Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2012

I recently read Brad Feld’s thought provoking piece encouraging founders to sit on the board of another startup company. So I was intrigued by Brad’s post. And I think Brad’s 100% right. So I’m going to follow Brad’s advice. But for now, the summary is: You’ll extend your network. .

Startup 294

Startup Carson Summary Press 294

socalTECH

APRIL 18, 2012

Earlier this week, Brad Feld, a venture capitalist who is well known for his work on TechStars, investments, and for his frequent blogging and speaking engagements, commented on the Los Angeles area using the term Silicon Beach. Brad Feld visited Los Angeles this past week. That seems very Brad to me.

GRP Partners 147

GRP Partners Startup Blogging Los Angeles 147

socalTECH

JANUARY 18, 2011

According to the Foundry Group, which led the funding round for Cheezburger, the investment came as a result of an introduction between Foundry and Cheezburger CEO Ben Huh about 18 months ago at the LA TwiistUp event. Foundry Managing Director Brad Feld and Huh were both on a panel at Twiistup together.

Twiistup 145

Twiistup Avalon San Diego Conference 145

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

Brad Feld visited Los Angeles this past week. I always enjoy spending time with Brad as the antidote to the eco chamber. That seems very Brad to me. Brad was our guest of honor. But I think Brad actually has a point. IA Ventures – Roger Ehrenberg was doing angel investing before he became a VC.

Startup 304

Startup Venture Capital Los Angeles Woodland Hills 304

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

Most of what I think about startup communities came from mentorship by Brad Feld through hours of private discussion and debate. You can now take advantage of this wisdom directly as Brad has now published it for everybody in a fantastic new book, “Startup Communities.” Think Fred Wilson, Tony Hsieh or Brad Feld.

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Press San Diego 378

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 12, 2010

Two people whom I respect (Babak Nivi and Brad Feld) added commentary that made me want to come back and clarify my thoughts. Brad Feld started with a bias for action in his post, “ Give Your VC’s Assignments.&#. I agree with Brad. Generic requests are useless. But decisions are mostly incremental.

Startup 267

Startup Venture Capital Writing Entrepreneur 267

InfoChachkie

MARCH 5, 2012

.” I recently discussed the explosion of seed accelerators and incubators with Brad Feld, who, as the Co-Founder of acclaimed startup accelerator TechStars , is uniquely qualified to opine upon the subject. You can watch my seven minute discussion with Brad below or on YouTube here: [link].

Startup 270

Startup Incubator Doc Mentor 270

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

We all could learn a bit more about balance , as Brad Feld has outlined. The Dave I know is a tireless traveler and loyal to his friends the way Brad Feld is. Brad does this kind of thing for people. Hell, I can barely manage 10 investments – how could anybody do 500? He is tireless and works his arse off.

Startup 309

Startup Venture Capital Email Writing 309

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

I invested in LA-based Gogii , one of the fastest growing, most exciting mobile social networking companies you’ve never heard of and maker of a product called textPlus. I only recently invested and I only got here through persistence. The opportunity came up to invest in this one and I pounced. But I never gave up.

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

InfoChachkie

JUNE 30, 2014

Entrepreneur and noted investor Brad Feld unwittingly echoed Franks approach to marketing when, during a discussion with me , he declared, " …companies should… focus on building amazing products. At such times, take solace in something else Brad shared with me, ". Hurry Up And Stop Marketing. startups who. startups who.

Marketing 193

Marketing Software Review Product Social Media 193

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2014

My basic philosophy is that almost anybody can build a network by investing time in it. Maybe 50 if you really invest time and effort. You may enjoy this post as an example that talks about my first meetings with Brad Feld, Tristan Walker, Justyn Howard and more. A Network Takes Investment. Roger Ehrenberg.

Networking 366

Networking Startup CTO Coach Email 366

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 7, 2013

I explored this issue in a recent conversation with fellow WSJ Accelerator, Brad Feld. According to Brad, "There is a fundamental difference between an incubator and an accelerator… an incubator has an economic model that is based around having people be tenants. Having people being captive within some investor’s…sphere.

