Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

Oh, and if you didn’t guess, the title, “if you don’t have a discrete hypothesis you are incapable of failing” is, of course, an Eric Ries quote. 41:00 Transitioning from software to writing. 48:30 Vanity metrics. 52:00 Actionable metrics. 48:30 Vanity metrics. 52:00 Actionable metrics.

Social Media 301

Social Media Startup Metrics Media 301

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

Of course, there are no guarantees, but I still see otherwise smart entrepreneurs taking shortcuts in their hiring, or jumping into business relationships based on emotion or low cost. Keep control by writing every check personally, and manage receivable and payables tightly. Your customers and competition make unexpected moves.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Customer Custom 131

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2013

They cite sources like a recent BusinessWeek story, “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ” and this NY Times article. Of course there are scenarios where a written business plan is not critical, but I haven’t seen one yet where a well-written 15-page document, or at least a 10-slide pitch, is a negative.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Technical Review Writing Slides 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Of course it happens all the time?—?especially If your metric move immediate up-and-to-the-right? Well, once people get on boards it’s pretty tough ego-wise to convince them to step off. especially at the earliest stages but if you can avoid it I would recommend it. But it’s quite rare. Not really. Is it possible that you get fired?

Startup 236

Startup Venture Capital Tips Capital 236

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

In a funding round with 1 or 2 VCs and 15-20 angels or 4-6 seed funds if you gave every investor you financial information and performance metrics your proprietary information would increase in its probability of leaking out. We are doing what we do – writing larger checks and playing an active role at the company.

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2014

Of course I ask more politely that than. I’ve seen you write a $10 million check before. He called me 15 months later excited to show me his metrics and wanted to talk about his A round. I don’t blame him – that’s his job. But why am I so lucky that you’ll let me in? But I always ask. Fair enough.

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Email 333

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 7, 2011

The other thing that struck me, is because it is only men, they tend to write with lots of testosterone. Their writing style, even for a mainstream publication, is they write with lots of testosterone. They write about the transmission, the brakes, and the suspension, and that creeps into all of their evaluations of cars.

Truecar 204

Truecar Writing Edmunds Sites 204

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 10, 2021

It’s a form of accountability but of course it’s all just in your own mind. Noom worked really well initially because it dealt with the psychology of why people make bad food choices and forced me to write down what some of my bad behaviors actually were. You got this! My students all finish strong.” And say you did it !!”

Coach 538

Coach Startup Guide Journal 538

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

As a company you need to invest in ROI calculators (spreadsheets) that are easy for sales reps to plug in basic customer metrics and pop out with an expected benefit. You’re more expensive than competitors – “Of course we are. Even better if that customer is referenceable! We’re a premium product.

Sales 289

Sales Startup Training Pricing 289

TechEmpower

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

Focusing on the metrics that ultimately drive the business, often the bottom line, has provided a reality check, a counter-weight to the desire to consume all new technologies. You're in the thick of it and about to write a small chunk of server-side code. Project needs vary, of course, so technology chemistries vary in turn.

Web 200

Web Platform Technology JavaScript 200

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2012

You may have already found several articles, web pages, or books about writing the perfect executive summary. They all offer a list of requirements that might take 50 pages to address, but of course they ask you to write concisely. That’s your metric to see if you have their attention. Marty Zwilling.

Summary 97

Summary Writing Competition Sample 97

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 24, 2016

What you Before Sets the Course for How Well the Day Goes Make sure you send your financial and operating metrics no less than 72 hours before the board meeting — even better if it can be a week in advance. If you have board members you respect you owe it to yourself to run more productive sessions where board members contribute.

Guide 196

Guide Startup Metrics Conference 196

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2: As expected at least one person accused me of writing this post because I want to see lower valuations. As an early stage investor you’re often planning around 10x your investment at the time your write your first check so in this case you’d be going into your investment expecting an exit of $800 – $1.2

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Tech.Co

APRIL 11, 2018

Workers are seeking destinations that are large, tech-friendly, on the rise, and — of course — have a lower cost of living, even if not a particularly low one. Writing in March, the New York Times’ Kevin Roose had an answer that will hit Bay Area-bound tech workers where it hurts: Their wallets.

Report 70

Report .Net Template Writing 70

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

You may have already found several articles, web pages, or books about writing the perfect executive summary. They all offer a list of requirements that might take 50 pages to address, but of course they ask you to write concisely. That’s your metric to see if you have their attention. Marty Zwilling.

Summary 90

Summary Writing Competition Sample 90

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

We spent a lot of time talking about what type of company we wanted to create, how many employees we’d eventually have, whether we would take funding, our lifestyle, and a dozen other things that had nothing to do with writing software. Semick: We’re a very metrics driven company, and we have been from the beginning.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2015

Of course that’s true. I’ve tried over the years to write many times about the realism of the downsides of being an entrepreneur because there is a complete cognitive dissidence between what you read about yourself in the press and what you feel internally about where you’re at in the journey.

Press 150

Press Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, February 20, 2007 Innovation and Geography I ran across a post in Read/Write Web - Does Location Matter in Web Innovation? Of course, thats probably even more true in Silicon Valley. that talked about a recent NY Times article When It Comes to Innovation, Geography Is Destiny.

