socalTECH

OCTOBER 19, 2009

Wil also founded Go Big Network , an online community for entrepreneurs. He recently landed a round of funding, and shares his experience here: Before you start bitching about investors not writing checks in this economy let me just say this  bullshit. Read Wil's full article about finding funding this year.

Writing 100

Writing Santa Monica Venture Capital Entrepreneur 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Seed investments are down by any measure (funds, deals, dollars) over the past 3 years in deals < $1 million AND in deals between $1–5 million. As you can see below the number of seed funds shot up dramatically between 2006 and 2014. It’s very noticeable in terms of funds raised, dollars invested and deals completed.

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Invest Seed Funding Startup 328

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2011

The truth is I have been thinking a lot about the topic, I just haven’t been writing about it. But this coming generation is much more likely to be inspired by The Social Network and want to be entrepreneurs. I plan to write about this phenomenon soon. So I’m increasingly seeing entrepreneurs getting funded at 22.

Entrepreneur 341

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup Blogging 341

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2014

Yet along with “authenticity” they are two of the key attributes I look for when I meet with companies I may consider funding one day. This is how Upfront Ventures came to fund Tristan Walker – one of the most talented and passionate entrepreneurs with whom we work whose new company is called Bevel. And we did.

Startup 419

Startup Entrepreneur Design Funding 419

socalTECH

APRIL 8, 2014

Among those funds is TYLT Lab (www.tyltlab.com), which recently announced a new, $20M early stage investment fund specifically focused on companies here. We spoke with Rami Rostami and Gerard Casale , who are behind TYLT Labs, and who told us a bit about their new fund, its investment criteria, and where it sees the promise here.

Seed Funding 220

Seed Funding Santa Monica Funding Startup 220

TechCrunch LA

JULY 21, 2020

So the two women started bringing their networks to soccer games and gathering momentum and support for the women’s soccer league and the sport broadly. In 2014, we established the Play Equity Fund, the only nonprofit focused on Play Equity as a social justice issue,” said Renata Simril, President & CEO of the LA84 Foundation.

Writing 171

Writing Los Angeles Equity Startup 171

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. If you know, VCs end up writing sizable checks into their own funds, which is important in better aligning interests. Angels have additional networks.

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

I worked with an entrepreneur who was to appear at a startup networking event where he was to talk about his company’s plans. Market to Your Target Audience – I’ve seen a lot of startups who like to write blog posts on life as an entrepreneur. A funding announcement is a stand-alone event. Read their articles.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

If you live somewhere where this is the case you’re better off discussing with your employer that you may from time-to-time work on private projects outside of work hours and you want their clearance in writing that this is OK. Register a company. This is advice that I give people all the time. Starting with 25% is even harder.

Startup 365

Startup Technical Advisors IP Ideas 365

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. It's much better with committed funds and bigger checks.

Capital 164

Capital Funding Startup Venture Capital 164

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

In writing anything positive about any of the companies I’m not suggesting that it means that I prefer them to any of their competitors. I just cover the companies that were funded that week. Also, some of the deals I write about I have actually seen as part of their fund raising process. Others I have not.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2014

VCs will spend over a year networking just to position around one founder or one deal, and if they lose it, it’s gone.” His fund is > $500 million and I guaranfuckingtee he ain’t calling me if that company is crushing it. You have a big fund. I’ve seen you write a $10 million check before.

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Email 333

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

What is it about the content delivery network market which has enabled Santa Monica-based EdgeCast to go from startup to over $100M in revenues in only a few, short years? We serve up four to five percent of the global Internet on our network. We're privately funded today, with some equity from Menlo Ventures and Steamboat Ventures.

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

…” I’ll write soon on my views of why I believe Instagram took off as a social network and what I think comes next. Instagram happens to be one of the few social networks I regularly use along with Twitter. It’s understandably on everybody’s mind these days. I’ve lived this personally.

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316

socalTECH

AUGUST 6, 2012

But, they could not write, and did not know what to write from the travel perspective. Every one of those writers has a byline and a bio, and are paid twice a week at a pretty decent rate for that writing or assignment. They couldn't find enough people to write the content they needed, at the quality they need.

Demand 240

Demand Media eHow Content 240

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” To grow faster businesses need resources in today’s financial period to fund growth that may not come for 6 months to a year.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Yes, VC / Startup Funding is up Massively If you look at how much VC firms have raised from Limited Partners (LPs) over the past 2 decades you’ll see that we’ve returned to a level that we haven’t seen since 1999. Taken together these “mega rounds” represent nearly half of the funding in 2018. More on that later.

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital Capital Startup Funding 292

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Every investor expects to see some business traction, both before and after a funding event. If you have neither, and choose to approach an investor, you will get no attention, and probably never again get a shot at funding with that investor. Now investors will pay attention, since scale-up funding is less risky and has a time frame.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

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. Oculus, Snap, Tinder and others. Oculus, Snap, Tinder and others.