Incubator 238

Incubator Startup News Entrepreneur 238

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

But less as a complaint and more as advice to younger networkers, the more you invest in relationships the more you will get when you need. I know Brad Feld wrote a similar post. Brad is the ultimate giver. When he wrote it I smiled because I have always used the same saying.

Venture Capital 407

Venture Capital Press GRP Partners Blogging 407

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

After the weekend kerfuffle over AngelList I was reading Brad Feld’s post on Signal vs. Noise. But aside from choosing the time of day to focus on signal vs. noise, Brad’s post got me thinking about another question – what is signal and what is noise? Brad is a zero inbox kind of guy. I enjoy that.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

socalTECH

OCTOBER 22, 2020

Earlier this week, Good Growth Capital (www.goodgrowthvc.com) announced it has started looking at investments in Southern California, adding Krisztina Holly as West Coast Venture Partner for the firm. What kinds of areas does the fund make investments in? We've never not gotten into a deal that we wanted to invest in.

Southern California 124

Southern California Capital Technical Review Startup 124

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

” Most VCs view it as their responsibility to mentor, debate, cajole and generally assist with investments they make. Tomorrow I’m meeting with a senior exec who is considering joining a company in which we’ve invested. Thus, a desire to invest more locally where I think I have a competitive advantage.

Venture Capital 365

Venture Capital Marketing Santa Barbara Startup 365

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2016

We have have been funding agriculture technologies, water conservation, wireless electricity, aquaponics and so forth in addition to our standard investment themes in software, data, video and retail innovation. We can’t wait to see what the next few years bring.

Company 207

Company Companies CTO Coach Funding 207

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 25, 2015

This is why I loved Brad Feld’s recent post about the “ illusion of product / market fit.” I have many investments with early traction and I the entrepreneurs I work with must tire of my constantly saying, “Are we really making a difference? .” If you didn’t read it I recommend it.

Product 150

Product Startup Metrics Technical Review 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2015

I am reminded of this problem every time my firm does a financing where a note went before us but more specifically I was reminded by this great post by Brad Feld to talk about the pre-money vs. post-money conversion issue. Pre-money ($8m) + investment ($2m) = Post-money ($10m) and the investors now own 20% of your company $2m / $10m.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 150

socalTECH

JUNE 27, 2013

We caught up with Mark Suster , one of Upfront''s General Partners and a well known blogger and technology personality, the new fund, and how his blogging is now driving the firm''s investment activity. As you probably know, two thirds of our investments go into Los Angeles. Tell us about the new fund? Mark Suster: It''s a $200M fund.

Funding 196

Funding Venture Capital Los Angeles Social Media 196

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2009

Andy Sack, Dave McClure, Brad Feld & Jason Nazar (photo by Jolie Odell). We had an excellent opening panel on early-stage investing with Dave McClure (Founders Fund – NorCal), Brad Feld (Foundry Group, Boulder) and Andy Sack (Founders Co-Op, Seattle).

Twiistup 228

Twiistup SoCal Southern California Yammer 228

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

My goal in the interview overall was to capture more of the personal side of Fred since so much of his investment thesis and portfolio work already comes out in his blog. Not to mention USV’s investments in MongoDB (10Gen), Lending Club and a host of others. You need to invest in good markets and bad.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Writing Blogging 150

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 15, 2012

There are many paths into the VC world, but they can generally be lumped into two categories: (i) serial entrepreneurship, and (ii) tech-oriented investment banking. In contrast, an Angel Investor is someone who invests their own capital. All you need do to become an Angel is identify a promising venture and write a check.

Venture Capital 242

Venture Capital Technical Review Invest RSS 242

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2013

And yet as I reflected this week on December/January board packs that highlighted the year many companies I’ve invested in have had it is pretty mind boggling. And as I moped in self-pity the last 2 weeks of December and reflected about how much I hate December I came across this blog post by Brad Feld that really spoke to me.

