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The Audacious Plan to Make Electricity as Easy as WiFi

Both Sides of the Table

It’s true the some VCs have started writing so many checks that they resemble stock pickers but the majority of us still have less than 10 board seats at any time and tend to go pretty deep so the result is that we care deeply about where we commit our time. We hired IP specialists to review prior art. It was impressive.

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Intellectual Property – Worthless To A Startup, Priceless To A Big Dumb Company

InfoChachkie

Intellectual Property (IP) is an ugly thing at a startup. However, to a Big Dumb Company (BDC), a startup’s IP is a thing of beauty. How can IP be worthless to a startup yet very worthwhile to a BDC? Because IP has intrinsic value, but only in the right hands. Yet, it does nothing to help you execute your business model.

IP 256
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Should Startups Focus on Profitability or Not?

Both Sides of the Table

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!” If you spent the 3 years perfecting some hugely differentiated technology IP that may also be different. One of them is profitability.

Startup 418
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The Long-Term Value of Loyalty

Both Sides of the Table

No rule is ever absolute no matter how it sounds when one writes a blog. But in these years I learned how to sell software – necessity is the mother of all invention. But in our first year of sales (and those were really shitty years to be selling software) we sold $2.1 They come in the form of personal references.

Startup 285
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A Few Key People Really Can Make a Huge Difference

Both Sides of the Table

It has the dual technology patrons and yet the consistent story I get is that they’re not actively out embracing the startup community, helping local successes emerge, getting comfortable with the symbiotic benefits of some employees going to startups that innovate at a different pace and then buying up local teams, talent & IP.

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Remind Me Why I Love You? (Why “In Person” is Everything)

Both Sides of the Table

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. What do I do now? After my board meeting I had to do an interview with a CFO candidate that one of my portfolio companies asked me to speak with.

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What is the Right Burn Rate at a Startup Company?

Both Sides of the Table

This is why investors really like SaaS software companies where you have recurring revenue and your largest customer accounts for < 5% of your revenue and your renewals rates are > 90%. Many software companies have > 80% gross margins which is why they are more valuable than say traditional retailers or consumer product companies.

Startup 383