Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2020

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” On the other hand, there are many additional creative options available for starting a business that you might not find for buying a car, home, or other major consumer item. Trade equity or services for startup help.

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Funding Startup Equity Examples 174

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2023

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” On the other hand, there are many additional creative options available for starting a business that you might not find for buying a car, home, or other major consumer item. Trade equity or services for startup help.

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Startup Capital Equity Funding 106

socalTECH

MARCH 15, 2018

Westlake Village-based Pray.com , which develops social networking applications for religious communities, has raised $14M in a Series A funding, the company said this week. The funding was led by TPG Growth, and also included Science Inc. and Greylock Partners. READ MORE>>.

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Social Network Westlake Village Networking Seed Funding 302

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 16, 2020

Over their longtime personal and professional relationship, the two Los Angeles-based serial entrepreneurs have invested in each other’s companies and investment firms, but never worked together until now. We’re seeing a lot more companies that are starting up now as a result of a [the pandemic],” said Norton.

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TechCrunch LA

APRIL 26, 2022

Many grocery delivery startups begin small, in one city, building up locations to cater to a certain neighborhood. Food Rocket has taken an unconventional route, striking a funding deal with Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. On-demand grocery startup Food Rocket launches in the Bay Area, goes up against delivery giants. “We

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Funding Demand Los Angeles Competition 246

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2021

In fact, most investors “require” that you already have some investment from friends and family before they will even step up to the plate. You see, investors invest in people, before they invest in ideas or products. If they won’t do it, they why would I as stranger invest in you?

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2020

After you have heard a few startup success stories, like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, you may be tempted to invest some money yourself, maybe by pooling your funds with other investors who claim to have a great track record. My advice is to leave the investing in startups to the professionals (or friends and fools).

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Tips Invest Offshore Startup 141

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2021

Three Rules of Fundraising “Sales” One of the common mistakes I see startups as well as VCs make is spending too much time on top of funnel prospecting. than it is to start narrowing down and doing the work to close the deal, or risking hearing a no. it’s not just startups who do it. But here’s the thing?—?it’s Why Buy Me?

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Sales Startup Invest Funding 375

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 12, 2022

providing freshly packaged salads, heat-and-eat prepared meals and vegan overnight oats, raised $7 million in funding as it goes after the $34 billion fresh prepared foods market. Nestlé acquires healthy meal startup Freshly for up to $1.5B. Positive Food Co., On days when we did the ‘Positive Popups,’ people loved it.

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Invest Los Angeles Startup Funding 175

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 13, 2020

Riot Ventures , the Los Angeles-based, early-stage and deep technology investment firm is going out to market to raise a $75 million second fund to finance the development of startups in LA and beyond, according to fundraising documents viewed by TechCrunch. Marcus has a long background in angel investing and company creation.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series called “ Start-up Lessons.&#. I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. I paid up for the diploma but can’t say that I saw better results.

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socalTECH

APRIL 13, 2021

For today's interview, we spoke to Dave Eastman, the Director of the Viterbi Startup Garage, a startup incubator that is run by the University of Southern California, out of its location in Marina Del Rey. What is Viterbi Startup Garage? The Startup Garage is located physically in Marina Del Rey, in the twin tower on Admiralty.

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Marina Del Rey Startup USC Incubator 150

socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2018

Culver City-based PacketFabric , a startup working on connecting major, carrier-neutral colocation facilities with terabit-scale network technology, has raised $25M in a Series B funding, according to the company. According to PacketFabric, it now has a presence at more than 150 Points of Presence (PoPs) in 17 metro markets.

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Culver City Networking Funding Invest 170

socalTECH

JUNE 25, 2020

In a move to help make Black professionals easier to connect, Los Angeles-based Valence said on Thursday that it has launched a new, social networking service, with backing from investments from Upfront Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Accel. READ MORE>>.

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Social Network Help Networking USC 113

TechCrunch LA

MAY 19, 2018

In startup-land, however, the presumptions about where housing demand is going looks a bit different. A Crunchbase News analysis of residential-focused real estate startups uncovered a raft of companies with a shared and temporary housing focus that have raised funding in the past year or so. This isn’t a U.S.-specific

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Startup Los Angeles Demand Social Network 272

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

Even though the color of their money is always green, all startup investors are not the same. Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Personally visit another startup funded by this investor. It’s no fun for either side.

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Technical Review Startup Innocal Offshore 138

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup. Congratulations!

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2023

Yet everyone has limits, and every investor implicitly has similar limits on what makes a startup investable, or one to avoid at all costs. If you need investors, it’s important that you understand their filters, and even if you are funding your own efforts, you need to recognize the red flags.

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socalTECH

JANUARY 12, 2017

Los Angeles-based venture capital investor Crosscut Ventures has reportedly started approaching limited partners (LPs) for investments in a new fund, its fourth. Crosscut's last fund, Crosscut Ventures 3, was worth $75M. Crosscut has not yet filed regulatory details on the new fund.

