InfoChachkie

JULY 28, 2014

Tradesy, one of the fastest growing sharing economy companies, was initially funded by the sharing economy. Eventually, Tracy''s cash flow desperation fortified her resolve and she accepted the inquiry of a musician, after he sent her a song as his "reference." Sharing Leads To More Sharing. Share and Enjoy.

Funding

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. Mutual funds had begun marking down the valuations of their private investments in high-profile deals. September started easily enough.

Funding

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I Know Everybody Told You to Send Your Fund-Raising Decks as a Link. Here’s Why You Should Just Send the Deck I know you have your document sending tool to send your fund-raising deck to VCs and track who read your deck, which pages they read and how much time they spend on each page. Many of my colleagues do, too. A deck is a deck.

Funding

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 11, 2020

New research has found that San Francisco and London have become two of the world’s leading hubs for VC investment into tech solutions that address one or more of the 17 UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), more commonly referred to as “Impact Tech” They are followed by Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, Shanghai and Beijing.

Venture Capital

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 6, 2010

doing a reference call on a prospective employee. FUND RAISING: I was once in a fund raising meeting. THE REFERENCE CALL: Reference calls are hard. We’ve obviously had a great experience interviewing him or we wouldn’t be doing reference calls. Some quick stories. Conclusion.

Startup

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

This is why I am such a big fan of General Assembly both because they’re teaching more tangible skills but also because they’re working directly with employers to fund classes as well as to onboard the more successful GA students directly. We spoke about the disruption of VC through crowd funding. Freemium.

Venture Capital

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

I have no reference point from which to judge whether you were higher on the y-axis 3 months ago or lower. 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.

Invest

socalTECH

JULY 15, 2011

Los Angeles-based Scopely , the stealth-mode startup which announced a funding round this week, has a unique pitch to potential employees: the firm is offering up $11,000 wrapped in Bacon, an oil painting of the new employee, Cuban cigars, a year's supply of beer, and more prizes to new employees or people who refer friends to work at the startup.

Google

socalTECH

JUNE 18, 2013

Are you a fan of the NFL or NBA--and wish you had an easy reference to the players and picks in the draft for those two sports leagues? The startup is now in the midst of seed funding efforts, after seeing uptake and large numbers of downloads of the app.

Santa Monica

socalTECH

MARCH 31, 2014

Update: Crossbar informs us that its investment announcement incorrectly identified the investor in this story as Tao Venture Capital Partners, when it should be an entirely different company -- Tao Invest, the investment fund of Nick and Joby Pritzker (also referred to as Tao LLC). The two funds are not related.

Funding

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

So I began talking to him about joining the fund. It was perfect timing since in 2012 GRP raised its fourth fund bringing our total assets managed to nearly $1 billion. I made some reference calls. Community builders. Open & transparent. Approachable. And Greg was a perfect match for all of these. They were effusive.

Venture Capital

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

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

I’ve become fond of saying “if I had a dollar for every person who told me just how much they loooooved Kara Nortman, I’d have a 10x fund.” Our industry needs more female leaders and they shouldn’t have to all quit their respective firms and raise their own funds to get a shot at running things. Does This Mean You’re Retiring?

Venture Capital

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2023

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined a long time ago from a funding perspective. Separately at this stage, you may look for small funding amounts from angel investors , called seed investments. Funding or rollout stage. Don’t waste your resources on the wrong ones.

Startup

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

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

When you’re hiring most reference checkers focus on the person’s former bosses. Just literally this week I had breakfast with a guy giving a reference who said, “He’s brilliant. In fact, just a short Google search reveals that I’ve referred to him frequently through the years. But he knows it.

CTO Hire

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 11, 2020

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Taking on equity investors to fund your company is much like getting married – it is a long-term relationship that has to work at all levels. A sample of three views is adequate.

Technical Review

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. They like a solid product, well defined pricing, good references to sell against, a clear quota and well defined competitors. Customer also buy social proof because others are acting as strong references. Please call our references.

Sales

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2014

And of course there are virulent debates about whether publicly funded media should exist at all. I fall firmly on the side of supporting public funds for quality, less-biased, programming. But I’ve seen first hand when I lived in the UK how great public funding of news can be with The Beeb. What a load of rubbish.

Riot Games

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

I had an enjoyable conversation this morning with a young team straight out of college this morning and they were calling to ask advice on how to approach fund raising (angels vs. VCs, how to select a VC, etc.) If I were looking at which VCs to choose I would reference strongly for which ones are supportive in good times and bad.