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 12, 2017

Admittedly, that last part is an exaggeration but they were bad enough that I am writing this essay in the hopes that you will read it and not make these mistakes. Tip: After writing you answer, re-read the question and ask yourself, “Is there anything in what I wrote that is not actually answering that question?”. The #EpicNovelFail.

Tips 70

Tips Startup Statistics Metrics 70

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2010

You may have already found several articles, web pages, or books about writing the perfect executive summary. They all offer a list of requirements that might take 50 pages to address, but of course they ask you to write concisely. That’s your metric to see if you have their attention. Marty Zwilling.

Summary 55

Summary Writing Competition Metrics 55

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

The questions that a VC mulls before writing a check are precisely the questions you should be asking yourself. If you look at the structure of the travel industry above – of course we know that the hotel industry is fragmented while the airline industry is reasonable consolidated. Market Size.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” of course there are MUCH more sophisticated financial tools than either of these, but PEG is a short-hand many people use].

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2023

Of course, they can outsource part of the work or hire employees, but that approach means more time and money to manage the work, which they don’t have. Yet from my own years of experience in the startup community, here are ten common steps that have worked for other entrepreneurs: Write a "job description" for that ideal partner.

Startup 99

Startup High Tech Entrepreneur Writing 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2021

Of course, they can outsource part of the work or hire employees, but that approach means more time and money to manage the work, which they don’t have. Yet from my own years of experience in the startup community, here are ten common steps that have worked for other entrepreneurs: Write a "job description" for that ideal partner.

Startup 126

Startup High Tech Entrepreneur Writing 126

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 25, 2014

To cap off our 6th year at SXSW and follow up on last year’s amazingly successful Trend Lounge , we knew this year had to be bigger, better, more engaging, and of course, even more fun. Alex Taub – Social Rank , Twitter metrics and engagement tool. Setting the Stage : The Indiegogo/TechZulu Tech Cafe.

Entertainment 99

Entertainment Google Entrepreneur Course 99

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 9, 2013

Every time I think to write a post about this I figure the most recent board meeting I’ve attended will think it’s about them so I don’t bother. So I’m going to write a series of board meetings posts unrelated to anybody or maybe an amalgamation of them all. This should take the least amount of time possible.

Writing 337

Writing Venture Capital Help SaaS 337

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

It’s obvious that we can be too late to these decisions of course. Start writing down predictions about people, companies, and markets. If — and it’s a big if of course — they can do that on the cheap, then why should an LP care at all? How can you practice timing? Ditto people you met a while back.

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

Today’s higher education is responding by making more courses online and available to people outside of physical boundaries. In many ways I think general purpose writing & thinking skills are as valuable as math skills. “Online education is truly going to kill us.”

Venture Capital 403

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2022

Of course, my years of experience in business gives me insights that you might not yet have, but I’ve found that the major value from coaching comes from getting you into the right mindset. Track your progress with frequent milestones, metrics, and physically checking things off the list. Celebrate every step of progress.

Coach 105

Coach Help Satisfaction Metrics 105

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 6, 2015

Of course, they can outsource part of the work or hire employees, but that approach means more time and money to manage the work, which they don’t have. Yet from my own years of experience in the startup community, here are 10 common steps that have worked for other entrepreneurs: Write a "job description" for that ideal partner.

Startup 105

Startup High Tech Entrepreneur Writing 105

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Content, of course, is the same!]. We both felt that the critical reasoning skills and writing skills were critical to our career development. Company grew by more than “400% each year” for past few years [assume growth metric = revenues]. Metrics: 2.5mm members, 1,000 brands, 2,500 sale events to-date.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

Of course articles like these are going to inflame people because not everybody who is running their own business (or aspires to) wants to believe that you need to go all out to compete and win on a global scale. I’m normally too cool to write posts like this. Somehow this is more honest.

Entrepreneur 308

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Conference 308

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I still think it’s best to take money from Dave when you’re also partnered with a more focused, hands-on seed-stage VC who brings different things to the table – like more ability to write larger checks in a downturn (for one) or solving a deep crisis that involves super hands-on involvement.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2021

How I Shifted from Just Counting Calories to Supercharging My Fitness Workouts This is part of a weight loss and fitness improvement series that I’m writing to share how I went from 222 pounds and unable to bike more than 20 minutes on a Peloton to 153 pounds and running 8–12 miles / day in just 18 months. I became happier every day.

Startup 302

Startup Competition Screening Training 302

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

We’ve been using MongoDB as the backing store for Treasury , and over the course of two and a half months , we’ve had over 50,000 excellent Treasuries created by the Etsy community, all stored and served in MongoDB. Metrics availability. Not so bad. Performance. Angel vs VC? -

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

Not the successful companies themselves but the entire b t culture of swash-buckling startups who define themselves by hitting some magical $1 billion valuation number and the financiers who back them irrespective of metrics that justify it. For a fee, of course. 10 years from now people will be embarrassed to say unicorn.

Technical Advisors 150

Technical Advisors Startup Writing Blogging 150