Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I was having dinner with a friend last night and we were chatting about venture capital and a bit about what I’ve learned. Today we’re in a world where 10 accelerators are bombarding you with emails to meet their 10-15 companies. If an accelerator is writing you they’re also writing 25 other VCs.

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Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2014

The critical skill is not just your immediate network but the network beyond that you can tap into if you’ve earned the right through nurturing your 1-degree relationships. After my first Tweet with the Notorious mothafucka quote , I thought about my role as a VC and I Tweeted the following. Building Your Network.

Networking 366

Networking Startup CTO Coach Email 366

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

This was the first episode where Jason wasn’t on the show, which gave me the chance to have another VC on the show to discuss deals. Rustic Canyon is an LA-based, but geography-agnostic VC that is currently investing from a $200 million fund. VC Financings: 1. Investors: Google Ventures. 5.0mm in Series B.

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Venture Capital Capital Rustic Canyon Mobile 270

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 19, 2020

So far, Grill has racked up responses from a lot of the roughly 400 investors he’s sent an email to for the initial list he’s putting together. As a corporate venture arm, the firm has to manage the portfolio of investments that are already on its balance sheet.

Venture Capital 135

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Los Angeles 135

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In my previous post, The VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) I wrote about the reasons why the VC market came to a screeching halt in September 2008 and remained largely shut until at least April 2009. There are now signs the VC market has gathered pace meaning it’s a great time to be fund raising.

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Venture Capital Marketing Startup Social Network 255

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 29, 2014

They get pissed off if a senior executive at Google doesn’t take a meeting with them, if people are late to their meetings or if they have emails that are unreturned. The 70% of entrepreneurs that simply can’t get past an un-responded-to email. Well, for starters you need to be a great networker.

Venture Capital 389

Venture Capital Email Startup Conference 389

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2010

One of things I’ve loved the most about doing now 11 weeks of This Week in VC is a chance to have an hour-long recorded conversation with investors. And in my interviews with many VCs I feel that people can watch these and get to know the VC’s as human beings a bit better. So how did Mike get into VC?

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Venture Capital Blogging Startup Fandango 230

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2013

Obviously, a key factor is always the state of the economy and the mood of the venture capital community. According to the Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index® for the First Quarter 2013, the Q1 increase marks three consecutive quarters of positive sentiment among Silicon Valley venture capitalists.

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Venture Capital Capital Startup Funding 95

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2016

My partner Greg Bettinelli (worth following on Twitter) was recently named by The LA Business Journal as the “ Top deal maker in Los Angeles in Venture Capital.” I created an accelerator & mentor network (Launchpad LA). I also noticed that inbound emails were no longer directed at just me. I keynoted.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Journal Invest Santa Monica 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. I just completed an exercise where I went out to hire a new associate for my VC firm, GRP Partners. on all the computers and established a network using Novell.

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2019

I often recommend business networking as the most effective way for a startup founder to find investors, advisors, and even key executive candidates. The answer is still the same, but I have learned over the years that there is an etiquette to this process, just like there is for social networking.

Networking 90

Networking Entrepreneur Social Network Activity 90

Berkonomics

JANUARY 14, 2021

If you seek funds from an organized investment group such as an angel fund, venture capital entity, or even an investment club, the first thing you want to do is to find one person to buy into your vision, become excited by your enthusiasm and be willing to become the internal champion for your fund-raising effort. Find your champion.

Technical Review 156

Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Summary Email 156

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

And it applies to business relationships & networking as much as it does to remuneration in the workplace. I see it on email even more. But less as a complaint and more as advice to younger networkers, the more you invest in relationships the more you will get when you need. Jason Nazar is a master networker.

Venture Capital 407

Venture Capital Press GRP Partners Blogging 407

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

VC's love to talk about their successes. Yet most VC's bury their failures under six feet of denial. In the startup world, the former happens when a VC makes a bad investment, and the latter occurs when they miss a great opportunity. In retrospect, our decision was both perfectly rational and completely lame. > -jeff.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Berkonomics

MAY 15, 2014

Email readers, continue here.] Angel investing today is similar to where venture capital investing was in the mid-1980s. As an example, twenty five years ago, most VCs used common share deal structures. As a result, there is tight agreement today on the form of VC term sheets and definitive investment agreements.

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Venture Capital Examples Invest Conference 228

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2010

But until now, I’ve never seen a study of exactly how that plays out for startup founders for current venture-backed companies, specifically: race, age, experience and the number of founders per company. California (Silicon Valley), New York (NYC), and Massachusetts (Boston) are the places to be in the US for venture capital attention.

Venture Capital 88

Venture Capital Capital Startup Study 88

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. It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. billion email accounts.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 20, 2021

I often recommend business networking as the most effective way for a startup founder to find investors, advisors, and even key executive candidates. The answer is still the same, but I have learned over the years that there is an etiquette to this process, just like there is for social networking.

Entrepreneur 143

Entrepreneur Social Network Activity Networking 143

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

Our profile this morning is with Network Automation , a Los Angeles company competing in the IT automation market. Southern California--despite the lack of huge, name brand firms-- has a significant number of enterprise software companies, of which Network Automation is just one. You are self funded too, we recall.

Networking 214

Networking IBM IBM Pacific Palisades 214

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 8, 2013

Maybe it could work for someone, but I don’t personally know of any examples in which a young company was able to whip up investor interest through a cold email. To new entrepreneurs, this can seem like one of those vicious cycles: “I don’t have any connections to VCs so therefore I can’t make any connections.”. Do Your Research.

