Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

Beware of VC Seagulls, who shit on you and then fly away (or worse yet leave you with Red Herrings). I write this post as a warning to pick your VC’s carefully. I like to say to first-time entrepreneurs, picking a VC is more permanent than marriage. I guarantee this is a bad VC. There are many great VCs.

Venture Capital 297

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur 297

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

We have significant VC commitments (listed below) – every entering company will get $50,000 in funding, mentorship from top VCs and successful entrepreneurs plus free office space. Of these 19 have received funding (10 have received significant amounts of VC funding) and 5 have been acquired (2 for more than $30 million).

Venture Capital 287

Venture Capital Funding Startup GRP Partners 287

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 22, 2018

In an attempt to boost diversity and inclusion efforts and civic engagement between the growing technology industry in Los Angeles and the community that surrounds it, over 80 venture capitalists and entrepreneurs joined the city’s mayor, Eric Garcetti, and the non-profit Annenberg Foundation to announce PledgeLA. The landmark.

Los Angeles 249

Los Angeles Angel Entrepreneur Orange County 249

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. Semick: We’re a very metrics driven company, and we have been from the beginning. Of course there are risks.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2015

*. If you are a 20-something tech entrepreneur you could be forgiven for thinking that seed-stage investors, Angellist Syndicates and widely available angel money always existed. Some quick highlights include: The Role of a Seed Stage VC. Jeff and his peer group have done an excellent job at creating a new category of seed-stage VC.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Invest Cloud Computing 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

Product Manager Entrepreneur Mark Geller SEO for Startups Startup Version 1.0 Kevin Federline Search Engine Realistic Entrprenuer's Guide to Venture Capital Time Rich, Time Poor and Apple F2F Still Matters 8 Ways the Internet has Changed Software Marketing. Early Stage Marketing and Branding – Farida Fotouh.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Guide CTO Coach Southern California 150

Xconomy

MARCH 30, 2020

San Diego has long been considered a second-tier primary biopharma hub in terms of number of companies and venture capital raised, falling behind the twin behemoths of Boston-Cambridge and the San Francisco Bay Area on those and other metrics.

San Diego 88

San Diego Metrics Entrepreneur Venture Capital 88

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Generally speaking in venture capital financings the legal documents will specify that only “major investors” (a threshold set in the agreement – which can be $500,000 investor or more). Does he blog about venture capital and try to advise entrepreneurs? Has written a book on venture capital.

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

SoCal CTO

MARCH 9, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Friday, March 9, 2007 Map of VC Investments Found this Map of 2006 VC Investments post. Product Manager Entrepreneur Mark Geller SEO for Startups Startup Version 1.0 Some very interesting graphics including this heat map: Very cool visualization tool!

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Invest Southern California CTO Coach 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He didn’t tell it in the video but, ever the entrepreneur, Scott started a business to take couples up on a “mile high club&# flight on airplanes as a way of getting all of his miles logged to get his next class of airplane license that required a certain number of hours logged. It’s part of what makes him so likable.

Zag 248

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 248

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2010

Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition | For Entrepreneurs , February 2, 2010 Looks at the critical equation around customer acquisition cost vs. customer lifetime value similar to what I discussed in Startup Metrics but in more depth. Great stuff. This post looks at the implementation details of HTML 5 video.

Pricing 150

Pricing Acquisition Customer Custom 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

Or if you’re a VC raising from LPs you have to list all of your deals, your investment value, your carrying value, your multiples, your IRRs, TVPIs, DPIs, etc along with net cashflows plus your previous LPAs. So what does a VC do when he or she isn’t ready to say “no” or perhaps might like to talk with you in a year but not now?

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

SoCal CTO

MARCH 11, 2013

If you do build the MVP and show it to them, they will ask you about your metrics. They really want metrics, not a product. The real question you should be asking is "When I've built this product and show you the following metrics, would you invest?" What The Heck Does “Traction” Really Mean To A VC?

Metrics 264

Metrics Venture Capital News Product 264

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2015

The best part of being an entrepreneur is having the independence to make your own decisions, the flexibility for a better work/life balance, and personal satisfaction from driving change. The road to business success is filled with challenges and frustrations that most aspiring entrepreneurs never even imagined.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Satisfaction Social Media 111

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Draw Your Ideas - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 16, 2010 I saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month. Why Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers. In many of them I get asked similar questions, including the inevitable “what makes a great entrepreneur?” Tesla is not. It's a great talk.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

And that was evident on today’s Angel vs. VC panel. There are real changes in the venture capital industry and it would have been fun to talk about them. The VC industry is segmenting – I have spoken about this many times before. So in the past we needed VC to really get a startup going.

Venture Capital 308

Venture Capital Training Startup Entrepreneur 308

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 22, 2016

I had the honor of moderating a panel of three SaaS CEOs who have collectively raised nearly $40 million of venture capital and are on their way to breakout success: Reed Shaffner of Workpop , Jerry Jao of Retention Science and Ara Mahdessian from ServiceTitan. The Most Important Metric. Such metrics will obviously differ.

Custom 100

Custom Customer Cornerstone OnDemand Metrics 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

Yet as a business advisor I am convinced that making the jump from a startup to a the next unicorn takes a different mindset, and actions most entrepreneurs are reluctant to face. In my experience, here are some of the key elements of that “second-stage” of entrepreneurship: Move from small investors to major venture capital.

