TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 5, 2022

A few minutes away from downtown Atlanta, Collab Studio ATL describes itself as “a tech-based one-stop shop for content creators, HBCU students and young entrepreneurs to achieve their business goals.” A post shared by Collab Studios (@collabstudiosatl). Image Credits: Robiiiworld (Brandy Merriweather via BStarPR).

Platform 210

Platform Social Media Netflix Content 210

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

Or you know the other one — the one where Snapchat lost $2 billion in just one quarter. I often ask entrepreneurs to consider, “What’s your objective? Do you imagine eventually raising VC and trying to build a faster growing company?” They raised $5 million in venture capital to fund growth. Two-f **g-billion!

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2016

This is a huge moment for Michael Dubin who had the vision, the market genius, the operating chops and the perseverance to prevail even after the venture funding markets had wrongly written off eCommerce as a category. It was a great win for David Pakman and Venrock, an early and large backer of DSC.

Dollar Shave Club 150

Dollar Shave Club Venture Capital News Snapchat 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2014

Last week displayed the best of LA last week for a gala event of all of Upfront’s portfolio companies + the CEOs of many of LA’s top technology companies + 75 VC firms from LA, SF, NY & Boston + 25 LP Funds + the Chairman of Yahoo! We know the perceptions you have of our market from our past. Maker Studios. FullScreen.

Startup 318

Startup Santa Monica Snapchat Yahoo 318

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 28, 2014

There’s Snapchat that uses photos and then instantly disappears after 10 seconds, and then there’s the up-comer, Emojli , that uses tiny cartoonish icons for engagement. Snap Away with Snapchat. Snapchat, founded by Bobby Murphy and Evan Spiegel, boasts of its massive following among kids and teenagers.

Snapchat 82

Snapchat Social Media Social Network Media 82

LATechDigest

MAY 16, 2016

SNAPCHAT Expands into New Offices at Santa Monica Airport ( link ). Upfront VC Defends uBEAM Against Accusations ( link ). THRIVE MARKET Featured on CBS This Morning ( link ). Rhubarb Hosted Entrepreneur Journeys. HYPERLOOP ONE Raises $80M Series B, Launches Test Track ( link ). TRADESY Raises $30M Series C ( link ).

Santa Monica 45

Santa Monica Snapchat Pasadena News 45

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

If you are a super young, well-connected, Stanford CS or EE, worked at Facebook early, have a bit o’ dosh and have VCs chasing you … you are exempt. ” Case in point: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, SnapChat. I know it’s not as sexy as a faster growth rate and a larger round of capital. Your VC is right.

Venture Capital 412

Venture Capital Startup Funding Snapchat 412

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 19, 2013

Josef Gorowitz , Swagbucks (Torrance, online marketing/rewards). Amanda MacNaughton , PromoJam (Glendale, marketing software). Evan Spiegel , SnapChat (Los Angeles, mobile app). event socaltech50 awards entrepreneur entrepreneurship feature dfr2013' Adam Goldenberg , Intelligent Beauty/JustFab (El Segundo, fashion).

Southern California 279

Southern California SoCalTech Dollar Shave Club Santa Monica 279

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

I speak a lot on college campuses and entrepreneur events and amongst the most common things I’m asked to talk about are: What do VCs fund? Do VCs really take risks on ground-breaking ideas any longer or do they just fund businesses once there is proof of traction? How does one come up with the right idea to start a company?

Design 150

Design Ideas Startup Writing 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. With small amounts of money invested (sub $3 million) the risks are reasonably low for most VCs and the consequences of bad decisions or decisions a VC has limited say in is tolerable.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

I rarely talk to any startup entrepreneur or VC who doesn’t feel it and somehow long for simpler times despite the benefits we all enjoy from increased enthusiasm for our sector. For entrepreneurs there’s too much money sloshing around. One needs to be in during bull markets and bear markets.

Software Review 150

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Invest 150

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Phillipe Browning , SnapChat. Gunnar Lovelace and Nick Green , Thrive Market. The socalTECH 50 is aimed at identifying and highlighting the top 50 people in the technology industry here, who are most likely to create the next big thing, produce the next big exit, or influence the industry in a significant way. Chad Billmeyer , Panjo.

