Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

RedBeacon was the 3rd winner (year 1: Yammer, year 2: Mint.com) – not bad company. We generally have a policy to only fund entrepreneurs once the first version of a product has shipped or it near to shipping. So I asked Ethan to build his product first and then we would fund. The company was called Red Beacon. Nice sweep!

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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

APRIL 21, 2010

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. So there is likely robust demand from borrowers. And I know that great startups like Yammer are doing well. Others I have not. Enter P2P lending. Enter Xobni.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2011

I honestly believe I learned more by rising up the ranks and becoming the president of my fraternity than I did in the class room reading about supply & demand curves in economics. She’s protecting them from the most intellectually demanding activities. VCs fund people all the time with no traction. This frustrates me.

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