Writing 313

Writing Venture Capital Blogging Startup 313

InfoChachkie

JUNE 9, 2014

Despite the ease with which anyone can determine my investments and past operating roles, the caller asked me if I knew the CEO of RightScale. I was checking out your YouTube channel and I enjoyed your recent talk with Brad Feld. Thus, not knowing my position regarding startup consultants is understandable.

Networking 232

Networking Santa Barbara Research Blogging 232

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 22, 2009

I myself recently covered the topic when I spoke about why GRP Partners invested in Ad.ly. GRP Partners invested in GoTo.com which rebranded as Overture. But our investment and the thesis of the team led to huge leaps of innovation that all consumers now benefit from. We all know and trust Brad to be authentic.

Advertising 277

Advertising Technical Review GRP Partners Google 277

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 15, 2011

Despite the ease at which someone can determine my investments and past operating roles, the caller asked me if I knew the CEO of RightScale. I was checking out your YouTube channel and I enjoyed your recent talk with Brad Feld. Yes”, I replied, “I was a seed investor and an Advisor to the company.”

Networking 231

Networking Blogging Santa Barbara Startup 231

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 22, 2011

In addition, my role as Partner at Rincon Venture Partners provided me with a business reason to invest additional time and effort into my humble blog. By early 2010, I found my stylistic voice and identified my audience of emerging entrepreneurs and thus dropped my penname.

Newsletter 205

Newsletter Blogging Santa Barbara Content 205

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2017

That is, how much should your company be willing to lose in cash every month as you make investments in staff and equipment that funds technology, sales, marketing and management. million per investor or 40–60% of their original investments. If on the other hand you let your burn rate go up to $600k / month now it’s $7.2

Startup 212

Startup Venture Capital .Net Capital 212

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

The eight-person board consists of: Carl Schramm , president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation; Steve Blank , serial entrepreneur, author and entrepreneurship lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University ; Greg Gottesman , managing director at Madrona Venture Group ; Brad Feld , co-founder of TechStars and managing (..)

Los Angeles 87

Los Angeles Startup Angel Entrepreneur 87

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

I should note that my friend Brad Feld has written a new book on the subject that I would recommend if you want the bible on the topic. I admit that I haven’t yet read it but I’ve had numerous discussions with Brad over the years about board structure & conduct and consider him a mentor on the topic.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

The problem with VC Seed Funding – Chris is right to raise the issue with entrepreneurs because there have been instances where large VC funds have set up seed programs where the investments have been used as “options.&# There are many problems with this. invested in the seed round they have more inside knowledge than I do.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Invest 265

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2010

I hope some day to emulate Brad Feld in this area. One of the first times we spoke he told me that in his first few years in VC he ended up taking a bunch of meetings with companies in which he knew he would never invest. He became the “turn down&# guy in his fund.

Email 255

Email Startup Blogging Invest 255

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2. Many (Union Square Ventures, Foundry Group, True Ventures, GRP Partners, Mike Hirshland at Polaris Ventures) do it the right way – we treat it as a normal investment and we don’t have a “options&# strategy with our investment.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

Brad Feld in Places to Find Developers in Exchange for Sweat Equity While finding a developer to work for sweat equity is an option, I’d assert that you’d be better served by hunting for a technical co-founder that is passionate about creating the company you envision. Go to tech (or other relevant industry) events.

CTO Hire 241

CTO Hire CTO Coach Equity Develop 241

SoCal CTO

APRIL 8, 2010

Startup Company Lawyer , March 14, 2010 After the recent announcement of the Series Seed Financing documents by Marc Andreesen, Brad Feld points out that there are now four sets of “open source” equity seed financing documents. I do sometimes get impatient when the investment proposal has little or no information on the exit path.

Startup 150

Startup Software Review Competition SoCal 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Brad Feld hadn’t written his seminal “ term sheet series &# and The Funded hadn’t yet been created. In an early round of investment where there is not an extremely high price relative to normal valuations this is anything but benign. Back then VentureHacks didn’t exist.

Venture Capital 405

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405