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. Startups are hard. You’ve heard that a million times. Those that we survive with become family. It was a moment. But he knows it.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2012

This is the last step of the process, where surprises in the evaluation of the management team, documentation, and personnel problems can derail the investment. If there are financial anomalies, or someone on the team doesn’t know the current strategy, or is unhappy with you or the company, the investment will be jeopardized.

Technical Review 98

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Training 98

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2016

We track which investment firms and which investment partners are a good fit for each company we have back so that we don’t have a scattergun approach to fund raising. We like to know that when we call our peers they truly are the best fit for the company in which we’ve invested. Watching him develop over the past 4.5

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Invest Course 150

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 20, 2010

He was also often referred to as a “hotdog” for his self-promotional antics and lackadaisical on-field play. Although Mr. Jackson was assuredly a superstar baseball player, he failed to realize that even though he was indispensable, he was not irreplaceable. Reggie earned the nickname “Mr. But Reggie and Nettles are fighting.

Statistics 212

Statistics Press Product Startup 212

InfoChachkie

JULY 2, 2012

Reginald Martinez Jackson was also often referred to as a “hotdog” for his self-promotional antics and lackadaisical on-field play. ‘Hey, if we give Reggie the salary, or title, or stock options he’s wanting, then perhaps he’ll settle down and be the team player we need him to be.’ He earned the nickname “Mr.

Startup 182

Startup Class RSS Statistics 182

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2010

This is the last step of the process, where surprises in the evaluation of the management team, documentation, and personnel problems can derail the investment. If there are financial anomalies, or someone on the team doesn’t know the current strategy, or is unhappy with you or the company, the investment will be jeopardized.

Technical Review 91

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Summary 91

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

Products in the same industry need to talk to each other and share data to facilitate faster customer adoption and faster growth for all players. Why not improve your customer satisfaction by referring customers you can’t satisfy to someone who can? And growth is the lifeblood of every startup.

Startup 102

Startup Custom Customer IBM 102

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2016

I remember when seed funds first started (they were being incorrectly called “super angels” and then Micro VCs before Seed Funds stuck) and every LP (who invest in VCs) told me they weren’t convinced about Seed Funds (too small, too hard to pick winners, would they be able to follow on?). Rise of Seed. Rise of Angels. I Leaderless Rounds.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Funding Seed Funding 150

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. When times are bad many cease investment activity all together. Investing is our core business. The topic of &# strategic&# investors came up.

Venture Capital 279

Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur Framework 279

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

It's big, well known & we've invested in all of these really cool companies]. It's big, well known & we've invested in all of these really cool companies]. There is no chance they’re going to invest and it’s not even a close match. Here is the email he received (reprinted without names with his permission).

Venture Capital 294

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Email Equity 294

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

The VC industry has different segments in it that have different fund sizes, different investment amounts and different risk / return expectations. Industry change allows the entry of newer players at earlier stages – It doesn’t take as much money to launch a startup anymore. Answer: Not much. It’s a shame.

Venture Capital 308

Venture Capital Training Startup Entrepreneur 308

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 30, 2009

The fund--started by Brian Garrett and Rick Smith --has been focused on digital media investments, and so far has made investments in six companies. What do you invest in? We spent six plus years at a local firm, Palomar Ventures, doing Series A and Series B investments. Let's start with an overview of the fund.

Southern California 153

Southern California Startup Palomar Rustic Canyon 153

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

A few months ago I wrote a post called “ Invest in Lines, Not Dots.&# It was my investment philosophy that observing teams’ performance over time was far more insightful than reacting to how good of a product demo they do, how good they present Powerpoint slides or how great tech blogs say they are. Let me explain.

Entrepreneur 330

Entrepreneur Marketing Venture Capital Hulu 330

InfoChachkie

JUNE 20, 2011

Like all startup utility players , this junior person should be responsible for a number of tasks, in addition to recruiting. At both Expertcity and Computer Motion, we invested in outsized Intern programs. Michael Scott, the fictional head of Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton office, hires an Intern for all the wrong reasons.

