Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A The key is channeling what you learn when you drive onto paper for retention purposes so you have to write it down soon afterward. When I write a blog post I often see the words before I write them. These are all creative processes.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2013

There is an important psychology that exists in investments. But psychology DOES play a big role in investment decisions. Well, a down round is even more complicated than having no demand for your investment round. The Damaging Psychology of Down Rounds. I don’t make the rules so don’t shoot the messenger.

Pricing 302

Pricing Seed Funding Invest Venture Capital 302

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. If you invested in the first angel round of a startup company it is usually very hard to sell your stock – usually for many years if ever at all. I acknowledged this in the article. I’m just making the commentary.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

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. If you’re talking with a typical Seed/A/B round firm they often have ownership targets in the company in which they invest. some might even want slightly more.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324

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!” If you have a market lead then raising capital and making investments now will help you as others enter the market. ” The Details.

Startup 419

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 419

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. I’ve been involved with SaaS companies with VCs who don’t understand demand generation, lead qualification, sales coverage ratios, sales forecasting or frankly when deals should be inside sales vs. outside sales.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

tevye2009 , Q: “can you briefly explain why it’s best to get a small valuation when getting investment.&# Mike Stern (wasn’t sure which one so leave a comment if it’s you): Q: “is it possible to sell your startup without venture investment if the company has big traction and a large user base?&#

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

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.&#. In an early round of investment where there is not an extremely high price relative to normal valuations this is anything but benign. Investors own 25%, the founders own 75%.

Venture Capital 405

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

But that’s hardly fair compensation when your former cube mate gave you $25,000 of money she didn’t really have to invest in you, took tons of risks with her money, and now has to pay a VC price for that money a year after she invested it. So if I write you a $500,000 check into a convertible note with a $4.5

Startup 355

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 355

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

It’s true the some VCs have started writing so many checks that they resemble stock pickers but the majority of us still have less than 10 board seats at any time and tend to go pretty deep so the result is that we care deeply about where we commit our time. Was there consumer demand? No brainer. It was impressive.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Berkonomics

MARCH 15, 2012

Professional investors will probe these five risk areas and make the decision to invest based upon comfort with each. This risk can be mitigated by finding a customer willing to purchase as soon as a proven model is completed, and willing to state this in writing.

Outsource Development 200

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 200

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

The main thrust of the post is that with YouTube taking a 45% of revenue and talent taking 70% of the remaining revenue, YouTube Networks didn’t have sustainable businesses unless they invested heavily in technology as a tool to increase margin and provide defensibility. margin range to more sustainable 50-60% margin businesses.

Company 339

Company Companies Technical Review Content 339

SoCal CTO

MARCH 11, 2013

Yesterday, I was talking to a startup founder about their MVP and they said something that finally got me to write this post: "I have a few investors interested but they want to see a product." Yes, they are happy that you have your product built and that does make it much more investable. Investors demand more than that.

Metrics 264

Metrics Venture Capital News Product 264

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My original thinking from Oct ’09 was, while I didn’t (and still don’t) have a crystal ball I worried that: consumers were over-stretched with debt (and make up 77% of the economy), unemployment would continue to rise, which in turn would drive the stock market south and cut the rate of M&A activity and VC investment even further.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298

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. 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. Others I have not.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2018

If you don’t act in demand, people will subconsciously know you’re not in demand. We have consultants who do research for super big funds who invest in VCs and they have checklists they want you to fill out in order for them to do their work. This is part of a series I’ve been writing on fund raising. Want to read more?

Funding 217

Funding Newsletter Venture Capital Email 217

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. I don’t write about LA but I write from LA. The magic that is Silicon Valley is that every tech entrepreneur who has made a bit of money chooses to “recycle&# it by investing back into the startup community.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 318

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

When I described to people why I initially invested my calls went something like this, “He’s taken kicks to the face for nearly 2 years and is still standing. EcoMom’s metrics improved throughout this process and that’s when I decided to invest. It soon became difficult to manage the many new investment leads.

Startup 293

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 293

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. Yep, Sounds Good. If the pitch sounds good, they are "in."

