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

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2016

I even prefer to fund entrepreneurs who have experience some level of set-backs in their careers or startups because I think it brings a humility to decision-making that I find healthy. In London when founders failed they were ostracized in the press and culturally I believe it became harder to raise capital.

Startup 261

Startup Press Blogging .Net 261

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2023

If ten percent of these numbers, multiplied by your average product price, will get you the revenue you need to scale your business, you will get the love you need from angel and venture capital investors. On the other hand, spending your entire startup budget on market research won’t improve your odds of success or funding.

Statistics 120

Statistics Research Report Newsletter 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 17, 2017

You begin to think about how hard it will be to fund raise, sign customers, hire employees, etc. And the giant gets disrupted precisely because its cost structure to serve its customers and its cash cow, high-priced offering makes it nearly impossible for it to try compete. The first instinct is fear, then dread, then panic.

Riot Games 254

Riot Games Pricing Startup Venture Capital 254

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. Prorata investments rights given investors the right to invest in your future fund-raising rounds and maintain their ownership % in your company as your company grows and raises more capital.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Xconomy

OCTOBER 28, 2016

THIS WEEK IN DRUG PRICING…. —A coalition of investors pressed drug makers to justify price increases. The group filed shareholder resolutions with 11 companies and cited a Kaiser Family Foundation poll that cited Americans’ concerns over drug prices. DEALS AND FUNDINGS. Here’s more from Forbes.

Pricing 40

Pricing Conference News Study 40

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

He said, “They need an unbiased view of the fund raising environment because there is too much misinformation and everything seems to be changing fast.&#. I suppose I should have imagined that this line would get more press than all other comments combined. All of that might be true, but the 2006 price might still be over-valued.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

What price? The only way for a company to be overvalued is if there’s someone willing to pay that price. ” Therefore one goal of Y Combinator appears to be “get the highest price and best terms.” And for the record, GRP has funded YC alum. What kind of deals should I be doing? What stage?

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Thus, it is very hard to make a commitment to fund you. And don’t allocate two months of each year to “hardcore funding activities&# but allocate a regular amount of time each month to it like any other job function. I funded Ad.ly For some companies – they become deal breakers on further funding rounds.

Invest 411

Invest Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 411

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

What price? The only way for a company to be overvalued is if there’s someone willing to pay that price. ” Therefore one goal of Y Combinator appears to be “get the highest price and best terms.” And for the record, GRP has funded YC alum. What kind of deals should I be doing? What stage? With pleasure.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2015

I’ve tried over the years to write many times about the realism of the downsides of being an entrepreneur because there is a complete cognitive dissidence between what you read about yourself in the press and what you feel internally about where you’re at in the journey. We should try to have empathy for each other.

Press 150

Press Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2020

If ten percent of these numbers, multiplied by your average product price, will get you the revenue you need to scale your business, you will get the love you need from angel and venture capital investors. On the other hand, spending your entire startup budget on market research won’t improve your odds of success or funding.

Marketing 157

Marketing Statistics Research Report 157

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

I had a narrative in my head that I didn’t want to fund apps that would help husbands cheat on their wives or help kids send naked photos. Another firm funded them. 6 months later the company was in the press because predators had used the app to rape and molest three children under the age of 15. Many seem plausible.

Snapchat 214

Snapchat Invest Technical Review Dollar Shave Club 214

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

And of course we help with business development introductions and with fund raising events. But unlike the popular press reporting of this conflict — 80% of the time it is founder-to-founder conflict and not investor-to-founder conflict. The administrative work we actually do at board meetings? Those seldom get reported.

Startup 217

Startup Technical Review Equity Report 217

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

They want to merge with other and want to know if I’d fund the combined entity. It’s far easier (and sexier) to spend your time working on deals – the chase, the negotiation, the secret dinners, the combination of assets, the PRESS STORY! They always have big lovey-dovey press releases. You’re in control.

Technical Review 276

Technical Review Startup Press Pricing 276

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. Only naive people believe that but for inexperienced entrepreneurs you can be fooled into the narrative by the press who sometimes write stories without the actual data. THE FULL STORY. PHONE CALLS.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 5, 2022

Currently, the studio is funded in part by partnerships with Monster Energy and Snap’s 523 program , which supports small content companies and creators from underrepresented groups. Black Founders Matter presses VCs to pledge commitment to diversity. “Some of these programs are cool, but it’s like, what’s after that? .

Platform 210

Platform Social Media Netflix Content 210

InfoChachkie

JULY 28, 2015

Even the eccentric King of Pop communicated the price he was willing to pay for Neverland. Our response was that there was no “price” as our company was not for sale. We then turned Citrix’s question around, saying, “You knocked on our door with an intent to buy so you obviously have some idea of the price you are willing to pay.

Company 100

Company Companies Santa Barbara Pricing 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

My suggestion is to get some of the angel groups – notorious for slow decision-making and hat passing – and pool their money into a small fund structure of say $5-10 million. Local Press / Websites / Organizational Tools – New York has an amazing startup scene and the energy and momentum is palpable.

