Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2013

Based on the final report for 2012 from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), it may appear that IPOs are back as a viable startup exit strategy. For the full year 2012, venture-backed initial public offerings raised $21.5 Identify the right people in the right venture firms.

Venture Capital 101

Venture Capital Startup Capital Seed Funding 101

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 11, 2021

Photo by Vanna Phon on Unsplash Customer acquisition is the lifeblood of many startups from e-commerce to gaming to marketplace companies, among others. that’s where the customers are. But if you ask anyone in the ecosystem of customer acquisition?—?founders, no surprise?—?that’s founders, marketers, investors?—?and

Product 424

Product Platform Advertising Acquisition 424

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2010

Had a great chat with Jim Armstrong who is a General Partner at Clearstone Venture Partners today on TWiVC. It was especially fun for me because we got the chance to talk about the VC industry and how entrepreneurs should think about the VC industry in addition to discussing deals. Segment Three: “VC Deals Funded this Week”.

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Clearstone Venture Capital ReachLocal Google 236

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

Of the first four investments I made as a VC in 2009, two have exited and two (Invoca & GumGum) still are independent and likely to produce $billion++ outcomes . The abundance of late-stage capital is good for us all. My first ever investment as a VC was Invoca. Entrada Ventures? —?that Maker Studios?—?sold

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital Capital Funding Startup 363

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2011

I just read the Q1 2011 report from CB Insights , which shows venture capital is back. Back to VCs, Silicon Valley venture capital firms are still the most active. So what can you do to get to the head of the venture capital investment queue? Overall, investors put $7.5 That represents a $1.5

Venture Capital 93

Venture Capital Startup Capital Seed Funding 93

socalTECH

AUGUST 21, 2019

The funding was led by RPS Ventures, and also included GGV Capital, IVP, Revolution Growth, Lowercase Capital, Data Collective VC, ThomVest Ventures, and PayPal. The company has now raised a total of $215M. The funding reportedly values the company at over $500M. READ MORE>>.

Funding 113

Funding Santa Monica Venture Capital Mobile 113

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 29, 2021

If a station doesn’t send out an error or a driver doesn’t report it, network providers might never know there’s even a problem. One customer assumed that poor usage rates at a particular station was due to a lack of EVs in the area, Terry recalled in a recent interview. . Terry, who co-founded ChargerHelp! ,

Incubator 287

Incubator Outsource Development Los Angeles Startup 287

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

He also nails the reason why venture capital is still necessary to grow large businesses quickly in a world where the costs of running startups have fallen dramatically. “Why do founders want to take the VCs’ money? .” After all, growth equals high valuations and loads of venture capital!

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review 390

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

The funding was led by Okapi Venture Capital, and also included Serra Ventures, Cove Fund II, 1855 Capital, and Mooring Ventures LLC. San Diego-based Daasity , a startup working on data analytics for direct-to-consumer retailers, has raised $2.3M in a funding round, the company said this week. READ MORE>>.

Metrics 113

Metrics San Diego Venture Capital Commerce 113

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

So mostly we just had to listen to customer feedback from founders, VCs and LPs. She worked for 5 years as a VC at Battery Ventures and co-headed M&A at IAC working with Barry Diller. As an industry we’re not always as good as we could be about our own “creative destruction” to create the tomorrow of venture capital.

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 3, 2010

This was really a fun week at TWiVC because we decided to have an entrepreneur come and talk about raising capital rather than having a VC come on. In particular I tried to do most of the “entrepreneur advice on VC” up front so that if you don’t want to watch our views on the deals you don’t have to. OTHER DEALS: 1.

Venture Capital 214

Venture Capital Startup Design S3 214

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2023

If ten percent of these numbers, multiplied by your average product price, will get you the revenue you need to scale your business, you will get the love you need from angel and venture capital investors. Peruse company reports from your business domain. Conduct your own customized market research.

Statistics 120

Statistics Research Report Newsletter 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2010

I just read the Q1 2010 report from CB Insights , which shows some interesting trends. To me, this indicates that venture capitalists (VCs) are looking for business, but they are clearly moving away from early-stage (pre-revenue) deals. Back to VCs, Silicon Valley venture capital firms are still the most active.

Venture Capital 49

Venture Capital Capital Startup Invest 49

socalTECH

OCTOBER 17, 2013

One of its major markets has been providing outage reports and text message handling for utilities, allowing customers to report outages by text message. The company also said its systems are being used to report graffiti, potholes, and storm damage by municipalities. READ MORE>>.

Orange County 153

Orange County Tech Coast Angels Venture Capital Report 153

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

We have customers from so many different industries like software, financial services, healthcare, and media. The benefits of bootstrapping are many: we can focus on building the company, not raising capital. We could also spend time talking with customers rather than updating investors. We can make all the decisions ourselves.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Tech.Co

MAY 31, 2022

Starting today, customers using the Stripe payments system to buy their items at a retailer will have Affirm's “Adaptive Checkout” feature available to them. For purchases between $50 and $30,000, any eligible customer will be able to split their costs over multiple payment installments on either biweekly or monthly schedules.

Services 120

Services Technical Review Startup News 120

socalTECH

APRIL 8, 2009

Agoura Hills-based TouchCommerce , a provider of live chat services to help companies convert online customers, has reportedly raised $10M in a venture funding round. According to PEHub.com, the round included participation by existing investors Partech International, Emergence Capital, Dolphin Equity Partners and Hudson Ventures.

