Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

In other news we announced the closing of $61 million in funding at Maker Studios , which I’ll talk publicly about soon. But as sweet as that success has been (we invested pre-revenue in a small team) today my even more important news was the further expansion of our partner ranks. I wrote about that decision here.

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Invest Venture Capital Startup News 340

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

” It’s the most common refrain I hear from investors and even entrepreneurs these days. I hear it right after people have decided to come by for a few days to “check out what all the fuss is about.” The patents Overture held became known in small circles as Google’s ’361 problem as outlined here.

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 25, 2015

I have written about the deceiving nature of early successes before – in particular in the SaaS or B2B world leading to a phenomenon called “shelfware.” This is why I loved Brad Feld’s recent post about the “ illusion of product / market fit.” ” This, too, is a must read for any entrepreneur.

Product 150

Product Startup Metrics Technical Review 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

This is the second article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). I have talked extensively about “social proof&# in fund raising in the past. Basically, I’m talking about being an angel leader and not follower. I think that’s sloppy.

Invest 288

Invest Angel Web 2.0 SEO 288

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). Most people think that being a successful investor is about finding the right deals and nurturing the teams through the difficult times to come out with a great company. The is even more so the case with big-name VCs.

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Invest Angel Venture Capital Yahoo 280

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? If you’ve taken the roller coaster ride that is a startup – you know what I’m talking about. On Being an Entrepreneur. This post originally appeared on TechCrunch. Long hours.

Entrepreneur 384

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 384

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

I believe the rise in angel investing is here to stay and the professionalization of this class (aka “super angels&# or “micro VC&# ) is a good thing for the VC industry and for entrepreneurs. But I fear that for most angel investors who invest over the long haul angel investing will not be a profitable endeavor.

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Invest Angel Venture Capital Slides 306

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 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: Tenacity. Every entrepreneur starts with an idea that they believe makes sense.

Entrepreneur 291

Entrepreneur Startup Google Yammer 291

socalTECH

OCTOBER 17, 2016

(www.science-inc.com), the startup �studio� led by former MySpace CEO and technology veteran Mike Jones , just saw its third acquisition out of its portfolio this year�the acquisition of FameBit by Google/Youtube. Mike Jones: (chuckles) I think I get the feeling that Google chooses you, and you don't choose them, in a weird way.

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Dollar Shave Club Entrepreneur Startup Google 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 1, 2022

I tell entrepreneurs that Google was an “exception” to all the investment and startup rules, but I’ve always wondered what it takes to be an exception. Here are some lessons from the book that all entrepreneurs should wish they could emulate: Independently outstanding, but complementary founders. It didn’t disappoint me.

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Startup Google Advertising .Net 131

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

Many of the entrepreneurs I advise or invest with spend considerable time on the Internet, keeping up with technology, customers, and competitors, but very few feel the need for an early personal presence. There are dozens of tools available to help you monitor relevant activity, including Social Mention and Google Alerts.

Product 127

Product Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Technical Review 127

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. Much is also about luck and timing.

Entrepreneur 288

Entrepreneur Startup Slides Seed Funding 288

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). I should say that I agree that naive optimism in entrepreneurs can produce higher beta (upside or flops) and that’s good from an investment standpoint if you’re looking for big returns.

Invest 284

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 284

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.

Entrepreneur 253

Entrepreneur Google Invest RSS 253

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 3, 2014

According to Jared Belsky, President, 360i , “We see Search and Social as a 24 hour real-time consumer focus group that helps us stay on top of what consumers care about for our brands. What approach should they be thinking about as they test out Pinterest, Polyvore, Toplist and similar sites? Image: Wikipedia. Share and Enjoy.

Entrepreneur 210

Entrepreneur Commerce Sites Social Network 210

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

She actually IS the prototypical entrepreneur. Just not the kind you would initially read about on TechCrunch. And that’s what I love about her narrative. It represents the great majority of entrepreneurship and eschews the fairytale rags-to-VC-riches stories we so often read about in the press. She never gave up.

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

Bank as well as many startups like Gusto and MakeSpace and innumerable massive clients that weren’t on my approved list of clients I could disclose ;) but we partner with Google, Adobe, Salesforce and many others. We have invested in every round and as a result our ownership has actually gone up over time.

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2022

One of the quickest ways to become an entrepreneur these days is to develop and publish a smartphone app. We don’t hear about the remaining several million apps that are mostly free, and garnering only trivial revenue through advertising. The price of entry can be less than $10,000, so the competition is huge and growing rapidly.

Develop 138

Develop Development Platform Mobile 138

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

I spend a lot of time with startups and thus hear many companies talk about their approach to sales and their interactions with customers. From these meetings you can really tell the leaders that care deeply about their customers and those the look down on them. We were talking about raising money from LPs. ” I cringed.

Customer 341

Customer Custom Venture Capital Software Review 341

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 26, 2017

I tell entrepreneurs that Google was an “exception” to all the investment and startup rules, but I’ve always wondered what it takes to be an exception. Here are some lessons from the book that all entrepreneurs should wish they could emulate: Independently outstanding, but complementary founders. It didn’t disappoint me.

