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.&#.

Entrepreneur 384

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 384

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2010

One of things I’ve loved the most about doing now 11 weeks of This Week in VC is a chance to have an hour-long recorded conversation with investors. One of the most difficult things to do as a first time entrepreneur is to get to know the investors you might be working with if you accept money. So how did Mike get into VC?

Venture Capital 230

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Fandango 230

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2013

Based on the final report for 2012 from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), it may appear that IPOs are back as a viable startup exit strategy. For the full year 2012, venture-backed initial public offerings raised $21.5 Identify the right people in the right venture firms.

Venture Capital 101

Venture Capital Startup Capital Seed Funding 101

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2011

I just read the Q1 2011 report from CB Insights , which shows venture capital is back. Sure, there is always some seed funding (10% of overall deal flow), but you can bet that this money goes to entrepreneurs who have been there before and won. Back to VCs, Silicon Valley venture capital firms are still the most active.

Venture Capital 93

Venture Capital Startup Capital Seed Funding 93

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2019

The answer is still the same, but I have learned over the years that there is an etiquette to this process, just like there is for social networking. Business groups like TiE-The Indus Entrepreneurs and EO-Entrepreneurs Organization are places to meet people you can help, as well as people who can help you.

Networking 90

Networking Entrepreneur Social Network Activity 90

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

Today they say its Africa’s largest and fastest growing social networking utility with over 4,000 daily new sign-ups. They also add that LAGbook ranks #2 in the city of Yaba-Lagos, where the social network was incepted, and #37 in the city of Hirtshal, Denmark. What is LAGbook? Why the name? How does LAGbook work?

Social Network 100

Social Network Networking Advertising Startup 100

socalTECH

JULY 7, 2010

One complaint we sometimes hear from venture capitalists visiting Southern California for the first time, is the difficulty of finding experienced entrepreneurs and executives. Have we missed a repeat entrepreneur or company you think ought to be watched? com, and was CEO of Vivendi Universal Net USA.

Southern California 228

Southern California Entrepreneur SoCal Mahalo 228

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

Los Angeles- and Austin-based Moonshots Capital , the venture capital fund led by serial entrepreneur Kelly Perdew, is ramping its investment pace, with the first two formal investments out of its new fund. Moonshots led the $1.4M seed funding in that firm. presidential elections in 2016.

Invest 150

Invest Capital Seed Funding Social Network 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 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.&#.

Entrepreneur 176

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 176

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 28, 2013

The answer is still the same, but I have learned over the years that there is an etiquette to this process, just like there is for social networking. Business groups like TiE-The Indus Entrepreneurs and EO-Entrepreneurs Organization are places to meet people you can help, as well as people who can help you.

Networking 100

Networking Entrepreneur Social Network Activity 100

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

Entrepreneurs can still build big businesses on the outskirts.” David encourages entrepreneurs to stay away from the big tech firms (such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple) because they are hard to compete with. That’s why I say, “ It’s Morning in VC & the Startup World. “ And my fear?

Technical Review 299

Technical Review Venture Capital Yammer Google 299

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2012

I have learned over the years that there is an etiquette to this process, just like there is for social networking. There are other networks that also work, depending on where you are in the world, like Ryze, Plaxo, and Facebook, but setting up an account on MySpace probably won’t help you.

Activity 97

Activity Networking Entrepreneur Startup 97

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

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 16, 2011

It’s easy to think that the wife of a well-known & successful VC ( Fred Wilson ) would have had an easy and storied life of wealth and privilege. That’s why I was so interested in having “ The Gotham Gal &# come on This Week in VC ( video link on YouTube , download iTunes, episode 15) ) and dispel those myths.

Startup 311

Startup Sales Venture Capital Entrepreneur 311

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2021

In startup business plans, a bubble is too many entrepreneurs and too many investors chasing the latest “next big thing,” like Google search engine, Facebook social network, or Amazon e-commerce site. In finance, a bubble is too much money chasing assets, greater asset production and a herd mentality. Marty Zwilling.

Demand 145

Demand Google Commerce Pricing 145

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

…” I’ll write soon on my views of why I believe Instagram took off as a social network and what I think comes next. Instagram happens to be one of the few social networks I regularly use along with Twitter. Maybe you should just close your VC round? Christin goes on. But they are SO FREAKING SLOW.

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2012

Let’s face reality, the angel or VC funding process now takes 4-6 months of almost dedicated effort and time, and usually fails because you don’t yet have a product or customer. Use social networking to start the wave. Equally likely, your first target was wrong, and you will need to adjust. Get traction before funding.

Entrepreneur 92

Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Startup Social Network 92

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 28, 2013

According to Dirk Ahlborn , CEO and co-founder of JumpStartFund,“We believe that every entrepreneur has at least two or three great ideas they would like to see realized but do not have the time or resources to make them a reality.”. Social network for investors.

El Segundo 76

El Segundo Social Network Startup Patents 76

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 5, 2010

And this is my chance to give back to all of those people for whom I don’t have enough time in the week for that “15 minute coffee meeting&# that many people wants with a VC. We have tons of entrepreneurs but our technology community has historically been splintered across town and across industries. Hope to see you!

CalTech 222

CalTech Startup Santa Monica Venture Capital 222

socalTECH

JUNE 11, 2010

For our Insights and Opinions section this Friday morning, we have How to Network in 10 Easy Steps , from angel investor Frank Peters , of the Frank Peters Show. Earlier this week, there was a meetup nearby in Aliso Viejo; Jason Calacanis was the host and he encouraged entrepreneurs to gather in 169 cities around the world, simultaneously.

