Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2011

Yesterday I saw a Tweet from Chris Sacca fly by that prompted me to want to write a blog post helping entrepreneurs understand why they should push back against VCs asking for “super pro-rata” rights. They might own 8% of your company after the first funding but demand up to 33-50% of your next round of financing.

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TechCrunch LA

JULY 2, 2020

From larger fund investors like Mark Suster and Kara Nortman at Upfront Ventures to Dana Settle at Greycroft Partners; to early-stage investors like Will Hsu at Mucker Capital; TX Zhuo at Fika Ventures, the responses were generally upbeat about the future opportunities for Los Angeles startups.

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TechCrunch LA

APRIL 23, 2020

There’s also a relatively modest request (of only $4 billion) for funding devoted to pilot projects, startup companies, and public clean technology investment initiatives (like LACI). The funding would include $20 billion for utility upgrades. There’s $25 billion in money set aside for public transit and $12.5

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Southern California Los Angeles Rosemead Incubator 261

socalTECH

MARCH 29, 2012

In yet more money for the subscription e-commerce sector in Los Angeles, Quarterly , a startup which delivers monthly, curated gifts from cultural influencers via subscription, has raised $1.25M in a funding round. The funding was first disclosed in a regulatory filing this week. READ MORE>>.

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Commerce Writing Demand Los Angeles 166

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Brad Feld hadn’t written his seminal “ term sheet series &# and The Funded hadn’t yet been created. I’m not sure I really even need to write this at length because Nivi absolutely nailed the topic in his article “ The Option Pool Shuffle.&#. Back then VentureHacks didn’t exist. That’s normal.

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Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

One of the hardest things about the fund-raising process for entrepreneurs is that you’re trying to raise money from people who have “asymmetric information.” I thought I’d write a post about how to talk about valuation at a startup and give you some sense of what might be on the mind of the person considering funding you.

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Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

As I’ve written about recently, at Upfront Ventures we started talking a couple of years ago about wanting to fund stuff with more meaning. I think this is a combination of being realists as venture capitalists that outsized returns in our funds must come from taking on bigger, more impactful projects that can move markets.

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Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2023

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined a long time ago from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Funding or rollout stage.

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Startup Funding Organization Incubator 122

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. I have conversations with entrepreneurs and other VCs on a daily basis about fund raising, the prices of deals, how much companies should raise, etc. I acknowledged this in the article. I’m just making the commentary.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2013

Well, a down round is even more complicated than having no demand for your investment round. If we count seed funds and large angels maybe that number goes up by 2x? ” (before fund raising). And what’s worse than being under-subscribed? A down round. That’s why. Something didn’t go to plan.

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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!” To grow faster businesses need resources in today’s financial period to fund growth that may not come for 6 months to a year.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2020

In the words of my friend and a CEO with whom I work, “Yeah, I know I need to make some cuts because our demand has changed, but I want to do this with a scalpel and not with an axe.” He showed industries where demand was likely to hold strong and he outlined a case for how he could protect as many jobs as possible. you should do it.

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Demand Guide Customer Custom 279

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

So I agreed to offer my current thinking on the economy and what it portends for the VC industry & fund raising for entrepreneurs. I heard an entrepreneur last Friday tell me that after he appeared on AngelList he had a funding frenzy with one investor whom he had never met offering to fund him after just 15 minutes on the phone.

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Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

I had an enjoyable conversation this morning with a young team straight out of college this morning and they were calling to ask advice on how to approach fund raising (angels vs. VCs, how to select a VC, etc.) So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. It’s not you.

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Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2013

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined before from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Funding or rollout stage. Do it right and enjoy real progress in each step of the journey.

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Entrepreneur Funding Incubator Startup 102

TechEmpower

AUGUST 7, 2023

What does the role demand? Getting something to market and getting funding override any other concerns. Please write us at blog@techempower.com ! What does it mean to be a CTO for a startup? Should a startup CTO spend their time programming? Exploring new technologies? Increasing competitive advantage? The answer is: it depends.

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CTO Hire Develop Development Fractional VPE 260

socalTECH

JANUARY 28, 2009

Santa Monica-based eHow, an online "how to" site owned by Demand Media, said Wednesday that the firm is seeing an increase in economy and personal finance related articles, due to the economy. Demand Media is the well funded Internet media venture of former Intermix CEO and MySpace Chairman Richard Rosenblatt. READ MORE>>.

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eHow Santa Monica Demand Media 100

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2020

As an advisor to many entrepreneurs, I still hear frequently the irrational exuberance that crowdfunding is the quick alternative for startups that are passed over by overly demanding angels or venture capital investors. He points out that the word crowd precedes funding in crowdfunding. Startup revenues come later.

