TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 9, 2022

The funding, a Series C, will be used to continue expanding Boulevard’s product and engineering teams and to build out more tools targeting an ever-wider set of users in the bigger wellness and beauty sector (those product additions are typically big — it most recently added a whole new payments feature). Focusing on the U.S.

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Help Startup UCLA Tool 195

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2014

In fact, the average spent by Inc 500 companies for sales and marketing expense continues to hover around 10% of overall revenues. Concentrate elsewhere on the near-term marketing activities (which are also expensive) for this round of funding. Put out regular press releases for search purposes and general visibility.

Marketing 102

Marketing Funding Social Media SEM 102

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

That company was Invoca, which just announced a $20 million fund raise led by Accel. So I think it’s now fair to rate me at 9/10 on follow-on fundings. I am closing 3 new fundings in April (2 new, 1 follow-on). As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago.

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Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

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 not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k?—?$15 15 million first checks but we also have three growth funds. Why does that matter?

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

socalTECH

OCTOBER 23, 2009

in a funding, according to numbers in the Q3 PricewaterhouseCoopers/NVCA MoneyTree report. Source of the funding was not revealed, however, Amway announced in August that it would take a majority stake in Metagenics, via its Alticor Corporate Enterprises arm.

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Press Venture Capital Report Sales 166

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

In that article I talked about how PR drives: recruiting, employee retention, biz dev deals, funding and even M&A and that often “attribution” to your PR activities is unknown. Contrary to popular opinion I actually believe crowd-funding is best used after seed capital or venture capital. I have no money?

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2023

Use your favorite search engine and keywords describing your solution to find online sales reports, trade association statistics, and online newsletters with the latest statistics. Competitor annual reports, white papers, press releases, and presentations are great sources of data and trends that you can use to support your own efforts.

Statistics 120

Statistics Research Report Newsletter 120

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. The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. They don’t want high burn rates but they will never fund slow growth. COGS” represents the amount that each sale costs you.

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 14, 2010

They are tasked with “getting deals done&# so they race around talking to tons of potential partners inking anything from channel sale deals , product integration, international distribution agreements, co-marketing arrangements, M&A discussions, etc. Here’s how it goes: You have a business development group with two people.

Startup 323

Startup Press Development Team Review SEM 323

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

All the data actually suggests with the growth of mobile, inbound sales calls will double from 30 billion to 60 billion in 3 years (source: Kelsey). It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. Calls are changing but not dying. PHONE CALLS.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

I spend a lot of time with startups and thus hear many companies talk about their approach to sales and their interactions with customers. Given customers & sales are the lifeblood of any organization you’d imagine everybody would respect their customers. The press don’t get your financials. Startup Lessons'

Customer 341

Customer Custom Venture Capital Software Review 341

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

At times I wanted the engineering team to produce features to support our sales efforts to I occasionally leaned on them a bit. So he would allocate say – 20% to sales, 15% to marketing, 20% to eng priorities, 10% to customer support, 10% to ops, 20% to ‘platinum customers’ and maybe 5% directly to me as the CEO.

Startup 150

Startup Sales CTO Coach Course 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

The functions of an early-stage board are pretty obvious and well understood: Providing introductions to customers, biz dev partners, recruits, the press, other investors, etc. Planning and dealing with extra-ordinary events: M&A, fund raising, crises. how much energy to put into channel partners vs. direct sales.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

They are tasked with “getting deals done” so they race around talking to tons of potential partners inking anything from channel sale deals , product integration, international distribution agreements, co-marketing arrangements, M&A discussions, etc. Here’s how it goes: You have a business development group with two people.

Activity 164

Activity Conference Press Case Study 164

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2020

Use your favorite search engine and keywords describing your solution to find online sales reports, trade association statistics, and online newsletters with the latest statistics. Competitor annual reports, white papers, press releases, and presentations are great sources of data and trends that you can use to support your own efforts.

Marketing 157

Marketing Statistics Research Report 157

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. Often we are asked to get involved in executive-level recruiting. Those seldom get reported.

Startup 217

Startup Technical Review Equity Report 217

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

.&# Marketing futures can be really good for enterprise software companies where the information is passed between sales rep and potential customer in terms of near-term roadmap. But don’t let this information get out into the general press and don’t market more than a few months out. They come and go. You don’t.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

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

socalTECH

JUNE 9, 2010

Last week, Los Angeles-based HauteLook (www.hautelook.com), an online private sales site, scored a major round of funding--raising $31M from Insight Venture Partners. Adam Bernhard: We're a platform that does flash sales. What is all that funding going towards? Adam, thanks for the time. Pacific Standard every day.

Sales 224

Sales Email Startup Sample 224

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 25, 2015

As we went from a small band of missionaries hell bent on making our idea a reality, raising capital, getting press, and selling to customers – we were all having fun. When we first funded the company in 2009 we knew there was a big opportunity to help businesses automate marketing through phone channels.

