socalTECH

JANUARY 16, 2013

One of the big sources of success in Southern California's technology industry has been the rise of a number of serial entrepreneurs, who not only have succeeded once, but a number of times.

Entrepreneur 166

Entrepreneur Southern California Equity Ideas 166

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2010

As startup entrepreneurs we all want to work with them because having their name as reference clients makes it so much easier for marketing, PR, selling to other customers, fund raising and even recruiting. I’ve already made clear that I think raising equity from “strategic money&# is an oxymoron. million in sales.

Startup 298

Startup Sales Slides Metrics 298

Technology Council

SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

Curto, Managing Principal of Tech Coast Equity Group. At a meeting of the Technology Council’s Entrepreneur Society, Brad Leggett, CEO of the sales performance consulting firm The Leggett Group, presented Keys to Winning Sales Teams. By Charles J. Below are some of the key take-aways from his presentation.

Sales 100

Sales Equity Entrepreneur Technology 100

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

November 23, 2010 Entrepreneurs, Using Outsourcing to Obtain Capital Efficiency Needs to be Thought Through to be Effective - Robert Ochtel , June 7, 2010 Teen Entrepreneur, Brian Wong, Youngest Founder to Receive Angel Funding - teenentrepreneurblog.com , October 28, 2010 Build Your Own Silicon Valley?

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 16, 2011

Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed, however, the firm said that private equity firm JMI Equity has provided it funding in support of the transaction. JMI Equity General Partner Peter Arrowsmith and Vice President David Greenberg have joined Resource Nation's board as part of the acquisition.

Resource 178

Resource Southern California Santa Monica Equity 178

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

A great recent example of this was a successful group of entrepreneurs who had created a company that will do $10-12 million in revenue at their system integration business (read: services business) in 2011 after having done $5 million or so in 2010 and $2-3 million in 2009. And stop effing around trying to create a product company.&#.

Services 332

Services Venture Capital IP Startup 332

Berkonomics

JUNE 12, 2014

It is rare when one person starts a company, supplies all the funding, and shares no management tasks or equity with others, and still grows the company to any significant size, worthy of a multi-million dollar opportunity to cash out at exit. First, there is the entrepreneur , the visionary, and force behind the venture from start to finish.

Startup 214

Startup Equity Invest Class 214

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

I’d say about 80% of the experienced entrepreneurs & VCs I know privately agreed with me. Still, I’ll bet that functionally you divide areas of competence like sales & marketing, product, engineering, biz dev, etc. Dilute your cash, equity or both. Naturally some didn’t. But they aren’t the COO.

Startup 292

Startup CTO Hire Sales Email 292

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 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.

Entrepreneur 176

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 176

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. In sales there are also three rules: Qualify, qualify, qualify.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 5, 2011

Mark Cuban is a lifelong serial entrepreneur, launching his startup career with a variety of teenage schemes, including buying and selling collectable stamps to pay for college. I easily could have included 50-comments that provide insight and inspiration to entrepreneurs. Mark’s view of risk is common to most successful entrepreneurs.

Tips 274

Tips Startup Entrepreneur Ideas 274

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

The last thing a new entrepreneur wants to think about for a new startup is how it will end. Yet one of the first things a potential equity investor asks about is your exit strategy. Equity investments are not loans, so there is no loan payback period or interest payments. Find a private equity firm or friendly individual.

Entrepreneur 115

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 115

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2013

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals. Need to spread the risk.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2010

We have many seasoned entrepreneurs who have built successful companies here and made a lot of money for investors and themselves. I like to repeat the mantra, “necessity is the mother of all invention,&# meaning that because investors have this expectation you find entrepreneurs that focus on nearer term monetization.

Company 290

Company Companies Technology Startup 290

Berkonomics

MAY 22, 2014

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). The entrepreneur may have already raised half or more of the cash required in this round and is eager to top off the round.

Writing 199

Writing Invest Entrepreneur Equity 199

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

There is so much written these days about how to attract investors that most entrepreneurs “assume” they need funding, and don’t even consider a plan for “bootstrapping,” or self-financing their startup. In fact, most of the rich entrepreneurs you know actively turned away early equity proposals. Need to spread the risk.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Technical Review Startup Equity 102

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

a loan) that is later converted to equity at the time of the next financing. If no financing happened then this “note&# may not be converted and thus would be senior to the equity of the company in the case of a bankruptcy or asset sale. So my view is that VCs and entrepreneurs need to make tougher choices.

Startup 290

Startup Funding Venture Capital Pricing 290

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 1, 2009

I was reading one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs, VentureHacks, this weekend and noticed that they are running a long piece on how to pick a co-founder. I advocate treating them like a co-founder in every way except when they join and how much equity they get. Do you understand how to lead a sales process?

Startup 289

Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur Sales 289

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

The problem is that stakeholders, like marketing and sales, don’t know what the latest version of the roadmap is. Greathouse: Having run these groups, I know all about the inherent friction between sales and marketing with regard to lead quality, volume, etc., What advice you can offer entrepreneurs validating their new products?

