Berkonomics

AUGUST 17, 2023

Preparing for the game… If you have been following our recent insights, you’ll be up to speed knowing that professional investors negotiate tough terms, from provisions of control over asset acquisition, eventual sale of the company, future investments, forced co-sale when others attempt to sell their shares and more.

Invest 296

Invest Capital Startup Entrepreneur 296

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally generated funds.

Venture Capital 295

Venture Capital Startup Class Invest 295

socalTECH

JUNE 11, 2015

Los Angeles-based Android-based game console maker Ouya is nearing a sale of the company, most likely by game hardware maker Razer , according to reports. Ouya had been venture backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and including Mayfield Fund, NVIDIA, Shasta Ventures, and Occam Partners, and had raised over $8.6M

Sales 100

Sales Report Los Angeles Pricing 100

socalTECH

JULY 10, 2019

in seed funding, from E&A Venture Capital and SOSV. We spoke with CEO and co-founder Spencer Price to learn more about the company. Spencer Price: Halla is the only software company to dynamically profile human tastes so we can help people make better choices. Spencer Price: That's a fair question. What is Halla?

Pricing 113

Pricing Startup North Hollywood Platform 113

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. In sales there are also three rules: Qualify, qualify, qualify.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

socalTECH

AUGUST 16, 2021

San Diego-based sales and marketing software developer Seismic has raised $170M in a Series G funding round, the company said this morning, and is now valued at $3 billion. Rowe Price, according to the company. Rowe Price, according to the company. Seismic has now raised $440M in total funding.

San Diego 113

San Diego Coach Sales Training 113

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

I recently wrote about my views that startups rounds should be priced. Fred, who also wrote his views about convertible debt (significantly more succinctly than I) believes that the price of a single round should be the same for everybody. Price the round. You can do it with equity & a price. And a few others.

Pricing 294

Pricing Venture Capital Writing Equity 294

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

A while back I wrote a bunch of posts on Sales & Marketing and have been meaning to get back to that theme for a while. Even if you don’t have “direct&# sales I would tell you that “everything is a sale&# including fund raising, hiring, getting press and doing business development.

Sales 346

Sales Startup Technical Review Customer 346

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

Investors expect proof that your invention can be manufactured in volume, and can justify a sales price at least double the cost, to a large customer set that has money to spend. You need a viable business model and customers. Lock in your sustainable advantage. Technology limited to a single product is seldom enough for a business.

Technical Review 156

Technical Review Funding Patents Ideas 156

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 8, 2020

Today, a startup that is doing this in the specific area of distressed property is announcing a round of growth funding to ramp up its team and expand its business. The funding is being led by QED Investors; Founders Fund, Susa Ventures, Navitas Capital, and Prudence Holdings also participated.

Sales 282

Sales Demand San Diego Funding 282

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

MyTime , which operates an online service focused on online deals for appointment-focused businesses like chiropractors, personal trainers, housekeeping, and more, has raised a round of funding to expand its service beyond Los Angeles. GRP's Mark Suster said the round was worth $3M, with GRP putting up most of the funds.

Services 229

Services Funding GRP Partners Legalzoom 229

socalTECH

OCTOBER 9, 2020

San Diego-based sales enablement and marketing software developer Seismic said this week that it has named a new Chief Product Officer. Seismic recently raised another $92M in funding, which valued the company at approximately $1.6 Rowe Price READ MORE>>. Mantipragada also previously served at First Data and SAP.

Product 124

Product Southern California San Diego Sales 124

socalTECH

DECEMBER 18, 2018

San Diego-based Seismic , a developer of sales and marketing software, has raised $100M more in a funding round, which values the company at $1 billion, the company said on Tuesday. The funding round came from Lightspeed Venture Partners, T. Rowe Price, plus General Atlantic, JMI Equity, and Jackson Square Ventures.

San Diego 113

San Diego Sales Equity Pricing 113

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

On the other hand, the biggest winners will turn out to be much larger than the prices people paid for them and this will happen faster than at any time in human history. And as a result of this there are now very robust secondary markets where founders and seed-funds alike are selling down their ownership long before an ultimate exit.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I now observes the fund raising process as a profession. This is the fund raising perspective from both sides of the table. Fund raising (as is much of life) is a sale – pure and simple. Three rules in sales: Why buy anything? Fund raising is bloody hard. Executive Summary. Create scarcity. Why buy me?

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2016

It is an heroic accomplishment in a brutal fund-raising market in which only market leaders can bring in that sort of money. We started planning our fund raising as much as 14 months ago. forward sales with some as high as 12x sales. forward sales with some as high as 12x sales.

Funding 150

Funding Startup SaaS Venture Capital 150

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 29, 2020

San Diego-based Seismic , which develops sales enablement and marketing software, has joined the unicorn club, saying this morning that it has raised $92M in a Series F funding, which values the company at approximately $1.6 Rowe Price, its existing investors. Seismic has now raised a total of $270M in funding.

San Diego 113

San Diego Sales Pricing Activity 113

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 8, 2017

Santa Barbara-based TrackStreet , a developer of software to help manufacturers monitor their channel and e-commerce sites--and in particular, minimum-advertising-price (MAP) policies--has raised $2M in seed funding, the company said Wednesday. READ MORE>>.

Commerce 124

Commerce Artificial Inteligence Seed Funding Santa Barbara 124

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 5, 2022

The feed shows videos of homes on the market, as well as a price tag. As you scroll, you can guess whether the price Playhouse showed you is higher or lower than the actual listing price, helping to educate future buyers about the market (… and also it’s fun, even if you’re not looking to buy a $2 million home in San Francisco).