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Buzzfeed Invest Report Funding 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2014

The critical skill is not just your immediate network but the network beyond that you can tap into if you’ve earned the right through nurturing your 1-degree relationships. I will soon announce a few fundings (not yet closed, sorry) and I’m beginning to help them think about how to ramp up their engineering teams.

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Networking Startup CTO Coach Email 366

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

In other news we announced the closing of $61 million in funding at Maker Studios , which I’ll talk publicly about soon. But as sweet as that success has been (we invested pre-revenue in a small team) today my even more important news was the further expansion of our partner ranks. Startup DNA. Media relationships.

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Invest Venture Capital Startup News 340

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

AOL co-founder and former chief executive officer Steve Case’s venture capital fund, Revolution , deploys capital to companies “outside of the hotbeds.” When we started doing this, it was heretical,” Revolution co-founder Tige Savage tells TechCrunch. Today, Washington, DC-based Revolution is announcing its latest fund.

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Venture Capital Funding Seed Funding Activity 211

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 9, 2023

Many business owners and professionals I know claim they are too busy in their jobs and not interested in taking part in any networking events. In addition, relationships found through networking can make your life a lot more satisfying as well as more productive. Resist airing negative concerns during networking.

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Networking Mentor Conference Summary 104

socalTECH

JANUARY 29, 2018

Los Angeles-based Bonfire Ventures said this morning that it has officially launched with its first fund, a new $60M fund aimed at early stage startups.

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Venture Capital Southern California Funding Capital 157

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). I was telling him that it was much easier when I started because there were fewer deals, life was less public and somehow the world seemed to be spinning more slowly.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 2, 2021

As I work with aspiring you new venture leaders, I always wish I had a definitive checklist of all the right attributes that I could share with you, encourage you to develop and highlight in your efforts with potential investors, and guide your own actions in starting the next billion dollar company. Pick a world you know and understand.

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Funding Startup Ideas Resource 152

socalTECH

JULY 30, 2014

Brock Pierce , the Southern California angel investor who is one of the most active proponents and investors in Bitcoin and its startups, has made another investment in the space, leading an AngelList syndicate funding of ZipZap. in the funding, bringing its total funding to $2.7M. ZipZap said it raised $1.1M

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Southern California Invest SoCal Angel 259

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

Santa Monica-based venture investor March Capital Partners (www.marchcp.com) announced last week that it has raised a second fund, worth $300M. To learn about the new fund, we sat down with Jamie Montgomery , one of the fund's co-founders, to hear about March Capital's strategy and the new fund.

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Funding Capital Artificial Inteligence Startup 160

socalTECH

JULY 3, 2019

Los Angeles-based electric vehicle (EV) charging network operator EV Connnect has put its backing behind a new, Australian startup, Evie Networks , which is looking to create its own network of ultra-fast EV chargers down under. READ MORE>>.

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Networking Los Angeles Platform Invest 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 26, 2018

Los Angeles-based startup studio Science Inc. has officially launched a new company, SpringRole , which it says will use blockchain to create a new, professional reputation network. The new network looks to be taking aim at LinkedIn, currently the dominant professional networking service. READ MORE>>.

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Networking Incubator Los Angeles Invest 124

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2018

This morning, Moonshots Capital (www.moonshotscapital.com), led by Kelly Perdew and Craig Cummings , announced its first formal fund, a $19M seed stage fund. What we would do, is we would round up ten other angel investors, get $25,000 from each of them, and then roll up our sleeves and help that entrepreneur find venture capital.

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Capital Funding Startup Venture Capital 164

socalTECH

AUGUST 11, 2020

Los Angeles-based Valence , the Black professional networking community, has raised $5.25M more in a Series A funding, the company said on Tuesday. The funding was led by GGV Capital, and also included Upfront Ventures. Valence previously raised a $2.5M Valence previously raised a $2.5M READ MORE>>.

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Networking Los Angeles Capital Funding 113

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

It is also a result of pent-up demand. Consumer spending is 70% of the economy and will continue to be stretched – We can look all we want at tech innovation, VC funding cycles and hot M&A deals, but ultimately growth and therefore investment must be underpinned by revenue. See point 2 below.

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Venture Capital Startup Funding Technical Review 269

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. That’s why investors say they invest in people (bet on the jockey, not the horse), rather than the idea. The sales professional.

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Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 123

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

The sweeping infrastructure package put forward today by President Joe Biden comes with a price tag of roughly $2 trillion (and hefty tax hikes) but gives startups and the broader tech industry about $1 trillion worth of reasons to support it. ” Climate resiliency . Given the steady drumbeat of climate disasters that hit the U.S.

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Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

Many startups now go through accelerators and have mentors passing through each day with advice – usually it’s conflicting. There are bootcamps, startup classes, video interviews – the sources are now endless. Because I’ve asked more than 100 VCs similar questions I start to notice patterns in thinking.

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Tech.Co

JUNE 29, 2021

You know what a startup is, right? Or at least you have an idea of what a startup is like to work in? Don't forget the pizza parties and deskside beers funded by a seemingly endless stream of venture capitalist money, either. Or, as can happen, when the money dries up and the business goes under.

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