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.” As an entrepreneur it can feel as intimidating as going to buy a car where the dealer knows the price of every make & model of a car and you’re guessing at how much to pay.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 4, 2018

And finally, there are the thirty-plus sad exits that were complete write-offs for the investors, sometimes regaining some portion of note-holder or creditor money in the process. The entrepreneur, whether remaining to the end as CEO or not, is celebrated for his or her prescient timing, great vision and excellent execution of the plan.

Sales 136

Sales Entrepreneur Writing Invest 136

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

It’s apropos because there is so much noise these days with email, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, web shows, etc. If I check Twitter it’s usually because I’m waiting for a meeting to start and I never write posts during the day. It sure wasn’t when I was a first-time entrepreneur. I enjoy that. Same thing.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2014

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Some entrepreneurs love to talk and produce videos, but hate to write anything down. Others send investors email and business plans in all uppercase or no punctuation.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Angel Social Media Patents 107

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Some entrepreneurs love to talk and produce videos, but hate to write anything down. Others send investors email and business plans in all uppercase or no punctuation.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 126

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Today we’re in a world where 10 accelerators are bombarding you with emails to meet their 10-15 companies. Seed investors are aplenty and of course they need downstream money to fuel their early-stage bets. I know I can’t be in every deal and I know that the easy part of being a VC is writing the first check in a deal.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 7, 2010

I’m sure that every one of us who has been out in the business world for a few years can look back with perfect hindsight and name a few college courses that we should have taken. But on the business side, here is my list of useful courses that we wish existed, but as far as I know, still aren’t generally available: Basic Office Politics.

Course 53

Course Writing Ideas Class 53

InfoChachkie

JUNE 4, 2012

As an entrepreneur, I helped create companies which achieved two IPOs and two trade sales totaling $385 million. Your commitments to investors must be significant enough to compel them to write you a check. What matters is how effectively you change course after each mishap. “Learn from the mistakes of others. Grant Exclusivity.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Outsource Ideas Technical Review 272

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

So I recommend a high-level “state of the company” email a couple of times a year but a message that you assume might get shown to others. This is no different than a public company where of course most investors are not given detailed financial and performance information and when they are it is quarterly and after the fact.

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2013

So what’s an entrepreneur to do to get his new business noticed these days? Most entrepreneurs I know are too busy creating a compelling product to give proper focus to the four phases of building a people and media platform that Hyatt says are equally critical for long-term success: Platform creation prior to launch. How about yours?

Platform 105

Platform Entrepreneur Startup Social Media 105

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

If you follow the tech media you would be subject to a lot of narrative biases that are completely off base – and this includes the value of email and phone calls. I’m sure you’ve heard the meme that “email is dead” – if fact if you Google it you’ll find a long list of articles that will mislead you.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. Remember that the goal of an email to a VC or an introduction from a trusted mutual connection is simply to get you the meeting. This is part of a series on how to improve your fund raising game. The first post & the full outline if you click the link.)

Venture Capital 261

Venture Capital Slides Email Funding 261

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2012

It’s a well-accepted axiom in the investor community that entrepreneurs learn more from their failures than their successes. You hear about all the parallel entrepreneurs, like Steve Jobs running Apple and Pixar at the same time. Never write something you wouldn’t want to come back to you. Where are you along this spectrum?

Tips 97

Tips Entrepreneur Startup Ideas 97

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

I’m very excited to be finally be able to announce that this week we’ve added Sam Rosen to our ranks at GRP Partners in the role of entrepreneurs-in-residence – EIR. We’re excited to continue to grow our investment professional staff and will continue to do so over the course of 2013 & 2014 with our new fund.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

I became an entrepreneur because I had to. I never took a business course, never wrote a business plan, and never raised any outside capital. Email readers, continue here.] Like my eventual experience as an entrepreneur, we had to persevere. Frank Peters made his money writing software for Wall Street.

Startup 204

Startup Software Review UCLA Sales 204

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

It’s what life was like as an entrepreneur. I plan to write about it early next year when we’re all through. But this is nothing like the stress of being an entrepreneur. What’s it really like being an entrepreneur? There is a difference between a Conference Ho and a successful entrepreneur.

Blogging 420

Blogging Press Entrepreneur Venture Capital 420

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

Of course we fund companies in good markets and bad. To do so we need entrepreneurs who can build companies that scale well in booming markets and also control costs appropriate in correcting markets. We use this try to draw some context that informs our funding decisions.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Marketing Writing 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 4, 2016

I try to steer entrepreneurs away from over-introducers and I often find myself wanting to be careful about them becoming an investor in companies I back. Or an angel investor starts emailing the CEO of a company with all the people they want him or her to meet. It starts seemingly innocent enough.

Innocal 255

Innocal Conference Help Study 255

Berkonomics

MARCH 14, 2019

Of course, we are speaking of increased valuation of your company when we speak of “wealth.” Especially if you are in the early stage of growing a business, these five risks can and often do derail entrepreneurs before realizing the riches of a great exit. So, let’s examine them and mitigate them. Make you wealthy someday.

Outsource Development 120

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The surest sign a fund-raising process has stalled is when you aren’t getting follow-up meetings or hearing from the VC or hearing from friends that they got a phone call or email asking about you. Of course there’s no exact number of VCs you should meet?—?these Remember, I was an entrepreneur for 10 years before a VC).

