socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

Los Angeles-based venture investor Bonfire Ventures , the venture capital fund led by SoCal VC veterans Jim Andelman and Mark Mullen, has launched a fundraising effort for a new fund, Bonfire Ventures Select I , according to a regulatory filing from the firm this week. READ MORE>>.

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Venture Capital Funding SoCal Southern California 140

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

I became a VC 12 years ago in 2007 when the pace of deals was much slower. As I was trying to figure out the role I wanted to play in the VC world I decided I wanted to focus on businesses that were building deeply technical products to solve problems for business users. We not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k?—?$15

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Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

This is part of my series on Understanding Venture Capital. I’m writing this series because if you better understand how VC firms work you can better target which firms make sense for you to speak with. It in not uncommon to see a VC talk about “total assets under management&# as in “We have $1.5

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Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Since this number is budgeted and pre-authorized, managers tend to focus upon other things such as sales, marketing and product development issues. It is not a strong bargaining position for the CEO to ask for money to complete a product promised for completion with the previous round of funding. The art of good management.

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Venture Capital Product Marketing Resource 296

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

One of the hardest things to know when you’re new to fund raising is what you’re supposed to send to an investor, when and will they keep your information confidential. As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. This is part of a series on how to improve your fund raising game. whether they invest or not.

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Venture Capital Slides Email Startup 261

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2020

San Diego-based AlphaTrAI , a fintech startup which is backed by venture capital investor Analytics Ventures, says it is launching its own, extrenal fund, and is expanding its leadership team. the founder of Hightree Advisors, to its advisory board. the founder of Hightree Advisors, to its advisory board. READ MORE>>.

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Artificial Inteligence Invest San Diego .Net 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2021

You can listen to the entire conversation above or via this link , but I also wanted to highlight one topic we discussed that I feel strongly about, which is how I think enterprise sales and venture fundraising are basically the same muscle. Research everyone who has raised a comparably-sized fund and find out who backed them?—?that’s

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Sales Startup Invest Funding 375

socalTECH

JULY 14, 2021

Los Angeles-based Endgame, a developer of software that links user behavior with sales opportunities, has raised $17M in funding, according to the company. The funding was split between a $12.25M, Series A funding round led by Menlo Ventures, and an earlier $5M Series Seed funding which was led by Upfront Ventures.

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Sales Software Seed Funding Los Angeles 124

socalTECH

JANUARY 25, 2018

Venice, California-based venture capital investor Fifth Wall says it has made a $135M investment in San Francisco-based real estate sales startup Opendoor , as part of a combined equity and debt funding. The funding came as part of Opendoor's Series D funding round.

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Invest Venice Equity Venture Capital 124

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Picking a VC is hard. So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. Most VCs are book smart. VCs should be more of a coach than proscriptively telling you what to do. You want a VC who will spar with you but then STFU and let you get on with things.

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Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

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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Los Angeles Artificial Inteligence Invest Angel 126

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. What should not be in your deck?

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Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

the most counter-intuitive fund-raising advice you’ll ever get I’m about to offer you some fund-raising advice that flies directly in the face of what most conventional wisdom will tell you. Let me start out with my premise: “Data rooms are where fund-raising processes go to die.” I have to back up and give you more context.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 17, 2017

Santa Monica-based Tray , a developer of Android-based, point-of-sale (POS) terminal software, has raised a round of funding, according to lead investor Bonfire Ventures. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.

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Sales Software Santa Monica Funding 113

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2014

This week I wrote about obsessive and competitive founders and how this forms the basis of what I look for when I invest. I had been thinking a lot about this recently because I’m often asked the question of “what I look for in an entrepreneur when I want to invest?” I had invested in myself for years.

Startup 409

Startup Invest Venture Capital Writing 409

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 7, 2015

Jason concludes that: A top founder takes much more risk, at least on paper, but can make a lot more than even the best VC of all time. A pretty good VC probably makes more than a pretty good and successful founder. Jason’s comments caused me to compare my career as an entrepreneur and a VC with Rincon Venture Partners.

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Venture Capital Capital .Net Entrepreneur 100

socalTECH

JUNE 8, 2021

San Diego-based Emerged, a new startup which provides qualified leads to healthcare organizations, says it has raised a seed round of funding. The funding came from Round One Capital. Size of the investment was not announced. Emerged said the new funding will go to scale its software platform and for sales and marketing.

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Seed Funding Funding San Diego Sales 113

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

In the VC insider baseball world a discussion has gone on about “VC platforms” over the past 5 or so years. While firms define platforms differently, let’s just say they are the services that a VC offers outside of investment capital and partner time on boards or providing intros.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Platform Startup Resource 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

I am thrilled to announce that we have added Hamet Watt as a Partner at Upfront Ventures. This is a big news day at Upfront Ventures. In other news we announced the closing of $61 million in funding at Maker Studios , which I’ll talk publicly about soon. Mark, why wouldn’t you fund him? Startup DNA.