SoCalTech 100

SoCalTech Lootcrate Southern California Snapchat 100

socalTECH

MARCH 16, 2017

Earlier this week, Derek Norton , a long time advisor to the media, Internet, and technology industry in Los Angeles, announced a brand new venture capital fund called Watertower Ventures (www.watertowerventures.com). I hate to put us into the pre-seed and seed area, so I am saying literally, first institutional capital.

Invest 145

Invest Funding Capital Startup 145

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2016

Some of the most well-known include Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat, Xiaomi, and Pinterest. What every entrepreneur is asking me these days, is “How do I get to be a unicorn?” The fact is that valuations are largely set by top venture capital investors and financial firms, and they all have their own proprietary formulas for assigning value.

Company 100

Company Companies Startup Statistics 100

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 30, 2016

By now if you follow me on Twitter you probably know that I do near daily “Snapstorms” or a collection of short videos (usually < 5 mins in total) with entrepreneur advice on Snapchat. Here’s a recent one I did on Fund Raising in tough markets. You can follow me on Snapchat at msuster. Snapchat is similar.

Snapchat 150

Snapchat Course Media Venture Capital 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

Whether you are talking to peers, competitors or investors, you as an active entrepreneur will be judged on your familiarity with today’s startup and funding jargon. In that context, I offer you my latest collection of popular investor-to-entrepreneur terms and concepts. Prime examples include Uber, Airbnb and Snapchat.

Startup 57

Startup Software Review Equity Invest 57

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2014

I then got my MBA at University of Chicago so I secretly pull for local entrepreneurs as long as they don’t make me visit in the Winter any more. A few years later they announced $150 million in a funding round at $1 billion+ valuation and are ramping up jobs to secure their market-leading position. Perhaps – who knows?

Company 369

Company Companies Startup Snapchat 369

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

Changes in the Software World & in Venture Capital. But notably you had the following changes: Horizontally scalable computing & storage systems, which meant you required less capital up front for hardware. I don’t need to tell you what else is LA … SnapChat, Whisper, Tinder. Welcome to the future.

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Capital Funding 390

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2017

It’s hard to remember that in 2012 it was still hard for LA VCs to persuade investors into funds that LA was a viable market for great venture capital funds or convince many VCs that LA was a market worth investing dollars into startups. They always ask whether I see this as threatening as Upfront Ventures.

Riot Games 191

Riot Games Los Angeles Technical Review Venture Capital 191

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Most venture capitalists who have been in this business for a long time foresaw this correction and have been talking about it privately for the better part of the last year or two. What is the True Sentiment of VCs? It pains me to see the typical (and predictable) responses on Twitter, “VCs want prices to drop!”

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2015

Crosscut Ventures has just announced their 3rd fund and clocking in at $75 million , which will be focused heavily on Los Angeles – FTW. Like many entrepreneurs, the founders of Crosscut quit their well-paid jobs in the belief that LA’s moment was about to arrive and they spent years on low (sometimes no) salaries to prove it.

News 150

News Funding Venture Capital Dollar Shave Club 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

Many people are too cautious in sales processes and as a result when they present their solutions they end up sounding milquetoast and undifferentiated from anybody else in the market. Let me give you another simple example from my experience as a VC at Upfront Ventures. VCs all say: We are entrepreneur friendly.

Sales 150

Sales SaaS Startup Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 16, 2016

Computer Vison Startup Nanit If you follow me on Snapchat ( msuster ) you might already know that I’ve been looking at and investing in a number of companies in the computer vision space. His co-founder and COO, Andy Berman , made the smart move from being a young VC to becoming an entrepreneur.

Invest 150

Invest Course Startup CTO Hire 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2016

Thus begins Snapchat and why you don’t get it. Snapchat will be used for both like the Internet (and TV) are. I just need to break you of the idea that Snapchat is for one thing – it is not. But since Snapchat uses the frequency above your hearing range it’s nearly impossible to “get” without help.

Snapchat 150

Snapchat Screening Venture Capital Guide 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

And while many of the people bringing you the great applications and infrastructure you now rely on are benevolent, there is of course an inbuilt incentive for these companies to use their scale advantages to continue to dominate the markets they’re in, making it harder for upstarts to compete. It’s Hobbesian economics 101.

Course 280

Course Startup Framework Marketing 280