TechCrunch LA

MAY 23, 2019

The Los Angeles ecosystem is $76 million stronger today as Fika Ventures , a seed-stage venture capital firm, announces its sophomore investment fund. The pair raised $41 million for the debut effort, opting to nearly double that number the second time around as a means to participate in more follow-on fundings.

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Funding Startup Seed Funding Los Angeles 218

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2022

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over twice as many companies, according to a classic Crunchbase article. Here are a couple of concerns and possible negatives to avoid: More startups left in the funding gap.

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Guide Venture Capital Funding Class 136

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

Fund raising. But it’s critical for your business, for you as a leader and people who excel at fund raising have an extreme advantage over those who do not. As a VC I also have to fund raise every three years and these posts 100% apply to VCs raising money, too. Let me give you an example. Below is the outline Upfront.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 26, 2022

For example, Bill Gates founded and grew Microsoft, and Michael Dell built a great technology company, both with no outside funding until they went successful enough to go public years later and sell shares to common stockholders. Investors will become the toughest boss you ever had. It also may just mean taking less money later.

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Funding Startup Satisfaction Venture Capital 107

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2021

Some aspiring entrepreneurs are so desperate for funding, or naïve, that they ignore the obvious signs of scams and rip-offs on the Internet, praying for a windfall. Phantom fund investors. Work at home to fund your startup. Cash transfer assistance funding.

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Technical Review Tips Funding Startup 148

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 22, 2020

They don’t realize that according to statistics from Startup.co , almost 60 percent are funded with personal savings and credit, and another 25 percent get their money from friends and family. That leaves only about fifteen percent that actually get their funding from investors, through crowdfunding, banks, angels, and venture capitalists.

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Funding Tips Startup Statistics 173

TechEmpower

JULY 24, 2023

Can you provide specific examples of different types of customers, what they need, and what the system will do for them? How are you funding this? What level of funding do you currently have? What are some examples of similar brands? For example, you might want to offer a discount to a given group to provide incentive.

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Develop Development Technical Review SEO 520

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2019

With the advent and popularity of crowdfunding platforms, including Kickstarter and IndieGoGo , as a winning alternative for funding your new venture, I find that many aspiring entrepreneurs are confused about the need to ever seek a professional angel investor. Consider the need for multiple rounds of funding.

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Funding Startup Platform Examples 119

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 2, 2021

An example would be the now popular notion of consumers sharing underused resources, such as ride sharing (Uber) incenting the businesses of home sharing (Airbnb). Able to integrate principles from disparate domains. The best business solutions are often ones that have principles tried and tested in one domain, and now transferred to another.

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Funding Startup Ideas Resource 152

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2020

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over twice as many companies, according the Crunchbase. Here are a couple of concerns and possible negatives to avoid: More startups left in the funding gap.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Class 125

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

Power Supply , a food startup which provides weekly menus from chefs to local customers for pickup at local locations and gyms, has raised $5M in a seed funding, the company disclosed Wednesday. The funding came from Upfront Ventures.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

If you’re funding the same stuff as everybody else and if you started your activities when the clues were obvious you’re much less likely to drive enormous returns. When Fred Wilson funded Twitter I guarantee you it wasn’t obvious that it was a billion dollar idea. Venture Capital is a tricky industry. Far from it.

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Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

First to market, for example, is not normally a sustainable advantage for startups. For example, “Company A is representative of many who provide commodity solutions in this space.” Startups simply don’t have the resources to keep ahead of large competitors who see initial traction and go after it.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

We are often asked how companies get funded, why VCs make the decisions we make and what we’re looking for in entrepreneurs. I think this is a Seriously great example of how this process works for at least one VC – Upfront Ventures. But I’m guessing the narrative is similar elsewhere. The results?

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Technical Review Funding Startup Screening 373

socalTECH

DECEMBER 28, 2016

Today's contribution is from Lawrence Ng , serial entrepreneur who, last year, founded OnRamp Fund , a $10 million incubator that invests in early stage startups. Two good examples are children's entertainment company (Spin Master) which launched an AR drone-racing game for the holiday season. It combines innovation and entertainment.

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Funding Southern California Incubator Startup 113

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

For example, professional investors put great priority on your previous experience in building a business, and they expect to own a portion of the business equity and control for the funds they do provide. An example would be negotiating free office space by agreeing to support the computer systems for all the other office tenants.

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Funding Startup Equity Examples 107

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

We have significant VC commitments (listed below) – every entering company will get $50,000 in funding, mentorship from top VCs and successful entrepreneurs plus free office space. Of these 19 have received funding (10 have received significant amounts of VC funding) and 5 have been acquired (2 for more than $30 million).

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Venture Capital Funding Startup GRP Partners 287

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

I’m writing this post to explain to entrepreneurs what you should be thinking about in terms of the VC’s you approach and the size and stage of their funds. VC’s often talk about this term as in the total amount of funds EVER raised by that VC. What is a VC fund? What is total assets under management? -

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Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2023

For example, professional investors put great priority on your previous experience in building a business, and they expect to own a portion of the business equity and control for the funds they do provide. An example would be negotiating free office space by agreeing to support the computer systems for all the other office tenants.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2014

For example, professional investors put great priority on your previous experience in building a business, and they expect to own a portion of the business equity and control for the funds they do provide. An example would be negotiating free office space by agreeing to support the computer systems for all the other office tenants.

