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%). But they are also a tax on your time with portfolio companies, looking for new investments, running your shop and honestly they are a tax on your family life.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

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).

Tips 141

Tips Invest Offshore Startup 141

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 11, 2020

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Taking on equity investors to fund your company is much like getting married – it is a long-term relationship that has to work at all levels. A sample of three views is adequate.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Funding Innocal Offshore 124

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

If there are conflicts within the team, or differing views of the strategy, or evidence of missing processes and tools, the investment process will likely be terminated. Make sure everyone accurately posts their role with your startup on social media profiles, resumes, and references. Visit reference customers, partners, and vendors.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

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. In October of last year, we did a first close on our first committed fund, which we're announcing. Talk more about the ability to lead investments?

Capital 164

Capital Funding Startup Venture Capital 164

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. So What Does All This Mean? I’m only 52!

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

socalTECH

MARCH 31, 2014

Update: Crossbar informs us that its investment announcement incorrectly identified the investor in this story as Tao Venture Capital Partners, when it should be an entirely different company -- Tao Invest, the investment fund of Nick and Joby Pritzker (also referred to as Tao LLC). The two funds are not related.

Funding 113

Funding Develop Development Venture Capital 113

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I Know Everybody Told You to Send Your Fund-Raising Decks as a Link. Here’s Why You Should Just Send the Deck I know you have your document sending tool to send your fund-raising deck to VCs and track who read your deck, which pages they read and how much time they spend on each page. Many of my colleagues do, too. A deck is a deck.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

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. Don’t forget a couple of additional potential negative realities.

Funding 123

Funding Startup Equity Venture Capital 123

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

VC firm policy or fund analysis. Most associates need some entrepreneurial experience before actually making investments. Great networking skills, which are critical when you want to be about to reference entrepreneurs & concepts and bounce your ideas off of other people in the industry. Portfolio community building.

Help 365

Help Invest Venture Capital Technical Review 365

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2018

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined some time ago from a funding perspective. Funding or rollout stage.

Funding 94

Funding Startup Organization Incubator 94

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Taking on equity investors to fund your company is much like getting married – it is a long-term relationship that has to work at all levels. A sample of three views is adequate.

Technical Review 138

Technical Review Startup Innocal Offshore 138

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? -

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

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. It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined a long time ago from a funding perspective. Funding or rollout stage.

Resource 171

Resource Startup Organization Incubator 171

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. They trust the judgment of the VCs to source, finance, help manage and then create some sort of exit for the investments that they make.

Startup 290

Startup Funding Venture Capital Pricing 290

socalTECH

DECEMBER 10, 2018

Good Money , a new Los Angeles digital banking startup founded by Gunnar Lovelace, the co-founder of Thrive Market , announced on Monday that it has raised $30M in a Series A funding round.

Venture Capital 113

Venture Capital Equity Capital Los Angeles 113

Berkonomics

JANUARY 25, 2024

If the coach is also a significantly large investor such as a VC fund, the board member-coach will offer a limited amount of time outside of board work at no extra cost, all for the good of the investment. How do you pay a coach? The post Do you even need a business coach? first appeared on BERKONOMICS.

Coach 156

Coach Organization Resource Equity 156

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. They know that the money they invest may be lost. Make sure these people understand the nature of early-stage angel investing.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2013

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined before from a funding perspective. Funding or rollout stage.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Funding Incubator Startup 102

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 21, 2010

One of the investment themes I’ve been focused on in the past 3 years has been Performance-Based Marketing. When I started investing the US advertising market was $300 billion with only 10% of it ($30 billion) of it being online and measurable. I hope to announce one investment in this space in the next few months.

Advertising 284

Advertising Invest RSS CPC 284

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Solicit funds from friends and family. Use crowd funding to build reserves.

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Solicit funds from friends and family. Use crowd funding. Set expectations accordingly.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Funding Startup Technical Review 113

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. Cohen entrepreneur family fools friends investment John Kador' Don’t be one or create one.

