socalTECH

MARCH 1, 2018

This year, we're again sponsoring the Recurring Revenue Conference (www.recurringrevenueconference.com), presented by Sutton Capital Partners. Since the beginning, we've invested in a relationship management function within our organization, and we've always invested first in quality support. READ MORE>>.

Custom 113

Custom Customer Services Conference 113

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2013

In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA , which I wrote about previously. Having a good sales methodology can help you ensure your company runs more disciplined campaigns and focuses scarce resources on your best opportunities. It the second rule of sales, “Why Buy Me?”

Sales 336

Sales Startup Competition Custom 336

socalTECH

MAY 17, 2011

A report today from Greentech Media says that Pasadena-based Idealab 's sale of portfolio firm RayTracker was worth $44.8M. Idealab, Quercus Trust, and Phoenix Fire had invested $3.5M The disclosure of the sale price came at a solar power conference, from the firm's former founder, who said the investors scored a multiple of 12.8

Idealab 140

Idealab Report Acquisition Pasadena 140

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. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. an investment in your company.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. But the “no sales people” mantra isn’t what I’m here to take on.

Startup 403

Startup Sales Software Review Technical Review 403

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

I am fond of quoting that about 70% of my investment decision of an early-stage company is the team. So I naturally spend much time with the companies in which I invest helping them: recruit. Your first sales people should be consultative sellers who can fuel evangelical sales. Final startup grind from msuster.

Startup 388

Startup Slides Outsource Development Sales 388

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

But I have to catch a flight to New York for a two-day computer vision conference and 2 board meetings, 2 board dinners and a catch up with my LPs to tell them how our fund is going. I think you’d really enjoy meeting her wether you decide to invest or not. I always tell people that fund raising is a sales process.

Software Review 381

Software Review Startup Email Conference 381

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 17, 2019

.” This historical look at Uber and its self-driving tech unit, Uber ATG, should be considered alongside more recent news, including that it’s in negotiations with investors, including the SoftBank Vision Fund, to secure an investment as large as $1 billion for its autonomous vehicles unit. billion investment in 2018.

San Fernando 217

San Fernando Los Angeles Commerce News 217

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 4, 2010

Megan talks about the due diligence process: I was a panelist at the recent Digital Hollywood conference. The topic was Venture Funding, Investment and Mergers. In the context of a busted deal, we were asked how to head off surprise issues which can crater a potential company sale. One question made me really think. READ MORE>>.

Digital Hollywood 124

Digital Hollywood Hollywood Conference Invest 124

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2011

Aliso Viejo-based Smith Micro Software , which develops software for the wireless industry, said late Tuesday evening that it is suspending its 2011 annual revenue guidance, and will withdraw from a investment conference this week, after it says orders from a "key customer" will fall below expected levels.

Custom 124

Custom Customer Conference Mobile 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 26, 2023

New offerings which build your brand will increase acceptance and sales of all solutions, not just the new one. To win in this environment, you may need to expand your leadership in industry conferences and community activities. Even more important than solution marketing is building your brand. Incent these early.

Product 141

Product Services Technical Review Artificial Inteligence 141

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 20, 2018

This is true of any buying process where a customer has to make a large investment decision on your software or when an investor must decide whether to give you $5 million. These are similar to the pipeline reviews I used to do with sales reps when I was a CEO. Do they have authority to invest? Do they have influence?

Funding 189

Funding Software Review Entrepreneur Venture Capital 189

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

They will often run all of the daily reports into them covering off for finance, sales, marketing, biz dev & HR. You can always spot these types because they can’t tell you what their revenue number for last month was or what their sales target is for next month. But ask yourself, what does a COO actually do?

Startup 325

Startup Technical Review Sales Report 325

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

VC’s keep different titles but the most common that I’ve come across that are investment professionals are (in ascending order of seniority): analyst, associate, principal and partner. The process for raising money from a VC is a sales process and as such much of what is taught in enterprise sales can be applied.

Venture Capital 308

Venture Capital Sales Entrepreneur Startup 308

Tech.Co

MAY 13, 2016

Looking to invest in the next Facebook? WHERE BUSINESS, TECH AND INNOVATION COLLIDE IN LA. Are you an early adopter of tech products? Looking for a job at a startup? Covering the Los Angeles tech scene for a publication? Or just a plain old tech enthusiast? Then YOU and thousands like you attend TECHSPO LA! The Best Part?

Santa Monica 70

Santa Monica Technology Conference Press 70

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

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. Be accessible on social media, write a blog or articles for industry publications, and participate in conference panels and speaking engagements.

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 20, 2016

In 2006, I gave a keynote speech at the Newspaper Association of America’s national conference in Chicago. With a little bit of structure and ingenuity, you can supplement your sales efforts by leveraging channel partnerships. By Kim Shepherd. Compensation doesn’t have to be complicated, either.

Writing 120

Writing Sales Networking Conference 120

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

A firm like ours has almost 100 different investments across all the various partners so we get to see some businesses very intimately. Founder focus is the single most important resource that needs to be spent wisely  —  @msuster 9/ Don't spend undue time at conferences.

