Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. It turns out it actually takes time to build a high-growth business with differentiated intellectual property and roll out large, enterprise-class marketing solutions. 5 years ago. 5 years ago. ” Yup.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

Silicon Valley and the media industry that surrounds it values youth. It has historically been the case that VCs would rather fund the promise of 100x in a company with almost no revenue than the reality of a company growing at 50% but doing $20+ million in sales. The abundance of late-stage capital is good for us all.

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital Capital Funding Startup 363

TechCrunch LA

JULY 2, 2020

When it comes to venture capital, Los Angeles is a city on the rise. In the past year, it’s seen one of the most profitable venture-backed exits of any tech ecosystem (with the $4 billion sale of Honey to PayPal) and investors are minting billion-dollar companies in the region at a torrid pace.

Los Angeles 277

Los Angeles Venture Capital Capital Invest 277

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan?

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Capitalism is fundamentally about timing, since market competition is about finding opportunities before others. When should a VC invest? Anyone who has worked in a large company further knows that timing a product launch or a new marketing strategy has more to do with internal politics than reading market forces.

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

I think many board members (including VCs) were trained 10+ years ago when life was very different and their advice often comes from an outdated lens. One of the advantages of blogging, using social media, public speaking, etc as a VC is that you get a more nuanced view of these shifts by watching your own successes and failures.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Contrary to popular opinion I actually believe crowd-funding is best used after seed capital or venture capital. It’s why in this article I advise that people “market today not futures” because you don’t want your playbook in the hands of the competition. In a startup this is a mistake.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2016

Why would a VC do that? Here’s an example of a recent Snapstorm on negotiations: https://medium.com/media/ecca992139dedfef9ac6dc1a6afe432e/href So for the people who still don’t get why I’d use Snapchat — in no particular order let me say: I enjoy doing it. I LOVE writing. Snapchat is faster and easier. I do these, too.

Snapchat 200

Snapchat Blogging Venture Capital Writing 200

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

But VC is like congress. In the original version of his post, Andy writes. “This essay is dedicated to the great VC’s on my board who I am lucky to work with: Sameer Gandhi from Accel, Jeremy Liew from Lightspeed, and Kirsten Green from Forerunner. . Their data looks at tech VCs. It’s a market, after all.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Without taking a dime of outside capital, the company has achieved impressive success in a competitive, SaaS market segment, landing companies such as Nike, Intuit, NASA, AutoDesk and PBS. Most companies have a roadmap describing what they’re planning to build, deliver or market. That causes friction internally.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 23, 2018

It’s less well-known that the company is backed by some of the biggest names in venture capital investment — firms like Sequoia Capital. In the process, they created a sensation that’s become well-known worldwide. ” That was a lie. It worked. . “[Manufacturing] social influence.”

Social Media 254

Social Media Los Angeles Media Geni 254

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Next she took to Instagram, a new social media platform that quickly became the most effective tool in a blogger’s toolkit. The first phase was the rise of the media platforms: YouTube, Instagram, etcetera, that allowed creatives to build audiences. With new followers — today her account, @weworewhat , has 2.2

Platform 170

Platform Marketing Tool Venture Capital 170

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

If you follow the tech media you would be subject to a lot of narrative biases that are completely off base – and this includes the value of email and phone calls. It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. PHONE CALLS.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 26, 2021

Then fans would be tasked with writing their own stories, submitting them to the Realms of Ruin universe by minting them as NFTs on the Solana blockchain. If the authors are inviting fans to write fan fiction about a universe they created, who owns the derivative works?

Writing 196

Writing Outsource Development Technical Review Examples 196

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

Finally I realized that venture capital and angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Some entrepreneurs love to talk and produce videos, but hate to write anything down. As with most business and personal interactions, first impressions tend to become lasting ones. Expert in your chosen domain.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 111

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

But knowing the right people and knowing a market only works well for angel investors in bullish tech markets in which IPO’s happen quickly (97-99) or where larger companies are actively scooping up little tiny companies at sub $50 million valuations to drive innovation (05-08, 10-?). Do you have solid VC relationships?

Invest 284

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 284

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 18, 2014

Sometimes those motives are positive (they really want the chance to work with you, they think you have unique skills) and sometimes they are less positive (their first-tier of “go to” referrals passed on the deal, they don’t want to write another check themselves, etc.). VCs don’t need to be perfect.

Venture Capital 337

Venture Capital Invest Ideas Entrepreneur 337

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

I took the opportunity this past week to publish summary notes of some of the VCs and entrepreneurs I had interviewed on This Week in VC. Back to regular writing this week so check back in. What did you do before VC and how did that lead you to VC? (1:00 How did you get into VC? (9:30 Thank you. (if

Capital 265

Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2010

Last night I co-hosted a dinner at Soho House in Los Angeles with some of the most senior people in the media industry with executives from Disney, Fox, Warner, media agencies and many promising tech & media startup CEO’s. You want to get yourself to a position where you can do what you want to do&# (Chamillionaire).

