Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

Lots of discussion these days about the changes in the VC industry. The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 17, 2017

He eventually founded and sold consumer health firm ViSalus to a public company and is now back making investments, in technology companies, as a venture capitalist here at Los Angeles-based HashtagOne (www.hashtagone.com). What's the theme of your investments? That's why we have investments in Heal, Saucey, and FragMob.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review 100

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 25, 2016

West Hills-based Peloton Document Solutions , a company developing software which helps investment bankers, private equity investors, and companies to communicate financial information via interactive documents, has scored a strategic investment from R.R. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.

Invest 100

Invest Software Review Equity Sales 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

As a business advisor, I have to recommend even to established companies that they review and revamp their competitive strategy now, even if it appears to be working today. The old approaches of controlling distribution channels, saturating retail, and methodically scaling your brand awareness don’t protect you anymore.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

You race back to the office to tell everybody how well it went and you wait for the follow-up call to have a partners’ meeting or talk about term sheets or at least dip into due diligence. This is a very common scenario when entrepreneurs pitch VCs and frankly is a very common scenario when VCs try to raise money from LPs.

Software Review 381

Software Review Startup Email Conference 381

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

otherwise I prefer to invest less and risk less). Plus, most early-stage M&A fails so this isn’t likely a good use of capital for a young company). Gross margin (GM) is the amount of profit you make per sale of your product or service taking into account your total costs of selling that product or service.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 20, 2018

This is true of any buying process where a customer has to make a large investment decision on your software or when an investor must decide whether to give you $5 million. Maybe this is reverse “hanging around the rim” where if you keep you VC process going long enough you’ll eventually get to “yes?” Do they have influence?

Funding 189

Funding Software Review Entrepreneur Venture Capital 189

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. But the “no sales people” mantra isn’t what I’m here to take on.

Startup 403

Startup Sales Software Review Technical Review 403

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. If you hire 6 sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business for 4-6 months. “COGS” represents the amount that each sale costs you.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. Most experienced VCs won’t push you to give up founder control at this stage of the business nor should they. Reviewing financial & operational performance. In the Early Days.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than early projections and product development. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting. Apply for contests and business grants.

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Many observers of the venture capital industry have questioned whether its best days are behind it. I can’t help feel a bit of rear-view mirror analysis in all of “VC model is broken” bears in our industry. They are, in fact, great news for traditional venture capitalists. This article originally ran on PEHub.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

I’m very pleased today to announce that I invested, on behalf of GRP Partners, in Burstly alongside Rincon Venture Partners , an early stage VC in Southern California whith whom we love to work (and were our co-investors on RingRevenue ). Naturally I’m excited about this investment or I wouldn’t have done it.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

Our interview today is with Andrew Schydlowsky , the CEO and founder of Santa Barbara-based TrackStreet (www.trackstreet.com), a startup which is backed by Okapi Capital, The Cove Fund, Early Light Ventures, SaaS Venture Capital, and Stage Venture Partners. What is TrackStreet? How are you able to do all this?

Artificial Inteligence 140

Artificial Inteligence Startup Commerce Sales 140

socalTECH

OCTOBER 2, 2012

Southern California's technology community--despite all of the recent excitement around Silicon Beach--continues to be underserved in terms of capital, with a lack of venture capital funds (with money), and other private technology investors. Jeb Spencer: We consider ourselves a private equity firm.

Acquisition 168

Acquisition Software Review Technical Review Equity 168

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than early projections and product development. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting. Apply for contests and business grants.

Startup 128

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 128

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capitalists) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than the more risky research and development efforts. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting.

Tips 104

Tips Startup Technical Review Equity 104

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

1) has escaped the attention of the major Internet companies, which are better run than ever before; (2) is capable of being launched and proven out for ~$5M, the typical seed plus series A investment; and. (3) We once thought Microsoft was a monopoly on the Internet due to IE. How many ideas like that are left?” ” My 3.5

Technical Review 299

Technical Review Venture Capital Yammer Google 299

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2013

We also operate the network software than runs and manages the entire network layer, from access point to end point. It''s very resistant to interference, due to the way the technology was designed. This last round is a significant amount of capital, why the new funding? Kevin Hell: Hardware companies do require more capital.

