Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

I recently got an email from a friend who had been approached by a well known VC. “Hi [entrepreneur], I hope all is well. I’m an investor at [Big Name, Large Fund VC] and recently came across [Your Company]. I know the firm well and I know the entrepreneur & his business well. He’s on a fishing trip.

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InfoChachkie

JULY 7, 2016

The entrepreneur cannot wait to show me their product via a demo. Most entrepreneurs seem confused by my reaction and often say something like: “VCs love demos. You’re the first one I’ve met who didn’t want to see our product.” An interface that is engaging can fool customers into trying a sub-par product.

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Venture Capital Product Software Review Technical Review 176

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

I became a VC 12 years ago in 2007 when the pace of deals was much slower. I had just left Salesforce.com where I was VP, Products, after they had acquired my second startup. It proved to be fortuitous because it allowed me the time & space I needed to get to know tons of founders and VCs and to hone my craft.

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Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

socalTECH

DECEMBER 31, 2018

Editor's note: As we head into the new year, we've been featuring reflections on 2018 from notable investors, entrepreneurs, and others from Southern California's technology community. Here's Marc Averitt of Okapi Venture Capital (www.okapivc.com). You'll be able to browse all of those contributions here.

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Venture Capital Capital Southern California News 113

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?

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Startup Invest 125

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?

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Angel Startup 106

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2022

Every entrepreneur I know is dismayed by the number of friends who approach them with a line such as “I have an even better idea that will change the world, and one of these days I’m going to get around to starting my own business.” Pragmatists create a minimum viable product (MVP), test it in the market and iterate to success.

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Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Knowledge Base 153

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

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.

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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.

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2010

They had received a term sheet from a VC and were wondering whether to work with this firm. I often tell people that raising venture capital is more difficult than getting married. Not so in venture capital. You’re tied at the hip to your VC. But what was the VC like when the chips were down?

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

In the VC insider baseball world a discussion has gone on about “VC platforms” over the past 5 or so years. While firms define platforms differently, let’s just say they are the services that a VC offers outside of investment capital and partner time on boards or providing intros.

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Venture Capital Platform Startup Resource 150

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Certainly, bootstrapping is a preferred method of funding growth if it does not hold back the speed of growth or hobble the quality of product or service to the extent that better-funded competitors can overtake the business. There is a lot to say about retaining control. It is most often a win-win for both you and the strategic partner.

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Venture Capital Startup Class Invest 295

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2011

This is the final part of a 3-part series on the major changes in the structure of the software & the venture capital industries. The result was a massive increase in startups & a whole group of new funding sources: both angels & “micro VCs&#. But … Downsizing Venture Capital.

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Venture Capital Capital Cloud Computing Marketing 289

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “Pitching a VC&# – the outline is here. You’ve pitched several angels and VC’s. Your friends and advisers tell you that this means you need revenue because in this economy VC’s will only fund businesses with revenue. Unfortunately your advisers are wrong.

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Venture Capital Guide Startup Technical Review 309

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 17, 2017

He eventually founded and sold consumer health firm ViSalus to a public company and is now back making investments, in technology companies, as a venture capitalist here at Los Angeles-based HashtagOne (www.hashtagone.com). We want to have startups we can get productive or generating revenue pretty quickly. It's all about leverage.

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review 100

SoCal Tech Calendar

JULY 30, 2020

Monday, August 3, 2020 -- Fixing the Top Fundraising Mistakes Startup Entrepreneurs Make. Join JJ Richa in a fireside chat with Scott Fox, CEO of the OC Startup Council, for a discussion of the top mistakes that early stage entrepreneurs make when pitching their startups for funding. See [link] (more)

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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.

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Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

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. I’m a product geek more than a spreadsheet ninja.

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Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

This is part of my series on Understanding Venture Capital. I’m writing this series because if you better understand how VC firms work you can better target which firms make sense for you to speak with. It in not uncommon to see a VC talk about “total assets under management&# as in “We have $1.5

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Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

entrepreneur Wil Schroter (I am an angel investor in Affordit). I also talked about Virgin Money , a product that I have used to lend friends money in the past. I know the product intimately and it rocks. Assistly’s main competitor is ZenDesk, whom I’m told also has a great product. 2.2mm in Series A.

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Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

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?

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Startup Venture Capital Funding Invest 98

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.

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Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

InfoChachkie

MAY 22, 2012

The same should be true of an entrepreneur who is attempting to secure money from sophisticated investors. The steps outlined below represent an ideal approach to raising capital from sophisticated investors. You might be at Step 2 with one VC and Step 3 with another. Even the most jaded VC cannot resist authentic flattery.

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Venture Capital Capital Research Customer 236

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 15, 2010

We started this week’s show with a Q&A session where I answered viewer questions about fund raising and the VC industry. Heck, stick around and watch me discuss the seed funding debate that is going on right now and what is happening in the VC industry overall. Tags: This Week in Venture Capital. Don’t.

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Southern California 210

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 22, 2019

Exhibitor passes include: - 3 tickets - Table top to display product / service - 4-minute speaking slot at the end of the normal 60- second pitches. There will be plenty of time for networking with the Investor panelists, both before the panel and after the panel at the Cocktail Party! We will have a sign up sheet at the registration table.

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Los Angeles Venture Capital Angel Conference 100

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 20, 2019

Tuesday, March 26, 2019 -- San Diego Fundingpost VC and Angel Investor Conference. Interested in meeting and pitching to early-stage Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists in Southern California? FundingPost has hosted 400 sold-out venture events in 22 cities over the past 18 years.

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San Diego Venture Capital Conference Angel 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 30, 2010

We asked the same five questions of a variety of top technology entrepreneurs, investors, and others, to hear what they're thinking about, and are sharing it here over the next two weeks. This morning, we're sharing the insights of Greg Martin , a venture capitalist at Archer Venture Capital. Stay tuned.

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Venture Capital Capital Rustic Canyon Southern California 234

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.&#.

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Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 384

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. What kind of deals should I be doing?

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Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

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.

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Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Java 297

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 19, 2020

The matchmaking service is designed to save time and energy for entrepreneurs and investors who have to worry about keeping the lights on. “If we can help support entrepreneurs both here in LA and around the country to connect with relevant investors then we’re all going to be better in the long run.”

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Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Los Angeles 135

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 21, 2019

Wednesday, March 27, 2019 -- Orange County Fundingpost VC and Angel Investor Conference. Interested in meeting and pitching to early-stage Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists in Southern California? FundingPost has hosted 400 sold-out venture events in 22 cities over the past 18 years.

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Orange County Venture Capital Conference Tech Coast Angels 100

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Jim Semick: I’ve been launching and managing software products for 15 years now, going back to when you and I worked together at Expertcity before it was acquired by Citrix. I have always worked on early stage products. Some of the products I’ve helped validate and launch include GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting and AppFolio.

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 21, 2012

Wednesday, June 27, 2012 -- 2012 Venture Capital and New Media Summit. Variety is pleased to announce the return of its Venture Capital and New Media Summit on June 27 at the Sofitel Hotel in Los Angeles. See [link] (more)

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Venture Capital Media Capital Entertainment 113

socalTECH

MAY 2, 2014

In a bid to boost the Los Angeles economy and create new jobs in the city, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Friday that he has created a new "Entrepreneur-in-Residence" program, which will help the city in developing initiatives and policies aimed at growing, assisting and sustaining entrepreneurs in Los Angeles. READ MORE>>.

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