Berkonomics

MAY 22, 2014

Bill Payne has been actively involved in angel investing since 1980, funding over 50 companies and mentoring over 100 more. The sale of equity in private companies is regulated by the Securities Act of 1933, which requires that the company either register with the SEC or meet one of several exemptions (Regulation D). By Bill Payne.

Writing 199

Writing Invest Entrepreneur Equity 199

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. Some money out of every investment.

Venture Capital 403

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

The traditional way that this type of financing is offered is what is known as “convertible debt.&# This means that the investment does not have a valuation placed on it. a loan) that is later converted to equity at the time of the next financing. It starts as a debt instrument (e.g.

Startup 290

Startup Funding Venture Capital Pricing 290

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

The trouble is, nobody has an incentive to agree to write the first check. There is simply no reason for the first angel to write you a check until you have the whole round secure, which is why people herd cats. And after you feel they’re bought in intellectually and emotionally you can ask them to make a small investment.

Pricing 294

Pricing Venture Capital Writing Equity 294

Berkonomics

MAY 8, 2014

I am chairman of a company that, as I write this, is twelve years old and has not yet taken a dollar of outside investment. Grant writing takes skill and immense amounts of time. First, here’s a link to my recent TEDx talk, “Smiling at success; laughing at failure.”

Company 166

Company Companies Writing Education 166

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Grade A Entrepreneurs , September 5, 2010 Why Krispy Kreme failed in Australia - Start Up Blog , November 3, 2010 Mellow Johnny’s: Retail Stores as Community Hubs - IDDICTIVE.COM , July 14, 2010 Is crowdfunding an option for my business?

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2011

Chris Dixon is one of my favorite people in tech and writes one of the few blogs I read religiously. Chris then discussed his current approach to angel investing in that he tries to do everything through Founder Collective (FC), unless it is out of the purview of the firm’s investment thesis, then he’ll do it on his own.

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Venture Capital Startup Artificial Inteligence 281

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 6, 2014

Although this approach requires a significant investment of a startup''s time during the early phases of the patent process, it can reduce the overall time you expend on the process, by creating a solid foundation upon which the IP lawyers can draft the legal language. Do not rely on the IP lawyer to coax such vital information from you.

IP 210

IP Patents Journal Equity 210

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

I’m not saying I don’t spend time trying to help entrepreneurs that I am not planning to invest it – anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I do. Don’t get me wrong – I still feel the pressure to ensure that the companies I’ve invested in perform well. I get to choose what I write about.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Matt’s commitment to re-investing in tech startups is reminiscent to this great Fred Wilson post of “recycling capital. &#. Big thank you to Darius Vasefi , of EyeOnJewels for the write up. People want to invest in people they trust – once you’ve made money for someone you can always go back, and even get better pricing.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. I don’t write about LA but I write from LA. The magic that is Silicon Valley is that every tech entrepreneur who has made a bit of money chooses to “recycle&# it by investing back into the startup community.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

When venture capitalists scale back investing activities it can be very swift and leave many companies that are in the process of fund raising hung out to dry. Should VC’s really be impacted by public market valuations when the money that they’re investing today should be for returns in 7-10 years?

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Startup Invest Funding 263

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

When I described to people why I initially invested my calls went something like this, “He’s taken kicks to the face for nearly 2 years and is still standing. EcoMom’s metrics improved throughout this process and that’s when I decided to invest. It soon became difficult to manage the many new investment leads.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

At Upfront, our partners have been fortunate enough to be part of 18 companies that have reached north of $1 billion and the average tenure of an investment that exits at this scale is more than 10 years. 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

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I will write more about this in the next 2 weeks. But this mania to not miss out on the next big thing is driving some investors to pay growth-equity prices for traditional market risk (as in, they’re paying up before it is clear there is product / market fit). So people sell or at least don’t invest. I believe that.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

TechCrunch LA

JULY 19, 2022

Ghost itself closed on a Series A equity round of $13 million, along with $7 million in debt, in June. The investment was led by Union Square Ventures and included participation from Eniac Ventures, Human Capital and Flexport. The equity will go toward hiring more talent to join Ghost’s 25-person team. Syrup Tech bags $6.3M

Product 191

Product Funding Technical Review Equity 191

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2020

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. 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 27, 2013

Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. Each of your angels or seed investors may have 20-30 investments. He is very pleasant when he calls and writes. What Rob wrote in his post is right.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

InfoChachkie

JUNE 4, 2012

In addition to paying the consultant, you must invest time to educate them. In many instances, it is difficult to gain an adequate return on this time investment, as the knowledge transferred is lost once the consultant moves on to their next client. Fallacy: An entrepreneur’s two most precious assets are time and money. Fallacy: Yes.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Outsource Ideas Technical Review 272

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

When to get a lawyer - If you plan to be a venture or angel backed technology company (what I mostly write about) the best time to start meeting and getting to know lawyers is long before you ever start your company. I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. Many people start companies arse backwards.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 15, 2010

I give a sneak peek at a blog post I’m writing on the topic next week. Convertible debt is a loan to the company that doesn’t typically get paid back but rather “converts&# into equity when you raise a larger round at a later date. Google’s investment in Zynga. Finally we covered this weeks deals.

