Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Thus, I’m more impressed with entrepreneurs who ask me to review their implementation plan, rather than listen again to their idea. Writing down key parameters will force you solidify the specifics, and mentally commit to them. Present at trade shows and network with your ten-slide pitch to build your following.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I talked about this in the TWiVC video but I didn’t do a good enough job of writing it up in the summary notes in the post. I think the norm in the industry is still to see Powerpoint slides and I wouldn’t hold this against anybody. I’m usually itching to just see what you’ve built. The best policy is to ask.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2010

For extroverted people I recommend that entrepreneurs have an “executive summary&# slide up front that cuts to the chase. Don’t dwell on this slide for ever. If I have an hour with you I want to maximise the time we have a discussion so I want to get through the slides quickly. Most entrepreneurs are.

Slides 358

Slides Venture Capital Startup Summary 358

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

As a startup mentor and investor, I am approached regularly by aspiring entrepreneurs who assert that business plans are a waste of time. They cite sources like the BusinessWeek story, “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ” and this Forbes article. You need funding, and plan to get it from friends and family.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 109

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2016

We caught up with Steve Seigel , the executive producer and one of the stars of the new startup pitch program Hatched (www.hatchedtv.com), to learn more about those areas, as well as how he ended up going from investment banking, to running a healthcare startup here in LA, to hosting a television pitch show.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Invest Competition 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Limited Partners or LPs (the people who invest into VC funds) have taken notice as 2014 is by all accounts the busiest year for LPs since the Great Recession began. Note the full presentation deck with additional slides can be found on SlideShare here or you can simply scroll through it at the bottom of this post.]. Why is this?

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Unless you are a serial entrepreneur with a string of successes behind you, you need a business plan to convince investors that you can build a business out of the dream that has been driving your passion to change the world. Project revenues, costs and investment needs. The details can be added later.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had seen many cycles and decided that since I was going to do it all over again I should write about it. I decided to write about my experience and to be blunt. It became a huge kerfuffle with many VC partners writing to thank me for the post, which exposed those that gave their industry a bad name. And covered we did.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

Rincon is part of the new breed of Seed Stage VCs and with the leadership of Jim Andelman has charted out the most authentic early-stage investment strategy in Southern California. Any SoCal entrepreneur raising early-stage money should put Rincon on their short list. Nowhere is social proof more prevalent than in angel investing.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2. Many (Union Square Ventures, Foundry Group, True Ventures, GRP Partners, Mike Hirshland at Polaris Ventures) do it the right way – we treat it as a normal investment and we don’t have a “options&# strategy with our investment.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

Limited Partners (LPs) who invest in VC funds have continued to pour money into venture – with the market returning to pre-recession levels. I would also point out that with corporates investing in more VC funds and Chinese money looking for stability, it’s entirely possible totally new money enters our system.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Course Marketing 150

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2013

Business Writing for Email. Writing in business is not the same as in an academic environment. The challenge is to communicate your idea in one page, and close the deal quickly without a big slide presentation. Throughout a career lifetime, just think of the return on that investment. Touch-Typing for Dummies.

Class 93

Class Course Writing Slides 93

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2013

I will outline here ten key principles and disciplines that every entrepreneur must understand and practice to minimize surprises and failures in this area: Failure to document cash flow projections is a disaster. They pay just the smallest bills and let the rest slide. entrepreneur surprises startup cash-flow business'

Startup 114

Startup Sales Layoffs Slides 114

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

I spoke a lot about the need for “personal branding” which I plan to write about soon. My mom was an entrepreneur – she was kind of my inspiration for entrepreneurship. It was like nobody would give me any respect and they just saw me as the guy who goes and talks to senior people who does PowerPoint slides.

Startup 337

Startup Entrepreneur Ideas Venture Capital 337

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2016

In the new business world, many entrepreneurs are so excited with large initial orders that they don’t anticipate the cash flow challenges that can quickly kill their startup. Of course, you can’t predict everything, but writing down what you know will identify existing problems sooner, and allow other team members to help.

