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

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.

Mentor 297

Mentor Training Startup Course 297

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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Funding Startup Equity Examples 174

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 2, 2016

Los Angeles-based Alelo , which develops game-based, role playing simulations and teaching technology, says that it has partnered with the USC Institute for Creative Technologies , to co-develop disruptive learning technology.

USC 100

USC Technology Slides Training 100

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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Funding Capital Artificial Inteligence Startup 160

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

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Funding Startup 150

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 21, 2021

Just Insure , a pay-per-mile insurance technology company, has raised $8 million in a funding round. . CrossCut Ventures, ManchesterStory and Western Technology Investments co-led the investment, which brings its total raised to $15.3 Of course, Just is not the first company to offer personalized auto insurance.

Startup 203

Startup Customer Custom Los Angeles 203

TechEmpower

AUGUST 7, 2023

Exploring new technologies? Getting something to market and getting funding override any other concerns. Instead, given a startup project, they’ll default to building everything in-house, using technologies that they’re already familiar with. This is a safe choice, of course - but is it the best choice? It might be.

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CTO Hire Develop Development Fractional VPE 260

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 15, 2021

So I think it’s safe to say that any technology that can make the process easier is welcome by all. It has developed technology to give people a way to pay bills outside of traditional methods, such as through the mail, over the phone or via a Web portal. Paying bills is hardly a fun thing. It’s a true universal payment method.”.

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Mobile Artificial Inteligence Startup Los Angeles 208

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. There is nothing viral!

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

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.

Funding 178

Funding Santa Barbara ReachLocal Southern California 178

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2023

So why do I see some many funding requests for products along these lines? When globalization or technology shrinks distances (Internet), painful missing needs become evident, and opportunities abound. Truly “disruptive” technologies. Of course, there are caveats to every opportunity. When the world gets smaller.

Ideas 118

Ideas Outsource Development Outsource Course 118

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 26, 2022

The cuts, which amount to around one-third of Glossier’s corporate workforce, will primarily impact the company’s technology team. “[W]e W]e are shifting our technology strategy to leverage external partners for parts of our platform that we’re currently maintaining internally,” Weiss wrote in the email announcing the layoffs to staff.

CTO Hire 197

CTO Hire Layoffs Commerce Email 197

socalTECH

APRIL 1, 2020

San Diego-based Aspen Neuroscience , a biotechnology company developing treatments for Parkinson disease, said it has raised $70M in a Series A funding round. The funding was led by OrbiMed, and also included ARCH Venture Partners, Frazier Healthcare Partners, Domain Associates, Section 32, and Sam Altman.

San Diego 113

San Diego Screening Study Course 113

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

Investors are looking for technology, process, or business model breakthroughs, to move costs to a new level. 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. This approach is not convincing.

Competition 166

Competition Funding Startup Patents 166

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?

Cornerstone OnDemand 100

Cornerstone OnDemand Funding Dollar Shave Club Los Angeles 100

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. Early or embryonic stage.

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Funding Startup Organization Incubator 94

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2021

The professors know how to get grants to fund development for you in strategic focus areas, like biotech, that would otherwise cost you many thousands of dollars. Every university has entrepreneurial courses or evening classes that can provide assistance on creating your initial plan. Early-stage funding. Legal guidance.

Incubator 172

Incubator Mentor Class Resource 172

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.

Funding 164

Funding Calabasas Course Platform 164

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

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

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.

Funding 164

Funding Calabasas Course Platform 164

TechCrunch LA

MAY 3, 2022

I also had custody of my 16-year-old sister, so I was managing my course load and taking these trips, and it was during one of the those rides that I thought there has to be a better way to do this. All of this is courtesy of a new $1 million seed extension from initial seed leads The Artemis Fund and Mercury Fund, with Bracken P.

Tool 179

Tool Customer Custom Marketing 179

socalTECH

MAY 2, 2013

Despite a growing technology industry here in Southern California, local investors and entrepreneurs tell us there''s still a shortage of local, venture capital. In particular, funding for companies developing deep technology--software and cloud, as opposed to content and media--seems to be lacking. David Waxman.:

Invest 159

Invest Technology Startup Venture Capital 159

TechCrunch LA

JULY 2, 2020

TechCrunch surveyed some of the city’s leading investors in sectors like property technology and cannabis to get their take on how the city may survive — and potentially thrive — in a new era ushered in by the response to the pandemic.

Los Angeles 277

Los Angeles Venture Capital Capital Invest 277

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2020

So why do I see some many funding requests for products along these lines? When globalization or technology shrinks distances (Internet), painful missing needs become evident, and opportunities abound. Truly “disruptive” technologies. Of course, there are caveats to every opportunity. When the world gets smaller.

Custom 167

Custom Customer Startup Outsource Development 167

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Many of the start-ups my various angel funds have financed died a slow death , not because of poor concept but because of poor execution, wasting fixed overhead and draining the financial resources from the company coffers. The financial pain of unplanned delays.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Product Marketing Resource 296

TechEmpower

JULY 24, 2023

” Of course, it’s more complicated than just checking boxes on a question list. How are you funding this? What level of funding do you currently have? Do you have a custom algorithm or other technology? What metrics will you need for future funding rounds or operations? Tell me about the business.

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Develop Development Technical Review SEO 520

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2018

A critical stage for most first-time entrepreneurs is getting their idea developed into at least a prototype to validate their technology. Acquiring seed-stage funding is admittedly tough, but a source that I find often overlooked is government grant funding, accessible in the U.S.

Funding 90

Funding Technical Review Startup Research 90

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 24, 2020

Of course, it could be your level of experience, or the quality of your team, but the difference is often more related to the lifecycle stage of the market you are trying to enter. Valuations here are always low, and funding generally depends on friends and family, or a few forward-thinking angels.

Marketing 174

Marketing Startup Artificial Inteligence Technical Review 174

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2017

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 and both already exceed VC investments annually.

Startup 76

Startup Angel Funding .Net 76

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 9, 2014

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”). I just don’t see it happening any time soon. billion collected in 2012.

Invest 111

Invest Angel Funding Startup 111

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 19, 2013

I still get business plans, looking for an investor, that say all too clearly that the primary “use of funds” will be to do research and development (R&D) on some promising new technology, like superconductivity or cancer cures. Technology development. This stage is the transition to pilot-scale research on the technology.

Research 97

Research Develop Development Funding 97

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

Of course, the response depends upon lots of variables, including whether the company is in a fund-raising mode (in which case the CEO may be spending up to 80% of their time on this alone).

Class 194

Class Organization Technical Review Activity 194

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

million, our Seed Funds mostly between $200–300 million and have delivered median ownerships of ~20% from the first check we write into a startup. Of course our execution against the strategy has had to change but the strategy has remained constant. Across more than 10 years we have kept the size of our Seed investments between $2–3.5

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

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.

Funding 107

Funding Startup Equity Examples 107

socalTECH

JANUARY 27, 2010

On Thursday, the City of Ventura is formally launching a new incubator, the Ventura Ventures Technology Center (www.v2tc.com), targeted at high tech businesses. The incubator so far includes startups Lottay , Geodelic , and a number of other Internet and other technology firms. The $5M of funding we had got split three ways. $3M

Ventura 200

Ventura Incubator Technology Startup 200

Xconomy

MAY 31, 2016

Microsoft plans to invest more in early stage startup companies through a new corporate venture fund, headed by former Qualcomm executives. Microsoft aims to get in front of technology trends earlier with the new investment vehicle. With a formalized venture fund, Microsoft now has a seat at the table.

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Funding Artificial Inteligence Cloud Computing Writing 62