Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

In those years I learned to properly build product, price products, sell products and serve customers. SEEING THINGS FROM THE VC SIDE OF THE TABLE While I was a VC in 2007 & 2008 those were dead years because the market again evaporated due the the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). billion fund. And it changed the culture.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

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. Many times friends and family have been broken by failed investments.

Funding 107

Funding Startup Satisfaction Venture Capital 107

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

If you’ve read any of my ongoing series on fund raising from venture capitalist (episode 1?— ?controlling Building models to evaluate the deal and/or reviewing customer files, company financials, business plans, etc.

Venture Capital 314

Venture Capital Technical Review Invest Slides 314

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2016

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.

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Innocal Offshore Entrepreneur 63

SoCal Tech Calendar

JULY 30, 2020

Join JJ Richa in a fireside chat with Scott Fox, CEO of the OC Startup Council, for a discussion of the top mistakes that early stage entrepreneurs make when pitching their startups for funding.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Slides Startup Venture Capital 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Solicit funds from friends and family. Use crowd funding. Set expectations accordingly.

Tips 104

Tips Startup Technical Review Equity 104

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

In my experience as an angel investor for new startups, I’m always surprised by how many entrepreneurs are looking for funding without outside advisors. The sooner you face these issues, the more success you will garner from investors and customers. The cost of a co-founder is usually fifty percent of your equity.

Startup 142

Startup Technical Review Equity Entrepreneur 142

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Startup 128

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 128

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

James (chairman of the Althea Foundation) and appointed Adam Sroka as Senior Vice President of Technology in a move to make business transactions simple and secure. . Jackson , “This financing round, coupled with hiring Adam Sroka as our head of technology, puts CapLinked in a position to further enhance our enterprise product offerings.”.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Software Review Bertelsmann Technology 88

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Solicit funds from friends and family. Use crowd funding. Set expectations accordingly.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Funding Startup Technical Review 113

socalTECH

APRIL 13, 2021

Dave Eastman: For one thing, although we're not completely unique in this, is we don't take equity. What we do, is regional customer discovery for teams, typically academic. We teach them how to determine their value proposition, how to identify and detail their customer targets. but the key thing is customer discovery.

Marina Del Rey 150

Marina Del Rey Startup USC Incubator 150

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2015

I usually envision a 50-50 ownership split for their efforts, but every engineer believes the technology side deserves the majority share. If you consider yourself a technologist, you probably believe and may be propagating one of the following myths: The first priority for funding should be to develop the technology.

Technical Review 101

Technical Review Patents Entrepreneur Customer 101

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

Even when you do sign-up initial customers it’s still not clear that your company will be a success and you’re still likely paying yourself under market rates. He or she has worked at some very successful big technology or media companies and went to a great school. If you can and if you want to – you should.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Who's the customer? What's you believe is your biggest technology risk, if any? Or how are you funding the next few milestones?

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 264

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Who's the customer? What's you believe is your biggest technology risk, if any? Or how are you funding the next few milestones?

CTO Hire 259

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

Consumer spending is 70% of the economy and will continue to be stretched – We can look all we want at tech innovation, VC funding cycles and hot M&A deals, but ultimately growth and therefore investment must be underpinned by revenue. We spent our future since the equity was artificial. So why the ’09 bounce?

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Startup Funding Technical Review 269

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Solicit funds from friends and family. Use crowd funding. Set expectations accordingly.

Startup 87

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 87

InfoChachkie

MAY 6, 2013

This is due to a fundamental disconnect between the increased activity of high-volume seed investors (that fill out lots of Seed rounds) and the relatively small number of Series A investors, who only make 1 or 2 investments, per partner, per year.". A from a new outside lead. Turtle Eggs And Startups.

Entrepreneur 246

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Capital 246

socalTECH

OCTOBER 2, 2012

Southern California's technology community--despite all of the recent excitement around Silicon Beach--continues to be underserved in terms of capital, with a lack of venture capital funds (with money), and other private technology investors. Jeb Spencer: We consider ourselves a private equity firm.

Acquisition 168

Acquisition Software Review Technical Review Equity 168

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

Lead with your intent to offer the solution free to customers. Of course, customers love free, but investors hate it. Even non-profits need money to scale, but their pitch should be to philanthropists, not equity investors. Terms “paradigm shift” or “disruptive technology” used more than once. Skip the hype.

Funding 98

Funding Startup Innocal Entrepreneur 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2016

As an angel investor, I’ve learned to believe in this approach, since I have seen great ideas go astray, due to poor execution and I have seen apparently marginal ideas make millions, managed by a savvy entrepreneur. Focus on customer needs. Giving the wrong people money doesn’t help at the idea level.

Ideas 53

Ideas Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 53

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2015

Every investor in your startup, even friends and family, normally expects a share of your company (equity), which means your return for all your effort goes down quickly. After months of preparation, you should expect another six to nine months for reviews and funding cycles. Seek funding from multiple sources concurrently.

Pricing 100

Pricing Equity Technical Review Research 100

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 29, 2020

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. Many times friends and family have been broken by failed investments.

Startup 124

Startup Satisfaction Venture Capital Entrepreneur 124

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 1, 2014

On one end, entrepreneurs who have (at minimum) built something customers love and are willing to pay for, and the other hand, investors who are looking for the very companies who fit that profile. Visions pan of endless cold emails and long days attending meetups and pitch nights while your operations/tech team grind away.

Invest 100

Invest Startup Technical Review Software Review 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 105

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2013

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals. You need a prototype. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Technical Review Equity 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Yet according to the latest data from AngelSoft , only about 3 out of 100 companies who initiate the formal request process actually get funded. are eliminated during due diligence. Remember the old adage that “investors fund people, not ideas.”

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Solicit funds from friends and family. Use crowd funding. Set expectations accordingly.

Develop 70

Develop Development Product Startup 70

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Solicit funds from friends and family. Use crowd funding. Set expectations accordingly.

Startup 123

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 123

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2012

Self-funding is the preferred source of cash for your startup – if you can do it. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups. Use this approach before you have a real valuation, a real product, or any real customers. Bartering services for equity.

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Equity Incubator Venture Capital 103

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals. You need a prototype.

Technical Review 95

Technical Review Startup Equity Entrepreneur 95

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 1, 2010

Self-funding from your savings is the preferred source of cash for your startup – if you have it. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups. Use this approach before you have a real valuation, a real product, or any real customers. Bartering services for equity.

Funding 59

Funding Startup Technical Review Equity 59

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Startup 53

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 53

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2016

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. Many times friends and family have been broken by failed investments.

Funding 57

Funding Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur 57

socalTECH

DECEMBER 12, 2013

Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based web hosting and cloud computing provider DreamHost (www.dreamhost.com) raised a big, $30M funding round for the company--the first in the company''s long history. We''re very much a global footprint company, and we have customers from all over the world who fit that type of description.

Software Review 238

Software Review Cloud Computing Technical Review Platform 238

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

When I first read Paul Graham’s blog post on “High Resolution&# Financing I read it as a treatise arguing that convertible notes are better than equity. I argued it in my post on how social proof helps fund raising with angel investors. He’s fine with equity provided it’s cheap to paper it legally.

Venture Capital 286

Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review Startup 286

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2013

If you don’t have it, you probably won’t succeed, even with funding. Successful entrepreneurs already have a visible network of trusted suppliers, potential customers, partners, and even investors. Convincingly presents a patent, trademark, or other “secret sauce” that can create equity value, not just current cash flow for the owners.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Entrepreneur Course Patents 109