Berkonomics

JANUARY 6, 2022

First, the marginal exit event: Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event for the early investors, including the entrepreneur or the founders. Most sophisticated investors will take either a promissory note or preferred stock, both of which come before founder or management stock in a sale or liquidation.

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Berkonomics

JANUARY 7, 2021

Think of startups and early stage businesses whose entrepreneurs you know. One: The entrepreneur. First, there is the entrepreneur , the visionary, and force behind the venture from start to finish. That risk deserves reward if there is a profitable sale or even an initial public offering, rare as that event is.

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Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

Those of us in the business of calculating (guessing) this mythical peak in value often make the same mistake as our entrepreneurs. Companies sometime run out of cash in the midst of their increasing success, and often find that sources of loans or investment are not freely flowing at the moment of need. What about those unicorns?

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Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Of course, you will find yourself in opposition to your investors and some of most of your board members if you do this after taking outside investment. I was able to negotiate a “put” of my shares back to the company at 5x my investment. Investors will not be happy and will usually react. A personal experience that relates.

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Berkonomics

APRIL 20, 2023

We have years of real data to call upon: data that impacts both investors and entrepreneurs. Fortune Magazine and Harvard studies Attempting to get to the number of real failures for all startups, not just those with angel group investments, Fortune Magazine published an article claiming that 90% of these startups do fail.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 31, 2023

Every entrepreneur knows that good demand generation marketing is the key to growth these days, but very few have the discipline or know-how to measure return in a world of a thousand tools and techniques. Selecting the right sales channels is one of the first strategic decisions that every startup faces. Lead management performance.

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Berkonomics

MARCH 25, 2012

For those of us who’ve invested in early stage companies, especially technology startups, we have confronted a universal problem. There are many ways to project the value of a company for purposes of pricing an investment, but all rely upon the revenue and profit projections of the entrepreneur as a starting point.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

Or if you’re a VC raising from LPs you have to list all of your deals, your investment value, your carrying value, your multiples, your IRRs, TVPIs, DPIs, etc along with net cashflows plus your previous LPAs. These collective sets of documents form the basis of what somebody looking at investing would call “financial due diligence.”

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Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

Email readers, continue here…] I did forget to tell you that on that day looking into the company’s books I discovered that neither the company nor its founder had filed Federal income tax returns during the three years in business, didn’t I? Our entrepreneur balked at the boldness of that statement. Recovery and success.

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Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 11, 2021

Incremental profits from companies that later sell for three to five times their original value at the time of their investment may be considered great successes for founders but relative failures for VCs, who must hit for the fences with every early-stage investment. Why it’s so personal to me…. first appeared on BERKONOMICS.

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Berkonomics

JANUARY 28, 2021

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked away from deals where the entrepreneur insists on a start-up pre-money valuation that is so high, no angel could expect to make a return upon the investment, even with a reasonable sales price for the company down the road. Here’s the “what.”. And here’s the “why.”.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2022

Too many entrepreneurs don’t know what to do at this point, largely accounting for a disappointing 50 percent of startups that fail in the first five years, according to InvoiceTracker. Others do far too little, assuming the viral effect and word-of-mouth will soon kick in, and sales will suddenly grow exponentially.

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Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media Metrics 134

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 30, 2021

Several times in my investing life, as the final board member making the arrangements to dispose of remaining assets, I have literally been the one to turn out the lights, carry out the documents, books and records to my car, and become the only remaining contact between the failed business and the investors, bankruptcy court, or creditors.

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Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

Most entrepreneurs and managers, when modeling their business operations using a spreadsheet, start with expected revenue by month. Then they calculate cost of sales, and then project their expenses, to find the bottom-line profit or loss each projected month. How planning is done today. One way to think for tomorrow.

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Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). For you who fit that description, nice work. There is a lot to say about retaining control. composed of these investors and management.

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Venture Capital Class Invest Equity 266

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. an investment in your company.

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InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 17, 2012

However, certain questions can be tricky for an entrepreneur to answer. Below are five common questions an entrepreneur will encounter when seeking venture funding. Handled appropriately, these questions provide investors a window into an entrepreneurs’ soul, which minimizes the chances of a future misalignment.

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Entrepreneur Google Invest RSS 253

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 15, 2018

Looking back over an entrepreneur’s journey. As I look back over more than fifty years as an entrepreneur, I can think of the financial focus of my three entrepreneurial businesses as a prime driver in my life during the early stage of each. The rewards of angel investing. The rewards of angel investing.

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InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

You can watch/listen to how John and Kyle turned their email newsletter into an international bestseller in the following 9-minute excerpt from John''s recent talk at UC Santa Barbara. an email) to about 35 people. If you want to be kept informed just send me an email and let me know that you''re in, and that was it.

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Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 8, 2015

Email readers, continue here…] First there comes a sense of relief, knowing that you no longer need to worry over daily cash or threats to your net worth. But what most entrepreneurs fail dramatically at is to celebrate the moment. The do as all good entrepreneurs do. Think about investments and tax efficiency.