Agoura Hills 100

Agoura Hills Report Agoura Venture Capital 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Many observers of the venture capital industry have questioned whether its best days are behind it. The most recent report to weigh in on the troubles of the industry was produced by the esteemed Kauffman Foundation. I can’t help feel a bit of rear-view mirror analysis in all of “VC model is broken” bears in our industry.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

In my experience, here are some of the key elements of that “second-stage” of entrepreneurship: Move from small investors to major venture capital. That requires work and risk to comply with reporting requirements of the SEC, including the additional accounting and reporting processes.

Startup 151

Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2022

You can’t succeed in business without an operational model that delivers value to customers at a reasonable price, with an underlying cost that allows you to make a profit. A target market is the group of customers that the startup plans to attract through marketing and sales their product or service. Target market. Sales/Marketing.

Sales 102

Sales Customer Custom Outsource 102

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

This thinking is largely driven by the venture capital industry (and subsequently Wall Street) who are in search of high margin, highly scalable businesses. It’s nearly impossible to get a services company financed by VCs. Why Shouldn’t Most Services Businesses Raise VC? It may be the right answer for you.

Services 332

Services Venture Capital IP Startup 332

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2015

The report on the LA Tech Market can be found on this link. If you’re an investor considering putting dollars in the ground in LA, you can see that there is a tremendous opportunity both because of the growth of our markets and there are fewer VC funds here relative to the opportunity than anywhere else in the country.

Marketing 150

Marketing Newsletter Venture Capital Blogging 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

You are particularly vulnerable if: You have revenue concentration (few customers each providing a large total of percentage of your revenue). You have a large number of startup customers (because when markets crash they have a funny way of going bankrupt quickly or cutting burn precipitously).

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

I think many board members (including VCs) were trained 10+ years ago when life was very different and their advice often comes from an outdated lens. One of the advantages of blogging, using social media, public speaking, etc as a VC is that you get a more nuanced view of these shifts by watching your own successes and failures.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2020

If ten percent of these numbers, multiplied by your average product price, will get you the revenue you need to scale your business, you will get the love you need from angel and venture capital investors. Peruse company reports from your business domain. Conduct your own customized market research.

Marketing 157

Marketing Statistics Research Report 157

socalTECH

MAY 18, 2021

ClickUp has raised $135M in venture capital so far. Workplace Productivity recently reports that, a little over 50 percent of Americans will not work for a company that doesn't offer some kind of remote work flexibility now. Who are your typical customers? What is ClickUp? The demand is there, we've certainly seen that.

Doc 203

Doc San Diego Demand Product 203

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 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. Commit to a major customer. Only one-third make it past their tenth anniversary.

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2018

And my specific response that I recommended was to say, “I can send you our standard data pack but honestly I have too many other firms asking for customized data and we simply can’t send each person custom reports. She had emailed with a partner at a big VC fund and he had passed the request to a junior associate.

Funding 217

Funding Newsletter Venture Capital Email 217

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

Because my role as a VC requires me to take and endless stream of meetings I long ago decided I need to learn as much as I can from the meetings I attend so I often just ask tons of questions and assimilate knowledge. When I think about what defines us as a VC I think: Operationally knowledgeable / strong startup competence.

Venture Capital 360

Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup Invest 360

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

socalTECH

MARCH 6, 2013

Those features include iPad compatibility, bulk uploading of files, secure communications and conversations, custom branding, and automated PDF report generation features.

Services 218

Services Venture Capital Equity Los Angeles 218

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 27, 2013

I mostly like to have coverage in the tech press where most of my customers (entrepreneurs) and business partners (other VCs) are. But I also need to address the other side of my customer base – the people who fund VCs (they are called LPs). Frankly, every VC’s, too. Perception = reality.

Blogging 309

Blogging Journal Press Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

Visit the university library for access to otherwise costly business reports. Other project and research reports in their library are a rich source of new ideas, if you are still looking for a place to start. If looking for help, you can find interns willing to work for the experience, and real insights into new customer segments.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Class Startup Resource 110

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 9, 2011

Woodland Hills-based Gumiyo , the mobile publishing software firm led by Shuki Lehavi, reported this week that it saw a surge in mobile traffic due to Hurricane Irene. West/Crosspoint VC), and Chuck Abronson (Amplica/CAP Wireless/Accordance Ventures). READ MORE>>.

Woodland Hills 174

Woodland Hills Software Review Mobile Venture Capital 174

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2017

of all Statistics are Made Up ” My summary is an example I use often: when I consumed reports from Goldman Sachs about the future predictions of mobile phone penetration for a report I was working on for a client I would call the analyst to ask how she calculated her data because I wanted to be sure of my conclusions.

Venture Capital 182

Venture Capital Statistics Writing Report 182

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 19, 2019

If so, is it one critical customer or a trend? Is it time to focus more resources upon collections, credit research, or even time to “fire some customers” who continually break your rules or take up too much of your resources? Keep the information to yourself? We discussed these with management thoroughly for a total of four hours.

News 120

News Statistics Resource Sales 120

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2012

Angel investors are definitely interested at this stage, but VCs usually wait until stage five or six. Verification is testing and publicly reporting the performance of a commercial-ready technology using specific standards (EPA, FDA, etc.). Results, if positive, are used for marketing a product directly to customers.

Research 89

Research Funding Venture Capital Angel 89