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2013

I’m sure that every one of us who has been out in the business world for a few years can look back with perfect hindsight and name a few college courses that we should have taken. But on the business side, here is my list of useful courses that we wish existed, but as far as I know, still aren’t generally available: Basic Office Politics.

Class 93

Class Course Writing Slides 93

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 23, 2011

And finally, there are the sad exits that were complete write-offs for the investors, regaining some portion of note-holder or creditor money in the process. . I can tell you with great enthusiasm that the high gain exits are by far the most enjoyable in every way. It is an exhilarating ending to a great journey.

Writing 159

Writing Sales Entrepreneur Invest 159

Berkonomics

JUNE 11, 2015

It’s good advice; the theory being that entrepreneurs can discover the flaws in their business models sooner, make course corrections and move in a more favorable direction. In my case as a young software entrepreneur, I had a different approach: Fail Locally, one customer at a time. I became an entrepreneur by default.

Customer 120

Customer Custom Writing Southern California 120

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2010

I was an entrepreneur. Don’t just write a carbon copy of what somebody else is doing. OK, well, actually the first thing I did is come up with a list of 50 posts that I wanted to write. OK, well, actually the first thing I did is come up with a list of 50 posts that I wanted to write. Some search.

Blogging 286

Blogging Startup Writing Summary 286

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

This is a blog post I really didn’t want to write. I didn’t want to write it because I have mixed feelings about AngelList. I didn’t want to write it because the bloggosphere doesn’t always do nuance well. So why I am writing it then? But it +is+ an anti-entrepreneur stance.&# A few reasons.

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2010

Like you, I struggle to return everybody’s emails because I get too many. So I often try to stay off of email during the day. They taught us to write down questions when they came up and batch them together in point sheets. Of course if I’m not ensconced in deep, thoughtful work then by all means I answer the call.

Product 280

Product Startup Email Technical Review 280

Berkonomics

MAY 29, 2014

Richa is a successful entrepreneur and technologist giving back to the entrepreneurial community in many ways, including his weekly Internet TV program on entrepreneurism, and participation in several mentoring programs. . If you don’t know these things, how are you going to course-correct if things go differently than forecast?

Startup 166

Startup Guide Help Mentor 166

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 10, 2010

Of course when they get there those individuals are no longer young and after years of mental and physical atrophy they lack the ambitions to get these things done. Want to take a year pursuing your dream to write a screenplay, travel through Asia, run a triathlon or start your own fashion line? And, of course, now Twitter.

Startup 295

Startup Email Technical Review Course 295

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2012

Publish a regular blog, contribute to relevant social networks, and write a “white paper” on your technology. Of course, too many or obnoxious advertisements are especially harmful to a site’s credibility. Be consistent is their application, and provide contact information for both phone and email access. They will exit quickly.

Search Engine Optimization 96

Search Engine Optimization Entrepreneur Sites SEO 96

InfoChachkie

JULY 23, 2012

Serial entrepreneur, venture investor and startup accelerator pioneer Brad Feld has notoriously mocked traditional marketing throughout his career. When the entrepreneur is obsessed with the product and the company has organized all of its activities around that, it’s very powerful.”. Write Your Own Playbook. Share and Enjoy.

Marketing 233

Marketing Blogging Startup Venture Capital 233

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

In writing anything positive about any of the companies I’m not suggesting that it means that I prefer them to any of their competitors. Also, some of the deals I write about I have actually seen as part of their fund raising process. entrepreneur Wil Schroter (I am an angel investor in Affordit). Really!).

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2017

I’m sure that every one of us who has been out in the business world for a few years can look back with perfect hindsight and name a few college courses that we should have taken. But on the business side, here is my list of useful courses that we wish existed, but as far as I know, still aren’t generally available: Basic Office Politics.

Training 57

Training Course Email Social Network 57

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2011

I’m sure that every one of us who has been out in the business world for a few years can look back with perfect hindsight and name a few college courses that we should have taken. But on the business side, here is my list of useful courses that we wish existed, but as far as I know, still aren’t generally available: Basic Office Politics.

Course 91

Course Writing Social Network Ideas 91

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

I recently read a post over on VentureHacks titled, “ Top Ten Reasons Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers &# written by Scott Walker (who blogs on legal issues for entrepreneurs ). I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. Shame about not getting it in legal writing that you owned the original IP.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 19, 2012

Oprah Winfrey is one of the most successful entrepreneurs of her generation. When I began gathering examples of Oprah’s wisdom, I expected to identify a handful of quotes relevant to entrepreneurs. From these, I collected 23 insightful missives of interest to aspiring entrepreneurs. Of course not. Did this slow her down?

Tips 279

Tips Startup Networking Entrepreneur 279

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 18, 2010

I’m a pretty natural public speaker so I can write my presentation the day before and do just fine. I has been asked to do the keynote speech at a dinner that night but of course hadn’t written a speech in advance. Get some seasoned entrepreneurs to come. We rise to the occasion as it stirs our creative juices.

Slides 374

Slides Email Entrepreneur Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2011

Except that without providing the Twittersphere any scope for write-in votes 9 people actually said to go to Jim’s instead. So I Tweeted him that I’d be delighted to meet a group of startup entrepreneurs and I’d even buy them all lunch. Of course I’d love to see The White House. Holy cow.

Startup 299

Startup Training Course Email 299