SoCal CTO

JANUARY 18, 2011

I have been through many months with them but because of lack of funds, I spent lot of time doing non-technical work for first 4-5 months, spending time with them on putting pitches for investors, cash flows, budgets, writing business plans, product prototype setups etc. Likely this greatly affects cash vs. equity.

CTO 150

CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity 150

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

Since the beginning of the year, three companies have been acquired by special purpose acquisition vehicles and are on a path to go public, while a third has raised tens of millions from some of the biggest names in private equity investing for its own path to commercial viability. One more deal soon followed.

Company 363

Company Companies Acquisition Equity 363

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2020

The only way an entrepreneur can really dodge this issue is to totally fund the startup with personal funds (bootstrapping). In the interim, there is no market for the shares, and no dividends or interest. That means writing down and signing the terms of the agreement, after making sure everyone understands them.

Funding 123

Funding Startup Equity Venture Capital 123

Berkonomics

APRIL 3, 2014

There are three classes of equity investors for early stage businesses that we have not yet considered. Being located in a distant city greatly reduces the chance of funding success. Email readers, continue here.] With angel groups, you should plan of spending months in the process, from application through funding.

Equity 232

Equity Startup Organization Invest 232

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. People who believe the former believe that you should see the market demand before too many people know you’re “in market.”

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

In reality, crowdfunding has become a major startup funding vehicle, expected to reach $3.62 He points out that the word crowd precedes funding in crowdfunding. Of course, if the campaign does not meet or exceed the funding objective, you get nothing. billion globally by 2030, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Startup 100

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Demand 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

the most counter-intuitive fund-raising advice you’ll ever get I’m about to offer you some fund-raising advice that flies directly in the face of what most conventional wisdom will tell you. Let me start out with my premise: “Data rooms are where fund-raising processes go to die.” I mean, in a real fund-raising process?

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2020

In reality, crowdfunding has become a major startup funding vehicle, expected to reach $114 billion globally by 2021, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. He points out that the word crowd precedes funding in crowdfunding. Of course, if the campaign does not meet or exceed the funding objective, you get nothing.

Startup 151

Startup Equity Funding Demand 151

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2018

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined some time ago from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Sometimes these will ask for 5%-15% of your equity for their support services.

Funding 94

Funding Startup Organization Incubator 94

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

million in funding from Rebecca Minkoff and other unnamed investors. Influencers and creators are small businesses and if you think about all the things that small businesses need these days to succeed, they will be repurposed for the influencer marketing space.”. Last month, the product launched with $1.2

Platform 170

Platform Marketing Tool Venture Capital 170

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2018

Acquiring seed-stage funding is admittedly tough, but a source that I find often overlooked is government grant funding, accessible in the U.S. through Grants.gov , an online directory of more than 1,000 federal grant programs that don’t look for equity or payback. Experts are available to help, but fees are high.

Funding 90

Funding Technical Review Startup Research 90

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2020

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined a long time ago from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Sometimes these will ask for 5%-15% of your equity for their support services.

Resource 171

Resource Startup Organization Incubator 171

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

a loan) that is later converted to equity at the time of the next financing. If no financing happened then this “note&# may not be converted and thus would be senior to the equity of the company in the case of a bankruptcy or asset sale. Maybe the market views this as not worth the price you paid? And it adds up.

Startup 290

Startup Funding Venture Capital Pricing 290

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2014

The only way an entrepreneur can really dodge this issue is to totally fund the startup with personal funds (bootstrapping). In the interim, there is no market for the shares, and no dividends or interest. That means writing down and signing the terms of the agreement, after making sure everyone understands them.

Funding 101

Funding Startup Equity Entrepreneur 101

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

Just as I was getting the swing of things the world shifted beneath my feet and the stock market went into a free fall and venture capital all but shut down for nearly a year. We not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k?—?$15 15 million first checks but we also have three growth funds.

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2018

The only way an entrepreneur can really dodge this issue is to totally fund the startup with personal funds (bootstrapping). In the interim, there is no market for the shares, and no dividends or interest. That means writing down and signing the terms of the agreement, after making sure everyone understands them.

Funding 59

Funding Startup Equity Entrepreneur 59

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

One of the first tough decisions that startup founders have to make is how to allocate or split the equity among co-founders. Another common “failure to start” situation I see is one where the “idea person” insists that the idea is 90% of the value (and 90% of the equity). Expertise can be marketing, technical, financial, or sales.

Equity 91

Equity Startup CTO Hire CTO Coach 91

socalTECH

MAY 25, 2016

Santa Monica-based March Capital Partners (www.marchcp.com) has just announced a brand new, $240M venture investment fund, led by longtime venture investing veterans Jim Armstrong, Sumant Mandal, Gregory Milken and Jamie Montgomery. What is the investment focus for this fund? All of that represents opportunity, as well.

