Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

Across more than 10 years we have kept the size of our Seed investments between $2–3.5 million, our Seed Funds mostly between $200–300 million and have delivered median ownerships of ~20% from the first check we write into a startup. In 2009 we could take a long time to review a deal. By 2021 we had to write a $3.5m

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 15, 2010

Heck, stick around and watch me discuss the seed funding debate that is going on right now and what is happening in the VC industry overall. Think of it – why should an angel fund you to allow you to create more value so that they have to pay a higher price at a later date?

Venture Capital 210

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Southern California 210

Berkonomics

APRIL 24, 2014

Although that is still a good idea in many cases, there is a recent alternative available to some entrepreneurs on a competitive basis that seems most attractive and positive. Email readers, continue here.]

Coach 250

Coach Seed Funding Summary Incubator 250

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.” Competition for access to deals in the Bay Area, however, has priced many investors out of the most sought-after rounds. Revolution co-founder Tige Savage.

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Funding Seed Funding Activity 211

socalTECH

JANUARY 25, 2019

The funding came from Techstars, Wolfpark Ventures, Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Luma Launch, Halogen Ventures, Walket Capital, Western Technology Investment, plus angels. Thec ompany was also part of the Techstars Anywhere startup accelerator.

Tech Coast Angels 133

Tech Coast Angels San Diego Seed Funding Competition 133

socalTECH

APRIL 12, 2021

Two startups won a total of $25,000 in prizes last week at the Sunstone Innovations Challenge at CSULB, a startup pitch competition involving student teams from CSU Long Beach. The runner up was UNWIND, which is developing personalized meditation programs, which received $10,000 in seed funding.

Long Beach 113

Long Beach Seed Funding Startup Competition 113

socalTECH

MAY 7, 2009

San Diego-based Qualcomm disclosed today that it has launched a new, entrepreneurship prize which will provide $550,000 in seed funding to entrepreneurs in North America, Europe, China, and India. From those semi-finalists, it will select a grand prize winner which will receive $150,000 in convertible note funding. READ MORE>>.

Seed Funding 100

Seed Funding Competition San Diego Entrepreneur 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

I wrote this overview of the LA Tech Ecosystem in December and on page 15 you’ll see a host of amazing VC firms at all stages from pre-seed through to early-B rounds. https://medium.com/media/3c33723f326245292958d4b055dfb424/href Today we learned that another great fund was announced — Fika Ventures. We love LA!

Dollar Shave Club 321

Dollar Shave Club Cornerstone OnDemand Riot Games Venture Capital 321

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 29, 2019

million in pre-seed funding last June. The company is backed by Amplify, an LA-based early stage investor and company accelerator, Quest Venture Partners, Greycroft Tracker fund and the GFR Fund. The LA-based company also has some venture-backed competition on the East Coast. ProGuides raised $1.9

Coach 180

Coach Seed Funding Training Platform 180

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2009

San Diego-based Qualcomm reports today that it is extending the deadline for the firm's wireless business plan competition, its Qualcomm Ventures QPrize Business Plan Competition, to August 21st. The deadline for the business plan competition was originally today, July 31st. READ MORE>>.

Seed Funding 100

Seed Funding Competition San Diego Venture Capital 100

socalTECH

JULY 20, 2020

in a seed funding round, the company said late last week. The funding came from Andreessen Horowitz, Golden Ventures, and Bitkraft Esports Ventures. El Segundo-based Carbonated Games , a developer of mobile games, has raised $8.5M The company is led by founder and CEO Travis Boatman.

El Segundo 113

El Segundo Electronic Arts Seed Funding Mobile 113

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 11, 2021

Linktree leads the space, securing a recent $45 million Series B raise to build out e-commerce features, but Beacons boasts competitive creator monetization tools with just a $6 million seed round in May. Now, Snipfeed enters the ring with its own $5.5 With its $5.5

Platform 286

Platform Commerce Startup Tool 286

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

It’s why in this article I advise that people “market today not futures” because you don’t want your playbook in the hands of the competition. I raised a small seed round. What do you do when you have finally raised seed funds? I have no money? There is a lot you can do without spending money.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

socalTECH

JUNE 17, 2020

Trust & Will is backed by Link Ventures, Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Western Technology Investment, Techstars Ventures, Luma Launch and Halogen Ventures. The company originally raised funding as part of a "Quick Pitch" competition with the San Diego Tech Coast Angels. READ MORE>>.

Tech Coast Angels 113

Tech Coast Angels San Diego Seed Funding Competition 113

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Meredith Perry came up with the idea for uBeam while still in college at University of Pennsylvania and like many great inventors won her school’s business plan competition. She had raised seed funds from a who’s who list of investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Marissa Mayer, Mark Cuban, Troy Carter and so on.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

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. But with the massive growth of seed funds being raised and the huge value increase of prorata rights many more LPs have stepped in to take their VC (industry term is GP) position.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

socalTECH

JULY 26, 2016

in a seed funding round, the company announced this morning. The round was led by Raine Ventures, and also included Courtside Ventures, Comcast Ventures Catalyst Fund, Social Capital, Outpost Capital, Boost VC, & Jason Rosenthal, CEO of Lytro. Kite & Lightning is led by founder Ikrima Elhassan. READ MORE>>.

