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

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

Most of these scenarios involve attracting outside investors, strategic partners, or key team members: You are the team and you don’t need outside funding. In fact, they are probably in such a hurry to give you money that they don’t want you to waste time writing anything down and passing it along to new investors.

Technical Review 126

Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 126

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

At the Upfront Summit in early February, we had a chance to have many off-the-record conversations with Limited Partners (LPs) who fund Venture Capital (VC) funds about their views of the market. …But LPs Have Been Putting Out More Money Than They Are Getting Back. . That’s money that fuels our startup ecosystems.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Marketing Seed Funding 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2018

A critical stage for most first-time entrepreneurs is getting their idea developed into at least a prototype to validate their technology. Acquiring seed-stage funding is admittedly tough, but a source that I find often overlooked is government grant funding, accessible in the U.S. The approval process is long and bureaucratic.

Funding 90

Funding Technical Review Startup Research 90

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 17, 2020

In most cases, these applicants for equity funding must be rooted in technology to apply to this limited discussion. Angel investment groups or funds. First, angel investment groups and organized angel funds come in all sizes from a few organized angels to large groups of four hundred or more. Accelerators.

Equity 156

Equity Technical Review Class Organization 156

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

When Nivi published the series he titled it “the top 10 things I look for before I write a check.&# As a result I felt compelled to add this final attribute because it matters a lot to me. We were super excited by their offering – they had patented technology in a field that we believe will continue to grow massively.

Technical Review 284

Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup Funding 284

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2021

If you set around quietly waiting for someone you know to offer you money to fund a startup, you will probably have a long wait. You need to convince them that you have been working on this vision for a long time, and have done the “due diligence” on all the potential knockoffs. Show some incremental value along the way.

Invest 135

Invest Technical Review Startup Ideas 135

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

I wrote this conundrum and the need to take charge of how the market define your skills in my much-read blog post on “ personal branding.” ” If you don’t create the message about yourself, the market will. He or she has worked at some very successful big technology or media companies and went to a great school.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

James (chairman of the Althea Foundation) and appointed Adam Sroka as Senior Vice President of Technology in a move to make business transactions simple and secure. . Jackson , “This financing round, coupled with hiring Adam Sroka as our head of technology, puts CapLinked in a position to further enhance our enterprise product offerings.”.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Software Review Bertelsmann Technology 88

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Prorata rights are one of the most important rights of a private market technology investors and yet are seldom fully understood. These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. As always a balanced perspective is in order.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

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. Fables of the reconstruction.

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Thus, it is very hard to make a commitment to fund you. You’ll be able to give them an update on key hires, pilot customers, key tech innovations – whatever. I funded Ad.ly Given a few more data points I would have liked to have invested but given the market speed it looks unlikely. Quick coffees, whatever.

Invest 411

Invest Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 411

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

The press around the raise & company was fantastic and the promise of their technology – wireless charging that works as easily as WiFi – would positively affect many of our lives. uBeam’s tech does work and I have safely seen it demo’d in the real life many times. ” **. Now they are partners.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

Very few people fund individuals. I know you’re not a tech guy and haven’t done anything other than an HTML course you once took, but if you’re inspirational and a leader you’ll find somebody to moonlight for free to get your prototype built. Market validation – This one is optional but important.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

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. No cookies for guessing which reason they use to market to us. This is all explicit decision making.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 19, 2014

If you set around quietly waiting for someone you know to offer you money to fund a startup, you will probably have a long wait. You need to convince them that you have been working on this vision for a long time, and have done the “due diligence” on all the potential knockoffs. Show some incremental value along the way.

Startup 106

Startup Funding Technical Review Ideas 106

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Capitalism is fundamentally about timing, since market competition is about finding opportunities before others. Anyone who has worked in a large company further knows that timing a product launch or a new marketing strategy has more to do with internal politics than reading market forces. When should you start a company?

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

socalTECH

JUNE 11, 2018

For our interview this morning, we caught up with Scot Lawrie , the President and technical Co-founder of Los Angeles-based Coverfly (www.coverfly.com), and John Rhodes , Coverfly's head of Marketing and Business Development, to learn a bit more about the early stage, bootstrapped startup focused on Hollywood script writers.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Hollywood Platform Competition 100

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

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. 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.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2013

“Scope creep” (or feature creep) is an insidious disease that kills more good startups than any other, especially high-tech ones, and yet most founders (who may be the cause) never even see it happening. Define milestones for cost review and sign-off. Change requests must be visibly reviewed by executives frequently.

