Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than early projections and product development. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Now the price is closer to $100, if you are willing to do the work yourself.

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

When I first read Paul Graham’s blog post on “High Resolution&# Financing I read it as a treatise arguing that convertible notes are better than equity. As I’m generally a believer in ‘pricing rounds’ I initially didn’t agree with the premise of the post. Photo credit: D. rings true to me.

Venture Capital 286

Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review Startup 286

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

I would argue that the shut-down of September 2009 was equally severe yet there are signs that this “VC Ice Age” has begun to thaw. But any entrepreneurs raising capital should keep in mind that this opening of the markets could possibly be temporary. Why did the VC markets freeze so quickly? Short answer – yes.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Startup Invest Funding 263

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

The most effective new way of funding startups is to use online sites, like Kickstarter , to request donations, pre-order, get a reward, or even give equity. This source is a major focus these days, due to government initiatives to incent research and development on alternative energy and other technologies.

Tips 104

Tips Startup Technical Review Equity 104

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than early projections and product development. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Now the price is closer to $100, if you are willing to do the work yourself.

Startup 128

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 128

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

If you track the venture capital industry it would be hard to miss the conversation going on this week over AngelList “Syndicates.” My favorite new VC blogger, Hunter Walk, weighed in with some thoughtful comments about how Syndicates might actually pit, “ angel vs. angel.” Bowery Capital).

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 12, 2010

In the technology world there are a few websites that most startups track to keep up with the latest financings, acquisitions, product announcements and gossip: BusinessInsider, TechCrunch, Mashable, GigaOm, etc. In the VC & Private Equity world there’s a small number, too, with one of the most respected being PEHub.

Venture Capital 232

Venture Capital Slides Seed Funding Google 232

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2009

They are usually offered around 0.25% of the companies equity in exchange for their role and I’ve seen many companies hand out a total of 2% to advisers. My main advice to you if you’re considering it is don’t waste much equity on it. The week before your meeting 2 people need to cancel due to travel conflicts.

Startup 306

Startup Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 306

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

” Stay lean and only raise a big round if you DO find product / market fit and which point you want to loosen the belt quickly and raise the capital to do so. .” ” Stay lean and only raise a big round if you DO find product / market fit and which point you want to loosen the belt quickly and raise the capital to do so.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 4, 2014

I think as a tech industry we have bred a culture that places more emphasis on product excellence than managing human behavior. Yet talk with people at Twitter these days and many seem to feel like they are part of a movement – and that doesn’t just come due to product success. Equity for the future?

Startup 340

Startup Technical Review Course Press 340

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I spoke about how Amazon Web Services deserves far more credit for the last 5 years of innovation than it gets credit for and how I believe they spawned the micro-VC category. I said that I felt that Micro-VCs were the most important change in our industry. All of that might be true, but the 2006 price might still be over-valued.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

I was thinking back to a few previous “insider baseball&# blog debates that raged for several weeks: AngelGate (aka Bin38 secret cabal), convertible debt vs. equity, bubble vs. not, and now the AngelList discussion. I would argue that all of the above topics for us VCs are noise. Probably we all have different filters.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

The hottest new way of funding startups is to use online sites, like Kickstarter , to request donations, pre-order, get a reward, or even give equity. This source is a major focus these days, due to government initiatives to incent research and development on alternative energy and other technologies. Join a startup incubator.

Startup 87

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 87

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

I can save tons of development time and I think I can buy it for all equity. I’m doing due diligence on a company of another entrepreneur in LA whose company was apparently doing very well. He has raised (and spent) a ton o’ VC money. I know, I know … technically they can be structured as mergers.

Technical Review 276

Technical Review Startup Press Pricing 276

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

According to a classic Gompers and Lerner study, the challenge is very real, with a majority of new ventures that don't attract investors failing within the first three years. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Bartering technically means exchanging goods or services as a substitute for money.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 105

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

According to a Gompers and Lerner study, the challenge is very real, with 90% of new ventures that don't attract investors failing within the first three years. The hottest new way of funding startups is to use online sites, like Kickstarter , to request donations, pre-order, get a reward, or even give equity (coming soon).

Startup 123

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 123

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

According to a Gompers and Lerner study, the challenge is very real, with a majority of new ventures that don''t attract investors failing within the first three years. The hottest new way of funding startups is to use online sites, like Kickstarter , to request donations, pre-order, get a reward, or even give equity (coming soon).

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Funding Startup Technical Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than early projections and product development. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Now the price is closer to $100, if you are willing to do the work yourself.

Startup 53

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 53

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

The hottest new way of funding startups is to use online sites, like Kickstarter , to request donations, pre-order, get a reward, or even give equity. This source is a major focus these days, due to government initiatives to incent research and development on alternative energy and other technologies. Join a startup incubator.

Develop 70

Develop Development Product Startup 70

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 9, 2014

Perhaps it’s time to raise a round of Venture Capital funding and want a pitch presentation a bit more composed than the dusty Keynote you put together last year for your friends and family round. Due Diligence. Raj was the business guy, but my background was in tech and startups. Marketing & Branding.

Outsource Development 105

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review Outsource 105

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Most of them are completely mundane such as choosing which: bank, office space, 1-year lease vs. 2-year lease, logo, URL, pricing structure or which VC. The technology team disagrees on direction and wants resolutions. There’s a guy in Los Angeles that I met at several tech networking events.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. The United States is now a debtor nation to China and that the bill is about to come due. These are probably the two sites where I've posted the most reviews. One out of ten of Americans are out of work. By doing the job.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Seattle should be the envy of any non Silicon Valley tech community in the country. It really wouldn’t take much to turn a great technology ecosystem into a truly electric one. I need to take some VC meetings. You need to have passionate tech entrepreneurs who want to build businesses locally. Me: “Bullshit.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

My partnership was pretty bearish and scratched our heads a bit at price tags. I spent my days meeting companies, figuring out what areas of the market interested me and trying to get a sense for how VCs thought about fair valuations. Let’s review all of our existing investments. It was a great learning time for me.

Marketing 305

Marketing Venture Capital Funding Technical Review 305