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Startup Entrepreneur Funding Equity 113

socalTECH

JANUARY 18, 2011

This morning, Pasadena-based Perfect Market (www.perfectmarket.com) announced a new, $9M round of funding for the firm's technology, which is used to help publishers monetize their content. Congrats on funding. For example, we've learned that if you are going to the front page of the LA Times, you're most likely browsing.

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TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

Last year at this time, SpotOn was on the brink of announcing a $60 million Series C funding round at a $625 million valuation. While the Series E capital is primarily funding the acquisition, SpotOn continues to double down on its product and technology. SpotOn raises $125M in a16z-led Series D, triples valuation to $1.875B.

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Technical Review Software Review Invest Acquisition 296

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

I’ve become fond of saying “if I had a dollar for every person who told me just how much they loooooved Kara Nortman, I’d have a 10x fund.” Our industry needs more female leaders and they shouldn’t have to all quit their respective firms and raise their own funds to get a shot at running things. Does This Mean You’re Retiring?

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Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2019

Image via Flickr by ivanpw Some aspiring entrepreneurs are so desperate for funding, or naïve, that they ignore the obvious signs of scams and rip-offs on the Internet, praying for a windfall. Phantom fund investors. Work at home to fund your startup. Cash transfer assistance funding.

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Technical Review Funding Email Entrepreneur 91

socalTECH

DECEMBER 13, 2021

Los Angeles-based Sensible Weather, a new startup which reimburses travelers when bad weather impacts their trips, says it has raised $4M in a seed funding round.

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Arcadia Seed Funding Research Examples 113

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

Very few people fund individuals. Professional angels / former entrepreneurs / seed funds – In Silicon Valley there are people like Ron Conway, Jeff Clavier, Mike Maples and many more. And whenever I needed to round up signatures for future fund raisings it was difficult to track him down / get him to care.

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Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There has been much discussion about VCs doing seed funding in the past year. I’ve written about it myself (Is VC Seed Funding Dead?) and (Is There Really a Signaling Problem with VC Seed Funding?). Knowing What the Seed Funding Policy of your VC is. million of our $200 million fund for seed funding.

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Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Los Angeles-based Signal Sciences (www.signalsciences.com), which develops web application firewall software, just inked a big, $35M series C funding round a few weeks ago, and now has plans to dramatically expand its hiring in Los Angeles. The easiest example is for an online banking system.

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Startup Funding Technical Review Software Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

Even if you work every day in the world of new-venture funding, as I do, the options are confusing, and their meanings seem to change on a regular basis. I challenge any entrepreneur, for example, to define the difference between "seed-stage" and "early-stage" financing. Business accelerator funding.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding 104

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2018

For example, I just read an otherwise impressive business plan last week from a first-timer who asked for $10 million to get started. Shy introverts may be great technologists, but they won’t be entrepreneurs until they learn to respectfully ask for funding, after nurturing relationships, and practicing their elevator pitch.

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Tips Funding Startup Entrepreneur 86

Berkonomics

JUNE 10, 2021

An example to make the point. Take for example, solving key technology problems that prevent a product from shipment, or from scaling to large production. With enough revenues, the young company can more easily raise equity funds, borrow money, hire top talent, and gain valuable publicity.

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Examples Sales Demand Equity 156

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2022

For example, innovative technologists often come up with a new device or app, just because they can, and assume everyone will want one. Investors expect this step to be proven successful before funding. Don’t be hesitant to use focus groups, crowd funding, and personal interviews to quantify interest.

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Ideas Startup Case Study Writing 145

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 25, 2022

Now it’s picking up some funding along with an endorsement Europe to further its growth. The startup has received €50 million (just under $57 million at today’s rates) from the European Investment Bank, the funding arm of the European Union. The funding from the EIB ticks a couple of different boxes for the EU.

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Invest Technology Startup Los Angeles 233

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

The new hot topic for entrepreneurs the last couple of years is crowd funding, which is anticipated to at least supplement, if not replace, the slow and mysterious process of current Angel and venture capital investors. Good-cause crowd funding. Example sites include StartSomeGood and the Facebook Cause page.

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Funding Satisfaction Sites Equity 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2016

Entrepreneurs looking for investor funding often fail to realize that all money comes with strings. For example, if you have watched the Shark Tank TV series, you probably noticed that the Sharks always ask the entrepreneurs for their intended “use of funds.” Funding for founder salaries at this stage is a red flag.

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Funding Startup Invest Entrepreneur 67

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 21, 2021

Welcome Tech , which has built a digital platform aimed at immigrants and their families, has raised $35 million in a Series B funding round co-led by TTV Capital, Owl Ventures and SoftBank Group Corp.’s s SB Opportunity Fund. Welcome aims to differentiate itself from competitors in being a more broad-based platform.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2014

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over 60 times as many companies, according the Center for Venture Research. Here are a couple of concerns and possible negatives to avoid: More startups left in the funding gap.

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Angel Funding Startup Venture Capital 104