Technical Review 110

Technical Review Startup Software Review High Tech 110

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

Too Techie - Tone down emphasis on the technology underlying your venture; an interested investor will perform tech diligence at the appropriate time. No VC Fit - Match your venture with appropriate funding source. Who do I write the check to and where do I send it? If a valuation has been established, what is it?

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Summary Technical Review Template 211

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

While many of my friends bragged about their 5 condos in Florida I kept talking about how the real estate market was in a bubble – their gains an illusion. above inflation yet in many markets in the US & Europe prices were rising at 10-25% per year. “Yeah, but there is a shortage of supply.

Invest 299

Invest Angel Technical Review Venture Capital 299

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. What's you believe is your biggest technology risk, if any? What product, market testing have you done so far, if any? What Is This?

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 264

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. What's you believe is your biggest technology risk, if any? What product, market testing have you done so far, if any? What Is This?

CTO Hire 259

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

They cite sources like the BusinessWeek story, “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ” and this Forbes article. Most of these scenarios involve attracting outside investors, strategic partners, or key team members: You are the team and you don’t need outside funding. On the other hand, your mother probably won’t read one.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Writing Entrepreneur Slides 109

InfoChachkie

MARCH 18, 2013

Angel investors are often the sole source of funding for startups at the critical pre-launch stage. Ideally, such early-stage investors should have the experiences and motivation to help their ventures establish a sustainable business model, rather than simply writing a check before moving on to their next investment.

Angel 217

Angel Technical Review RSS Entrepreneur 217

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

And of course we help with business development introductions and with fund raising events. I have been meaning to write this for a while as I’ve noticed that much of my board time is involved in trying to be an independent referee for founders who themselves are trying to resolve their own conflicts. Those seldom get reported.

Startup 217

Startup Technical Review Equity Report 217

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. I can’t control the market. Private markets for stocks are the opposite.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

TechZulu caught up with co-founder Calvin Schemanski chat about their upcoming launch, their product and why Long reviews suck. myfab5 is a platform that reinvents the restaurant review. Unlike typical review sites, our platform does not use star ratings or long reviews. What is myfab5?

Software Review 79

Software Review Technical Review Writing Startup 79

socalTECH

JULY 22, 2016

Rufus Labs is one of a number of hardware startups which have started to proliferate in the community, due to low cost hardware, 3D printing, and crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Gabe Grifoni: At Rufus Labs, we are focused heavily on building wearables and technology in a wearable platform for the enterprise.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Startup Software Review CTO Hire 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

When I was running startups I felt like a horse with blinders on because I was super focused on the content management market and ignored many other markets. They outline the problems that exist in markets, their approach to the solutions, they update me on competitors and they show me their economic models.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2013

They cite sources like a recent BusinessWeek story, “ Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans ” and this NY Times article. In fact, they are probably in such a hurry to give you money that they don’t want you to waste time writing anything down and passing it along to new investors. You need money, and plan to do crowdfunding.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Technical Review Writing Slides 100

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My original thinking from Oct ’09 was, while I didn’t (and still don’t) have a crystal ball I worried that: consumers were over-stretched with debt (and make up 77% of the economy), unemployment would continue to rise, which in turn would drive the stock market south and cut the rate of M&A activity and VC investment even further.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

” And even the venerable Fred Wilson weighed in with how people “ leading vs. following ” in funding rounds play different roles and have different skills. AngelList 101 : As you know, AngelList is a platform where angels can invest in semi-screened tech deals. million round I might write $1.8 – 2.2

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Seattle should be the envy of any non Silicon Valley tech community in the country. awards dinner on Thursday night I started reflected on what it would take to “change the trajectory&# for Seattle or for any regional market, really. You need to have passionate tech entrepreneurs who want to build businesses locally.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 15, 2012

There are many paths into the VC world, but they can generally be lumped into two categories: (i) serial entrepreneurship, and (ii) tech-oriented investment banking. I define a "VC" as, "a professional investor who deploys third-party funds into relatively early-stage companies." Microscopic Industry. Share and Enjoy.

Venture Capital 242

Venture Capital Technical Review Invest RSS 242

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

For a high-volume seed fund that adds many portfolio companies every year (such as our friends at 500 Startups who invest in over 100 distinct companies annually), the cost of a bad affirmative decision (a false positive) is quite low, since it accounts for a relatively small portion of their total fund. Unicornless. billion).

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100