Startup 151

Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

I’d like to do a few posts on what life looks like on the way up and perhaps how to keep your head on straight and avoid drinking your own Kool Aid because as I often advise entrepreneurs on irrational exuberance, “ In a strong wind even turkeys can fly.” Create company measures for success that go beyond financial metrics.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2015

Last night I wrote a post about how the fall in the stock market over a 3-day period may affect the venture capital markets. If you’re an entrepreneur or VC who wants somebody else’s view on that you should read it. Mostly because VCs want to wait to see if a “new reality” has set in.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Summary 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Many observers of the venture capital industry have questioned whether its best days are behind it. I can’t help feel a bit of rear-view mirror analysis in all of “VC model is broken” bears in our industry. They are, in fact, great news for traditional venture capitalists. This article originally ran on PEHub.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

socalTECH

AUGUST 31, 2009

Speaking of NextMedium, can you tell us how that worked out, and how you ended up in venture capital? True is really unique, in that it is extremely focused on people and teams, and specifically on entrepreneurs and founders. It's more the stage and entrepreneur. Most recently, that was dMarc, which they sold to Google.

Southern California 164

Southern California Venture Capital Advertising Entrepreneur 164

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

Hamet Watt is a longtime serial entrepreneur, who just recently join LA''s Upfront Ventures (www.upfront.com) as a Venture Partner. Hamet was previously co-founder at bLife and MoviePass, founded NextMedium, and was Entrepreneur-in-Residence with True Ventures, among other experience. Congrats on the new position.

Entrepreneur 191

Entrepreneur Startup Metrics Capital 191

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 25, 2015

” This, too, is a must read for any entrepreneur. I have many investments with early traction and I the entrepreneurs I work with must tire of my constantly saying, “Are we really making a difference? Not vanity metrics. I am obsessed with a topic because it has literally become my job.

Product 150

Product Startup Metrics Technical Review 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

I interviewed Eric for an hour for - This Week in Venture Capital. 3:35 The real entrepreneurs come out during a down economy. 19:30 A teachable moment for entrepreneurs: HAVE A HYPOTHESIS! 44:45 Telling an entrepreneur to focus is like telling a fat person to lose weight. 48:30 Vanity metrics.

Social Media 301

Social Media Startup Metrics Media 301

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. The minute you try to monetize now they have metrics with which to beat you up and say you’re business has limitations.” Your VC is right.

Venture Capital 412

Venture Capital Startup Funding Snapchat 412

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 11, 2015

In this capacity I can tell any entrepreneurs raising early-stage capital that I would have Matt on my short list if I were raising. You hear about the proverbial Silicon Valley VC who cuts bait in tough times and moves on to other, less problematic portfolio companies. He’s committed. NextPlus is in LA. Conclusions?

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Gogii Course Activity 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

VC funding. We love capital efficiency until we love land grabs until we abhor over funding until we get huge payouts and ring the bell for more funding until we attract every non-VC on the planet to invest in startups until it crashes and we start the cycle all over again none the wiser. ” I’m not so sure.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2015

Entrepreneurs could learn about loneliness of success: nobody talks about. Every $10 million financing only puts more pressure on the founders to figure out how to hit the metrics to get to the next milestone and every company that raises $25 million puts a ton of pressure on their 10 competitors who haven’t. Entrepreneurshit.

Press 150

Press Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 150

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

Jackson, CEO and co-founder of CapLinked (www.caplinked.com), which is developing tools to help entrepreneurs and investors connect. Eric is an experienced entrepreneur, and was a very, very early employee at PayPal, where he was recruited by Peter Thiel. Jackson: It's actually two audiences, both the entrepreneur and investor.

Southern California 243

Southern California Entrepreneur Software Review Yammer 243

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

” I mention journalists here because they perpetuate the myth that focusing on profits is ALWAYS the right answer and then I hear many entrepreneurs (and certainly many “normals”) repeating the same mantra. If you have a market lead then raising capital and making investments now will help you as others enter the market.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

socalTECH

JANUARY 2, 2020

Every year, at the end of the year, we share some reflections on the past year from our readers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, sponsors, and others in the local technology community. Today, we share the thoughts of Peter Cowen , Managing Director of Sutton Capital Partners (www.suttoncapitalpartners.com).

Capital 100

Capital SoCal Southern California SaaS 100

socalTECH

JULY 16, 2009

This morning's Insights & Opinions piece comes from Jim Armstrong , Managing Director at Clearstone Venture Partners. Jim is very active helping Southern California's aspiring entrepreneurs, and has been instrumental in helping to promote the technology industry here. On key metrics, send (continued).

Clearstone 100

Clearstone Southern California Metrics Venture Capital 100

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Thursday, March 1, 2007 Entreprenuer Network Great post by Ben Kuo - The Importance of the “Network&# to Entrepreneurs - the informal connections between people in the technology industry here who have a vested interest in helping entrepreneurs take their companies to the next level.

Networking 150

Networking CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

I love the enthusiasm, the boundless energy and the sense of possibility that comes from having an idea that hasn’t yet been beat up in the marketplace of competing ideas, customer contracts, VC skepticism, jaded journalists or fickle consumers who are on the The New, New Thing. It’s the nature of most entrepreneurs, honestly.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Metrics Startup Sales 150

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

We caught back up with Andrew to hear about the company, its expansion plans, and what hes learned as a startup entrepreneur. Andrew Peterson: The lead on this $35M, Series C round was Lead Edge, which is a New York venture capital investor. Tell us a little bit about this round? Andrew Peterson: Youre always learning.

Startup 113

Startup Funding Technical Review Software Review 113

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

” Your VC friends have been egging you on. You know this isn’t likely to lead anywhere and frankly you didn’t quit your job to pursue your life dream of being an entrepreneur to sell 12 months later in an acquihire. The don’t understand VC liquidation preferences or multiple return expectations.

Startup 417

Startup Course Venture Capital Writing 417