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Startup Equity Funding Demand 151

InfoChachkie

MARCH 18, 2013

In order to extract value beyond your Angel investors' cash, you must first assess three important parameters: (i) the relative strength of their personal brand, (ii) their ability to add operational value, and (iii) the amount of care and feeding they will demand from you.

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Angel Technical Review RSS Entrepreneur 217

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. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Funding or rollout stage.

Funding 94

Funding Startup Organization Incubator 94

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2020

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined a long time ago from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Funding or rollout stage.

Resource 171

Resource Startup Organization Incubator 171

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

In writing anything positive about any of the companies I’m not suggesting that it means that I prefer them to any of their competitors. I just cover the companies that were funded that week. Also, some of the deals I write about I have actually seen as part of their fund raising process. Others I have not.

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Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

To grow faster businesses need resources in today to fund growth that may not come for 6 months to a year. They don’t want high burn rates but they will never fund slow growth. million to fund operations in their first year of operations. They raised $5 million in venture capital to fund growth. Again, it depends.

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Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

Jody didn’t exactly have an easy time fund raising because he’s not one of the prototypical Silicon Valley funded entrepreneurs. Jody self-funded the company and worked from his spare bedroom in February 2009. EcoMom Makes a Breakthrough in its Search for Funding. EcoMom originally started as SproutBaby.

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Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

When convertible debt first started being introduced as a “faster, cheaper way to get startups funded” they didn’t have pricing built into them. So if I write you a $500,000 check into a convertible note with a $4.5 million cap I am assuming when I write the check that I will own 10% of your company.

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Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2016

I even prefer to fund entrepreneurs who have experience some level of set-backs in their careers or startups because I think it brings a humility to decision-making that I find healthy. You also ran the risk that if you hired employees quickly and then demand wasn’t as strong as expected it was incredibility hard to fire people.

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Startup Press Blogging .Net 261

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 29, 2023

As investors continue pouring funding into artificial intelligence and consumer habits shift, many AI and subscription model startups have been enjoying rapid growth. Source: runwayml.com In June, Runway raised $141 million in funding, nudging its market valuation to an envy-inducing $1.5 Organic milk formula product Bobbie.

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Startup Generative AI Newsletter Tool 194

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

Mark Jeffrey - Q: “Is it more traditional to do your ESOP (employee stock option plan) before or after your angel or Series A funding?&# If you’re working at a startup and the founding team is promising that they’ll “get around to creating an employee stock option plan&# soon – demand it now.

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Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

For those who still don’t know the origins, the Harlem Shake started as a small skit from a YouTuber named Filthy Frank (10 million views as of this writing) on January 30, 2013. As of this writing nearly 50,000 versions have been created and uploaded and watched by some 200,000,000 people. Harlem Shake. million views).

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Startup Media Content Platform 380

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

Most of these scenarios involve attracting outside investors, strategic partners, or key team members: You are the team and you don’t need outside funding. In fact, they are probably in such a hurry to give you money that they don’t want you to waste time writing anything down and passing it along to new investors.

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Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 126

socalTECH

OCTOBER 30, 2008

to the business of script writing, and is looking to combine a free online tool for writing scripts with matching those scripts with content producers. You mentioned funding--you're raising a round? The funding is a requirement to get to the next step. Are you targeting Hollywood and existing script writing software?

Content 138

Content Writing Software Review Hollywood 138

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

At the Twiistup panel last week, there was a debate over whether big companies could be created here, which is ridiculous--Demand Media is the latest example there, we've got Cornerstone OnDemand coming out soon, and there is no question there are market leading, large revenue companies coming out of Southern California.

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Redpoint Southern California Cornerstone OnDemand Invest 154

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

Don’t let your passion convince you that word-of-mouth and viral marketing will suffice against well-funded competitors and ever more demanding customers. Target income and expense by year, including funding. Here I recommend a 5-year projection of revenues, expenses, and funding requirements.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

We both felt that the critical reasoning skills and writing skills were critical to our career development. New funding will be applied toward user acquisition and to expand into new product categories (gourmet food, wine and new services). Online DSP (demand-side platform) and ad exchange for display advertisers.

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Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Brad was openly writing about this and it felt like he was giving the VC playbook away for free! We write about $40 million of first-checks into new deals / year and about $40 million of follow-on investments. I’ll spare you the math and point out that this means we funded 0.104% of the market. This is how VCs feel.

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Startup Companies Company Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

It was a pleasure to write them myself. And when I say this I don’t mean they funded billion dollar companies – they literally created them. They would launch quickly and test whether or not there is any demand. His impact has even helped a small country gain admission to the United Nations. Overture (Goto.com).

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Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Chris Devore & Andy Sack have created Founder’s Coop with the goal of funding, incubating & launching more early-stage ventures in Seattle. I don’t write about LA but I write from LA. I know that Founder’s Coop has a fund as does TechStars Seattle. How do we make that happen?

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Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317