Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2023

Many first-time entrepreneurs find themselves unable to bootstrap their startups, and also unable to find early funding at the venture capital level or even with angel investors. Their only recourse is that first tier of investors, fondly called Friends, Family and Fools. Offer a formal agreement as well as a handshake.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 28, 2021

Entrepreneurs who require funding for their startup have long counted on self-accredited high net worth individuals (“angels”) to fill their needs, after friends and family, and before they qualify for institutional investments (“VCs”). Of course, both are impressive, but still small compared to over $300 billion from VC investments annually.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 26, 2022

For example, Bill Gates founded and grew Microsoft, and Michael Dell built a great technology company, both with no outside funding until they went successful enough to go public years later and sell shares to common stockholders. Of course, this can be positive if you really need the help and experience in making key decisions.

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Funding Startup Satisfaction Venture Capital 107

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.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

We’ve been dying to tell you all for a while that we had raised a new venture capital fund and of course given SEC filing requirements the story was somewhat already scooped by the always-in-the-know Dan Primack a few weeks ago. Wait, didn’t you just raise a fund? Was it hard to raise the fund?

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2022

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over twice as many companies, according to a classic Crunchbase article. Of course, every new direction has some challenges, so the super angel model isn’t perfect.

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Guide Venture Capital Funding Class 136

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2022

Even if you ignore all the hype around crowdfunding, there can be no doubt that it is a real alternative for entrepreneurs to achieve visibility and funding today. Of course, there are thousands of other companies that don’t achieve their minimum goal, requiring all contributions to be returned. Donation good-cause model.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2020

Of course, every alternative has advantages and disadvantages, so any given one may not be available or attractive to you. For example, professional investors put great priority on your previous experience in building a business, and they expect to own a portion of the business equity and control for the funds they do provide.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

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.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

If you’re funding the same stuff as everybody else and if you started your activities when the clues were obvious you’re much less likely to drive enormous returns. When Fred Wilson funded Twitter I guarantee you it wasn’t obvious that it was a billion dollar idea. We look at stage, geography and of course sector.

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Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 22, 2020

They don’t realize that according to statistics from Startup.co , almost 60 percent are funded with personal savings and credit, and another 25 percent get their money from friends and family. That leaves only about fifteen percent that actually get their funding from investors, through crowdfunding, banks, angels, and venture capitalists.

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TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 7, 2021

Jennifer Schwab, the founder and CEO of Entity, has built the business since 2016 on virtually no outside funding, but said that this latest financing is a precursor to the company working on its first, more traditional VC-led equity round. Since 2016, some 400 students, almost all women, have completed the course.

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Mentor Training Startup Course 297

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. Of course there’s no exact number of VCs you should meet?—?these The first in the series is “ Lemons Ripen Early ,” which also has a link to other posts.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

Understanding “The Funding Angle” I sit at enough board meetings to hear conflicting advice given to entrepreneurs about how to handle PR and announcements at startups. Is Funding a Worthy Announcement? There are reasons you may delay funding announcement but rarely reasons not to announce. But trust me on this.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

Yet as we enter February 2017 the VC funding markets are booming, Snap, Inc has filed for its IPO, AppDynamics was just purchased for $3.7 But the reality is that “global warming” massively blunted the effects of winter and my prognosis for VC fundings of entrepreneurs in 2017–2018 is now very sunny indeed. Baidu alone raised $3.2

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 11, 2020

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Taking on equity investors to fund your company is much like getting married – it is a long-term relationship that has to work at all levels. It’s no fun for either side.

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Technical Review Funding Innocal Offshore 124

SoCal Tech Calendar

APRIL 6, 2017

Wednesday, April 12, 2017 -- Funding your Innovation. This course is about selling your innovation to investors, grant proposal reviewers, potential strategic partners, and to your intended customers. Santa Ana District SBDC.

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Funding Course Custom Customer 100

SoCal Tech Calendar

SEPTEMBER 30, 2009

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 -- SBIR/STTR Phase I Grant Proposal Course. This one-day, 8-hour intensive course provides an overview of the SBIR and STTR funding process and helps individuals prepare to write a comprehensive grant proposal. See [link] (more).

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2021

Many first-time entrepreneurs find themselves unable to bootstrap their startups, and also unable to find early funding at the venture capital level or even with angel investors. Their only recourse is that first tier of investors, fondly called Friends, Family and Fools. Offer a formal agreement as well as a handshake.

