TechCrunch LA

JULY 2, 2020

From larger fund investors like Mark Suster and Kara Nortman at Upfront Ventures to Dana Settle at Greycroft Partners; to early-stage investors like Will Hsu at Mucker Capital; TX Zhuo at Fika Ventures, the responses were generally upbeat about the future opportunities for Los Angeles startups.

Los Angeles 277

Los Angeles Venture Capital Capital Invest 277

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. The key to getting money is that the people writing the check trust you. Find out who funded them – Contact the management teams.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2022

Most business advisors I know will say that writing a business plan is the first step to starting your own business, but I believe that a better first step is to do a self-analysis of your real drivers, strengths, and assumptions before committing to this lifestyle. Assess your own resources as well as funding sources.

Social Media 105

Social Media Writing Ideas Resource 105

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

B2C Companies We talked about how some companies saw an immediate decline in purchasing (for example if you’re in travel or hospitality). Seed deals, for example, are easier to get funded than a late-stage deal for obvious reasons. Every firm has a different reserve policy but reserves are especially difficult for smaller funds.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Writing 263

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

The first check I wrote was just over 10 years ago into a company called Invoca who just announced a new $56 million in funding led by Scott Hilleboe at HIG Growth Partners. We not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k?—?$15 15 million first checks but we also have three growth funds. Why does that matter?

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. For example, both need to provide exemplary customer service, build customer loyalty, and provide real value for a competitive price. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

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.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

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. That means skip the jargon and include explanations and examples.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while and was going to use AngelList by Nivi & Naval as the basis for my example and the perfect prompt came yesterday when I read Fred Wilson’s blog post on AngelList. So how does this apply to you? From there Rob decided to make a small investment.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

For example, I have a friend with a Ph.D. For example, I often cite the case of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer , who grew Microsoft together. That’s why I caution my aspiring entrepreneur clients against proclaiming to investors that they are a great “idea” person. Don’t assume you can outsource the implementation decisions.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. For example, both need to provide exemplary customer service, build customer loyalty, and provide real value for a competitive price. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

socalTECH

APRIL 8, 2014

Among those funds is TYLT Lab (www.tyltlab.com), which recently announced a new, $20M early stage investment fund specifically focused on companies here. We spoke with Rami Rostami and Gerard Casale , who are behind TYLT Labs, and who told us a bit about their new fund, its investment criteria, and where it sees the promise here.

Seed Funding 220

Seed Funding Santa Monica Funding Startup 220

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

For example, I do business mentoring at nearby Arizona State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Write a business plan and pitch deck for learning. It may seem strange, but I find that entrepreneurs still in school procrastinate less and are less intimidated by the process of writing their plan.

Entrepreneur 157

Entrepreneur Mentor Class Resource 157

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2014

I wrote my version here and Scott wrote an excellent write-up of his views here. We both agree that the later-stage valuations are being driven up to a point that feels irrationally priced [he uses b-round SaaS valuations as an example and I am willing to be even more broad based]. Either way it turned into a heated debate.

Venture Capital 309

Venture Capital SaaS Writing Funding 309

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2016

Here’s an example of a recent Snapstorm on negotiations: https://medium.com/media/ecca992139dedfef9ac6dc1a6afe432e/href So for the people who still don’t get why I’d use Snapchat — in no particular order let me say: I enjoy doing it. I LOVE writing. But writing takes more time and some days I don’t have that. I do these, too.

Snapchat 200

Snapchat Blogging Venture Capital Writing 200

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

Yet, in the interest of full disclosure, and an honest intent to save future entrepreneurs some grief and money, I would remind you that starting any business has key dependencies on at least five major elements, including product design and delivery, the right people on the team, adequate funding, a sizable market opportunity, and marketing.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Examples Customer 131

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2010

This is sad, since “how to write a business plan” is a frequent topic found in every business journal, and a common title in the business section of every book store. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually understand it yourself. What is the definition of a good business plan?

Startup 91

Startup Funding Sample Writing 91

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

In that article I talked about how PR drives: recruiting, employee retention, biz dev deals, funding and even M&A and that often “attribution” to your PR activities is unknown. Contrary to popular opinion I actually believe crowd-funding is best used after seed capital or venture capital. I have no money?

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2011

Yesterday I saw a Tweet from Chris Sacca fly by that prompted me to want to write a blog post helping entrepreneurs understand why they should push back against VCs asking for “super pro-rata” rights. They might own 8% of your company after the first funding but demand up to 33-50% of your next round of financing.

Entrepreneur 310

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Writing Invest 310

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2010

By Adam Hoeksema According to a report distributed by the Angel Capital Education Foundation , total startup funding from venture capital funds, state funds, and angel investors totals approximately $20.8 For example, assume that you have a vision of becoming the leading online retailer of picture frames.