Content 255

Content Pricing Seed Funding Los Angeles 255

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2023

Projecting financials is a natural extension of the homework every entrepreneur needs to do on customer opportunity size, product costs, pricing, competition and customer value. As a rule of thumb, most viable businesses need a gross margin above 50 percent, even on wholesale prices, to cover operational expenses and survive as a business.

Startup 116

Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 116

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

million shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $11.75 HyreCar said it intends to use the new funding for working capital and general corporate purposes including sales, marketing, and technology investments to continue to expand its platform.

Los Angeles 113

Los Angeles Pricing Platform Report 113

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

Many people are too cautious in sales processes and as a result when they present their solutions they end up sounding milquetoast and undifferentiated from anybody else in the market. I recently wrote about the three rules of sales. In sales we often call these USPs (I wrote about them here: Unique Selling Propositions ).

Sales 150

Sales SaaS Startup Venture Capital 150

Xconomy

DECEMBER 21, 2018

It’s beginning to look a lot like, well, the last roundup of the year, with plenty of news to pack in before our holiday breather.

Pricing 73

Pricing Sales Study News 73

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2023

Proof of any business model starts with a finished product or solution, sold to a new customer for full price, with high satisfaction for the value received. Word of mouth is not adequate for marketing and sales. Everyone must be part of the sales process.

Customer 109

Customer Custom Satisfaction Sales 109

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 26, 2021

San Diego-based sales enablement software developer Seismic said this week that it has named Donna DeBerry as its new Vice President, Inclusion. Its investors include Permira Funds, Ameriprise Financial, EDBI, Jackson Square Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and T. Rowe Price.

Southern California 113

Southern California San Diego Software Development Pricing 113

socalTECH

APRIL 8, 2011

Los Angeles-based MarketShare , the marketing analytics technology firm run by Wes Nichols, has scored another $10M in funding, according to a regulatory filing from the firm Thursday. MarketShare was unable to provide additional details on the funding. MarketShare is backed by private equity firm Elevation Partners. READ MORE>>.

Funding 124

Funding Equity Los Angeles Pricing 124

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Since this number is budgeted and pre-authorized, managers tend to focus upon other things such as sales, marketing and product development issues. It is not a strong bargaining position for the CEO to ask for money to complete a product promised for completion with the previous round of funding. The art of good management.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Product Marketing Resource 296

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2017

You may think this is only important to your marketing and sales people, but in reality it doesn’t matter how great your product or technology might be, you won’t succeed if you don’t understand your target customer decision process. Every aspect of your business must be about sales. This is the growth equation for a startup.

Sales 82

Sales Entrepreneur Customer Custom 82

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

San Diego-based sales enablement and marketing software developer Seismic said this morning that it has named Heather Cole as the company Vice President, Market Growth. Rowe Price, plus General Atlantic, JMI Equity, and Jackson Square Ventures; at the time of its last funding, in 2018 , the company was valued at more than $1 billion.

San Diego 113

San Diego Equity Research Software Development 113

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 21, 2017

Once a company founder has tapped the funds available from his or her resources and from friends and family, if the company needs more cash for growth, the most obvious next step is to look for money from angel investors and venture capitalists, typically in the $300,000 TO $3,000,000 range.

Invest 243

Invest Sales Resource Email 243

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

It has historically been the case that VCs would rather fund the promise of 100x in a company with almost no revenue than the reality of a company growing at 50% but doing $20+ million in sales. Our goal is to produce a $10 billion+ winner and remain the market leader in this SaaS category of AI in Sales & Marketing.

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital Capital Funding Startup 363

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

If no financing happened then this “note&# may not be converted and thus would be senior to the equity of the company in the case of a bankruptcy or asset sale. They also trust VC’s to determine the right price to pay for the company securities that they buy. Maybe the market views this as not worth the price you paid?

Startup 290

Startup Funding Venture Capital Pricing 290

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2022

In my experience, the top candidates will include the following: What if you have to cut your targeted price? Pricing is always a tricky issue. You need to quickly calculate the long-term impact on profitability of pricing and business model changes. What if you need to change your market size and volume projections?

Startup 147

Startup Pricing Sample Customer 147

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2023

In my view, this focus on the wrong skill set is the primary reason why over half of new businesses fail in the first five years, and only one out of a hundred startups get their requested funding from professional investors. His focus is on sales, but I see the same skills needed for entrepreneurs. It’s up to you to clear the way.

Startup 154

Startup Sales Entrepreneur Customer 154

Berkonomics

JULY 19, 2010

Once a company founder has tapped the funds available from his or her resources and from friends and family, if the company needs more cash for growth, the most obvious next step is to look for money from angel investors and venture capitalists, typically in the $300,000 TO $3,000,000 range.

Pricing 120

Pricing Invest Startup Sales 120

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Los Angeles-based car sharing marketplace HyreCar, which provides access to cars for drivers int he ridesharing, food, and package delivery services business, says it expects to raise $25.85M in a public offering of the company's stock, which priced on Wednesday evening. Davidson & Co., Maxim Group, and Ladenberg Thalman & Co.

Los Angeles 113

Los Angeles Pricing Sales Capital 113

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2009

I’ve sat through a lot of VC pitches and having been CEO of an enterprise software firm for many years I’ve also sat through many customer meetings with sales teams. After the sales meetings I would ask the exec afterward, “how do you think it went?&# We used to do this in our sales slides.

Venture Capital 275

Venture Capital Sales Slides Startup 275