Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2017

One of the hardest decisions entrepreneurs make when they start a company and raise outside capital is figuring out what an acceptable “burn rate” is. I know as an entrepreneur you prefer as long of a runway as possible — I’ve never heard an entrepreneur argue for the opposite. Each investor would need to write $1–1.5

Startup 212

Startup Venture Capital .Net Capital 212

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. The mistake entrepreneurs make is either writing a lengthy email (everybody has too much email so it will get skimmed / not digested) or not having a deck which means the VC can’t quickly determine his or her fit as a potential investor. The key is WHAT you send.

Venture Capital 261

Venture Capital Slides Email Startup 261

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

Fred has of course been a public mentor to us all with his market-defining terminology that he popularized including “freemium” and “mobile first.” My initial blogging inspiration was actually Brad Feld because as an entrepreneur I always wanted to work with Brad after reading his advice on term sheets and the like.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

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. I, of course, knew nothing about business. When I started my second company I was a serial entrepreneur. I introduced myself as a serial entrepreneur. I was a serial entrepreneur.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

If you look at what you go through, starting high school, and maybe even middle or grade school, you go through your educational life managing courses, relationships with your teachers, and relationships with your parents. It's started with managing courses and grades, on to a whole array of other services.

Education 124

Education Startup Course Tool 124

socalTECH

MAY 19, 2017

It was that combination of great talent, the great companies we can sell to here, and of course, the great lifestyle of living next to the beach, which is a no brainer. Andrew Peterson: We've been really lucky to have a lot of investors who have great experience in working with both SaaS companies, and especially, security.

Web 138

Web Startup Southern California Software 138

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2011

I’m often asked the question about why there aren’t more women who are entrepreneurs. The truth is I have been thinking a lot about the topic, I just haven’t been writing about it. My inspiration to become an entrepreneur came from my mom, not my dad. I love my dad equally, of course. Every single one.

Entrepreneur 341

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup Blogging 341

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

8 ) SocialStay is effectively a B-to-B, SaaS product that requires you to simultaneously speak to several audiences (hotels, travelers, travel sites, etc.). Do you have any advice for emerging entrepreneurs regarding how they can be frugal without compromising their company’s value prop? Write it down…. from the Wharton School.

Startup 233

Startup Design Mobile Social Network 233

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 31, 2011

9) In Competing From The Fringe , I caution entrepreneurs to not alert their competitors when they are making mistakes. What are the primary differences between being a Founder, versus an early Executive, and which role would you recommend to an emerging entrepreneur? Ideally we’d like to work with other B2B SAAS businesses.

MyLife 160

MyLife CitySearch Web Technical Review 160

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 31, 2011

9) In Competing From The Fringe , I caution entrepreneurs to not alert their competitors when they are making mistakes. What are the primary differences between being a Founder, versus an early Executive, and which role would you recommend to an emerging entrepreneur? Ideally we’d like to work with other B2B SAAS businesses.

MyLife 157

MyLife CitySearch Web Technical Review 157

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

In a world where the economy only heads in one direction (read: 2009-2014) most investors & entrepreneurs forget to pay attention to gross burn. This is why investors really like SaaS software companies where you have recurring revenue and your largest customer accounts for < 5% of your revenue and your renewals rates are > 90%.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

I taught a somewhat crazy course about writing and deploying a scalable website in Ruby on Rails and deploying it in EC2. When you began your teaching career, did you plan on eventually being an entrepreneur? What guidance can you give to anyone in a financially safe career who longs for the exciting life of an entrepreneur?

Cloud Computing 188

Cloud Computing Santa Barbara EC2 Startup 188

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Packaging, pricing & discounts – In the early days of my first company we always had “list prices&# we quoted to customers and of course we were always willing to negotiate based on who the client was, how important the business was to us, who the competition was and how well the deal was negotiated.

Sales 296

Sales Pricing Startup Customer 296

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

When an entrepreneur takes on investors who take equity (i.e. Of course there is usually an inverse relationship between how senior the person is, how much time they have available and on the other side how much time they’ll spend helping you and getting involved in details.

Startup 187

Startup Writing Venture Capital Oracle 187

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. Vice versa is it’s a SaaS platform company where I spent nearly 10 years running companies. tip: write it down when asked / parked). Congratulations.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

I’d like to explain as best I can my opinion on what is going on because most of what I hear from entrepreneurs is not only wrong but is reminiscent of what I heard in 1997-2000. ” “This will be great for VCs and bad for entrepreneurs.” ” Of course life is more complicated. All of these are false.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

SaaS 101: 7 Simple Lessons From Inside HubSpot - OnStartups , July 19, 2010 It’s been a little over 4 years since I officially launched my internet marketing software company , HubSpot. So, I’ve had about 4 years on the “inside” of a fast-growing, venture-backed B2B SaaS startup. I got a taste of that within my first weeks on the job.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217