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Funding Startup Equity Invest 138

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

Over the course of the first few months I saw a few people out on the street taking Birds and then a steady uptick in riders. Capital of course drives scale advantages and when you have “winner take most” markets it also has a way of scaring away some investors from investing in the 3–5th “me too” competitors. Are the scooters safe?

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Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2020

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over twice as many companies, according the Crunchbase. Of course, every new direction has some challenges, so the super angel model isn’t perfect. Super angels sometimes drive up valuations.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Class 125

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

Santa Monica-based venture investor March Capital Partners (www.marchcp.com) announced last week that it has raised a second fund, worth $300M. To learn about the new fund, we sat down with Jamie Montgomery , one of the fund's co-founders, to hear about March Capital's strategy and the new fund.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

We have global opportunities from these trends but of course also big challenges. Of course we can’t. There are of course many Seed VCs who take board seats, don’t over-commit to too many deals and try to help with “company building” activities to help at a company’s vulnerable foundations. of the fund.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 20, 2018

Every entrepreneur wants to hear “yes” during the fund-raising process but I would argue that being too risk averse and not pushing hard enough and be willing to hear a “no” is what holds back many people from “yes.” Of course stringing out the process doesn’t lead to good outcomes. What is your next step in the process?

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2012

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.

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Course Writing Slides Email 97

socalTECH

JANUARY 16, 2013

According to Eric Robison, the firm's CEO, the funding round will go towards increasing the firm's global reach and expanding content. Lynda.com offers up online education courses on things like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Microsoft Excel, AutoCAD, and much more. Meritech Capital also participated in the funding.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 13, 2022

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.

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Class Course Email Social Network 140

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2018

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined some time ago from a funding perspective. If you need help at this stage, look for a local university teaching online courses on entrepreneurship , or how to build a business plan. Funding or rollout stage.

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Funding Startup Organization Incubator 94

socalTECH

JULY 26, 2012

seed funding round, led by GRP Partners, CrossCut Ventures, Adam Goldenberg (JustFab), and Michel Daher (of Daher Foods). The startup, founded by David Hauslaib and Tom Balamaci, operates a subscription service which ships out three-course, frozen meals to people which have been developed by top chefs.

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GRP Partners Funding Seed Funding Course 145

socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2013

To get the story behind the new funding, we spoke with Eric Robison , the firm's President and CEO, last week. This was a situation where we had the opportunity to take on funding, at a point where we could utilize it to scale our technology platform, and to increase our global reach and expand our content, beyond what we'd do normally.

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Funding Calabasas Course Platform 164

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

Of course, a great competitive advantage won’t do you much good if your market opportunity is small or not growing, or you don’t have the resources to deliver. I recommend never naming more than three specific ones, and using each of these as representative of a group of competitors. Investors are wary of a crowded space.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

We use this try to draw some context that informs our funding decisions. Of course we fund companies in good markets and bad. In venture our goal is to fund companies over a 10-year+ time horizon, which is the time it takes to build truly transformational companies.

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Funding Venture Capital Marketing Writing 150

socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2013

To get the story behind the new funding, we spoke with Eric Robison , the firm's President and CEO, last week. This was a situation where we had the opportunity to take on funding, at a point where we could utilize it to scale our technology platform, and to increase our global reach and expand our content, beyond what we'd do normally.

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Funding Calabasas Course Platform 164

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2021

Los Angeles-based Bright said on Thursday that it has raised $15M in a celebrity-packed funding round, for its online, livestreamed classes. The startup also said that it has added Jessica Alba, Kane Brown, and Maria Sharapova as advisors to the company as part of the funding.

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Class Course Los Angeles Funding 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 23, 2017

Last week, Fika Ventures , LA's newest venture fund, announced its formation, led by tech investment veterans Tx Zhuo and Eva Ho. We sat down with Tx Zhuo to chat about the new fund, what investments it hopes to make, and what kind of entrepreneurs the fund is looking to invest in. Tell us a bit about the new fund?

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Cornerstone OnDemand Funding Dollar Shave Club Los Angeles 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

and of course a relentless pursuit of helping founders succeed. I’ve become fond of saying “if I had a dollar for every person who told me just how much they loooooved Kara Nortman, I’d have a 10x fund.” For example, we’re now already well into our third growth fund that we started in 2015 (the first returned 2x cash in 3.5

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2018

Acquiring seed-stage funding is admittedly tough, but a source that I find often overlooked is government grant funding, accessible in the U.S. The resulting delays can give your competitors an edge, or the market requirements can change before you get the funding you need. Experts are available to help, but fees are high.

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