Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2013

I spent countless hours with VC firms, startups & LPs (the people who invest in VC firms). On my first real day back the first thought I have is that most entrepreneurs don’t manage their VC relationships as well as they could. It’s best to think of your VC partnership as a customer.

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Venture Capital Summary Organization Entrepreneur 309

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2021

Most entrepreneurs I meet are reluctant to disclose anything about their idea to investors before getting a signed confidential disclosure agreement (CDA). Yet I can assure you that people who are paranoid, or want to avoid all risks, won’t be happy as entrepreneurs, so it’s all about balancing the risk-reward scale.

Ideas 159

Ideas Tips Technical Review Patents 159

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. Remember that the goal of an email to a VC or an introduction from a trusted mutual connection is simply to get you the meeting. Almost every idea worthy of funding has 5 amazing teams trying to do the same thing and execution and team determines the winners.

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Venture Capital Slides Email Startup 261

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The typical VC process is as follows: They say there are three rules in property: Location, location, location. The surest sign a fund-raising process has stalled is when you aren’t getting follow-up meetings or hearing from the VC or hearing from friends that they got a phone call or email asking about you. Same with VC.

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Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 13, 2020

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited angel investors. The amounts from angels start as low as $25K, while minimum venture capital amounts usually start in the $2M range. How experienced is your team?

Venture Capital 125

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Startup Invest 125

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2023

Funding for commercial product prototypes is still R&D in the eyes of venture capital investors, but in business areas with large opportunities, this activity will catch the eyes of specialized angel investors. Thus the best entrepreneur strategy for funding is to build solutions, not technology. Marty Zwilling

Resource 102

Resource Ideas Funding Research 102

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2013

He said he wanted to found this company (he had founded a previous company that sold for about $300 million) because he thought the Internet was a big idea. He was interested in a few other big ideas. Dorrian is an entrepreneur. It is Nikolas Tesla pitching a VC firm. Obviously that claim can be placed with VCs, too.

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Venture Capital Rancho Palos Verdes Entrepreneur Ideas 315

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

And I am often approached by entrepreneurs in cities which don’t have a vibrant VC community. Just ask the people of Portland, Seattle, Boulder, Iowa, Princeton, Dallas or countless other cities that don’t have enough venture capital. It’s a goal to help you understand the life of a VC.

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Venture Capital Marketing Santa Barbara Startup 365

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2014

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited Angel investors. The amounts from Angels start as low as $25K, while minimum venture capital amounts usually start in the $2M range. How experienced is your team?

Venture Capital 106

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Angel Startup 106

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 15, 2017

Irvine-based Cie Digital Labs (CDL) said this week that it has named Jim Davis as the company's new Entrepreneur in Residence. Davis previously served at at eBay and Pepsi, and is Managing Partner at early stage venture capital investor Rezven Partners.

Entrepreneur 159

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Ideas Capital 159

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened? It was 1991.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

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. Of course these are great places to network with other investors, meet great entrepreneurs and keep your connections strong with senior execs at larger companies like Yahoo!, Oh, the conferences.

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Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

InfoChachkie

MAY 7, 2012

Although it is tempting to overly intellectualize modern-day venture capital, its underlying construct has been part of human society for thousands of years. Ideas are infinite, and in the absence of competent execution, they are worth nothing. Skilled entrepreneurs bring ideas and money together by building a bridge of trust.

Ideas 251

Ideas Venture Capital Education Entrepreneur 251

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Understanding Venture Capital. I recently wrote a blog post on understanding how the size and age of a venture capital fund might affect you when you’re raising money. I believe these VC funds have suffered some amount of reputation fall out. Let me explain: 1.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Invest 265

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Picking a VC is hard. So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. Most VCs are book smart. VCs should be more of a coach than proscriptively telling you what to do. You want a VC who will spar with you but then STFU and let you get on with things.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

One of the least understood parts of the venture capital industry and venture capital firms is how investment decisions actually get made. You’d be surprised how many firms are “dictator VCs” – even those that don’t formally acknowledge it internally. ” Some firms are collegiate.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Startup Invest 150

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Access to entrepreneurs-in-residence, business mentors. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Class Startup Resource 110

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 24, 2017

For this morning's Insights and Opinions section, where we feature the contributions of our readers, we have an article from Wiliam Hsu , co-founder and managing partner of Mucker Capital (www.muckercapital.com). He explains all the ways VCs say "no" without actually using the word "no". READ MORE>>.

