Remove Funding Remove Patents Remove Technical Review
article thumbnail

The Audacious Plan to Make Electricity as Easy as WiFi

Both Sides of the Table

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.

article thumbnail

I Would Only Fund an Entrepreneur with High Integrity

Both Sides of the Table

We were super excited by their offering – they had patented technology in a field that we believe will continue to grow massively. During the final pre-term sheet due diligence we discovered that the CEO had had a felony arrest for a significant crime that he hadn’t disclosed to us.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

The Case for Optimism and Risk at Startups

Both Sides of the Table

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. Working on it.

article thumbnail

Technology Roles in Startups

SoCal CTO

I’ve worked with 30+ early-stage companies in all sorts of capacities (and spoken to many, many more), so I thought it might be worthwhile trying to classify the various ways that I’ve engaged in different technology roles in startups. It depends on the business, people, technologies, etc. Each situation is just a bit different.

article thumbnail

7 Reasons That Investors Won’t Fund Inventions Alone

Startup Professionals Musings

According to an old Harvard Business Review article, many people in history, famous for their inventions, like Thomas Edison, were entrepreneurs who only later were remembered as inventors of the products they commercialized. Of course it helps to have innovative technologies before you start building a business.

article thumbnail

Intellectual Property and Its Impact on Entrepreneurship

SoCal Tech Calendar

Tom O'Toole and Brandon Villery will cover issues on licensing, due diligence, NDA, different types of IP (trade secret, patent, trademark, copyright), etc. They will emphasize IP licensing and IP licensing issues of importance to entrepreneurs. See https://www.123signup.com/event?id=jmphg. 123signup.com/event?id=jmphg.

article thumbnail

7 Goodwill Factors Will Raise Your Business Valuation

Startup Professionals Musings

Quality of your technical and business teams. Back in the early days of the personal computer, Bill Gates and Microsoft were widely recognized and having the strongest technical culture, as well as a commanding marketing presence. Proprietary technology with a high barrier to entry. You need to do the same now.