Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

She hasn’t raised any venture capital. It represents the great majority of entrepreneurship and eschews the fairytale rags-to-VC-riches stories we so often read about in the press. She focused on her customer. I blog on entrepreneurship & VC precisely because entrepreneurs and other VCs are my customers.

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Finally I realized that venture capital and angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Message delivery must be customized for each investor.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 126

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. Our founder, Yves Sisteron, was my mentor and board member at my first startup. Writing a book will be fun. The truth is you really don’t know how your teammates or your bosses will perform in good times and bad.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

Also be careful about VCs. But once a VC has heard your idea he can’t “un-think&# it. They certainly struggle to find mentors as there is nothing more frustrating than trying to help a company who is afraid to tell you anything. Be careful about this advice. I call this “marketing futures.&# You don’t.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2014

One of the interesting things about being a VC is that you often see companies in transition. If you’re an early investor like I am that often means writing the first $2-3 million check into a business that previously had either survived on fumes or on a $500,000 angel round. You’re the coach, mentor, cheerleader.

Startup 381

Startup Resource Venture Capital Activity 381

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Huge thank you to Steve De Long for the write up. Yeah, that was when I changed for me…” “…there was so much positive feedback on demystifying this one element of venture capital. Deal evaluations the Foundry way, which continues into a great discussion about VC decision-making processes. “So Is that when it became big?

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

YOU Selling – My wise old friend & mentor, Ameet Shah, once told me after a meeting we had with clients (when I worked at Accenture), “there are two ways to run a meeting: asking or telling. Let’s assume you run a Customer Support software company. But how to apply “listening&# in a sales meeting?

Sales 314

Sales Startup Venture Capital Customer 314

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2014

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Finally I realized that Venture Capital and Angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Message delivery must be customized for each investor.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Angel Social Media Patents 107

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

They therefore often play the role of the “voice of the customer” and bring important relationships. The second is that they are usually very experienced operators that can mentor the founding team. This is important because when you have too many VCs on a board you only bring one kind of thinking to the board.

Startup 187

Startup Writing Venture Capital Oracle 187

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 30, 2012

We write and create our own content for the game. CallFire provides Voice and SMS Solutions to over 40,000 customers including political groups, non-profits, insurance agents, small business owners, and marketers. Rapid Fire Trivia is a game owned and operated by Danger Room Gaming.

CalTech 91

CalTech Company Companies Idealab 91

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

It will consist of a fixed group of up to 12 CEOs which will meet in person and support each other in navigating through the economic turmoil, generating revenue and working with investors and customers in the new climate. Who this is for: This is for CEOs of companies that have either raised $1m+ in capital or have $1m+ in revenues. .

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

It will consist of a fixed group of up to 12 CEOs which will meet in person and support each other in navigating through the economic turmoil, generating revenue and working with investors and customers in the new climate. Who this is for: This is for CEOs of companies that have either raised $1m+ in capital or have $1m+ in revenues. .

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

It will consist of a fixed group of up to 12 CEOs which will meet in person and support each other in navigating through the economic turmoil, generating revenue and working with investors and customers in the new climate. Who this is for: This is for CEOs of companies that have either raised $1m+ in capital or have $1m+ in revenues. .

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

It will consist of a fixed group of up to 12 CEOs which will meet in person and support each other in navigating through the economic turmoil, generating revenue and working with investors and customers in the new climate. Who this is for: This is for CEOs of companies that have either raised $1m+ in capital or have $1m+ in revenues. .

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Why Every Entrepreneur Should Write and 9 Tips To Get Started - OnStartups , September 27, 2010 "The best part of blogging is the people you will meet"- Hugh MacLeod repeating wisdom from Loic Lemeur to me at the Big Pink at 2 am in South Beach after the Future of Web Apps 2008. Why You Should Write. People want status.

Startup 191

Startup Product Technology Venture Capital 191

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Pricing models, the freemium myth and why you may not be charging enough for your product - Seth Levine's VC Adventure , August 12, 2010 I’ve been pulled into a number of product and pricing meetings recently (for reasons unknown I’ve become the Foundry pricing and productization guy). We had to write a CRM to keep track of them all.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

Consider Usher a hard-working early-stage VC. And he has acted as a personal mentor for Justin ever since. It’s that sort of mentorship experience that drives many of us hands-on VCs. You should start by getting out and talking directly with customers as Bieber did. And they have done hundreds of them.

Entrepreneur 398

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Blogging 398

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Welcome to the Lost Decade (for Entrepreneurs, IPO’s and VC’s) - Steve Blank , July 15, 2010 If you take funding from a venture capital firm or angel investor and want to build a large, enduring company (rather than sell it to the highest bidder), this isn’t the decade to do it. Angel vs VC? - Customer Care Today.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217