Venture Capital

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 10, 2018

We’ve called these nine and 10-figure deals, which shine brightly in the media and are hefty enough to bend the curve of VC fund sizes upwards, “ supergiants ” after their stellar counterparts. 2018 is already a record year for venture funding worldwide. 2018 in perspective.

Venture Capital

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2020

The only way an entrepreneur can really dodge this issue is to totally fund the startup with personal funds (bootstrapping). For entrepreneurs, friends and family money usually represents the smallest increment of funding, yet requires the most time to manage. Don’t forget a couple of additional potential negative realities.

Funding

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2013

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined before from a funding perspective. Separately at this stage, you may look for small funding amounts from Angel investors , called seed investments. Funding or rollout stage. Don’t waste your resources on the wrong ones. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 21, 2021

When it comes to content, the group wants Netflix to increase its funding of trans and non-binary talent, bring employee resource groups into conversations about potentially harmful content, hire more trans and non-binary content executives, and revise internal procedures around commissioning and releasing sensitive works.

Netflix

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 12, 2012

For our Insights and Opinions section on a quiet holiday Monday, we're featuring some background on the concepts behind anti-dilution and how it's used by venture capital firms in fundings. This piece comes from Louis Wharton , Partner with Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP.

Venture Capital

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2015

I angel funded a company 5 years ago. Because no VCs would fund them with a pending lawsuit of this nature. I funded a company where the CEO stepped down. I funded a US company that bought a URL and a brand name and filed for a trademark. Lawsuits are on the rise. They won two big national contracts. He sued anyways.

Startup

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2013

” In the article I discussed the downside of raising capital at a too high of a price and referred people to a previous article I had written encouraging founders to raise “ At the Top end of Normal ” as opposed to stratospheric prices. If we count seed funds and large angels maybe that number goes up by 2x?

Pricing

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 4, 2011

How are you funding this? What level of funding do you currently have? Refer a friend? Are there specific metrics needed for future funding rounds or for operations? Please be able to provide me with a few specific examples of different types of customers, what they need, what the system will do for them. Commenting?

Development

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. They like a solid product, well defined pricing, good references to sell against, a clear quota and well defined competitors. Customer also buy social proof because others are acting as strong references. Please call our references.

Sales

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

If you don’t follow the image reference above or the tag line, “ You don’t need double talk; you need Bob Loblaw “ (try saying it out loud) , and if you care! So eventually you have your company funded but only 2 of the 5 people who started the company are still around. the link is here.

Startup

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 4, 2011

How are you funding this? What level of funding do you currently have? Refer a friend? Are there specific metrics needed for future funding rounds or for operations? Please be able to provide me with a few specific examples of different types of customers, what they need, what the system will do for them. Commenting?

Development

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2018

It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined some time ago from a funding perspective. Separately at this stage, you may look for small funding amounts from angel investors , called seed investments. Funding or rollout stage. Don’t waste your resources on the wrong ones.

Funding

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

Plus, if you need more money it’s far less for each to dip into their respective pockets to fund you. By definition each of those VCs (unless they are a micro VC – and one who doesn’t mind 5% ownership) will view you as a sort of “option&# where they might get to fund the next round if you do well.

Venture Capital

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 3, 2009

When people refer to a strategic investor they are usually talking about an investor that comes from the industry you serve as opposed to an independent venture capital investor. Make sure to reference check with other portfolio companies. There are many funds that are associated with corporation that are structured as proper VCs.

Venture Capital

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Fred Wilson as usual said it better and more succinctly than I in this post : ” … we only manage funds in the $150mm to $200mm range, we only need to invest in 6-10 new companies a year and we only need a third of them to work. You can’t reference check your way into a “yes.”

Venture Capital

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 22, 2013

After you’ve received your first round of funding, that’s when your startup finance strategy needs to deepen. Here’s how to build out your finance function, post-funding: Hire a professional. Pre-funding, you may have been managing your finances yourself. Pre-funding, you may have been managing your finances yourself.

Funding

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2016

To do that you need to have the most talented partners and operating staff because entrepreneurs (and venture capital funds) have choices about whom they will work with and the best deals go to the best firms. Kobie then headed to Los Angeles to join LA-based startup REVOLVE as its CMO where he got his direct operating experience.

Venture Capital