Funding 90

Funding Startup Blogging Invest 90

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

We all know that funding markets have changed for startups. The trends are well understood: more angels, more seed funds, more crowdsourcing and so forth. Let me give you a real world example from this week. We are doing what we do – writing larger checks and playing an active role at the company.

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2013

What I love about writing is that you inadvertently say what many others are thinking and just knowing that somebody else is thinking something similar can be reassuring. Example: Fred Wilson writing his end of 2012 post wrote. “I’ve wanted to write a year end post for days. I hate Decembers.

Writing 313

Writing Venture Capital Blogging Startup 313

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2019

Even if it’s only a few PowerPoint slides or typed paragraphs, writing something down is the first step toward making it real. Always write in the future tense, what you will do, and name yourself as the key person responsible. The process will force you solidify the specifics, and mentally commit to them.

Ideas 99

Ideas Slides Writing Startup 99

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2021

Foursquare is good example of a modern hyperlocal site, which describes itself as “50% friend-finder, 30% social city guide, 20% nightlife game.” They get many offers every month, so your entry offer better be low and convincing Funding requirements are substantial. It also shows how such a website can scale by adding new cities.

Startup 144

Startup Sites Content Sales 144

Berkonomics

MARCH 13, 2014

For example, ask yourself: “What is the inciting incident in The Godfather?” This one is tricky, because it doesn’t occur until 45 minutes into the film, when Vito Corleone is gunned down in the street. He is an active angel investor, and he manages several angel funds in Texas. . Every good story has an inciting incident.

Invest 237

Invest Examples Networking Writing 237

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

Brad and Jason have been exposing venture capitalists’ secrets since 2005, when they began writing a blog series on Term Sheets at AskTheVC. Attitude – Brad and Jason clearly exhibit an entrepreneur-centric approach to the venture funding process. If you haven’t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for. What Not To Do.

Venture Capital 205

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Writing Guide 205

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

Some examples of common objections across many companies: 1. We’ve investing in R&D at a faster rate than the competition which is why we raised $10 million to fund extra development.&#. Prices are too high – Inexperienced sales reps will try to convince you they need to lower price to win deals.

Sales 289

Sales Startup Training Pricing 289

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

million in funding from Rebecca Minkoff and other unnamed investors. The company plans to give creators and influencers more independence from existing platforms by allowing them access to funding from a team well-versed in their unique capital needs. Naturally, these were also the first business to get funded. focused fund.

Platform 170

Platform Marketing Tool Venture Capital 170

socalTECH

AUGUST 6, 2012

But, they could not write, and did not know what to write from the travel perspective. Every one of those writers has a byline and a bio, and are paid twice a week at a pretty decent rate for that writing or assignment. They couldn't find enough people to write the content they needed, at the quality they need.

Demand 240

Demand Media eHow Content 240

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2014

I always ask when somebody sends me a deal, for example, are you already a shareholder in the company? His fund is > $500 million and I guaranfuckingtee he ain’t calling me if that company is crushing it. You have a big fund. I’ve seen you write a $10 million check before. ” Then I listen.

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Email 333

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2021

Recent examples include Christmas.com selling for $3.1M Get the agreement in writing as quickly as possible. The faster you fund the account the better chance you have of the seller not being able to back out. Yet people still pay big money to get the name they want. and Angel.com selling for $2M.

Startup 136

Startup Pricing Tips .Net 136

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Start writing down predictions about people, companies, and markets. From the article: Mithril had its best moment yet last week when a portfolio company, Auris Health, sold to Johnson & Johnson for more than $3 billion — returning at least $500 million to the fund. How can you practice timing? Ditto people you met a while back.

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

To grow faster businesses need resources in today to fund growth that may not come for 6 months to a year. They don’t want high burn rates but they will never fund slow growth. For example, look at the following graph. The example chart is not actually atypical. They raised $5 million in venture capital to fund growth.

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 8, 2019

. “If big companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon are prevented from acquiring startups, that actually reduces competition,” Sirinivasan writes. The reason is that if there is less M&A due to legal uncertainty, there is a reduced incentive for angels & VCs to fund those startups in the first place. ”

Technical Review 144

Technical Review Startup Chief Technology Officer Social Media 144

socalTECH

DECEMBER 17, 2008

In their case, people write their scripts on a web site, and when they're done, they can submit them to contests with a single click. If you're doing freelance writing, have a story you're trying to sell, there's a whole process of finding out where you're doing well, not doing well, and what responses you have received.

Writing 209

Writing Hollywood Startup Sites 209

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

I think a great example right now is turntable.fm. Market to Your Target Audience – I’ve seen a lot of startups who like to write blog posts on life as an entrepreneur. Understand that for every article they write they need “an angle&# and if you can’t help shape that you’re not likely to get inches.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

For example, “I just patented a new cell-phone technology that will double battery life for half the cost. Yet I continue to get funding requests that never mention any specific plans or costs to be associated with these elements. If you are not willing to set targets for yourself, don’t expect investors to commit their funds.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65