Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

There has been much discussion in the past few years of the changing structure of the venture capital industry. The rise of “micro VCs” or seed-stage funds. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). On the surface the narratives have been. Why is this?

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2016

For the past few months I’ve been doing nearly daily “Snapstorms” or short videos with startup advice released on Snapchat. Among the most comical things to me in the past few years is just how much it annoys some people that I use Snapchat. Why would a VC do that? I LOVE writing. Snapchat is faster and easier.

Snapchat 200

Snapchat Blogging Venture Capital Writing 200

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.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

” It’s the most common refrain I hear from investors and even entrepreneurs these days. ” I hear it when I visit LPs (the people who invest in VCs) all across the country, “Yeah, I haven’t been out there for a few years but I keep hearing that something is going on there.” for $565 million to Excite.

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2016

In 2008 I started VC blogging. I had blogged when I was an entrepreneur. I went to an industry event where people actually called me self-centered for writing publicly. In 2016 I finally cracked SnapChat with the launch of Discovery. Frankly, it took me 2 years to get my head around SnapChat.

Snapchat 150

Snapchat Product Startup AMA 150

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

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