Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2014

In my Twitter bio is says that I’m “ looking to invest in passionate entrepreneurs ,” which almost sounds like I was just looking for a cliché soundbite to describe myself. Passion is also the featured heavily in nearly every presentation I give to entrepreneurs or on college campuses or in talks with MBA students.

Startup 419

Startup Entrepreneur Design Funding 419

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

I use George Bush vs. Al Gore as allegory and I’ve been using it with entrepreneurs for years to sink in a simple point about how to communicate with the market. Partisan rancor aside, we had just come off a boom decade – especially in tech – and many people at the start of the election thought Al Gore was a shoe in.

Entrepreneur 370

Entrepreneur Startup Press Venture Capital 370

Berkonomics

AUGUST 8, 2024

How to define “success” for a startup? After speaking with many entrepreneurs over the years, each defines success in his or her unique way. Everyone has a vision when starting a business. If not, there are alternatives, such as raising initial capital from friends and family, before leaving the lifeboat of a present job.

Startup 317

Startup Entrepreneur Course Capital 317

InfoChachkie

APRIL 9, 2013

The worlds of standup comedy and business presentations are not as disparate as they may appear at first glance. Comedians are entrepreneurs. In addition, both comedians and entrepreneurs must engage and entertain their demanding audiences. As such, there is much entrepreneurs can learn from their comic brethren.

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Tips Entrepreneur RSS Startup 241

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2010

For the first 5 years of my career I was a “bottom up&# thinker and worker. It was difficult to make the transition to a “top down&# thinker but as a senior executive – and as an entrepreneur – you’re far less effective without this skill in your arsenal. I started by doing billing systems.

Entrepreneur 372

Entrepreneur Startup Design Framework 372

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2010

On why you should be an entrepreneur, “A lot of people do what they have to do. Last night I co-hosted a dinner at Soho House in Los Angeles with some of the most senior people in the media industry with executives from Disney, Fox, Warner, media agencies and many promising tech & media startup CEO’s. He was riveting.

Entrepreneur 356

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

” It’s the most common refrain I hear from investors and even entrepreneurs these days. When you begin to peel back the onion some surprising data presents itself. Let me start with the obvious baseline that most people probably know instinctively: Los Angeles is the 3rd largest technology startup ecosystem in the US.

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Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2012

I recently wrote about the 12 tips to building successful startup communities. I lived in London from 1997-2005 and for 6 of those years ran my startup based out of London. It was a strange contrast for me having grown up in Northern California where failure seemed to be a badge of honor. I remember this lesson well.

Startup 350

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2012

Later today I’m presenting at the annual Rincon Ventures Summit in Santa Barbara. Startup Exits: A Primer from msuster. I speak privately a lot about getting an exit at a startup. We also are going to talk a lot about startups getting exits and ultimately: Companies are bought, not sold. ” That’s b t.

Startup 323

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

But in my experience as an entrepreneur and now spending my time amongst investors I can generalize that almost all VC investments in early stage technology & Internet investments come down to just four key factors. This post was prompted by an email exchange I had with a young entrepreneur. I was interested in learning more.

Startup 360

Startup Venture Capital Invest Slides 360

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2011

tl;dr version: If you’re an entrepreneur or VC or will be working in this industry - buy this. When I first started as a startup CEO in 1999 there were no guides on raising venture capital. Drag along rights? – entrepreneurs never seem to focus on anything other than ownership percentage.

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Guide Blogging 304

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

.&# 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. I felt the exact same way when I was an entrepreneur. Lines vs. Dots is all about people.

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Entrepreneur Marketing Venture Capital Hulu 330

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 29, 2014

One of the hardest things for most entrepreneurs to know is how hard to push in situations where people tell you “no.” ” But then again most entrepreneurs fail. I often describe “chutzpah” as being able to skate right up to the line of acceptability without crossing over it.

Venture Capital 389

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SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

The conversation centered around a founder who's key question is "Where Do I Find a Developer for My Startup?" The situation is pretty common it got us to riff a bit around how to get programmers to help him build out a proof-of-concept version for his startup. Or ask me Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 28, 2010

I grew up in the US but lived in England for so long I can never remember from which country my slang comes. But then I started to see it happening internally. So we (and by we I mean “they&# ) at Accenture decided to come up with our own bull shit. Plus, everyone on Twitter egged me on and then some.

Startup 378

Startup Framework Slides Coach 378

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2013

I’m sure you’ve all heard saying derived from Voltaire, “don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good” which in a way is encapsulated in the lean startup movement and the ideology of shipping a “minimum viable product” (MVP) and then learning from your customer base. Startup Advice'

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Startup Press Product Blogging 371

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 16, 2010

A couple of years ago an entrepreneur had requested a meeting with me to present his business. And that’s why he stood me up! But as a gentleman I would have picked up the phone in advance and personally called the appointment to apologize for cancelling at the last minute – no matter whom I was meeting.

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Startup Conference Century City Email 346

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 6, 2010

The topic I chose to speak about was “lessons on starting a company&# but I created the sub-title in class “a Silicon Valley heresy&# since my goal was to slay many of the myths I believe exist right in the heart of Silicon Valley! I grew up in NorCal and I formerly lived in Palo Alto. I disagree with all three of these.