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InfoChachkie

JUNE 4, 2012

As an entrepreneur, I helped create companies which achieved two IPOs and two trade sales totaling $385 million. Public relations at a startup is a sales process. Fallacy: An entrepreneur’s two most precious assets are time and money. In addition to paying the consultant, you must invest time to educate them.

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Entrepreneur Outsource Ideas Technical Review 272

Berkonomics

MARCH 9, 2017

We have years of real data to call upon: data that impacts both investors and entrepreneurs. Tech Coast Angels, one of the largest angel groups in the United States, published its data in 2016, showing sixty-eight percent plunging to less than the amount invested. And that is after investment, not after a company’s starting up.

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Startup Statistics Tech Coast Angels Study 266

Berkonomics

JANUARY 13, 2022

Email readers, continue here…] But what about the pause to celebrate? What most entrepreneurs fail dramatically at is to celebrate the moment. Not many founders or entrepreneurs do experience the success of a favorable sale of the business they dreamed would make them rich. Then do as all good entrepreneurs do.

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Writing Entrepreneur .Net Sales 156

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 19, 2009

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. Many entrepreneurs struggle with their setbacks.

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Entrepreneur Startup Slides Seed Funding 288

Berkonomics

APRIL 11, 2019

An entrepreneur pitches using a deck with no slide for competition. Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur come out with that one. That statement has killed more investment deals than almost any other. That statement has killed more investment deals than almost any other. We have no competition.”.

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Competition Slides Research Sales 120

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

One of the most common questions that entrepreneurs who meet me for the first time like to ask is, “Do you miss being an entrepreneur? I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. On Being an Entrepreneur.

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Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 384

InfoChachkie

JULY 21, 2016

The reality television show Shark Tank makes for entertaining content but many of its underlying messages are potentially detrimental to tech entrepreneurs. Thus, emerging entrepreneurs should parse fact from fantasy by watching the show with an experienced business pro. According to David S. Shark Tank Distortions.

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Entrepreneur Entertainment Technical Review Ideas 100

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)? My answer always varies as I examine each deal, sometimes deferring and passing on an investment because of an uneasy feeling about the entrepreneur, even if the business plan seems able to capture the market. This is serious stuff.

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Ideas Summary 120

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)? My answer always varies as I examine each deal, sometimes deferring and passing on an investment because of an uneasy feeling about the entrepreneur, even if the business plan seems able to capture the market. This is serious stuff.

Venture Capital 120

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Ideas Summary 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

This is a very common scenario when entrepreneurs pitch VCs and frankly is a very common scenario when VCs try to raise money from LPs. At night I had a group dinner where I met 6 new entrepreneurs and hung out with some old friends from law firms, banks and other VC funds. I know you emailed me and I emailed you back.

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Software Review Startup Email Conference 381

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 18, 2018

For investors, a subsequent down round at a lower valuation than the last, or an exit opportunity at a loss are all opportunities for the affected stakeholder to show a side that can sometimes shock an entrepreneur or CEO. The chasm between management and employees. Investor loyalty is most tenuous of all.

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Layoffs Class News Email 240

Tech.Co

MAY 31, 2023

Launching and growing a startup is one of the biggest missions an entrepreneur can undertake. Best Cybersecurity Tools for Startups With online attacks costing businesses more and more each year , investing in cybersecurity is no longer optional. Here are some affordable tools designed to keep startups safe.

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Tool Startup Software Review Technical Review 131

InfoChachkie

JULY 16, 2012

In addition, a number of advertisers have invested significant resources into creating libraries of video content which effectively communicate brand and product attributes but are incapable of eliciting a particular action, such as: clicking to a landing page, completing a lead form, or initiating a purchase. Share and Enjoy.

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Customer Custom Entrepreneur Advertising 226

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

If you follow the tech media you would be subject to a lot of narrative biases that are completely off base – and this includes the value of email and phone calls. All the data actually suggests with the growth of mobile, inbound sales calls will double from 30 billion to 60 billion in 3 years (source: Kelsey). THE FULL STORY.

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Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Berkonomics

MAY 22, 2014

Bill Payne has been actively involved in angel investing since 1980, funding over 50 companies and mentoring over 100 more. The sale of equity in private companies is regulated by the Securities Act of 1933, which requires that the company either register with the SEC or meet one of several exemptions (Regulation D). By Bill Payne.

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Writing Invest Entrepreneur Equity 199

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 3, 2014

I’ve seen some smaller retailers execute very innovative strategies, such as posting items for sale on Instagram to the first person who emails them. The post Social Search – What Entrepreneur Needs To Know appeared first on John Greathouse.' Image: Wikipedia. Share and Enjoy.

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Entrepreneur Commerce Sites Social Network 210

Berkonomics

JUNE 12, 2014

First, there is the entrepreneur , the visionary, and force behind the venture from start to finish. Email readers, continue here.] Few entrepreneurs can do it alone, with subordinate hired help and no expert management to share the burdens, skill sets and efforts involved in growing the enterprise.

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Startup Equity Invest Class 214