Software Review 242

Software Review Technical Review Pricing Metrics 242

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

Let me start by saying that Clayton is one of the most influential people on my thoughts about markets that led to both the concept behind my first startup and my main theses in investing. Startup Grind was a truly awesome conference and Derek the consumate host. The numerator (return) encourages more sales, which is fine.

Venture Capital 403

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2010

One other big tell for me is the CEO’s grasp of the sales pipeline. I can’t tell you how many CEO’s I’ve met with who can’t walk me through the details of their sales pipeline. I once had a startup team pitch me for an investment where the President of the company led the first call with me on his own.

Entrepreneur 286

Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire Sales 286

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

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. Be accessible on social media, write a blog or articles for industry publications, and participate in conference panels and speaking engagements.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

Manatt Venture Funds, which we dedicate a specific portion of our funds to targeted digital media investments, is also part of the Manatt Digital Media network. We still need some IPOs and some big trade sales to happen to validate the market in a big way. More interest and money invested in LA. HG: I would say nationally.

Los Angeles 84

Los Angeles Media Invest Startup 84

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Draw Your Ideas - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 16, 2010 I saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month. saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month. Of the ones I have been to recently, the Nantucket Conference has been my favorite. It's a great talk. It's a great talk.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2019

I don’t feel like canceling LinkedIn just because occasionally a well-meaning but slightly not-clued-in person from a faraway place wants me to be their personal mentor, answer 3-questions for their high-school entrepreneurship project or take a sales pitch for their recruiting services. On some occasions I’m amazing and on others I’m poor.

Email 250

Email Writing Conference Mobile 250

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2014

We feel pressure to hit milestones for a variety of reasons: Investor presentations, conference demos, customer sales meetings, competitive pressures, a need to drive revenue, business development commitments – whatever. Obviously you can’t always present at conferences to hit delivery dates or this would happen.

Software 344

Software Startup Design Course 344

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

In my opinion no amount of clever marketing or chest beating at conferences can create a market if you don’t have an amazing product to begin with. 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

socalTECH

JUNE 11, 2012

How do you cut out all of the effort required to discover, find, and book venues for your event, wedding, or conference? New World is the investment firm of the Pritzker family, and they really have an understanding of this business. I also had the chance to do a conference, and had knowledge of that. is trying to figure out.

Santa Monica 211

Santa Monica Seed Funding Startup Conference 211

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2017

Also, make sure you know several partners at the VC firms who have invested in you because in tough times it helps to have very broad support. Raising money is a sale and selling requires persistence and follow up. I see too many founders that are willing to do all of their meetings as phone calls or video-conference pitches.

Funding 238

Funding Venture Capital Startup Course 238

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

All the data actually suggests with the growth of mobile, inbound sales calls will double from 30 billion to 60 billion in 3 years (source: Kelsey). It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. Much more data in the full post.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

InfoChachkie

JUNE 6, 2011

While hundreds of BDCs each spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attempting to fool the market as to their relevance by investing in garish tradeshow booth monstrosities, Seth played by his own rules. With an investment of less than $10,000, FUEL became the talk of the show and generated enough hype to land several new clients.

Sales 174

Sales Custom Customer Conference 174

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

Most top tier VCs return about 3x invested capital and outlier funds (the best of a vintage) might return 6-8x. But the larger funds usually have lower returns because they are often investing bigger dollars at later stages with less risk and therefore lower returns. The best VCs I know take 11pm conference calls. Yeah, true.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Tech.Co

JANUARY 15, 2018

Jen Consalvo and I expanded the national footprint of events, hosted conferences and festivals, created monthly leadership summits, hosted an interactive educational speaker series, wrote a book, and launched a daily news and resource platform with a new brand – Tech.Co. I’ve also shared a few Tech Cocktail and Tech.Co

Media 175

Media News Organization Content 175

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

While firms define platforms differently, let’s just say they are the services that a VC offers outside of investment capital and partner time on boards or providing intros. Examples of VC platform services include: recruiting, marketing, design support, inside sales reps, consulting, accounting services and so forth.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Platform Startup Resource 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2012

“Yeah, but I’m just going to execute this [channel sales deal, international license of my product, new industry, new operating system, biz dev deal] and then it will pretty much run itself.” It’s why I don’t invest in Conference Ho’s. ” I already know your response.

Resource 415

Resource Startup Product Ideas 415

InfoChachkie

MARCH 16, 2015

Dreamforce is the conference for sales and marketing professionals. He was everywhere: at Invoca’s booth, walking around the expo floors and on the streets of San Francisco near the conference halls during peak traffic hours. Instead, you have to push the envelope of propriety to cut through the noise.

Conference 100

Conference SaaS Ideas Sales 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Conferences. How do VCs break out of group think when they are shuttling from one board meeting to the next, from one conference to the other and talking with all the same people? I was at the Lobby Conference a few weeks ago in Mexico. I’ve written about these sales mavericks before. Board Meetings.

Venture Capital 400

Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

InfoChachkie

JUNE 6, 2011

While hundreds of BDCs each spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attempting to fool the market as to their relevance by investing in garish tradeshow booth monstrosities, Seth played by his own rules. With an investment of less than $10,000, FUEL became the talk of the show and generated enough hype to land several new clients. <break

Sales 124

Sales Custom Customer Conference 124