Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In my previous post, The VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) I wrote about the reasons why the VC market came to a screeching halt in September 2008 and remained largely shut until at least April 2009. There are now signs the VC market has gathered pace meaning it’s a great time to be fund raising.

Venture Capital 255

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Social Network 255

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2013

Obviously, a key factor is always the state of the economy and the mood of the venture capital community. According to the Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index® for the First Quarter 2013, the Q1 increase marks three consecutive quarters of positive sentiment among Silicon Valley venture capitalists.

Venture Capital 95

Venture Capital Capital Startup Funding 95

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. I just completed an exercise where I went out to hire a new associate for my VC firm, GRP Partners. on all the computers and established a network using Novell.

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 4, 2009

Most start-up entrepreneurs have little or no sales experience. But through nearly a decade of startups I learned that sales comes down to three essential elements: 1. Incidentally, VC’s hate when they hear companies pitching who say, “ I don’t have real competitors &# as I outlined point three in the linked post).

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Sales Startup Platform Tips 319

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 10, 2020

The funding was led by Kayne Partners Fund, the growth private equity arm of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP. The company said the funding will go towards expanding its dealer network across North America, as well as for its technology platform and data analytics capabilities.

Software 124

Software Sales Southern California Equity 124

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2021

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of talking to Samir Kaji on the Venture Unlocked podcast about a wide range of topics that we as venture capitalists think about everyday, including: How to build a generational firm?—?retaining And again, just like in enterprise sales, this is all about differentiation ?—?what Let me explain.

Sales 375

Sales Startup Invest Funding 375

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

My friend and fellow SoCal venture capitalist Peter Lee wrote a post about the different roles within a VC and spent much time on the role of an associate. These are the permanent members of a VC. The process for raising money from a VC is a sales process and as such much of what is taught in enterprise sales can be applied.

Venture Capital 308

Venture Capital Sales Entrepreneur Startup 308

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Our guest this week on #TWiVC was Dana Settle , partner at Greycroft Partners , a venture capital firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Greycroft is an early-stage VC. Closing a VC fund in 2009/10 is a major achievement in and of itself. Gilt Group is currently the largest private sale web site in US.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

Santa Monica-based Rubicon Project said this morning that it has raised $18M in additional funding, and acquired the Fox Audience Network (FAN) from New Corporation. In further details on the FAN deal, Addante also said that it has not acquired the advertising sales team at FAN, saying that it "is not, and will not be, an ad network."

Networking 147

Networking Clearstone Santa Monica News 147

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. If you hire 6 senior 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 6 months. Do you imagine eventually raising VC and trying to build a faster growing company?”

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

He also nails the reason why venture capital is still necessary to grow large businesses quickly in a world where the costs of running startups have fallen dramatically. “Why do founders want to take the VCs’ money? ” This is a frequent theme of mine when asked to speak to audience about the VC industry.

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review 390

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). I'm a bit of an anti-VC, as you know. Ryan Blair: I took $20M of personal capital to start the fund.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review 100

socalTECH

JULY 26, 2011

Los Angeles-based Baroda Ventures , the venture capital investment firm of GeoCities founder David Bohnett, has re-upped its investment in fashion site Fab.com. Fab was previously Fabulis, a gay social networking site; the firm has since refocused into a daily deals and flash sales site. READ MORE>>.

Venture Capital 157

Venture Capital Social Network Sites Los Angeles 157

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 11, 2013

Experience has shown that a strong emotional tie to a deal will help more than any other factor when raising venture funding. Entrepreneurs spend a lot of time and effort tracking performance, measuring sales traction and predicting growth in an effort to win over outside investors. The VC did not see the necessity of such a move.

Venture Capital 45

Venture Capital Capital Startup Invest 45

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2010

But until now, I’ve never seen a study of exactly how that plays out for startup founders for current venture-backed companies, specifically: race, age, experience and the number of founders per company. California (Silicon Valley), New York (NYC), and Massachusetts (Boston) are the places to be in the US for venture capital attention.

Venture Capital 88

Venture Capital Capital Startup Study 88

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

Our profile this morning is with Network Automation , a Los Angeles company competing in the IT automation market. Southern California--despite the lack of huge, name brand firms-- has a significant number of enterprise software companies, of which Network Automation is just one. You are self funded too, we recall.

Networking 214

Networking IBM IBM Pacific Palisades 214

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 11, 2013

Experience has shown that a strong emotional tie to a deal will help more than any other factor when raising venture funding. Entrepreneurs spend a lot of time and effort tracking performance, measuring sales traction and predicting growth in an effort to win over outside investors. The VC did not see the necessity of such a move.

Venture Capital 40

Venture Capital Capital Startup Invest 40

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 7, 2007

I've been reading or hearing quite a bit about how startups these days don't take nearly as much capital to create as they used to. If that's actually true, then it creates New Rules Of Technology VC. Angel networks act like low-end VCs and expect a company with a product and a somewhat proven market opportunity.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Incubator Networking 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 29, 2014

I once went to a startup event where a VC told the audience that if a VC doesn’t respond to your email to move on to the next VC – that VC is clearly not interested. Will every customer who feels bombarded with sales requests want to take your call? Well, for starters you need to be a great networker.