Tech Coast Angels 145

Tech Coast Angels Networking Sample Venture Capital 145

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC. In most cases if you can’t get a prototype done you’re probably not an entrepreneur. Professional angels / former entrepreneurs / seed funds – In Silicon Valley there are people like Ron Conway, Jeff Clavier, Mike Maples and many more. That’s OK.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

socalTECH

JANUARY 30, 2017

In the world of social networking, there are lots of apps and services which connect you with people you know, but not so many which help you connect with others like you. Is there a need for yet another social networking app? This is the year, according to all the data, where mobile messaging will surpass social.

Startup 100

Startup Social Network Southern California Mobile 100

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 25, 2016

The answer is still the same, but I have learned over the years that there is an etiquette to this process, just like there is for social networking. Business groups like TiE-The Indus Entrepreneurs and EO-Entrepreneurs Organization are places to meet people you can help, as well as people who can help you.

Networking 63

Networking Social Network Activity Entrepreneur 63

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 5, 2016

Too many people think they can become an entrepreneur overnight and establish a real business in a 1-2 year window, but it’s just not realistic. With Shark Tank , The Social Network , and all of these “unicorns” with quick exits and huge payouts, I can understand why the sentiment is skewed. But that’s not how it works.

Venture Capital 40

Venture Capital Social Network Startup Ideas 40

Steve Reich

MARCH 30, 2012

They did it entirely through social networking. Get Angel capital and build a prototype. Then get VC funding, rent a cool space, hire a big team, rebuild and relaunch. TripTrotting recruited thousands of local travel guides for their site. No wonder they just raised $1mm. The rate of change is unbelievable.

Incubator 91

Incubator Web Entrepreneur Santa Barbara 91

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

entrepreneur” and by Forbes as “New York’s Archangel”, David is a former Inc. 500 CEO, serial entrepreneur and the founder of New York Angels. accredited investors in 1,000 angel groups and venture capital funds to. collaborate with over 250,000 entrepreneurs in 95 countries. Steve Jobs or Steve Wozniak?

Startup 189

Startup Sales Ideas Entrepreneur 189

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 16, 2019

The New York-based company was founded last year by Gina Bartasi, a fertility industry vet who previously launched Progyny, a fertility benefit solution for employers, and FertilityAuthority.com, an information platform and social network for people struggling with fertility. Our profit margins are healthy.”

Mobile 167

Mobile Pricing Social Network Los Angeles 167

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 13, 2010

TechZulu is helping the startup community out by listing all the great startup/entrepreneur oriented panels. Jason Cohen, Capital Thought. Bootstrapping advice, entrepreneur, startups. . The step by step story of an entrepreneur’s journey from idea to bootstrap web startup from her vi. Entrepreneurism / Monetization.

Guide 69

Guide Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur 69

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2014

Let’s face reality, the angel or VC funding process now takes 4-6 months of almost dedicated effort and time, and usually fails because you don’t yet have a product or customer. Use social networking to start the wave. business entrepreneur pivot planned iteration startup' Show some traction before funding.

Startup 101

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Network Custom 101

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series about Raising Venture Capital. A few years ago it became fashionable for large VC’s to do seed funding. I told entrepreneurs that it was a bit of a Faustian bargain. If the large VC doesn’t agree to do your A round then you’re in a bit of trouble. What gives?

Seed Funding 283

Seed Funding Venture Capital Funding Software Review 283

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2019

In the entrepreneur world, it’s still a popular misconception that the “idea” is everything. Even though investors, like myself, have long made it clear that we invest in people, not ideas, new venture owners insist on talking about their latest “ million dollar idea ,” rather than their “ million dollar team.”

IBM 87

IBM IBM Ideas Technical Review 87

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2011

Will you get the TechCrunch bump, the tier-1 VC anointment, followed by great PR firm support and then the NY Times or WSJ story that follows? So resume + directionally-correct social graph = goldmine for recruiting, networking and marketing. Not every problem has to be a huge VC-fundable business.

Startup 309

Startup Cloud Computing Venture Capital Marketing 309

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

I invested in LA-based Gogii , one of the fastest growing, most exciting mobile social networking companies you’ve never heard of and maker of a product called textPlus. As you can see – they bring both executive & domain knowledge - which I’m on record as saying gives entrepreneurs “an unfair advantage.&#.

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

One of the great joys of doing the web series This Week in VC every week is that I get to spend time with great people debating the issues of our day including how our industry is evolving as well as insights into how companies got started, got their initial traction and dealt with adversities. Oh, yeah. We then spoke about startups.

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Web Ideas 286

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 28, 2014

Fact: social media is among the top most powerful communication tools today. Pew Internet Project’s research on Social Networking reports that as of January 2014, 74% of online adults use social networking sites. Digital Insights reports in their 2014 Social Media statistics that Facebook has 1.01

Snapchat 82

Snapchat Social Media Social Network Media 82

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

In his quest to better connect with new friends, Alex Capecelatro had a problem: none of the existing social networking sites were really designed to connect people with who you didn't know, and might share your hobbies and interests. Alex Capecelatro: Hyphos is a social discovery platform. Was that funding an angel or VC round?

UCLA 187

UCLA Culver City Startup Social Network 187