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Press San Diego 378

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

To grow faster businesses need resources in today to fund growth that may not come for 6 months to a year. They don’t want high burn rates but they will never fund slow growth. million to fund operations in their first year of operations. They raised $5 million in venture capital to fund growth. What did they actually do?

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

A traveler pays Sun Country one fixed price to get them from the bus pick-up point to their final destination. Airbnb, for its part, filed a press release this week confirming its plans to go public in 2020. The financing brings Postmates’ total funding to nearly $1 billion.

Services 207

Services Startup Venture Capital Redpoint 207

Eric Greenspan

JULY 3, 2012

Make It Work sold its services in pre-paid hours, at a discount from our pay-as-you-go pricing. Since 2008, the company has been forced to lower it’s prices, from $120/hour to $80/hour. We were certain the funding would come through. We were so close to getting the funding. Days went by, we stayed focused.

Capital 234

Capital Pricing Press Custom 234

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

I pointed to several Economist articles I had read that mapped historical prices of real estate for 400 years and how on average property values grow at no more 1.5% above inflation yet in many markets in the US & Europe prices were rising at 10-25% per year. We jockey to make sure the press release has our names on it.

Invest 299

Invest Angel Technical Review Venture Capital 299

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2009

I know that you keep reading about how our competitors seem to been going from strength-to-strength in the press. You’re only reading our competitor’s press releases. I promise you that inside their offices they’re reading our great press releases, wishing life was as easy for them as it was at our company.

Startup 331

Startup Press Custom Customer 331

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

Now that you’ve gotten the round done I’d love to get together at your convenience and learn more about your business so I’ll be ready well before you’re next fund raising event. Not everybody agrees that entrepreneurs should take investor meetings outside of “funding season&# when they’re raising capital.

Startup 360

Startup Venture Capital Invest Slides 360

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 9, 2013

As I outlined in my talk, I believe the greatest Internet companies created over the past 15 years have been “deflationary” meaning they are driving down the prices or goods & services. Declining prices & margins in a small market is much less interesting. Prices down. Network Up. But what else?

Marketing 361

Marketing Course Pricing Networking 361

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

If a consumer will pay a fixed price for a product or service then the battle over who gets the margin in any sale is between the person who merchandises a product and the person who manufactures it. The press around the Parachute Home Hotel itself was worth the effort of having created it. even a DTC company?—?if

Product 296

Product Course Custom Customer 296

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. A normal VC fund raises a new fund every three years if they are strong performers.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Marketing Seed Funding 150

Tech Coast Venture Network

MAY 15, 2011

Guest luminaries from the start-up, entrepreneurial, funding, technology and political worlds will mingle with local entrepreneurs and business leaders to discuss the current state of small business innovation and advancement in the Orange Coast. The price increases to $65 after April 23rd and $125 at the door. REGISTER AT: [link].

TCVN 113

TCVN Technology AeA Press 113

Xconomy

OCTOBER 7, 2016

coast bearing the brunt of Hurricane Matthew, we send our thoughts and more to those who have more pressing matters to worry about this week. military’s high-tech think tank DARPA described Safe Genes, a new program to fund safety measures that can be built into genome editing technology or counter its potential wayward effects.

Technical Review 77

Technical Review Study Layoffs San Diego 77

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

Getting involved with political events and fund raisers. Kara on one side of the table showing me market sizes, competitive dynamics, product roadmaps, pricing plans for physical products with COGS and gross margins. She helps write press releases. Sheryl Sandberg leans in? Kara perfected that. ladies, show me what you got.

Startup 398

Startup Design Downey Activity 398

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

But where you need to be careful is in either “cutting side deals” with the execs such as huge CEO pricing discounts (unless that’s the agreed sales plan) or committing to features to win a deal. We CEOs like to be heroes and with the power to push through pricing or product we have unfair advantages over the normal process.

Startup 150

Startup Sales CTO Coach Course 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

There are obvious reasons the industry has had less-than-desirable returns, including: massive over-funding of the sector, huge increases in inexperienced venture capitalists that took a decade to peter out, and the massive correction in the value of the public stock markets that closed many exit opportunities for half a decade.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Photo by Hope House Press - Leather Diary Studio on Unsplash It’s also true that there will be tough moments in your company’s journey where you will want to be able to carry people behind the tough decisions you want. But what are the KEY ISSUES management is grappling with. We think it will have a 30% attach rate to our core product.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

To do this, CADScan recently launched a Kickstarter to fund its new machine. The price for one of these machines starts off at GBP 649 or about $1,000. The price for one of these machines starts off at GBP 649 or about $1,000. The 3D scanner is very simple to use, just place the object on the tray and press a button and voila!

Design 77

Design Startup Press Pricing 77

Xconomy

JULY 1, 2016

At the gathering, Biden took verbal shots at scofflaw cancer researchers and at drug prices, while the FDA said it would take a shot at restructuring the way it evaluates oncology products. Gilead Sciences has been a target of drug-price criticism for its hepatitis C treatments, but it dialed back the price of its new one.

Buzzfeed 59

Buzzfeed News Pricing IBM 59

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. So if all I need to do is make some customer calls, interview potential employees or help with his fund-raising decks – hallelujah. Assigns tasks.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365