Guide 147

Guide Venture Capital Invest Ideas 147

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

One of the questions I’m most often asked is, “what’s it like being a VC?&# I’ve been a VC for nearly 3 years now. I always start my answer to this question with, “you’d have to be a pretty big baby to complain about being a VC.&# At least for the best entrepreneurs. That’s true.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 30, 2017

Wednesday, April 5, 2017 -- FundingPost Los Angeles VC and Angel Investor Conference. Join us for this intimate VC and Angel Investor Conference. FundingPost has hosted 300+ sold-out venture events in 23 cities over the past 16 years. Interested in meeting early-stage accredited investors in LA? See [link] (more)

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Venture Capital Conference Angel 100

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 29, 2017

Tuesday, April 4, 2017 -- FundingPost Orange County VC and Angel Investor Conference. Join us for this intimate VC and Angel Investor Conference. FundingPost has hosted 300+ sold-out venture events in 23 cities over the past 16 years. Interested in meeting early-stage accredited investors in Orange County? See [link] (more)

Orange County 100

Orange County Venture Capital Conference Angel 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2023

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited angel investors. The amounts from angels start as low as $25K, while minimum venture capital amounts usually start in the $2M range. How experienced is your team?

Startup 98

Startup Venture Capital Funding Invest 98

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. What kind of deals should I be doing? What stage?

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Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

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’m enjoying being a VC. 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.&#.

Entrepreneur 384

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 384

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. No, the ideas aren’t conflicting. But take prompts from the VC.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2010

I’m not anti VC. But there are a lot of things that become norms in the VC industry that always drove me crazy from entrepreneur’s side of the table. One of them is when VCs say, “I’d like to ‘noodle’ on that for a while.&#. I’d love it if VCs gave more honest and direct feedback.

Entrepreneur 297

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Java 297

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2020

Even if you ignore all the hype around crowdfunding, there can be no doubt that it is a real alternative for entrepreneurs to achieve visibility and funding today. are not for crowdfunding, but actually are matchmaking sites between entrepreneurs and professional investors or banks, or incubators.

Entrepreneur 129

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Satisfaction Equity 129

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

entrepreneur Wil Schroter (I am an angel investor in Affordit). The idea is that in a world in which companies need to deal with customer support requests from Twitter, Facebook, email, phone, IM, etc. Investors: Union Square (lead), Spark Capital (lead). Tags: This Week in Venture Capital VC Industry.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

SoCal Tech Calendar

NOVEMBER 6, 2016

Saturday, November 12, 2016 -- Caltech Entrepreneurs Forum - Biotech. Gordon Binder, Venture Capital investor, former Chairman and CEO of Amgen, and Trustee Emeritus of both Caltech and MIT keynotes the Caltech Entrepreneurs Forum program “Entrepreneurs in a Biotech Age”.

CalTech 100

CalTech Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital 100

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

A young VC liked the idea and took it to his partner meeting. A great entrepreneur and company who were just turned down at a notable LA VC firm. His experience illustrates some great lessons for all of us who are selling an idea: 1) Don't settle for a phone meeting.go What could go wrong? A turndown.

Venture Capital 133

Venture Capital Southern California Ideas Entrepreneur 133

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. My blog linked to Brad Feld’s blog because I was so grateful for his series on term sheets and he was one of the biggest reasons that as a VC I felt compelled to blog. And covered we did.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 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. Entrepreneurs are inherently risk takers.

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital CTO Hire 293

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Greathouse: Your collective experiences have clearly made bootstrapping a viable option for you, more so than might be the case for a typical, younger entrepreneur who needs more direction, doesn’t have cash discipline, etc. Greathouse: How did you come up with the idea for ProductPlan? Semick: It wasn’t our first idea.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

SoCal Tech Calendar

NOVEMBER 11, 2016

Saturday, November 12, 2016 -- Entrepreneurs in a Biotech Moment. Caltech Entrepreneurs Forum. Encouraging the growth and success of technology-based entrepreneurial ventures in Southern California. See https://www.eventbrite.com/e/entrepreneurs-in-a-biotech-moment-tickets-28263542015.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur CalTech Southern California Startup 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 6, 2020

One of the simplest questions I get from aspiring entrepreneurs, and ironically one of the hardest, is “How do I start?” I want to tell them to just start anywhere, but I realize that most have no idea where anywhere is. They just aren’t prepared for the life they want, and are really asking me how to learn to be an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur 137

Entrepreneur Tips Startup Education 137

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2023

Most entrepreneurs I meet are reluctant to disclose anything about their idea to investors before getting a signed confidential disclosure agreement (CDA). Yet I can assure you that people who are paranoid, or want to avoid all risks, won’t be happy as entrepreneurs, so it’s all about balancing the risk-reward scale.

Technical Review 101

Technical Review Patents Ideas Sample 101

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

To see the video of This Week in VC click on this link. What a pleasure that I got to spend an hour talking with both Om Malik (whom I’ve always respected his views) and Paul Jozefak , a venture capital partner at Neuhaus Partners in Germany (and formerly the head of Europe for SAP Ventures).

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Venture Capital Google Web Sites 225