Venture Capital 210

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Southern California 210

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. You are either bought for stock or for equity. When I write quick posts and don’t have much edit time I feel I am often misunderstood or misquoted. Think about it.

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

I believe the process of writing the plan is more valuable than the result, because it forces you to think through all the elements, and make sure they fit together and fit you. Consider the non-cash alternatives, like offering equity instead of cash and bartering for services. Do you have a viable plan?

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Invest Training Ideas 103

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Many MBA programs still cater too much to the needs of large, corporate management jobs or prepare students to enter big consulting companies or investments banks. The idea that the course asks students to write public blog posts is a testament to its more modern teaching style.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2020

In their passion to succeed, too many entrepreneurs treat friends and family investments as “low-hanging” fruit, only to find out later, after a stumble, that the pain of lost relationships is greater than the loss of their beloved startup. Loans are a safer option than equity. Be professional about it.

Funding 123

Funding Startup Equity Venture Capital 123

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

Clearly a startup should consult its lawyer before filing or not filing.But the attorneys I relied on to write this piece told me that they’ve done lots of Section 4(2) deals in the past, and would recommend it to clients who had relatively simple financing agreements (not tranched-out, not too many investors, etc.) Short answer: no.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

When an entrepreneur takes on investors who take equity (i.e. The board is where large equity investors get their representation. I really like it when independent directors write a check into the company. That way somebody who writes $25,000 gets $50,000 worth of stock plus warrants. obviously make an exception.

Startup 187

Startup Writing Venture Capital Oracle 187

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2020

Stegmaier recommends that you start by writing a regular blog, joining a few related campaigns, building a high-quality video, and completing up to a hundred additional lessons before you even launch your own project. Startups need to build a large passionate group of fans before the campaign.

Startup 151

Startup Equity Funding Demand 151

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Why Every Entrepreneur Should Write and 9 Tips To Get Started - OnStartups , September 27, 2010 "The best part of blogging is the people you will meet"- Hugh MacLeod repeating wisdom from Loic Lemeur to me at the Big Pink at 2 am in South Beach after the Future of Web Apps 2008. Why You Should Write. Why You Should Write.

Startup 191

Startup Product Technology Venture Capital 191

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2014

In their passion to succeed, too many entrepreneurs treat friends and family investments as “low-hanging” fruit, only to find out later, after a stumble, that the pain of lost relationships is greater than the loss of their beloved startup. Loans are a safer option than equity. Be professional about it. Don’t be one or create one.

Funding 101

Funding Startup Equity Entrepreneur 101

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 11, 2012

agreeing whether or not to top up a founder’s equity. negotiating with other VCs over who gets to invest how much. As a result I’ve really resisted writing about negotiations. If I forget to write, “Don’t Negotiation Piecemeal” after that then remind me. submitting term sheets.

Pricing 305

Pricing Startup Examples Writing 305

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Spark Capital is relatively new to VC (founded in 2005) yet has become one of the hottest new VCs having invested in Twitter, Tumblr, AdMeld, Boxee, KickApps and many more companies. We both felt that the critical reasoning skills and writing skills were critical to our career development. Our guest was Mo Koyfman of Spark Capital.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you truly believe that you, your company and your products are exceptional and your company will be valuable then you’re actually doing them a FAVOR by helping them invest in your startup. If you don’t believe in your bones that you’re amazing then it’s no wonder you don’t want to sell them on making the investment.”

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 6, 2022

I’ve been writing quite a bit about crypto lately, and this week I dug into a particularly interesting facet of the industry called DAOs. “ Crypto investment starts 2022 with a roar. ” my colleague Aisha notes. Crypto startups are making it easier to build crypto clubs.

Marketing 246

Marketing Newsletter Technical Review News 246

socalTECH

AUGUST 4, 2011

That's important, because it allows marketers to re-invest and give credit to that marketing event, so they can buy more of it and get more customers. It worked so well, in fact, that venture capitalists actually came to visit us, looked at what we had, and wanted to invest because of that technology. Jeff Zwelling.

Startup 210

Startup Marketing Customer Custom 210

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2023

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million-dollar investment before they even have a business plan. 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.

Startup 122

Startup Funding Organization Incubator 122

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. This is at least double the time required for most equity investments, and may be a delay you can’t afford in keeping up with the market and your competitors.

Pricing 100

Pricing Equity Technical Review Research 100