Los Angeles 126

Los Angeles Artificial Inteligence Invest Angel 126

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

Getting involved with political events and fund raisers. And still able to make it out to LA networking events. She helps write press releases. When I told them I really wanted to work with them and lead their funding round they each had their, “but can you please save some space for …” moment.

Startup 398

Startup Design Downey Activity 398

Berkonomics

MARCH 13, 2014

They told me about their expertise and their network of contacts, and their early customers, and the promising results so far. They wanted to come to pitch to my angel network. None of the angels in my group is likely to write a check without hearing and believing a story about how something dramatic is about to happen.

Invest 237

Invest Examples Networking Writing 237

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Of course these are great places to network with other investors, meet great entrepreneurs and keep your connections strong with senior execs at larger companies like Yahoo!, I know I can’t be in every deal and I know that the easy part of being a VC is writing the first check in a deal. And there’s conferences. Web Summit.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

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. We would all love to have a million dollars of funding to “do it right” and build the company of our dreams. Communicate the risks, and write down the agreement. Don’t be one. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 106

Startup Funding Technical Review Ideas 106

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

We’re excited to continue to grow our investment professional staff and will continue to do so over the course of 2013 & 2014 with our new fund. He used the 500Startups platform to uber network in the Bay Area where he was living. I told him that he needed to ship product before we could fund it. I LOVED the first.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

I’ve heard it many founders of VC backed companies in LA who tell me that in their NorCal VC meetings they are told, “we might be interested but we’d want you to relocate to the Bay Area if we funded you.&#. Funding is different outside of Silicon Valley. As a result many funds are OK with big bets.

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital Southern California Google Startup 313

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

As a courtesy if you enjoyed his write-up please check out his startup company, ChannelStack. Josh and Howard began co-investing as angels and in 2005 they started a $10 million fund. They decided on a one year vintage fund structure because they were not sure they wanted to be VC’s over the long-term.

Capital 284

Capital Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 284

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. If one vocal person blurts out, “just give us the details, we all know social networking&# don’t assume that person speaks for the entire room.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

I get paid to network – I love meeting people. I get to network with angels, VCs, entrepreneurs, lawyers, etc. If you have a $100 million fund you don’t get paid your carry until you return the initial money to your investors and then you typically get 20% of the profits above this threshold. I love it.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

socalTECH

MAY 25, 2016

Santa Monica-based March Capital Partners (www.marchcp.com) has just announced a brand new, $240M venture investment fund, led by longtime venture investing veterans Jim Armstrong, Sumant Mandal, Gregory Milken and Jamie Montgomery. What is the investment focus for this fund? All of that represents opportunity, as well.

Southern California 113

Southern California Capital Funding Invest 113

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

November 23, 2010 Entrepreneurs, Using Outsourcing to Obtain Capital Efficiency Needs to be Thought Through to be Effective - Robert Ochtel , June 7, 2010 Teen Entrepreneur, Brian Wong, Youngest Founder to Receive Angel Funding - teenentrepreneurblog.com , October 28, 2010 Build Your Own Silicon Valley?

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

For those who still don’t know the origins, the Harlem Shake started as a small skit from a YouTuber named Filthy Frank (10 million views as of this writing) on January 30, 2013. As of this writing nearly 50,000 versions have been created and uploaded and watched by some 200,000,000 people. Harlem Shake. million views).

Startup 380

Startup Media Content Platform 380

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2013

I suggest that there are several important questions before assuming that funding is the gate to your success. Here are some key questions to ask yourself, before asking others for money: Do you really need investor funding to make this work? The process for all of these is networking (not email blasts or cold-calling investors).

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Funding Training Startup 101

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

The first check I wrote was just over 10 years ago into a company called Invoca who just announced a new $56 million in funding led by Scott Hilleboe at HIG Growth Partners. We now serve many large clients like Dish Networks, Dignity Health, and U.S. We not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k?—?$15

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

This started as a post in which I was going to write out tips to personal branding and became in stead an essay of my own branding journey. I was 23 and had been programming computers, designing computer networks and selling software for 10 years. I was in Network Solutions. This was pre Internet. I was “technical guy.”

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2010

The VC’s & executives were then asked to make “commitments&# (in writing) to 3-5 of the companies that they felt they could make some sort of contribution to. They have developed a cloud-based platform for merchants to publish to multiple distribution networks, including social, mobile and email.

Companies 276

Companies Company Startup Southern California 276

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 15, 2012

I define a "VC" as, "a professional investor who deploys third-party funds into relatively early-stage companies." All you need do to become an Angel is identify a promising venture and write a check. According to the NVCA, only 45 first-time funds were launched in 2011. Hang Out With VCs - VCs love free help. Share and Enjoy.

Venture Capital 242

Venture Capital Technical Review Invest RSS 242

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