Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

The first check I wrote was just over 10 years ago into a company called Invoca who just announced a new $56 million in funding led by Scott Hilleboe at HIG Growth Partners. We not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k?—?$15 15 million first checks but we also have three growth funds.

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 22, 2019

At our next event, the panel of Investors will focus on Early-Stage Venture Investing: How to meet investors, pitch them, and what it really takes to get them to write you a check! Exhibitor passes include: - 3 tickets - Table top to display product / service - 4-minute speaking slot at the end of the normal 60- second pitches.

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Venture Capital Angel Conference 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2013

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined before from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Sometimes these will ask for 5%-15% of your equity for their support services. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Funding Incubator Startup 102

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2013

I suggest that there are several important questions before assuming that funding is the gate to your success. Of course, all these things and many more are critical, so it’s important that you keep your priorities straight. Some people relate to service businesses, while others are more comfortable with manufacturing or construction.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Funding Training Startup 101

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Every investor expects to see some business traction, both before and after a funding event. If you have neither, and choose to approach an investor, you will get no attention, and probably never again get a shot at funding with that investor. Now investors will pay attention, since scale-up funding is less risky and has a time frame.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 22, 2019

We were of course there to work with incarcerated men on developing entrepreneurial skills on behalf of Defy Ventures. We had met previously when Trevor was a product manager at YouTube and Upfront had funded the largest video producer on YouTube, Maker Studios. you can sign up if you want to try the service.

Startup 191

Startup Social Media Slides Design 191

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

We all know that funding markets have changed for startups. The trends are well understood: more angels, more seed funds, more crowdsourcing and so forth. We are doing what we do – writing larger checks and playing an active role at the company. I have publicly said many times that there is a positive to crowd funding.

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

million in funding from Rebecca Minkoff and other unnamed investors. The company plans to give creators and influencers more independence from existing platforms by allowing them access to funding from a team well-versed in their unique capital needs. Naturally, these were also the first business to get funded.

Platform 170

Platform Marketing Tool Venture Capital 170

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

In more than a decade of writing about the Internet and tech-enabled businesses I’ve learned that mobs don’t do nuance well. The crypto in cryptocurrency is of course referring to cryptography on the ability to encrypt your transactions so they can’t be modified after they have been written to the blockchain. Enter blockchain.

Course 280

Course Startup Framework Marketing 280

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

” Much of this will look and feel like a Green New Deal, but sold under a package of infrastructure modernization and service upgrades that the country desperately needs. . “It would present a huge opportunity for a variety of climate tech sectors, ranging from clean electricity to carbon management to vehicle electrification.”

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

Yet, in the interest of full disclosure, and an honest intent to save future entrepreneurs some grief and money, I would remind you that starting any business has key dependencies on at least five major elements, including product design and delivery, the right people on the team, adequate funding, a sizable market opportunity, and marketing.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Examples Customer 131

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

Bockerstette, Main Street Venture Fund As I outlined last week, trophy angel investors are always looking for trophy entrepreneurs. The result is that the Main Street Venture Fund consistently has more money available than good opportunities for investment. Tags: entrepreneur investor angel successful funding business.

Funding 106

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Activity 106

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. The three largest webmail services had over 1 billion global users at the end of 2011. Of course unsolicited spam has very low open rates and is filtered by the major providers.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

You’re writing a freaking blog post! I had a pre breakfast with a CEO of a company in which I invested talking about his next fund raising round. I called another about his fund raising (DUDE – you never called me back! ). Fund raising. But it’s mostly customer service. “But WAIT !!!

Email 314

Email Product Startup Writing 314

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 2, 2016

I am not writing about this out of the blue – this seems to be the topic of the day in my social stream based on blogs written, retweets rendered and attaboys handed out. We invest large sums of our after-tax money into our funds and this gets a long-term capital gain tax rate when we make a profit. It is seldom ever mentioned.

Startup 150

Startup Course Writing Capital 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2016

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined some time ago from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Sometimes these will ask for 5%-15% of your equity for their support services.

Organization 93

Organization Startup Incubator Ideas 93

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

I attempted to do a fair balance job of an increasingly important service – AngelList – started by a friend of mine – Nivi with the feelings of a colleague who I respect – Bryce – who has opted out of the service. This is a blog post I really didn’t want to write. So why I am writing it then?

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

Open cloud led by Amazon with their AWS services drove total operating costs down by 90%. As some of the last generation of startups have gotten bigger many VCs have also chased later-stage investments that were traditionally dominated by growth equity or mezzanine funds. Hedge funds out to be, well, hedge funds.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Capital Software Startup 296

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

.” Here’s what I mean … Let’s start with what it takes for a journalist to want to write a story. Do I have an “angle” from which to write the story (first company to do X, company does biggest X, consumer behavior is doing X)? ” Of course not. They sell accounting services.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

We were 6 months away from our next fund raising cycle. We were ready to point out the far reaches of this issue across the Internet and our extreme relative efforts to not let it be part of our service. We had a few people cancel their service but not many. This wasn’t great. But … We had prepared.