Startup 244

Startup Software Review Technical Review Class 244

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

With small amounts of money invested (sub $3 million) the risks are reasonably low for most VCs and the consequences of bad decisions or decisions a VC has limited say in is tolerable. I’ve written a few posts about boards recently as part of a series on the subject. In the Early Days. Reviewing financial & operational performance.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

InfoChachkie

JULY 20, 2015

The latest evidence of the city’s dynamic startup ecosystem is the recent announcement by Citrix to investment significant resources in the Santa Barbara Innovator’s Program. Many of these individuals become restless in their youthful “retirement” and begin investing and advising young companies. From Lynda.com ’s recent $1.5

Santa Barbara 100

Santa Barbara Startup Sales Entrepreneur 100

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 6, 2012

To this day, Commission Junction remains the dominant player despite Google's significant investment of time, money and resources. To this day, Commission Junction remains the dominant player despite Google's significant investment of time, money and resources.

Organization 203

Organization RSS Google Examples 203

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

Companies want to see their social media investment drive sales.” Used by major brands during the London 2012 Olympics, the game reflects players actions on their Facebook timelines and tickers, driving brand impressions and bringing still more players into the game. Siegal added,“Social data holds the key.

Platform 82

Platform Help Custom Customer 82

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 8, 2014

Back in January, at the annual TechZulu Startup Forecast , our panel of industry leaders and investors spent a healthy dose of time discussing the ongoing JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) and the investing sphere at large. This all, circling around 2008, a shy year for startup investments. We Found Experts. Clearing the Air.

Invest 83

Invest Platform Entrepreneur Paramount 83

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2015

It has become so synonymous with Internet companies that the French have invented a disdainful term including Amazon: “les GAFA,” which they refer to as Google-Apple-Facebook-Amazon to talk about American dominance of the Internet. It is a household name. ” Let’s start with some basics. The value prop is pretty clear.

Ideas 150

Ideas Startup Technical Review Pricing 150

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 6, 2014

From investments and business, Robin Kaminsky , Entrepreneur in Residence at Rustin Canyon Partners, and former EVP of Publishing at Activision. Robin Kaminsky, who’s spent extensive time in the investment and business world, says no. Scot references Words with Friends, one of the defacto pioneers in the social gaming space.

Mobile 93

Mobile Platform Technology Screening 93

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! I know that people have an allergy to lawyers out of fear of being screwed. Much of this is unfounded – some is not. the link is here.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

socalTECH

JULY 15, 2015

A few weeks ago, Los Angeles-based enterprise expense reporting software maker Chrome River (www.chromeriver.com) took a significant venture funding round--worth $100M--to help expand the company's growth in the enterprise software market. What does Chrome River's software do? What's the background on the company, and how did you start?

Software 100

Software Report Startup IBM 100

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 16, 2015

If you go this route, be careful to make the stakes clear: i.e., that they could lose their whole investment. Angels (invest their own money) and super angels. If you’re raising funds from angels you’ll likely need to get investments from several different players. You don’t raise as a way to test your idea.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Equity Funding 40

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

It’s the one thing I miss having switched from player to manager – I love the joy of winning and of competing. I don’t break tennis rackets, cry foul, fall over like an Italian soccer player or work the referees. Last year I lost a deal in a company that I wanted to invest in and that I thought I should have won.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

It’s the one thing I miss having switched from player to manager – I love the joy of winning and of competing. I don’t break tennis rackets, cry foul, fall over like an Italian soccer player or work the referees. Last year I lost a deal in a company that I wanted to invest in and that I thought I should have won.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2011

Today I’m announcing that GRP Partners is doubling down on the Twitter ecosystem by investing in DataSift , a company who provides a real-time data platform and tools to third-party developers and corporations. Some will cite my investment two years ago in social-media advertising company Ad.ly What does that mean?

Platform 307

Platform News Startup Invest 307

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

Thus, you must first create the playbook by which an independent sales rep can readily sell your product, including: identifying objections and developing strategies to overcome them, creating reference accounts and establishing meaningful customer adoption. 1) Expect Independent Channel Sales Reps To Perform Missionary Sales.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

It’s the one thing I miss having switched from player to manager – I love the joy of winning and of competing. I don’t break tennis rackets, cry foul, fall over like an Italian soccer player or work the referees. It is never as rewarding when you’re the coach (but coaching has many other benefits ;-).

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

I know that I have not yet earned these kudos based on investment returns (although my partners have. This post originally ran on TechCrunch. We all read them to get a sense of what is going on in the world, peeling back layers of the old world in which media was too scripted. By definition, you read blogs. Absofuckinglutely. accessibility.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 2, 2009

As noted in Pour and Stir Part I , the key to the successful execution of this strategy is managing the following equation: The cost to acquire a customer < lifetime value of a customer. If you haven’t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for. free weekly Infochachkie articles!

Custom 164

Custom Customer Advertising SEM 164