Funding 101

Funding Startup Equity Entrepreneur 101

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 21, 2021

They want Netflix to address a list of demands in the categories of content investment, employee relations and safety, and harm reduction. The employees who participated in the walkout want Netflix to “adopt measures to avoid future instances of platforming transphobia and hate speech,” they wrote in a letter.

Netflix 300

Netflix Demand Content Hollywood 300

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 30, 2021

Several times in my investing life, as the final board member making the arrangements to dispose of remaining assets, I have literally been the one to turn out the lights, carry out the documents, books and records to my car, and become the only remaining contact between the failed business and the investors, bankruptcy court, or creditors.

Entrepreneur 156

Entrepreneur Training Invest Email 156

socalTECH

OCTOBER 22, 2020

Earlier this week, Good Growth Capital (www.goodgrowthvc.com) announced it has started looking at investments in Southern California, adding Krisztina Holly as West Coast Venture Partner for the firm. What kinds of areas does the fund make investments in? It looks like there's some link to MIT with the fund?

Southern California 124

Southern California Capital Technical Review Startup 124

Berkonomics

MARCH 13, 2014

For example, while Steve Jobs was abusive, rude, and unappreciative, he had what his colleagues referred to a reality distortion field. He is an active angel investor, and he manages several angel funds in Texas. . Stories are the most important repository of wisdom, experience, knowledge, and learning. Raising money'

Invest 237

Invest Examples Networking Writing 237

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

So I began talking to him about joining the fund. It was perfect timing since in 2012 GRP raised its fourth fund bringing our total assets managed to nearly $1 billion. Like any firm we of course invest in the San Francisco Bay Area where 33% of my personal boards are. I made some reference calls. Community builders.

Venture Capital 360

Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup Invest 360

socalTECH

MARCH 16, 2017

Earlier this week, Derek Norton , a long time advisor to the media, Internet, and technology industry in Los Angeles, announced a brand new venture capital fund called Watertower Ventures (www.watertowerventures.com). We sat down with Derek to learn more about the new $5M fund and what it's all about. Tell us about the new fund?

Invest 145

Invest Funding Capital Startup 145

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

As I’ve written about recently, at Upfront Ventures we started talking a couple of years ago about wanting to fund stuff with more meaning. I think this is a combination of being realists as venture capitalists that outsized returns in our funds must come from taking on bigger, more impactful projects that can move markets.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 12, 2012

For our Insights and Opinions section on a quiet holiday Monday, we're featuring some background on the concepts behind anti-dilution and how it's used by venture capital firms in fundings. This piece comes from Louis Wharton , Partner with Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP. a smaller reduction in the investors equity holdings).

Venture Capital 149

Venture Capital Pricing Equity Invest 149

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2013

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).

Invest 96

Invest Startup Offshore Tips 96

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2018

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. Don’t forget a couple of additional potential negative realities.

Funding 59

Funding Startup Equity Entrepreneur 59

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 22, 2013

After you’ve received your first round of funding, that’s when your startup finance strategy needs to deepen. Here’s how to build out your finance function, post-funding: Hire a professional. Pre-funding, you may have been managing your finances yourself. Pre-funding, you may have been managing your finances yourself.

Funding 86

Funding Startup Report Outsource 86

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

If you’ve read any of my ongoing series on fund raising from venture capitalist (episode 1?— ?controlling Some firms are trickier since they artificially call everybody “partner” but they’re not all “investment partners.” Find a portfolio company or two that they’ve invested in. It’s super easy to suss all this out.

Venture Capital 314

Venture Capital Technical Review Invest Slides 314

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2021

One of the business ironies that many entrepreneurs have learned the hard way in the past is that ideas which are truly disruptive carry the highest risk of failure, take the longest to gain traction, and thus are the least likely to get external funding. Listen for insights from others, and follow-up on every reference to spark new learning.

Startup 174

Startup Cloud Computing Ideas Entrepreneur 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2011

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).

Invest 92

Invest Startup Offshore Tips 92