Seed Funding 100

Seed Funding Venture Capital Competition Los Angeles 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 17, 2019

San Diego-based Trust & Will , a startup which offers up online services to help people create trusts, wills, and guardianships, has raised $6M in a new funding round, the company said on Tuesday. The startup had announced $2M in an earlier funding in January of 2019. READ MORE>>.

Tech Coast Angels 100

Tech Coast Angels San Diego Seed Funding Competition 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

With valuations rising fastest in late-stage venture and the competition that is well-known from corporate VCs, mutual funds, hedge funds (and even LPs), it is unsurprising that LPs are most concerned about late-stage VC. I have also heard LPs express concern over the last few years about the seed stage of venture.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Marketing Seed Funding 150

socalTECH

OCTOBER 23, 2012

I then went on to work for McKinsey for a couple of years, then got involved in Eric Schmidt's seed fund, Innovation Endeavors up in Palo Alto. I have been doing seed stage stuff for a while. They're pretty competitive about deals. TX Zhuo: I started my own business out of college, an e-commerce company.

Funding 253

Funding Startup Invest Commerce 253

socalTECH

MARCH 27, 2019

Los Angeles-based startup Trellis Research , which is developing decision making tools and maintains a database of California court records, said on Wednesday that it has raised $2M in a seed funding round. Source of the funding was not disclosed.

Tool 100

Tool Seed Funding Class Research 100

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

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2011

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 98

Software Review Funding Seed Funding Startup 98

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

This has led to the creation of incubators, accelerators and seed funds. Contrary to some press reporting, the boom in startups, the creation of accelerators and seed funds as well as the deserved popularity of AngelList do not signal doom for our industry. Thank you, Aaron Sorkin!

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

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

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

million and tell the entrepreneur that they can bring in angels or seed funds for the remaining investment if they want. I’ve always been a believer that new competitive dynamics are good for industries because they favor those that are most nimble in responding to the new market dynamics. If I commit to a $2.5

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

I believe their competitive advantage is their top on-site leadership, exclusivity, and connections to investors. Direct seed funding, for a share of the equity, and introductions to investors. Mentoring and technical assistance from volunteer or paid experts. Health, life, and other insurance at group rates.

Resource 159

Resource Startup Incubator Seed Funding 159

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

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. He got a good degree of user adoption but clearly hadn’t proven his model.

Startup 290

Startup Funding Venture Capital Pricing 290

InfoChachkie

APRIL 14, 2014

ABC has even created an incubator-style program in which startup non-profits compete for $100,000 in seed funding. It’s an open competition that awards $100,000 and a year of management support to the most promising early stage nonprofit that is helping low-income Chicagoans to rise out of poverty.

Organization 199

Organization Startup Technical Review Invest 199

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2018

I remind founders that the no’s come early because it’s super easy to qualify out a deal that you know is unlikely due to stage, focus, geography, competitive deal you’ve done or even just the fact that you’re too busy right now. When investors hear that somebody else wanted to fund you it gets their FOMO going and they pile on.

Press 232

Press Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 232

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2010

Yesterday 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 95

Software Review Startup Seed Funding Funding 95

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Ann Wang: Thanks to the recent Forbes competition, and a lot of momentum from that, we actually are opening up a round for seed funding in the next month or two. We have had a lot of great conversations, both before the competition and during the competition, and we now have some new conversations that are really exciting.

Commerce 140

Commerce Help UCLA Organization 140

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

Building a standout destination site for video gamers takes moxie in the highly competitive and lucrative on-line game industry. Jeff looks for these same qualities in the companies he backs. For evidence of this you need go no further than Jason Xu, the founder of Battlefy.

Web Design 103

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 103

socalTECH

OCTOBER 10, 2013

Michael Kleist: We''re seed funded, and have already raised money from twelve investors. It''s also a dog-eat-dog world over there with the competition. No knock on China, but with LA having the advertising agency we think we''ll be able to improve on the design side on our site. Tell us about your backers?

Southern California 170

Southern California Startup SoCal CTO Hire 170

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

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. Raising money is difficult, even with the best idea, so don’t assume any entitlement to loans, grants, or seed funding.

Startup 114

Startup Tips Coach Satisfaction 114

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2016

I believe their competitive advantage is their top on-site leadership, exclusivity, and connections to investors. Direct seed funding, for a share of the equity, and introductions to investors. Mentoring and technical assistance from volunteer or paid experts. Health, life, and other insurance at group rates.

Incubator 106

Incubator Startup Help Resource 106

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2013

Sure, there will always some seed funding (10% of overall deal flow), but you can bet that this money goes to entrepreneurs who have been there before and won. The dot.com heydays of free flowing venture capital and supercharged IPOs are not back. Angels are also moving up-stage, leaving a bigger and bigger black hole for new startups.

Venture Capital 101

Venture Capital Startup Capital Seed Funding 101