Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

VC funding. We love capital efficiency until we love land grabs until we abhor over funding until we get huge payouts and ring the bell for more funding until we attract every non-VC on the planet to invest in startups until it crashes and we start the cycle all over again none the wiser.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Our guest this week on #TWiVC was Dana Settle , partner at Greycroft Partners , a venture capital firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Greycroft is an early-stage VC. Their first fund was a $75 million fund raised in 2006 and they very recently announced a brand new $130 million fund.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

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 just completed an exercise where I went out to hire a new associate for my VC firm, GRP Partners. I had to laugh a bit reading it. So back to MBAs.

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Jim Semick: I’ve been launching and managing software products for 15 years now, going back to when you and I worked together at Expertcity before it was acquired by Citrix. I have always worked on early stage products. Some of the products I’ve helped validate and launch include GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting and AppFolio.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

Sometimes that’s venture capital generally (like last year’s conversation with Reid Hoffman ) and sometimes it’s in a space where I’ve invested (like mobility and city innovation with Bird’s Travis VanderZanden , one of our portfolio founders.) And so it is with video. Quibi = “quick bites”). But Quibi has raised $1.4

Content 244

Content Netflix Platform Mobile 244

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.

Funding 99

Funding Satisfaction Sites Outsource Development 99

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

I took the opportunity this past week to publish summary notes of some of the VCs and entrepreneurs I had interviewed on This Week in VC. One of my goals in doing the show was not only to educate entrepreneurs but also to put a human face on many of the VCs in our industry as VCs can be hard to get to know. Thank you. (if

Capital 265

Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Welcome to the Lost Decade (for Entrepreneurs, IPO’s and VC’s) - Steve Blank , July 15, 2010 If you take funding from a venture capital firm or angel investor and want to build a large, enduring company (rather than sell it to the highest bidder), this isn’t the decade to do it. Angel vs VC? - Here’s why.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217

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. The configuration of the team was: 1 CEO, 1 Product Lead and a tech team of 6 people.

Advertising 284

Advertising Invest RSS CPC 284

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2012

The new hot topic for entrepreneurs these days 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. This new model will allow large numbers of “regular” people to invest small amounts each online to fund early startups.

Funding 96

Funding Satisfaction Sites Outsource Development 96

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series, “ Pitching a VC.&# Getting a meeting with a prominent angel or VC is difficult enough. Some advice on how to do that was covered in this link – Getting Access to a VC. Remember that most fund raising takes time. Why don’t VC’s follow up?

Venture Capital 277

Venture Capital Startup Email News 277

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Many observers of the venture capital industry have questioned whether its best days are behind it. I can’t help feel a bit of rear-view mirror analysis in all of “VC model is broken” bears in our industry. This has led to the creation of incubators, accelerators and seed funds. The Funding Problem.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

As a simple example, the Wal-Mart website now shows shoppers more products that they may like, based on previous purchases. The Wal-Mart home page is customized for each shopper based on location, local weather, and the customer search and purchase history. These have the vision and the resources to fund long-term digital success.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Creating awareness for your brand and products is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. Ever notice how some companies tend to be in the press all the time and your big new product launch struggled for inches? I am a VC.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

Yesterday I wrote Part 1 of the series on the changes to the software industry over the past decade that has led to changes in the venture capital industry itself. These trends have put pressure on traditional VCs. Some have moved into later stage investments in an effort to “put logos on their websites.&#

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Capital Software Startup 296

socalTECH

OCTOBER 31, 2014

The two renamed themselves Seedling, and announced a new funding round from Upfront Venturess. We have around 350 products all aimed at kids of all kinds of ages. We have an impulse activity line, combined with a party line as well, and the products developed by P.S. XO. Putting the two together seemed a very natural process.

Commerce 138

Commerce Mobile Startup Product 138

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2016

million in funding on TechCrunch led by Harmony Partners and Upfront Ventures to double its footprint of 3 cities (New York, Chicago & Washington DC) to 6 in 2016. We raised this capital in what has increasingly become a difficult market for fund raising so I’d like to share with you some details on how we get it done.

Startup 150

Startup Pricing Marketing Product 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2010

You’ve got 20 slides and we’re only on page 3. Can we do a really quick run through your deck so that we save tons of time for a product demo & questions at the end?&#. And because as a VC or as a CEO or senior exec you get presented to all the time we’re extra sensitive to it. So my brain goes crazy.

Slides 358

Slides Venture Capital Startup Summary 358

Xconomy

AUGUST 16, 2016

A recent Wall Street Journal article that raised the possibility of Biogen as the target of another huge pharma buyout cited the lack of productivity as a major driver of M&A in the pharmaceutical industry. Yet despite relative plenty in the bio-venture community, pharma suffers from a shortage of drug candidates.

Product 40

Product Journal Venture Capital Demand 40

socalTECH

JULY 20, 2011

Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based HitFix (www.hitfix.com) an online news site focused on entertainment, announced it had raised $2M in a funding round. There was an opportunity to capture htose advertiser dollars, and do it by serving up a product that was compelling to both advertisers and consumers. Jennifer Sargent: It's funny.

News 173

News Entertainment Startup Bertelsmann 173

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2016

There is a common belief in the angel and venture capital community that you put your money on the best team, rather than the best idea. Thus the top priority of every entrepreneur who wants funding should be to build and highlight their “dream team” of co-founders, executives and advisers, to attract the biggest and best investors.