Technical Review 213

Technical Review Software Review Networking Technology 213

Tech.Co

MARCH 8, 2018

Lisha is a member of Pipeline Angels , a social impact angel investing group focused on women and non-binary femmes, and serves as the Deal Flow lead. Ashley Bowling, Founding Member of NextGen Venture Partners. At NextGen Venture Partners, Ashley discovers and vets potential investments.

Technical Review 70

Technical Review Startup Software Review Entrepreneur 70

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

= profitable and companies like Amazon who chose to focus on growth > profitability were not losing money on each book sale (ie they were gross margin positive). The reason one would accept losses is when they are investments in fueling faster growth. This is how much you spend to get a new customer. That bit is easy.

Metrics 150

Metrics Startup SaaS Course 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

On Losing in VC. Last year I lost a deal in a company that I wanted to invest in and that I thought I should have won. I know I won’t win every deal I want to in VC. I was working hand-in-hand with my close friend and associate Stuart Lander who was running our UK office and with one of our local sales reps.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

On Losing in VC. Last year I lost a deal in a company that I wanted to invest in and that I thought I should have won. I know I won’t win every deal I want to in VC. I was working hand-in-hand with my close friend and associate Stuart Lander who was running our UK office and with one of our local sales reps.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As a startup in this phase you often raise capital, get press, hire staff and everything feels possible. As an early-stage VC I love this phase. He came to work in our offices at Upfront Ventures as an EIR and immediately began building software to improve how storage was picked up, photographed, scanned and routed to a warehouse.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I spoke about how Amazon Web Services deserves far more credit for the last 5 years of innovation than it gets credit for and how I believe they spawned the micro-VC category. I said that I felt that Micro-VCs were the most important change in our industry. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs. I believe that.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC. I’m a software guy so I’m sure there are cases where building isn’t feasible. In SoCal we have Crosscut Ventures, Matt Coffin, Mike Jones, Klaus Schauser, etc. They know that the money they invest may be lost. They know all the VCs for intros.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2012

Kind of like a law firm (or VC firm) with four partners but shortened to just two, people dropped off his second two words. They are more likely to be the “bottom end of the sales funnel” or in other words close to “point of purchase.” Try writing long reviews of a restaurant. Thus I endorse Web Second.

Web 334

Web Mobile Startup Software Review 334

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

Nobody really knows whether or not the idea is yet going to be big, so I believe in not over capitalizing too early. It’s the whole basis of my investment philosophy, which I call “ The Entrepreneur Thesis.&#. I believe that over capitalizing companies too early often favors the VC. What did he know?

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

According to a Gompers and Lerner study, the challenge is very real, with a majority of new ventures that don''t attract investors failing within the first three years. This source is a major focus these days, due to government initiatives to incent research and development on alternative energy and other technologies.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Funding Startup Technical Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capitalists) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than the more risky research and development efforts. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting.

Startup 87

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 87

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

According to a classic Gompers and Lerner study, the challenge is very real, with a majority of new ventures that don't attract investors failing within the first three years. This source is a major focus these days, due to government initiatives to incent research and development on alternative energy and other technologies.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 105

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

According to a Gompers and Lerner study, the challenge is very real, with 90% of new ventures that don't attract investors failing within the first three years. This source is a major focus these days, due to government initiatives to incent research and development on alternative energy and other technologies.

Startup 123

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 123

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

I spent nearly a decade building software for large companies and then advising companies on the same. Most of them are completely mundane such as choosing which: bank, office space, 1-year lease vs. 2-year lease, logo, URL, pricing structure or which VC. Your head of sales thinks she should fire somebody.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2011

Here are some basic principles: Angels invest in people, more often than they invest in ideas. They probably won’t respond well to high pressure sales tactics, information overload, or bribes. Angels like to “touch and feel” their investments, so they are generally only interested in local opportunities. Keiretsu Forum.

Angel 102

Angel Keiretsu Organization Template 102

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than early projections and product development. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting. Apply for contests and business grants.

Startup 53

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 53

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

According to my experience and a classic Gompers and Lerner study, the challenge is very real, with a majority of new ventures that don't attract investors failing within the first three years. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting. Joint venture with distributor or beneficiary.

Develop 70

Develop Development Product Startup 70

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

I was working hand-in-hand with my close friend and associate Stuart Lander who was running our UK office and with one of our local sales reps. Winning the contract meant that we would hit our quarterly revenue figure and be in good position for our annual sales target. I later learned one of my biggest lesson in sales.

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151