Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

For some aspiring to be tech entrepreneurs, I often suggest a two-step process, as I argued in this post that “ The First Startup Founder You Need to Invest in Is You.” He or she has worked at some very successful big technology or media companies and went to a great school. At Upfront we invested in such a company.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

So I know I’m getting myself into a bit of trouble by writing this. Many times they also pick up product and tech, too. Often times you find the CEO who really just likes to do product or tech. Similarly I talk to CEOs who can’t do a sales pipeline review with me. What have your experiences been?

Startup 325

Startup Technical Review Sales Report 325

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2010

If this isn’t you, we’d probably still have a look if you did something truly exception – probably at startup or tech firm. The chosen candidate will probably have worked for a very reputable firm that is either in technology, consulting, investment banking, media or a startup. Plus, show my you can write!

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Technical Review GRP Partners Email 290

socalTECH

AUGUST 6, 2012

Santa Monica-based Demand Media (www.demandmedia.com) has seen its share of ups and downs as one of the highest visibility technology and media companies to come out of Southern California's technology ecosystem in recent years. But, they could not write, and did not know what to write from the travel perspective.

Demand 240

Demand Media eHow Content 240

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

In the startup world, the former happens when a VC makes a bad investment, and the latter occurs when they miss a great opportunity. In contrast, low-volume, high-conviction investors like Rincon only invests in a handful new companies each year, making it much more costly (in dollars and effort expended) to invest in a loser.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

In my experience as a business advisor, one of the best ways to get all of these, is to publish a book on the technology, the journey, or some relevant lessons learned. In addition, the discipline of producing it, like writing a business plan, will help you immensely in understanding the key elements that drive you and your business.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

Rincon is part of the new breed of Seed Stage VCs and with the leadership of Jim Andelman has charted out the most authentic early-stage investment strategy in Southern California. Before booking a hotel I always check out Trip Advisor and read reviews. Nowhere is social proof more prevalent than in angel investing.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

I never built a Google-sized business but I did build an organization from scratch that grew to 120 employees in 5 countries before we sold it. You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on. But issues do arise as your company grows.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016

With public interest in artificial intelligence technologies on the rise, five of the world’s largest corporations—vying against each other in so many spheres—are banding together to support research on the ethical and societal issues raised by machines with increasingly human-like capabilities.

Artificial Inteligence 40

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Technical Advisors Research 40

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Seattle should be the envy of any non Silicon Valley tech community in the country. It really wouldn’t take much to turn a great technology ecosystem into a truly electric one. It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. The ingredients are all here.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A The key is channeling what you learn when you drive onto paper for retention purposes so you have to write it down soon afterward. I want to know how many people, their level of tech sophistication, their age and their interests.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. While many tech startups do this intuitively (say, SnapChat thinking it would be much better if our photos out partying disappeared) it still happens. It’s worth a quick read. My argument is pretty simple. Rebelling is simply a form of snobbery.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

so compelling (other than the fact that the CEO Sean Rad is a great young technology leader and his advisers – Brian Norgard , Dan Gould and Evan Rifkin - are some of the guys I respect most in the LA tech market.). Wordpress), video (YouTube), pictures (Flickr), review sites (Yelp) and collaborative content (Wikipedia).

Ideas 286

Ideas Advertising Google Technical Review 286

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). There is one source that was always problematic for me – intros from investment bankers. This is no criticism of the investment banking industry (although I’m sure some will read it this way) for which there are very useful purposes.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). There is one source I never liked and no early-stage VC should – investment bankers. This is no criticism of the investment banking industry (although I’m sure some will read it this way) for which there are very useful purposes.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 15, 2014

” I have been weighing in slowly on the topic over the past few weeks on Twitter but have avoided writing a blog post about it until now. If you want to see that discussion it is here and its especially fun because we also debated Google Groups, which went on (after the interview) to buy Dmitry’s company so he now works there.

Technical Review 329

Technical Review Blogging Examples Startup 329

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. One of them is profitability.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. Other times the partner wants to test whether there is support before sinking in tons of due diligence time. tip: write it down when asked / parked).

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I will write more about this in the next 2 weeks. Responses ranged from, “hey, they’re in a HUGE market&# to “it is an amazing company and their technology rocks.&# million pre-money valuation is now raising $1 million at a $12 million valuation the next investor has nowhere to go but up (or sit out the investment).

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

Last year I lost a deal in a company that I wanted to invest in and that I thought I should have won. China is indelibly an important part of the future of the global technology system. Write things down. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. They hired a consultant to help them with the review.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

Last year I lost a deal in a company that I wanted to invest in and that I thought I should have won. China is indelibly an important part of the future of the global technology system. Write things down. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. They hired a consultant to help them with the review.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2018

Many people will write the history on why Ring became an enormously successful company and why it became a real-world unicorn in a world when many startups are anointed that merely on paper. He created a technology version of Neighborhood Watch where people in your neighborhood could share suspicious footage of individuals around their house.

Startup 247

Startup Pricing Product Marketing 247

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

ask microsoft, aol/time warner & google]. As I write these words I’m aware that I could practically change the words AOL and Facebook for much of this section and with a few factual tweaks it might not be noticeable to the reader which of the firms I was talking about. Google acquired YouTube for $1.65

Social Network 318

Social Network Networking Web 2.0 Startup 318

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

We helped the write out their requirements for a system. They hired a consultant to help them with the review. And surprise, surprise the decision came back 3 weeks later than none of the preferred 3 vendors had won but rather this tiny little competitor owned by the consulting company charged with doing the review.

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network) - 500 Hats , November 1, 2010 I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. but: Something is Still Missing.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Many startup businesses – tech or otherwise – fail. Trying outrageous new things or even trying mundane things but in new ways but with extreme quality & innovation is what fuels the tech startup industry. The questions that a VC mulls before writing a check are precisely the questions you should be asking yourself.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

InfoChachkie

APRIL 9, 2012

When high-tech businesses, founded by appropriately educated entrepreneurs who received money from sophisticated investors are considered, the survival rates are even more encouraging. In a 2010 TechCrunch article , Ron Conway discusses the success and failure rates of the ~ 500 companies he had invested in during the prior 12-years.

Startup 243

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Statistics 243

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 2, 2009

No one, including the engineers who work on Google’s constantly evolving search algorithms, fully understands how to reliably and consistently boost search results via artificial means. Thus, avoid link farms, mindless keyword content and similar techniques designed to make your site more Google friendly. I was dead wrong.

Customer 164

Customer Custom Advertising SEM 164