Venture Capital 86

Venture Capital Tips Incubator Startup 86

socalTECH

DECEMBER 11, 2019

According to XOKind, its funding round was led by Section 32, and alos included angels Adam D'Angelo, Amir Khosrowshahi, Andreas Quandt, Bob Gunderson, Ishan Mukherjee, Naveen Rao and The Operator Network (Avid Larizadeh Duggan, Chuck Dietrich, Frederic Kerrest and Jacques Kerrest). Nervana Systems was acquired in 2016 by Intel.

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Artificial Inteligence San Diego Seed Funding Social Media 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 24, 2014

For 2 years I interviewed VCs & founders for a show called This Week in VC. Luckily the supremely talented Kyle Taylor joined Upfront Ventures and has helped kick me in the arse to get the show going again. If you want to see any back interviews you can click on that link. Follow @BothsidesTV.

Los Angeles 288

Los Angeles Venture Capital Email Content 288

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 28, 2013

I often recommend business networking as the most effective way for a startup founder to find investors, advisors, and even key executive candidates. The answer is still the same, but I have learned over the years that there is an etiquette to this process, just like there is for social networking. Marty Zwilling.

Networking 100

Networking Entrepreneur Social Network Activity 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 5, 2010

Last week at an angel investor forum I was privileged to meet Stephanie Spong, who is a Principal with EPIC Ventures, an increasingly rare early stage VC firm. Stephanie: I am a venture capitalist currently based out of Santa Fe, New Mexico, with EPIC Ventures. Stephanie: I love building companies. Marty Zwilling.

Venture Capital 65

Venture Capital Capital Entrepreneur Competition 65

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2016

I’ve weighed in on: Email 1 —  How to Get Busy People to Take Action Email 2 —  Etiquette to Email Introductions Email 3 —  Make it Easy for Me to Forward Your Email ! If you want somebody to action email one person and make it clear whom you’re asking. Of course I cc people on emails.

Email 150

Email Course SaaS Tips 150

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 25, 2016

I often recommend business networking as the most effective way for a startup founder to find investors, advisors, and even key executive candidates. The answer is still the same, but I have learned over the years that there is an etiquette to this process, just like there is for social networking.

Networking 63

Networking Social Network Activity Entrepreneur 63

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

My friend and fellow SoCal venture capitalist Peter Lee wrote a post about the different roles within a VC and spent much time on the role of an associate. These are the permanent members of a VC. The process for raising money from a VC is a sales process and as such much of what is taught in enterprise sales can be applied.

Venture Capital 308

Venture Capital Sales Entrepreneur Startup 308

Berkonomics

JUNE 19, 2014

If you seek funds from an organized investment group such as an angel fund, venture capital entity, or even an investment club, the first thing you want to do is to find one person to buy into your vision, become excited by your enthusiasm and be willing to become the internal champion for your fund-raising effort.

Technical Review 207

Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Summary Email 207

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2012

I often recommend business networking as the most effective way for a startup founder to find investors, advisors, and even key executive candidates. I have learned over the years that there is an etiquette to this process, just like there is for social networking. Join and actively participate in local business organizations.

Activity 97

Activity Networking Entrepreneur Startup 97

socalTECH

JULY 12, 2012

Los Angeles-based venture fund Siemer Ventures , the early-stage, venture capital investor run by David Siemer and Eric Manlunas, has funded Tradesparq , the operator of an Asian, B2B marketplace that matches volume buyers and suppliers. Siemer disclosed the investment to its supporters in an email this week.

Funding 133

Funding Social Network Venture Capital Email 133

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2017

As executives we’re all seemingly accessible at any moment to anybody via email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Text. Taking tons of VC meetings is relatively easy but getting 1 or 2 to truly engage is much harder and takes total focus. It’s why sometimes I respond to emails in 5 minutes at other times I go dark for a week at a time.

Activity 297

Activity Blogging Email Startup 297

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 29, 2020

Kleiner Perkins , one of the most storied franchises in venture capital, has already invested much of the $600 million it raised last year and is now going back out to the market to raise its 19th fund, according to multiple sources. — Dan Primack (@danprimack) January 29, 2020.

IBM 164

IBM IBM Venture Capital Invest 164

socalTECH

DECEMBER 16, 2019

For our interview today, we have Noramay Cadena , a Partner at MILA Capital , who spoke to us earlier this year about the venture capital investment firm and what it looks for in entrepreneurs. What is MiLA Capital? The video version of this interview is here. At what stage do you make investments? READ MORE>>.

Capital 100

Capital Invest Venture Capital Entrepreneur 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 13, 2011

I know with a title like that I’m going to subject myself to people thinking I’m just being a grumpy, exclusive VC. Here’s my advice: A got an email from a young, super bright entrepreneur today. He responded by emailing the COO and asking him to lunch. It can be great for second VC meetings.

Venture Capital 397

Venture Capital Startup Email Networking 397

socalTECH

MARCH 20, 2015

Rexter''s software--which runs across mobile platforms, tablets, and PCs--helps consolidate and manage their contacts from across social networking sites and email, and helps users manage those contacts and activities.

Altadena 100

Altadena Class Pasadena Yahoo 100

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2014

I got three calls from another big name, big check VC. For all the things he’s likely known for, he probably hasn’t yet built a strong relationship as an early stage venture investor (he invests often in later-stage deals where he is very respected). My email back to him was a version of. Why am I so lucky?

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Email 333

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

Finally I realized that venture capital and angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Others send investors email and business plans in all uppercase or no punctuation. Of course, previous successes provide more direct evidence of a network of the right people.

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Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 111