Invest 340

Invest Venture Capital Startup News 340

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

This was the first episode where Jason wasn’t on the show, which gave me the chance to have another VC on the show to discuss deals. Rustic Canyon is an LA-based, but geography-agnostic VC that is currently investing from a $200 million fund. VC Financings: 1. Obviously they see big things in Wildfire.

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Venture Capital Capital Rustic Canyon Mobile 270

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

Santa Monica-based Tuition.io , which helps employers offer up student loan repayment assistance as part of their employee benefits, has raised $7M in a Series B funding round, the company said today. says so far that it has signed up such clients as Live Nation, Staples and Fidelity Investments to its programs. READ MORE>>.

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Funding Santa Monica Venture Capital Sales 133

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “Pitching a VC&# – the outline is here. You’ve pitched several angels and VC’s. Most of them are telling you that they just need to see a bit of traction before they’d be prepared to invest. Fund raising is an ongoing process and not an event on a workplan.

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Venture Capital Guide Startup Technical Review 309

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. Below is the outline Upfront.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

Lots of discussion these days about the changes in the VC industry. The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

socalTECH

JULY 8, 2014

San Diego-based Qualcomm has put its weight behind a developer of software used for Big Data analysis of physical retailers, in a strategic funding. Tyco and American Express also made strategic investments in RetailNext. RetailNext''s venture backers, including Nokia Growth Partners. READ MORE>>.

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Invest San Diego Commerce Venture Capital 153

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

The new funding came from Subtraction Capital, FF Angel, 500 Startups, and other investors. Jackson--said the funding is an expansion on its Series A funding it announced in the first quarter of the year. That funding was worth $3M. The startup--which is led by PayPal veteran Erik M. READ MORE>>.

Software Review 235

Software Review Funding Draper SaaS 235

TechCrunch LA

JULY 2, 2020

When it comes to venture capital, Los Angeles is a city on the rise. In the past year, it’s seen one of the most profitable venture-backed exits of any tech ecosystem (with the $4 billion sale of Honey to PayPal) and investors are minting billion-dollar companies in the region at a torrid pace.

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Los Angeles Venture Capital Capital Invest 277

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

Beverly Hills-based Kairos Venture Partners , which is led by General Manager James Demetriades, is looking to raise $250M in its third fund, Kairos Venture Partners III, L.P. According to the filing, the fund has yet to make its first sale in the new fund. according to a regulatory filing by the firm.

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Beverly Hills Funding Research Invest 124

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

Irvine-based Cirrus Insight , a developer of software used to help sales people with managing their email inbox and calendar, has received what it says is a "significant" growth equity investment. The funding came from private equity investor Clovis Point Capital. Size of the funding was not announced.

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Funding Email Equity Sales 113

InfoChachkie

MAY 22, 2012

The steps outlined below represent an ideal approach to raising capital from sophisticated investors. You might be at Step 2 with one VC and Step 3 with another. Step 2: Get Personal & Give Freely – Once you identify a handful of potential VC partners, stealthily cyber stalk them. Subscribe to their blog.

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Venture Capital Capital Research Customer 236

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

After my company was acquired by Salesforce.com I was asked to stop blogging and they took over my blog as an asset in the sale of the company. I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. My blog was wiped out. Tempus Fugit.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

socalTECH

MAY 29, 2020

Newport Beach-based WorkSpace , a developer of software used by commercial real estate teams to manage their operations, has received funding from ASG , a backer of software-as-a-service companies. Size and terms of the investment were not announced. WorkSpace was founded by Alan Bedekar. WorkSpace was founded by Alan Bedekar.

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ASP Funding Sales Software 113

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 20, 2018

Every entrepreneur wants to hear “yes” during the fund-raising process but I would argue that being too risk averse and not pushing hard enough and be willing to hear a “no” is what holds back many people from “yes.” These are similar to the pipeline reviews I used to do with sales reps when I was a CEO. Do they have influence?

Funding 189

Funding Software Review Entrepreneur Venture Capital 189

Berkonomics

JULY 23, 2020

Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event. Especially when outside investors, venture capitalists, or angels, have put in substantial money and the sales price is less than the value of their investment. Dig into investment agreements for those expensive clauses.

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Company Companies Sales Venture Capital 156

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In my previous post, The VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) I wrote about the reasons why the VC market came to a screeching halt in September 2008 and remained largely shut until at least April 2009. There are now signs the VC market has gathered pace meaning it’s a great time to be fund raising.

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Venture Capital Marketing Startup Social Network 255

Berkonomics

MARCH 8, 2018

You do not pay professional investors who are serving on behalf of an investment company or VC and paid by that company. To be clear, venture investors with investments from their funds are not typically ever offered pay for board service, which is expected as part of the investment.

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Venture Capital Equity Sales Invest 256

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

Rolf Winkler wrote a piece in the WSJ about A16Z’s returns in which he says they “lag behind Sequoia, Benchmark and Founders Fund.” Scott Kupor of A16Z responded with a comprehensive overview of valuation methodology in a post that while accurate feels more targeted at sophisticated Limited Partners (LPs) who invest in funds.

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Venture Capital Invest Funding Competition 264