, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Startup 100

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Demand 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

A business plan is the outward facing definition of the business you hope to drive with your hardware solution, with a hardware overview in the intro to highlight customer value and competitiveness. Quantify the market opportunity in business terms. Include marketing, sales, and customer rollout plans. and trademarks.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. On the product side, once you have a proven product and business model, all you need is money to build inventory, and a sales and marketing operation to drive the business.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

It is simply the most important way to proactively control your career development and how the market perceives you. This started as a post in which I was going to write out tips to personal branding and became in stead an essay of my own branding journey. That was fine with me – the market is the market.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2020

In reality, crowdfunding has become a major startup funding vehicle, expected to reach $114 billion globally by 2021, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. He points out that the word crowd precedes funding in crowdfunding. Of course, if the campaign does not meet or exceed the funding objective, you get nothing.

Startup 151

Startup Equity Funding Demand 151

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

It was a pleasure to write them myself. And when I say this I don’t mean they funded billion dollar companies – they literally created them. they can build teams that really focus on building & marketing great products. His impact has even helped a small country gain admission to the United Nations. Shopping.com.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

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.” VC firms see thousands of deals and have a refined sense of how the market is valuing deals because they get price signals across all of these deals. Call this “price signaling.”

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Prorata rights are one of the most important rights of a private market technology investors and yet are seldom fully understood. These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. As always a balanced perspective is in order.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

Assess potential for funding or bootstrapping. If you will need to supplement your own funds and assets for your business, don’t wait for a crisis to enlist family, friends, angel investors, or start a crowdfunding campaign. Remember that investors tend to fund entrepreneurs, not ideas. You can’t keep all these in your head.

Startup 114

Startup Tips Coach Satisfaction 114

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

His challenge is to focus on one market, with a specific design, cost, and price. Then, he'll need to patent it and create a plan to show opportunity, competition, and financial projections. Only a great team, and listening to customers, will allow you to adjust as you learn more, or the market changes.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

In that article I talked about how PR drives: recruiting, employee retention, biz dev deals, funding and even M&A and that often “attribution” to your PR activities is unknown. Contrary to popular opinion I actually believe crowd-funding is best used after seed capital or venture capital. I have no money?

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Capitalism is fundamentally about timing, since market competition is about finding opportunities before others. Anyone who has worked in a large company further knows that timing a product launch or a new marketing strategy has more to do with internal politics than reading market forces. When should you start a company?

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

socalTECH

JUNE 11, 2018

For our interview this morning, we caught up with Scot Lawrie , the President and technical Co-founder of Los Angeles-based Coverfly (www.coverfly.com), and John Rhodes , Coverfly's head of Marketing and Business Development, to learn a bit more about the early stage, bootstrapped startup focused on Hollywood script writers. What is Coverfly?

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Hollywood Platform Competition 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Every investor expects to see some business traction, both before and after a funding event. If you have neither, and choose to approach an investor, you will get no attention, and probably never again get a shot at funding with that investor. Traction means forward progress. Letters of intent or endorsement. Show personal investment.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

Maybe the market views this as not worth the price you paid? So by offering convertible debt you can avoid a price discussion in the same way that angel investors sometimes do in order to win competitive early-stage deals. He had raised about $500,000 in seed funding that lasted a long time. And it adds up.

Startup 290

Startup Funding Venture Capital Pricing 290

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

Value Prop Twitter Style : “Ringrevenue’s call performance marketing platform enables ad networks, agencies, advertisers & publishers to generate more inbound sales calls.”. In today’s market, so much focus is placed on transacting business online. Why aren’t there a half-dozen well-funded startups running up your tailpipe?

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

Some entrepreneurs love to talk and produce videos, but hate to write anything down. From an investor perspective, understanding and acting early to establish a sustainable competitive advantage, and barrier to entry, is the best assurance of a financial return. Effective communication requires real listening, as well as talking.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 111

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. I can’t control the market. Private markets for stocks are the opposite.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

Yet, in the interest of full disclosure, and an honest intent to save future entrepreneurs some grief and money, I would remind you that starting any business has key dependencies on at least five major elements, including product design and delivery, the right people on the team, adequate funding, a sizable market opportunity, and marketing.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Examples Customer 131

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2023

Technologies are not solutions, but understanding a technology, in the context of a customer need, will result in more competitive and long-lasting solutions. The act of communicating and writing enhances learning. With that learning, you are able to more effectively share and market your solution to customers and business partners.

Social Media 120

Social Media Startup Entrepreneur Education 120

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. But then you can springboard from there to your next gig and you’ll be an experienced startup employee with functional experience at sales, marketing, product or whatever roles you played.”

Startup 409

Startup Invest Venture Capital Writing 409

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2010

This is sad, since “how to write a business plan” is a frequent topic found in every business journal, and a common title in the business section of every book store. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually understand it yourself. What is the definition of a good business plan?

Startup 91

Startup Funding Sample Writing 91

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Opportunity segmentation and competitive environment. The market scope for your solution should be quantified in non-technical terms, with data sourced from professionals in the industry, rather than your own opinion. Marketing, sales, and customer experience. No mention usually means no plan and not competitive.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. GRP Partners last fund is the single best performing VC fund in the US (prequin data) for its vintage year). Absofuckinglutely.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

This will continue while we’re in a tech bull market and I predict will wane when we’re not. With new micro VC entrants into to early-stage investing plus increased competition from angels, incubators and the like – traditional VCs have taken notice. In a bull market many players see drift in their activities.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Capital Software Startup 296