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

socalTECH

JANUARY 14, 2013

Convetro , the online advertising targeting and optimization technology developer headed by serial entrepreneur Jeff Zwelling, has raised $5M in a Series B funding round, the company said this morning. The firm said the funding came from Bessemer Venture Partners and DAG Ventures, and will go towards sales and marketing.

Santa Monica 147

Santa Monica Advertising Equity Entrepreneur 147

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

If you do a capped note it’s bad for the entrepreneur. Fred, who also wrote his views about convertible debt (significantly more succinctly than I) believes that the price of a single round should be the same for everybody. ” If you remember the three rules of sales : it’s. You can do it with equity & a price.

Pricing 294

Pricing Venture Capital Writing Equity 294

socalTECH

OCTOBER 10, 2012

The firm gave the example of a Pinterest "pin" of a Christmas card, and its tracking that found that a retailer received 6,815 visits and 65 direct sales due to that one "pin". Convertro is trying to better track conversions and visitors, and attribute those to different online advertising and outreach.

Product 145

Product Paid Search Advertising Technical Review 145

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

I get paid (well) for interesting people to come in and tell me how they want to change the world – Being an entrepreneur is like having blinders on. At least for the best entrepreneurs. Some people do the conference circuit too much, get involved in lots of side projects and attend every entrepreneur dinner. I love it.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Berkonomics

JULY 24, 2014

Most entrepreneurs, when starting to model 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. There is a rarely-used twist that makes lots of sense.

Startup 199

Startup Sales Equity Email 199

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

We talked about how business school historically hasn’t positioned entrepreneurs well for success. I wrote about that before in a post about “ whether MBAs are necessary for entrepreneurs. His class reading lists could be a primer for any entrepreneur, not just MBAs. ” No royalty paid until there is revenue.

Venture Capital 403

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2013

Many entrepreneurs I know don’t realize that the language they learned in the corporate world, or even their recent MBA class, won’t get them ahead in the startup world today. As a reality check, try this quick test of your entrepreneur savvy. As a reality check, try this quick test of your entrepreneur savvy. Super-angels.

Entrepreneur 109

Entrepreneur Startup Web Equity 109

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

I often advise startup companies not to try and pin all of your brand equity into an announcement. Give direct feedback to entrepreneurs on their businesses or if we’re not investing why it’s not a fit for us. Hamet is a 3x entrepreneur and also former EIR with True Ventures. A brand is a marathon, not a sprint.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Startup Blogging Platform 324

InfoChachkie

JUNE 11, 2012

For many entrepreneurs, college has little appeal. Academia’s arbitrary, bureaucratic structure, combined with its predominant focus on theoretical issues, causes many entrepreneurs to depart college early. Entrepreneurs are misfits. Others, such as Walt Disney and Richard Branson never even enroll.

Tips 279

Tips Startup Education Entrepreneur 279

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2015

Most aspiring entrepreneurs understand that you can’t build a business if you won’t commit to delivering a product or service, but many are hesitant or refuse to commit to any financial forecasts. Forecast sales-volume expectations. This should always be a “bottoms-up” commitment from your sales team, not your own optimistic guess.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Startup Pricing Sales 102

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2013

Bootstrapping avoids all the cost, pain, and distractions of finding angels or VCs, and allows you to keep control and all your hard-earned equity for yourself. A few years ago I interviewed a serial entrepreneur, Rich Christiansen , who has done almost 30 businesses wholly by bootstrapping. Don’t think about the exit. Marty Zwilling.

Equity 96

Equity Startup Summary Tips 96

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.

Venture Capital 156

Venture Capital Sales Pricing Equity 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2014

Most entrepreneurs think first of bank loans as the primary source of money, only to find out that banks are really the least likely benefactors for startups. She plumbs the range of possibilities she has gained through personal experience as an entrepreneur, and as the “queen of business financing” in the financial industry.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Capital Startup Funding 101

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2014

In addition to being the startup entrepreneur, there are other key roles where Boomers can be a force in driving successful startups, in concert with leaders from Gen-X and Gen-Y: Early-stage Angel investors. Often the Boomer is more willing to work for equity, and easily convinced to step aside when revenues reach that next threshold.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review Report 106

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2014

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup Founders dilemmas in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. You have very little money, and you don’t want to give away your equity. business dilemma entrepreneur founder Noam Wasserman'

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Statistics Equity Satisfaction 107

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 20, 2011

One of the biggest myths I still see in the community of new entrepreneurs is the assumption that “All I need is a good idea, and some investor will give me the big money I need to build the business.” Starting your business with a very low investment is called “bootstrapping,” and these entrepreneurs usually have the most fun.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Startup Examples Equity 93

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2018

Yet crowdfunding is no panacea for hungry entrepreneurs and startups. Crowdfunding may look easy, via popular sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, but their cost in time, effort, and money by entrepreneurs is daunting. In fact, there are many types of crowdfunding, including donations, reward, pre-orders, loans, and equity.

Equity 72

Equity Entrepreneur Statistics Funding 72

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

I recently read a post over on VentureHacks titled, “ Top Ten Reasons Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers &# written by Scott Walker (who blogs on legal issues for entrepreneurs ). You never got around to agreeing exact equity splits but you had many conversations about it. Consider it a sales & marketing expense for them.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318