Startup 64

Startup Sales Layoffs Slides 64

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2012

Business Writing for Email. Writing in business is not the same as in an academic environment. The challenge is to communicate your idea in one page, and close the deal quickly without a big slide presentation. Throughout a career lifetime, just think of the return on that investment. Touch-Typing for Dummies.

Course 97

Course Writing Slides Email 97

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 17, 2020

We’ve worried together about the moral obligation implicit in taking such investments from people so close, even with their promise never to expect a return. There is an exemption from the requirements that these investors be accredited with net worth or income minimums to qualify legally to invest in your company.

Equity 156

Equity Technical Review Class Organization 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

As an advisor to new hardware entrepreneurs, I often hear the myth that a business plan is no longer required to find an investor, if your idea is good enough. What you don’t realize is these famous investors only deal with entrepreneurs who sold their last company for a $100M dollars or more.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

RFP Generators – Another obvious investment area. Each sales person tends to slot in their own slides to win deals or to position things in their own words or style in order to win deals. The process in and of itself was pretty lengthy and at some point I’d like to write about it in more detail.

Sales 296

Sales Pricing Startup Customer 296

Berkonomics

APRIL 3, 2014

First, angel investment groups come in all sizes from a few organized angels to large groups of three hundred or more. Angel groups invest from $250,000 to $1,000,000 or more in qualified investments. You will have to hone your story well, down to fifteen minutes and perhaps fifteen slides in your presentation.

Equity 232

Equity Startup Organization Invest 232

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

So I thought I’d write a piece on how to not suck when you give a presentation. They had slides with moving images and music. If you really get nervous and are afraid you’ll forget your lines have one 3X5 cue card in your hands for each slide. I spoke about this yesterday on Fox Business News.

Startup 362

Startup Twiistup Slides Screening 362

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. My partner, Brian McLoughlin , attends almost all Financial Services conference, makes a number of investments in the space and has relationships across the sector.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2019

In my work with new and aspiring entrepreneurs, I find that most struggle with putting together a written business plan, often pointing out that someone they know started a business without anything written down. This section is especially important if you intend to attract outside investors or strategic partners.

Ideas 126

Ideas Slides Sample Examples 126

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2017

Writing a business plan is hard work, so I get lots of pushback from prospective new venture founders that it’s just a waste of their valuable time in this rapidly changing environment. They all claim to have the plan in their head, and writing it down will only slow down their success.

Writing 71

Writing Startup Slides Entrepreneur 71

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

I have been writing a series on how startup boards get selected, who sits on them and what to avoid. I started this series in part to help entrepreneurs but also to help newer investors because I’ve know with so many new companies you have so many new board members and many people are trying to figure out there respective roles.

Startup 251

Startup Help Technical Review Writing 251

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network) - 500 Hats , November 1, 2010 I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. But I didn’t write it for you; I wrote it for myself. think his slides are great (and by far much easier on the eye then mine.).

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. We’re staring to get the hang of how to divide the show up into talking about deals but also talking about issues for entrepreneurs during funding. Short answer: no.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My advice to entrepreneurs was and is “ when the hors d’oeuvres tray is being passed take two ” (e.g. It eventually closed at 11,204 in April ’10 before sliding back around 10,000 as I sit here and type. VCs have also gone back to writing checks because as an industry we can’t be seen as “sitting on the sidelines” for years at a time.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

As I write these words I’m aware that I could practically change the words AOL and Facebook for much of this section and with a few factual tweaks it might not be noticeable to the reader which of the firms I was talking about. I’m going to write a whole post on BothSid.es They controlled distribution to the masses.

Social Network 318

Social Network Networking Web 2.0 Startup 318

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

- SoCal CTO , January 13, 2010 5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , July 11, 2010 9 Reasons Why Many Smart People Go Nowhere - Life Beyond Code , March 29, 2010 No Accounting For Startups - Steve Blank , February 22, 2010 Startup Advice In Exactly Three Words - #StartupTriplets - OnStartups , January (..)

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378