Southern California 113

Southern California Capital Funding Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2013

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined before from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Sometimes these will ask for 5%-15% of your equity for their support services. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Funding Incubator Startup 102

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

And of course we help with business development introductions and with fund raising events. Boards are not appointed to be founder-friendly lapdogs for the 1–3 founders who start companies and usually own the largest equity positions in the company. Often we are asked to get involved in executive-level recruiting.

Startup 217

Startup Technical Review Equity Report 217

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Every investor expects to see some business traction, both before and after a funding event. If you have neither, and choose to approach an investor, you will get no attention, and probably never again get a shot at funding with that investor. These efforts should be started well before you are ready for funding.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2013

I suggest that there are several important questions before assuming that funding is the gate to your success. Here are some key questions to ask yourself, before asking others for money: Do you really need investor funding to make this work? business entrepreneur focus funding startup' Do you have a viable plan? Ask around.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Funding Training Startup 101

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

This will continue while we’re in a tech bull market and I predict will wane when we’re not. I believe some VCs have entered the early-stage market as simply an option on future financing rounds. And of course hedge funds and growth-equity funds can’t resist trying to get earlier-stage exposure again.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Capital Software Startup 296

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

This time by the efforts of Adeo Ressi to introduce a new kind of structure called “ convertible equity.” My initial reaction to Adeo when we spoke was that while it may have solved some issues (debt versus equity) it didn’t solve the ones that I’ve been warning entrepreneurs about most loudly.

Startup 354

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2015

Every investor in your startup, even friends and family, normally expects a share of your company (equity), which means your return for all your effort goes down quickly. After months of preparation, you should expect another six to nine months for reviews and funding cycles. Otherwise find an inexpensive class on grant writing.

Pricing 100

Pricing Equity Technical Review Research 100

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Capitalism is fundamentally about timing, since market competition is about finding opportunities before others. Anyone who has worked in a large company further knows that timing a product launch or a new marketing strategy has more to do with internal politics than reading market forces. When should you start a company?

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 14, 2022

You really need a partner who is complementary, and can tackle the operational roles, like marketing, finance, and sales. I’ll put in the money, if you put in the sweat equity.” Investors routinely decline to fund co-founders who are siblings, or in a romantic relationship. and the answer better not be ambiguous. “We

Startup 140

Startup Satisfaction Writing Entrepreneur 140

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2015

The only way an entrepreneur can really dodge this issue is to totally fund the startup with personal funds (bootstrapping). In the interim, there is no market for the shares, and no dividends or interest. That means writing down and signing the terms of the agreement, after making sure everyone understands them.

Startup 97

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Venture Capital 97

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

What product, market testing have you done so far, if any? Or how are you funding the next few milestones? I'm looking for free (equity only) development, should I contact you? See Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers for more on this. Do I have to write up the overview? Can you help me get funding?

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 264

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

What product, market testing have you done so far, if any? Or how are you funding the next few milestones? I'm looking for free (equity only) development, should I contact you? See Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers for more on this. Do I have to write up the overview? Can you help me get funding?

CTO Hire 259

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

I’m sitting at my computer now at 9.00pm writing this – which is an hour earlier than I normally write (there are about 8 women at my kitchen table having a book club (aka excuse to drink wine & gossip so I’m locked in another room writing. They don’t have market power. I enjoy that.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2012

One of the first tough decisions that startup founders have to make is how to allocate or split the equity among co-founders. Another common “failure to start” situation I see is one where the “idea person” insists that the idea is 90% of the value (and 90% of the equity). Expertise can be marketing, technical, financial, or sales.

Startup 101

Startup Entrepreneur Equity CTO Hire 101

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

The market scope for your solution should be quantified in non-technical terms, with data sourced from professionals in the industry, rather than your own opinion. Providing your product or service free to customers may sound attractive in marketing materials, but you need revenue sources to survive.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

Yesterdays’ equity round of $1.6 CapLinked says the round of funding and new appointment are an advancement in their move to displace the legacy left by Virtual Data Room (VDR) with their intuitive new product for coordinating on complex business deals such as asset sales, financings, and mergers and acquisitions.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Software Review Bertelsmann Technology 88

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

” And even the venerable Fred Wilson weighed in with how people “ leading vs. following ” in funding rounds play different roles and have different skills. If you know, VCs end up writing sizable checks into their own funds, which is important in better aligning interests. So there you have it. Up to a point.

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

Let me start by saying that Clayton is one of the most influential people on my thoughts about markets that led to both the concept behind my first startup and my main theses in investing. In many ways I think general purpose writing & thinking skills are as valuable as math skills. Internationalization of Technology.

Venture Capital 403

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2016

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined some time ago from a funding perspective. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Sometimes these will ask for 5%-15% of your equity for their support services.

Organization 93

Organization Startup Incubator Ideas 93