Venture Capital 389

Venture Capital Email Startup Conference 389

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

This is part of my series on Raising Venture Capital. Many businesses that pitch to me have White Elephant issues and I’d like to tell you how to deal with these when you’re raising venture capital. But the VC is thinking about the issue whether you address it or not. You raised $1.5

Venture Capital 264

Venture Capital Startup Training Sales 264

socalTECH

JULY 18, 2013

Santa Monica-based content delivery network EdgeCast has just filled up its warchest, announcing Thursday that it has raised $54M in a big funding round. The new funding was led by Performance Equity Management, and also included existing investors Menlo Ventures and Steamboat Ventures. READ MORE>>.

Content 150

Content Steamboat Ventures Santa Monica Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

This thinking is largely driven by the venture capital industry (and subsequently Wall Street) who are in search of high margin, highly scalable businesses. It’s nearly impossible to get a services company financed by VCs. Why Shouldn’t Most Services Businesses Raise VC? It may be the right answer for you.

Services 332

Services Venture Capital IP Startup 332

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Draw Your Ideas - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 16, 2010 I saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month. Through advertising or direct sales, these sites harvest intent. He’d wasted a year of his life and had a pile of stock options that weren’t very interesting. Tesla is not.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

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

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

The problem is that stakeholders, like marketing and sales, don’t know what the latest version of the roadmap is. Greathouse: Having run these groups, I know all about the inherent friction between sales and marketing with regard to lead quality, volume, etc., That causes friction internally. Semick: Thanks John, it was fun!

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

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

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 3, 2014

The funding came from Mousse Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Greylock Partners, Institutional Venture Partners, Scripps Networks Interactive and Tiger Global Management. One Kings Lane offers up furniture and other household products through daily deals and members-only flash sales. READ MORE>>.

Beverly Hills 147

Beverly Hills Venture Capital Resource Los Angeles 147

socalTECH

JULY 19, 2012

Los Angeles investor Baroda Ventures , the venture capital arm of David Bohnett, has re-upped on online fashion and e-commerce site Fab.com , in a big, $105M third round of funding for that site. Baroda has been an investor in Fab since its seed funding back in June of 2010. Bohnett is the founder of Geocities.com.

Funding 178

Funding Seed Funding Commerce Social Network 178

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 4, 2014

One Kings Lane , the online, home furnishings flash sales site which splits its operations between San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York, said today that it has snagged former Zappos.com CTO Arun Rajan as its new Chief Technology Officer. Rajan will be at the company''s San Francisco offices. The firm just announced $112M in funding.

Chief Technology Officer 147

Chief Technology Officer Beverly Hills Technology Venture Capital 147

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2013

Zadara Storage said the funding will go towards sales, support, and engineering. The company is headed by Nelson Nahum, a storage area networking veteran who previously was at LSI Corporation, and also had headed up StoreAge software, a developer of storage virtualization appliances. READ MORE>>.

Venture Capital 173

Venture Capital Sales Funding Networking 173

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

I am thrilled to announce that we have added Hamet Watt as a Partner at Upfront Ventures. They did development in SF and had the ad sales team in NY. He reached out to younger founders and offered to help via his network at AT&T, Google, media agencies … you name it. I only wanted one thing in the deal – Hamet.

Invest 340

Invest Venture Capital Startup News 340

From the Venture Trenches

MARCH 27, 2013

The fact is most start-ups that generate a positive return for their investors are acquired by corporations or financial institutions and the average time it takes a VC to make a return on their investment is more than eight years. Is outside capital really required? By this measure, Groupon was by no means your typical start-up.

Venture Capital 45

Venture Capital Capital Anthem Startup 45

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 16, 2011

It’s easy to think that the wife of a well-known & successful VC ( Fred Wilson ) would have had an easy and storied life of wealth and privilege. That’s why I was so interested in having “ The Gotham Gal &# come on This Week in VC ( video link on YouTube , download iTunes, episode 15) ) and dispel those myths.

Startup 311

Startup Sales Venture Capital Entrepreneur 311

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

Los Angeles-based Siemer Ventures , the venture capital arm of investment bank Siemer & Associates, has been one of the most active local investors lately--and is continuing that trend, with the investment in Ribbon. in a seed funding round.

Draper 164

Draper Seed Funding Commerce Social Network 164

socalTECH

JANUARY 16, 2013

The accelerator said that the demo day is a culmination of its latest three month program, which included ten new companies in mentoring, collaboration, funding, and access to its network of investors and entrepreneurs. MuckerLab's prior class included such hot Los Angeles startups as SurfAir, Retention Science, Wallaby, and InstaCanvas.

Class 159

Class Startup Incubator Los Angeles 159

socalTECH

AUGUST 3, 2009

Sean McDonald is founder of Jute Networks (www.jutenetworks.com), which is in a startup developing highly visual, graphical tools to help people use their professional networks and connections to further their business. What is Jute Networks? Our company, Jute Networks, is a startup that is about a year and a half old.

Networking 113

Networking Startup Social Network Software 113

InfoChachkie

JUNE 1, 2010

Find out how getting he got his start-up funded using his knowledge of persuasion, sales, and even hypnotherapy: Full Bio: Jason Nazar CEO and Co-Founder of Docstoc. Before starting Docstoc, he was a partner in a venture consulting firm in Los Angeles where he worked with dozens of startups.

Pepperdine 153

Pepperdine Startup Venture Capital Los Angeles 153