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Startup Class Blogging Entrepreneur 312

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 17, 2011

I went to undergrad at UCSD, which is not a place known for its Greek institutions and my father grew up in South America and had know idea what a fraternity was. Yet being in a fraternity was one of the most transformative experiences I had in college and prepared me better for becoming an entrepreneur than any class that I took.

Startup 365

Startup Class UCSD Blogging 365

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2012

I recently read Brad Feld’s thought provoking piece encouraging founders to sit on the board of another startup company. I found it thought provoking because I’ve always believed startup founders need extreme focus on only their company to succeed. So I’m going to follow Brad’s advice.

Startup 294

Startup Carson Summary Press 294

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

The conversation centered around a founder who's key question is "Where Do I Find a Developer for My Startup?" The situation is pretty common it got us to riff a bit around how to get programmers to help him build out a proof-of-concept version for his startup. Or ask me Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions.

Guide 296

Guide Startup Mobile Framework 296

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

of all statistics are made up. Here’s how I learned my lesson: I started my life as a consultant. I had to read each report, synthesis it and then come up with our best estimate of the markets going forward. I know it sounds like I’m making this sh*t up but I’m not. I say it deadpanned. OK, yes.

Statistics 415

Statistics Startup Report Research 415

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 7, 2013

The good news for entrepreneurs is that there have never been more office space options for early stage companies. If you use the mentor-driven model that we pioneered at TechStars, you get entrepreneurs who are deeply connected with the broader entrepreneurial landscape. Many Sizes, Many Fits.

Incubator 238

Incubator Startup News Entrepreneur 238

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Huge thank you to Steve De Long for the write up. How did you start blogging? “My In 2004 / 2005 I was starting to get intrigued with user-generated content. was starting. The value of Pitch Decks; Brad’s personal preferences on deal presentation; and Brad’s practice of accepting cold approaches via email.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 18, 2010

The concept comes from a Stephen Covey book called “ First Things First ,&# which is a worthwhile book ( Wikipedia overview here ) but if you haven’t read his seminal book “ 7 Habits of Highly Effective People &# you should start with that. It also applies to other parts of my life such as presentations.

Slides 374

Slides Email Entrepreneur Startup 374

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

He shared a number of witty entrepreneurial insights, including: "Startups are like high school. Note: I am an investor in Brian''s current startup via Rincon Venture Partners.). But the more I started to think about it, I said, well, why the hell not? I mean, that''s what entrepreneurs do every day.

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Startup Yahoo Santa Barbara Slides 223

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). I was telling him that it was much easier when I started because there were fewer deals, life was less public and somehow the world seemed to be spinning more slowly. Web Summit.

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Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2011

I’d like to start by asking each of you to consider helping under-privileged children in America get a little bit more than they have today. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Charles Best , the founder of DonorsChoose.org to talk about his startup. How did he get started? It’s better than zero.

Startup 295

Startup Education Entrepreneur Help 295

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 29, 2023

2023 hasn't been an easy year to be a startup. While the market isn't short of spritely, innovative entrepreneurs, harsh economic headwinds combined with a pullback in investor spending have made it harder than ever for budding businesses to break through. Verifying Looking for regular tech news straight to your inbox?

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

My pal Dave occasionally presents “headline risks” for investors. And so are most startup CEOs for that matter. Many through history became entrepreneurs precisely because they were unemployable. He picks up the phone when he wants to discuss a deal with you. How can anybody do 500 startups?”. But he knows that.

Startup 309

Startup Venture Capital Email Writing 309

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2014

I recently returned from a 5-day visit to Ireland, my first time back in 10 years and the start of what I hope will be a more regular travel schedule there. Suddenly it was a hot ticket and many people started lobbying to get on the next year’s agenda. I thought by now he would have given up on me as a flake. It will not.

Conference 392

Conference Startup Web Truecar 392

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2021

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. There is no crowd of successful entrepreneurs. Successful startups are all about the right people with the right stuff.

Entrepreneur 156

Entrepreneur Tips Funding Startup 156

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2021

The E-Myth (“Entrepreneurial Myth”) is the mistaken belief that most businesses are started by people with tangible business skills, when in fact most are started by “technicians” who know nothing about running a business. Perhaps an innate business savvy is no longer a requirement for starting a successful business.

Technical Review 136

Technical Review Startup Social Media Satisfaction 136

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2021

Innovation is the key to long-term business success, both in startups as well as established organizations. Yet every business and every entrepreneur I know struggles with this challenge, focused on hiring the right people and implementing the right process. Elon Musk recommends this approach. Practice the one-sentence method.

Entrepreneur 158

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Design 158

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

Startups are hard. You join teams that got good write-ups on TechCrunch, have great VCs, have star CEO’s, whatever. We tell startup stories. Our founder, Yves Sisteron, was my mentor and board member at my first startup. Stuart was a co-founder at my first startup company and ended up running global operations.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 10, 2012

When I started my first tech company in 1999 I had pretty good tech chops and had led teams but had very little exposure to many other things that matter in a startup including sales, marketing & business development. Negotiating was a subset of every activity in a startup – it really was a way of life.

Startup 322

Startup Training Outsource Development Design 322

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

A couple of years ago an entrepreneur had requested a meeting with me to present his business. And that’s why he stood me up! “As an entrepreneur myself I COMPLETELY understand that you wouldn’t pass up on the impromptu and opportunistic chance to meet somebody so important to your business. .

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Conference Startup Century City Email 369