Demand 150

Demand SaaS Startup Sales 150

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

Most newspapers are written at a third-grade reading level, White House press releases average a fourth-grade reading level and the New York Times is easily digestible by the average fifth grader. No VC Fit - Match your venture with appropriate funding source. Distribution and Sales. Patents and Trademarks. Financials.

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Summary Technical Review Template 211

InfoChachkie

JULY 28, 2015

My House Is Not For Sale. Our response was that there was no “price” as our company was not for sale. Run A Sales Process – Establishing an auction was the least attractive option, even though this approach might have driven up the purchase price. VC Funding Alternative. We were not rude nor indignant. Who’s There?

Company 100

Company Companies Santa Barbara Pricing 100

Eric Greenspan

JULY 3, 2012

In May of 2012, sales dropped drastically. Sales remained sluggish during this period, but we were not giving up. We were certain the funding would come through. We were so close to getting the funding. Costco wanted to launch us online, on costco.com. Finally, it seemed as though we were going to fly. We missed payroll.

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Capital Pricing Press Customer 234

socalTECH

JUNE 1, 2012

My other co-founder, Rusty Jenkins, was also with that company, doing sales. On average, not including our internal friends, every user who joins the site is inviting four new friends, and we haven't done any marketing except a press release. Can you talk about how your company is funded? We're also funding it out of pocket.

CTO Coach 223

CTO Coach Startup Mobile Artificial Inteligence 223

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2009

Our sales forecasts were revised downward – many times. 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. You need to stop comparing our internal issues with their press releases.

Startup 331

Startup Press Customer Custom 331

socalTECH

OCTOBER 28, 2016

Those were the three categories, for a long time, that tended to be the domain of the LA ecosystems, just in terms of the number of startups house here, the funding, where you could attract talent, and really sort of where LA gained a reputation. We're on our third fund, and are now investing out of that fund.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Funding Incubator 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 18, 2010

Full press release with more details is here. Help these companies get funded and let them know that if they stayed in LA there was an ecosystem to support them. He was able to raise money from a VC in Minneapolis called Split Rock , grow the business to over $200 million in sales and sell to Experian for nearly $380 million.

Technical Review 259

Technical Review Venture Capital Southern California Tech Coast Angels 259

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2017

Fund raising is hard for everybody. Very, very few founders have an easy time despite what you read in the press. Fund raising is like a funnel where you need a bunch of potential leads in the top end and only a few will reach the bottom. Raising money is a sale and selling requires persistence and follow up.

Funding 238

Funding Venture Capital Startup Course 238

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. Press Release TCVN News' Media Contact: Jan Johnson. Greentech Communication.

TCVN 113

TCVN Technology AeA Press 113

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

For a well-funded seed company I have controversially recommended hiring a great office manager that doubles as an administrative assistant. For a well-funded A or B round company I have recommended “ leveling up ,” which entails many things but in summary I tell people to “act your stage.”

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Metrics Startup Sales 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2010

As startup entrepreneurs we all want to work with them because having their name as reference clients makes it so much easier for marketing, PR, selling to other customers, fund raising and even recruiting. While I’m a huge believer that sales bonuses should always be uncapped, I think capping PBW’s is a good idea.

Startup 298

Startup Sales Slides Metrics 298

InfoChachkie

JUNE 9, 2015

With top-ranked accelerators Lauchpad LA closing its doors and Y Combinator rebranding itself as a seed fund, it seems fair to ask the question, “Are Accelerators Dead?”. Provide High Impact Exposure Beyond Your Hometown Press. If the sales aren’t there, it might be time for the entrepreneurs to either pivot or seek out a new venture.”

Startup 100

Startup Class LAMP Santa Barbara 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2010

Speaking at a “city tour&# in which Salesforce.com sales reps and executive management were present. Think about this – what is more powerful – a VC who tells you how great he/she is or when you read your peers reviews on The Funded ? Tags: Sales & Marketing Advice Startup Advice.

Marketing 294

Marketing Customer Custom Technical Review 294

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

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. – you’re very well positioned as a fund. Fair enough.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Their first fund was a $75 million fund raised in 2006 and they very recently announced a brand new $130 million fund. Closing a VC fund in 2009/10 is a major achievement in and of itself. In the intro section of the show we talked a lot about why VC funds are becoming smaller again and where Greycroft fits.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

InfoChachkie

JULY 18, 2012

In May of 2012, sales dropped drastically. Sales remained sluggish during this period, but we were not giving up. We were certain the funding would come through. We were so close to getting the funding. Costco wanted to launch us online, on costco.com. Finally, it seemed as though we were going to fly. We missed payroll.

RSS 170

RSS Technical Review Capital Email 170