Entrepreneur 356

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup Email 356

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

Value Prop Twitter Style : “Ringrevenue’s call performance marketing platform enables ad networks, agencies, advertisers & publishers to generate more inbound sales calls.”. In today’s market, so much focus is placed on transacting business online. 10) Rob, why does the world need RingRevenue? . “In

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

This is a post I’ve been dying to write for 18 months. OK, that sounds like an interesting business, but nothing to write a freakin’ blog post about? Gogii spent way more effort marketing to what I call “The USA Today market&# rather than the tech blog market. You fish where your customers are.

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

socalTECH

MARCH 16, 2017

Earlier this week, Derek Norton , a long time advisor to the media, Internet, and technology industry in Los Angeles, announced a brand new venture capital fund called Watertower Ventures (www.watertowerventures.com). I hate to put us into the pre-seed and seed area, so I am saying literally, first institutional capital.

Invest 145

Invest Funding Capital Startup 145

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

While many of my friends bragged about their 5 condos in Florida I kept talking about how the real estate market was in a bubble – their gains an illusion. above inflation yet in many markets in the US & Europe prices were rising at 10-25% per year. “Yeah, but there is a shortage of supply.

Invest 299

Invest Angel Technical Review Venture Capital 299

socalTECH

AUGUST 20, 2018

What's the best way to build a strong portfolio of technology companies, which tap into the broadest markets and avoids the "bubble" group-think of many venture firms? For this morning's interview, we sat down with Marlon Nichols , co-founder and Managing Partner of Los Angeles-based Cross Culture Ventures (crossculturevc.com).

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Invest Capital Startup 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

Finally I realized that venture capital and angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Some entrepreneurs love to talk and produce videos, but hate to write anything down. As with most business and personal interactions, first impressions tend to become lasting ones. Expert in your chosen domain.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 126

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

I wrote this conundrum and the need to take charge of how the market define your skills in my much-read blog post on “ personal branding.” ” If you don’t create the message about yourself, the market will. He or she has worked at some very successful big technology or media companies and went to a great school.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

Along the way, they created a supportive community of emotionally attached stakeholders that would be the envy of any Social Media Manager. I said, ''Hey, listen were going to start writing this newsletter and it''s going to highlight our trials and tribulations, our failures and our successes. Here''s how they pulled it off.

Newsletter 233

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

I’m not going to cover in this post the obvious post-show marketing tasks such as following up on all those business cards you grabbed, communicating with all those people who registered at your site and leveraging your new found fame to score venture capital. If you need VC, no better time than the present.

Startup 310

Startup Venture Capital Press Journal 310

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

…” I’ll write soon on my views of why I believe Instagram took off as a social network and what I think comes next. You’ve found yourself in a super hot category and – let’s face it – it’s still a very frothy venture capital funding market so you may have loads of VCs chasing you.

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

I use George Bush vs. Al Gore as allegory and I’ve been using it with entrepreneurs for years to sink in a simple point about how to communicate with the market. This does not mean you shouldn’t solve big, complex problems or write complex code. In a VC pitch this type of messaging will do just fine. Call on me.

Entrepreneur 370

Entrepreneur Startup Press Venture Capital 370

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

Where you can talk about topics that it might not be appropriate for a VC to discuss in writing. Social Capital / Earned Media – For many people keeping a blog is a way to build up “social capital” or as it’s sometimes referred to as “earned media.” Let your hair down.”

Social Network 329

Social Network Startup Blogging Venture Capital 329

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

When Nivi published the series he titled it “the top 10 things I look for before I write a check.&# As a result I felt compelled to add this final attribute because it matters a lot to me. Perhaps VC isn’t the vest route for this individual. This is actually an addendum to my list rather than “on&# my list.

Technical Review 284

Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup Funding 284

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan?

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 2, 2014

For example, a startup may hire you as an accountant, but you may also be asked to do social media marketing content gearing towards finance for the company blog. Now, you’re handling payroll and doing writing as well. You may even discover that you enjoy writing more than crunching numbers. Startups are hiring.

Startup 102

Startup Social Media Writing Google 102

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

Redpoint Ventures is one of the venture capital firms which has straddled both Northern California and Southern California, with offices in both locations. We've created over a billion dollars in public market capital created by our investments here. We really believe in the market.

Redpoint 154

Redpoint Southern California Cornerstone OnDemand Invest 154

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

PR isn’t something that can be delegated – The other thing that tech execs often want to do is to delegate the PR to their marketing person. Obviously you should have somebody that helps you research journalists, gets you meetings, pitches stories, helps prep you for interviews & helps make sure your writing is cogent.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC. You cannot be just a biz dev type, salesperson, marketing genius or whatever and divorce yourself from product. Market validation – This one is optional but important. At an angel round you can get away with no market validation. They might be as hard as raising VC.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291