Google 55

Google Advertising .Net Entrepreneur 55

socalTECH

MAY 2, 2013

Despite a growing technology industry here in Southern California, local investors and entrepreneurs tell us there''s still a shortage of local, venture capital. How did the new fund come about? Explain what kinds of investments TenOneTen makes or hopes to make? What''s the best way for entrepreneurs to approach you?

Invest 159

Invest Technology Startup Venture Capital 159

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

I remember it even way back in kindergarden when my Saturday school teacher tried to tell me about Noah and Adam & Eve. While many of my friends bragged about their 5 condos in Florida I kept talking about how the real estate market was in a bubble – their gains an illusion. It has always stood with me.

Invest 299

Invest Angel Technical Review Venture Capital 299

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 21, 2010

One of the investment themes I’ve been focused on in the past 3 years has been Performance-Based Marketing. When I started investing the US advertising market was $300 billion with only 10% of it ($30 billion) of it being online and measurable. But of course Google eventually became the massive winner in this category.

Advertising 284

Advertising Invest RSS CPC 284

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

A few months ago I wrote a post called “ Invest in Lines, Not Dots.&# It was my investment philosophy that observing teams’ performance over time was far more insightful than reacting to how good of a product demo they do, how good they present Powerpoint slides or how great tech blogs say they are. But what about markets?

Entrepreneur 330

Entrepreneur Marketing Venture Capital Hulu 330

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 29, 2010

This is part of my 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. I had to say it. I know I do.

Competition 296

Competition Entrepreneur Startup GRP Partners 296

InfoChachkie

JULY 16, 2012

As noted in YouTubers Come Of Age – Google Scores A Solid Return On Its Video Development Fund , many YouTube personalities are sensitive to the nature of the ads associated with their content. Others shun translucent run-of-site Google ads, because they are distracting and monetize at extremely low rates. Share and Enjoy.

Customer 226

Customer Custom Entrepreneur Advertising 226

InfoChachkie

JUNE 9, 2011

Semantic technology is important… we can aggregate individual lists into the wisdom of crowd aggregations which are more statistically meaningful than one person’s opinion about a topic.”. 5) Google does a great job with indexed search. Google can definitely work complimentary to what we are doing. We get referring site traffic.

Google 264

Google Organic Search Sites Startup 264

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 13, 2013

I tell entrepreneurs that Google was an “exception” to all the investment and startup rules, but I’ve always wondered what it takes to be an exception. Here are some lessons from the book that all entrepreneurs should wish they could emulate: Independently outstanding, but complementary founders. It didn’t disappoint me.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Google Advertising .Net 93

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2012

I tell entrepreneurs that Google was an “exception” to all the investment and startup rules, but I’ve always wondered what it takes to be an exception. Here are some lessons from the book that all entrepreneurs should wish they could emulate: Independently outstanding, but complementary founders. It didn’t disappoint me.

Google 90

Google Advertising Entrepreneur Ideas 90

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

By now you will likely have read Andy Dunn’s scathing post about Venture Capitalists in which he decries the industry’s masses. After all, I am no stranger to the publicly expressing the frustrations of dealing with the downside of this industry as I wrote about in 2006 when I was an entrepreneur. billion in returns.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2022

New entrepreneurs are always looking for a shortcut in getting their venture story and plan across to investors, and closing on the funding they need. Many businesses these days serve both paying and non-paying customers, such as Google and Facebook, who count on millions of non-paying users to attract advertisers, who really pay the bill.

Funding 133

Funding Activity Customer Custom 133

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

Rolf Winkler wrote a piece in the WSJ about A16Z’s returns in which he says they “lag behind Sequoia, Benchmark and Founders Fund.” Scott Kupor of A16Z responded with a comprehensive overview of valuation methodology in a post that while accurate feels more targeted at sophisticated Limited Partners (LPs) who invest in funds.

Venture Capital 264

Venture Capital Invest Funding Competition 264

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

.” Given Len’s affinity for underdogs tackling huge markets, it is not surprising that he would found Chug, a search-oriented startup that is competing with Google. “So much power has ended up in Google’s search box. Basically Google is a TV without a remote control. They are in control.

Google 220

Google Technical Advisors Technical Review Equity 220

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 28, 2011

I tell entrepreneurs that Google was an “exception” to all the investment and startup rules, but I’ve always wondered what it takes to be an exception. Here are some lessons from the book that all entrepreneurs should wish they could emulate: Independently outstanding, but complementary founders. It didn’t disappoint me.

Google 89

Google Advertising Entrepreneur Ideas 89

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

He also talks about the rate of growth and the need to pick targets, measure and question assumptions when you aren’t achieving your objectives. I talked about some of that here. He talks about making things that people want & going after a big enough market. .” But I do wonder about a couple of things: 1.

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review 390

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 19, 2020

Back when we were all trying to figure out the real value of traffic on the web, investors – and acquiring companies – got a bit crazy with metrics used to value acquisitions and investments. And yet, users rave about the service, and spend long durations of time on the site. How about charging by the bite (not byte)?

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Metrics Sites Advertising Web 296

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Saturday, February 17, 2007 About this Blog Ive been thinking about doing a blog with my thoughts on technology and whats happening in the Los Angeles area technology scene for a while, but it was Ben Kuos recent start of a blog that inspired me to actually go ahead and do it. Thanks Ben.

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Blogging CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire 150