Startup 60

Startup Entrepreneur Software Review Technical Review 60

socalTECH

MAY 26, 2011

Donnelly, and he also was behind eCompanies, which invested in such companies as JAMDAT Mobile, Boingo Wireless, and USBX. Jake's latest venture is Brighter (www.brighter.com), a service which is aimed at helping consumers find pre-negotiated rates on dental care. Youve been in involved in a lot of very successful ventures.

Startup 249

Startup Pricing Southern California Networking 249

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 18, 2013

Venture capital investments are returning to startups. Venture capital firms raised $4.1 The continuing rise in the price of fuel, combined with the ongoing evidence of global warming, has highlighted the need for alternative energy sources, and green products. New focus on a sustainable planet.

Startup 86

Startup Tips Venture Capital Demand 86

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 13, 2010

Simply click on the title of the panel you like and you will be taken to their SXSWi panel picker page. Publicity and positive word-of-mouth can help grow your start-up into a successful venture. Bootstrapping process, product development, Prototyping. . Bootstrapping boostrapping, Funding, lean startup. .

Guide 69

Guide Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur 69

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 19, 2011

TechZulu is heading out to CES and we have tons of products/gadgets/games/companies to review and interview. Network with hundreds over delicious four course dinner followed by panel on Attracting Venture Capital, and Top Trends for Social Media, Mobile Apps and Consumer Devices. So make sure you Follow @techzulu. RSPV: HERE.

Social Media 84

Social Media Newsletter Mobile Startup 84

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

One of the great joys of doing the web series This Week in VC every week is that I get to spend time with great people debating the issues of our day including how our industry is evolving as well as insights into how companies got started, got their initial traction and dealt with adversities. Oh, yeah. And when there is a spark, go for it.

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Web Ideas 286

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2011

If you want a very quick primer on all the stuff nobody ever tells you about raising venture capital check out this video where Mark Jeffrey & I break it down on This Week in VC. All of this is covered in more detail on the TWiVC video above (and much of it is covered in text on this blog on the “ Raising VC &# tab).

Venture Capital 340

Venture Capital Slides Doc Startup 340

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

Upon graduation from Wharton, John and Kyle launched a startup based upon a simple, pedestrian product: a computer mouse shaped like the head of a golf driver. Putting their expensive educations to good use, they aptly named their novelty product a "MouseDriver". Dear Friends, We have no income and no venture capital funding.

Newsletter 233

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2008

Ross Levinsohn is a board member at FatTail and a venture capitalist at Velocity Interactive (www.velocityig.com), and headed up Fox Interactive Media's buy of MySpace. We spoke with Ross about the investment, as well as about his experience as VC and his outlook on the market. Our investments is their first institutional round.

Advertising 100

Advertising Media Startup Woodland Hills 100

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

They make it easy to collect investment funds, track ownership, and provide targeted updates to investors. We facilitate the most productive business-to-consumer relationship with a pioneering solution that finally makes proactive information updates useful. is the easy, fun and social way to get together with friends.

Company 106

Company Companies Web Evite 106

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 17, 2010

Last week, Los Angeles-based MOVIECLIPS.COM (www.movieclips.com) announced the firm's Series A funding round, worth $3M, from Shasta Ventures, First Round Capital, and a number of Silicon Valley angels. From there, I did a couple of internships in the venture capital world, including with Hummer Winblad in San Francisco.

Startup 190

Startup Los Angeles Content Hollywood 190

socalTECH

MAY 21, 2009

We got started after our seed funding on August first of last year and immediately went to work with platform companies. You mentioned you're VC funded? Brian Nilles: Yes, we're funded by a VC, Rho Ventures. We also have an angel investor, who invested a long time ago and is also involved with the business.

Tool 113

Tool Platform Venture Capital Startup 113

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Most of them are completely mundane such as choosing which: bank, office space, 1-year lease vs. 2-year lease, logo, URL, pricing structure or which VC. He went out and found a developer and built a product. I used to sit on the board of a company (for which I DID NOT invest) with a very smart and very likable CEO.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Xconomy

JULY 12, 2016

Their customers are the agronomists (or the drone service providers hired by agronomists) responsible for analyzing and improving crop productivity. SlantRange raised $5 million less than three months ago from a consortium of investors in a Series A round of venture funding led by The Investor Group, a San Diego investment firm.

San Diego 40

San Diego Seed Funding Guide Technology 40

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

StartupDemo is an opportunity for early stage startups to showcase their new products and/or services. It is an opportunity to get frank feedback from VCs, angels, peers and the technolust. Mixergy and AsAble are also joining us to bring you an amazing VC/Angel Panel. Mark Suster , GRP Partners. Moderator: Giang Biscan , PhD.,

Social Media 71

Social Media Technical Review Mixergy Tech Coast Angels 71

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

This is especially true for companies with expensive and complex products or services that are more consultative in nature, like insurance, financial services, home services, education and travel, etc. At CallWave, Colin was CTO, Jason was CFO and I was in charge of product marketing and customer acquisition. You’re right.

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. We’re staring to get the hang of how to divide the show up into talking about deals but also talking about issues for entrepreneurs during funding. But it does happen.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285