Press 336

Press Blogging Journal News 336

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

The final clip is Fred & I talking about whether “the best product wins” and my assertion that the bias in today’s Silicon Valley dominated tech world there is probably too much emphasis on tech at the expense of how to sell, implement and service customers. Don’t be in a rush to invest your fund.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

The company--which is in the business of operating a content delivery network (CDN) to accelerate the delivery of web graphics, multimedia, applications, and more to end users-- recently disclosed it more than doubled its revenues in 2012, and has grown to over 230 employees--all due to a huge amount of demand for CDN services by its customers.

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

I’m sitting at my computer now at 9.00pm writing this – which is an hour earlier than I normally write (there are about 8 women at my kitchen table having a book club (aka excuse to drink wine & gossip so I’m locked in another room writing. Mostly during the day I’m in meetings or doing work.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Of course, I provide part-time CTO services. Or how are you funding the next few milestones? If we were to engage in paid services with you, then issues about disclosure, confidentiality, work product, etc. Do I have to write up the overview? Can you help me get funding? When do you need to have it done by?

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 264

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Of course, I provide part-time CTO services. Or how are you funding the next few milestones? If we were to engage in paid services with you, then issues about disclosure, confidentiality, work product, etc. Do I have to write up the overview? Can you help me get funding? When do you need to have it done by?

CTO Hire 259

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

You join teams that got good write-ups on TechCrunch, have great VCs, have star CEO’s, whatever. Writing a book will be fun. “Getting the band back together” doesn’t stop for me with just our fund. You hire people who look good on paper. After 6 months – you know. You REALLY know.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

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. We've basically taken advantage of all the new technology out there--especially, the web-based service model.

Education 124

Education Startup Course Tool 124

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

Some objections are real and they end up becoming changes to your product, your service plan or your pricing / bundling. You’re more expensive than competitors – “Of course we are. We’ve investing in R&D at a faster rate than the competition which is why we raised $10 million to fund extra development.&#.

Sales 289

Sales Startup Training Pricing 289

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

I recommend that you start by writing down the attributes you would want people to think about when they think about your brand. And of course a place of idyllic weather, culture and a lifestyle. ” And of course it’s not a true assessment. Home of JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), which helps put rockets into space.

Startup 304

Startup Venture Capital Los Angeles Woodland Hills 304

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2018

Many people will write the history on why Ring became an enormously successful company and why it became a real-world unicorn in a world when many startups are anointed that merely on paper. We funded the seed round, the A round, the B round, C round, D round and E round. we were sold on the concept immediately.

Startup 247

Startup Pricing Product Marketing 247

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2012

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined before from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Sometimes these will ask for 5%-15% of your equity for their support services.

Resource 94

Resource Startup Organization Incubator 94

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

I’ve heard it many founders of VC backed companies in LA who tell me that in their NorCal VC meetings they are told, “we might be interested but we’d want you to relocate to the Bay Area if we funded you.&#. Funding is different outside of Silicon Valley. As a result many funds are OK with big bets.

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital Southern California Google Startup 313

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

But when I’m looking to write my check I need to look in the eyes of the captain — the maestro who brings the whole orchestra together. And we’re lucky because they deliver many of the great products, services and content that we consume in our lives every day. They told me not to join until after the fund-raising was done.

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital CTO Hire 293

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

When to get a lawyer - If you plan to be a venture or angel backed technology company (what I mostly write about) the best time to start meeting and getting to know lawyers is long before you ever start your company. I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. Many people start companies arse backwards.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 1, 2013

Aspiring creators learn by connecting with top web filmmakers and YouTubers on a topics specific to the web: developing a web series, producing web series, writing for genres like comedy & sci-fi, directing, editing, camera, Kickstarter funding, show hosting, distribution, and marketing. How does it work?

Web 93

Web USC Course Guide 93

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

According to the SEC we’re not allowed to market the fact that we’re fund raising, so I won’t. But for some strange reason they make you file your progress on fund raising, which is the widely picked up by the press. So it is now publicly known that we have closed $150 million in our 4th fund. Of course I do!

Blogging 420

Blogging Press Entrepreneur Venture Capital 420

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2012

My own view is that for most services it is explicit actions (likes, shares, vote ups, etc.) I even had some reservations about writing this blog post this because I have no desire to p**s off other investors or great entrepreneurs. Of course not. I almost never read anything on Quora but tech, startup and funding articles.

Blogging 328

Blogging Content Press Startup 328