socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2019

With Startup Boost, we had dozens of investors, service providers, successful entrepreneurs, and major industry leaders (including Microsoft, Google, Softbank, REME, and TechStars) coalesce around our initiative to help early stage companies get to the next level. AIs continued growth is something I will be keeping my eye on in 2019.

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Software Review Startup Coach 157

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

For a high-volume seed fund that adds many portfolio companies every year (such as our friends at 500 Startups who invest in over 100 distinct companies annually), the cost of a bad affirmative decision (a false positive) is quite low, since it accounts for a relatively small portion of their total fund. It's Me, Not You.

Venture Capital 181

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 181

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Looking ahead at the next decade I am excited by what I believe will be viewed as one of the best and most rational investment periods for venture capital due to seven discrete factors: 1. If you want to understand the details of why this is, I covered it in detail in this post, Understanding Changes in the Software Industry.

Venture Capital 348

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 348

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

But in these years I learned how to sell software – necessity is the mother of all invention. But in our first year of sales (and those were really shitty years to be selling software) we sold $2.1 I learned how to do a pipeline review with sales people without getting bullshitted to. I never built Google.

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Sales Software Review 286

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

Some of the big milestones we did, include a seed round of financing in the fall of 2015, which was led by Upfront Ventures. Today, we help enable returns in-person, but we also provide software for retailers that want to outsource their return portal. What's the biggest piece of advice you'd give to other entrepreneurs?

Training 100

Training Customer Custom Software Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2009

A few years ago it became fashionable for large VC’s to do seed funding. With open source software (LAMP stack) and cloud computing infrastructure it just wasn’t that expensive to get your company going and founders just wanted to raise less money. I told entrepreneurs that it was a bit of a Faustian bargain.

Seed Funding 283

Seed Funding Venture Capital Funding Software Review 283

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

In a world where the economy only heads in one direction (read: 2009-2014) most investors & entrepreneurs forget to pay attention to gross burn. This is why investors really like SaaS software companies where you have recurring revenue and your largest customer accounts for < 5% of your revenue and your renewals rates are > 90%.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

Well … I have had many late nights and I really didn’t contemplate writing many blog postings this month because I spent November in this interesting venture capital / fund raising dance involving lots of late night sessions reviewing legal documents, rewriting business plans and preparing for pitches. Folksonomy. Free product.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

I’m a software guy so I’m sure there are cases where building isn’t feasible. In most cases if you can’t get a prototype done you’re probably not an entrepreneur. Surround yourself with great advisors or other entrepreneurs. Most people are not entrepreneurs. But for most businesses it is.

Angel 292

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 292

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

As I have pointed out in previous posts , 91% of VCs surveyed believe prices are declining (30% believe substantially) and 77% believe that funding will take longer than it has in the past. I’m surprised how few entrepreneurs have this open conversation with their investors. Wouldn’t you rather know where you stand?

Startup 150

Startup Capital Funding Invest 150

socalTECH

JUNE 23, 2021

Alex Nocifera: We're lucky in that we have LA's best seed funds. Where are you now as a company, understanding that lots of things have changed due to this pandemic? The one thing the investors I mentioned all the way through-is they have put a lot of trust into me as an entrepreneur, and they trusted me.

Marketing 113

Marketing Los Angeles Zag Startup 113

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , July 11, 2010 I just reviewed several hundred startup pitches for Capital Factory. Wannabe entrepreneur symptoms and cures - Gabriel Weinberg , July 25, 2010 I was once a wannabe entrepreneur. You're probably making a lot of these errors too.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217