Angel 217

Angel Technical Review RSS Entrepreneur 217

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2020

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Support organizations are investment banks, similar to the preceding stage.

Resource 171

Resource Startup Organization Incubator 171

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

To hear about the firm's interest in Los Angeles, and Southern California investments in general, we spoke with Fouad ElNaggar , Principal at the firm, to hear about where the firm is nowadays and what kind of investments it is making locally. We can also write checks as large as $35M out of the Omega Fund.

Redpoint 154

Redpoint Southern California Cornerstone OnDemand Invest 154

InfoChachkie

JUNE 4, 2012

Fallacy: Startup ventures tend to evolve, especially after you begin speaking with pesky customers and demanding partners. In addition to paying the consultant, you must invest time to educate them. Your commitments to investors must be significant enough to compel them to write you a check. Fallacy: Yes.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Outsource Ideas Technical Review 272

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).

Startup 381

Startup Media Content Platform 381

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Spark Capital is relatively new to VC (founded in 2005) yet has become one of the hottest new VCs having invested in Twitter, Tumblr, AdMeld, Boxee, KickApps and many more companies. We both felt that the critical reasoning skills and writing skills were critical to our career development. Our guest was Mo Koyfman of Spark Capital.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 16, 2019

All Raise chief executive officer Pam Kostka, who joined the business earlier this year, says demand for an All Raise presence in local geographies continues to increase: “Women are hungry for the support and guidance we provide,” Kostka tells TechCrunch. “I I think the movement is just gathering momentum. “We

Venture Capital 184

Venture Capital Ideas Los Angeles Tool 184

Berkonomics

MARCH 5, 2020

Professional investors will probe these five risk areas and make the decision to invest based upon comfort with each. This risk can be mitigated by finding a customer willing to purchase as soon as a proven model is completed, and willing to state this in writing.

Outsource Development 156

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 156

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

Thus you end up with Demand Media that booms until Google algorithm changes (Panda) changes send it off a cliff along with many other companies overly reliant upon one “place” and one “promotional” method. Simply write a great book? If you have NO network of promotion for your story? Why would somebody do this?

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

Professional investors and even customers invest in people, rather than just a product. 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. Don’t assume titles will convey this information.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

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. Crowdfunding to gauge demand is not recommended, since failed campaigns don’t usually recover later.

Startup 151

Startup Equity Funding Demand 151

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you truly believe that you, your company and your products are exceptional and your company will be valuable then you’re actually doing them a FAVOR by helping them invest in your startup. If you don’t believe in your bones that you’re amazing then it’s no wonder you don’t want to sell them on making the investment.”

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 29, 2023

And with direct traffic making up 71% of Caledly’s total traffic, demand for the scheduling tool is likely to remain strong into 2024. Not only has this helped to raise its profile, it's also allowed them to invest further into their science team, and their cloud-based planning and monitoring tool, Land Tender.

Startup 194

Startup Generative AI Newsletter Tool 194

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. As you can see below, investments have skyrocketed – up 300% since 2009. The Laws of Supply & Demand.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2023

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million-dollar investment before they even have a business plan. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Support organizations are investment banks, similar to the preceding stage.

Startup 122

Startup Funding Organization Incubator 122

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

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. A business plan may be a small investment to get a shot at that opportunity. Writing it down promotes both understanding and commitment.

Technical Review 126

Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 126

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

” I hear it when I visit LPs (the people who invest in VCs) all across the country, “Yeah, I haven’t been out there for a few years but I keep hearing that something is going on there.” He built & IPOd Demand Media. ” Or if you ask the venerable Greg Bettinelli, he’s #LongLA.

Entrepreneur 378

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 378

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

It was a pleasure to write them myself. They would launch quickly and test whether or not there is any demand. Bill doesn’t think you should over invest in them but he does believe in protecting ideas when you have a true invention and many of his companies have done so. Summary notes, as always, provide below.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

It is important to realize that most people who are willing to work for sweat equity are not a) the best, b) in demand, and c) going to put their heart and soul into your project. How To Find A Programmer To Build Your Startup Idea Another option is sweat equity.

CTO Hire 241

CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity Develop 241