TechCrunch LA

JULY 21, 2020

When Upfront Ventures partner Kara Nortman first met Natalie Portman a few years ago to talk about ways their non-profit organizations All Raise and Time’s Up could collaborate, she never realized they’d eventually be partners on a sports franchise.

Writing 171

Writing Los Angeles Equity Startup 171

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

My primary role was “chief psychologist&# and as I’ve learned over the past few years the same has been true as a VC. I finally got around to writing it having read Fred Wilson’s post about what a CEO does. Even three person organizations are political. Both are basically people businesses.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Startup Sales Customer 319

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2023

The challenge is finding and using qualified affordable support organizations for each stage. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. The incubator organization can help you find them or show you how to apply for a government grant. Early or embryonic stage.

Startup 122

Startup Funding Organization Incubator 122

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

He writes with a great perspective and is well worth reading. 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.

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 17, 2020

Often grouped into formal organizations, these investors are sophisticated, helpful, and connected. First, angel investment groups and organized angel funds come in all sizes from a few organized angels to large groups of four hundred or more. This class of investor typically writes checks from $50,000 to $250,000.

Equity 156

Equity Technical Review Class Organization 156

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2020

The challenge is finding and using qualified affordable support organizations for each stage. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. The incubator organization can help you find them, or show you how to apply for a government grant. Early or embryonic stage.

Resource 171

Resource Startup Organization Incubator 171

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

If you track the venture capital industry it would be hard to miss the conversation going on this week over AngelList “Syndicates.” My favorite new VC blogger, Hunter Walk, weighed in with some thoughtful comments about how Syndicates might actually pit, “ angel vs. angel.” Bowery Capital).

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Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 22, 2018

We’ve also seen a substantial inflow of venture capital from all over the world.”. As BCG writes in its report: The good news for SoCal and any region with tech ambitions is that the Bay Area has in some ways been too successful. In fact, as is well-reported, the luster of Silicon Valley is fading.

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Southern California Dollar Shave Club SoCal Develop 224

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. Do you think that every conference organizer will promptly meet your needs? It’s your job to persist. Nothing beats a warm intro.

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Venture Capital Email Startup Conference 389

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. So, I've been hiring people and creating an organization around that.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2013

What I love about writing is that you inadvertently say what many others are thinking and just knowing that somebody else is thinking something similar can be reassuring. Example: Fred Wilson writing his end of 2012 post wrote. “I’ve wanted to write a year end post for days. Happy New Year! I hate Decembers.

Writing 313

Writing Venture Capital Blogging Startup 313

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. Next Wednesday we’ll have Dana Settle of Greycroft Partners, a New York / LA early-stage venture capital fund. I’d link to it but it’s behind a paywall.

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Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

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. Because they know him or her.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Capitalism is fundamentally about timing, since market competition is about finding opportunities before others. When should a VC invest? Start writing down predictions about people, companies, and markets. Between TechCrunch today and my former roles in venture capital, I’ve had the opportunity to practice timing a lot.

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

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. Deal with your White Elephants.

Venture Capital 264

Venture Capital Startup Training Sales 264

socalTECH

AUGUST 20, 2018

Marlon Nichols: We are a three year old, early stage venture capital firm. When I joined Intel Capital, it was the largest and most active venture firm in the world. It was a great training ground to learn the business of venture capital. Talk about Cross Culture, what your investment areas are?

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Venture Capital Invest Capital Startup 100

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

We spent a lot of time talking about what type of company we wanted to create, how many employees we’d eventually have, whether we would take funding, our lifestyle, and a dozen other things that had nothing to do with writing software. We could need more capital over time which means we would own less of the company. I’ve been there.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. GRP Partners last fund is the single best performing VC fund in the US (prequin data) for its vintage year). Absofuckinglutely.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

This is important because when you have too many VCs on a board you only bring one kind of thinking to the board. Independents are critical to avoiding “VC group think.” They also get huge value from somebody who has run a large business and dealt with scaling challenges more than any VC on the board ever has.

Startup 187

Startup Writing Venture Capital Oracle 187

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I need to take some VC meetings. I don’t care if you’re a 10-person organization, a 1,000 person organization or a multinational corporation – often it is the few key players that change the dimensions. Community Leaders + Organizers. A few key people really can make a huge difference.&#.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

From the Venture Trenches

MARCH 27, 2013

Yet despite his ability to raise over $1 billion of private equity and to build an organization that is worth $5 billion as of this writing, Mason was shown the door. If so then you might be better off growing organically and living without the headaches the added scrutiny outside investors bring.

Venture Capital 45

Venture Capital Capital Anthem Startup 45

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

Or if you’re a VC raising from LPs you have to list all of your deals, your investment value, your carrying value, your multiples, your IRRs, TVPIs, DPIs, etc along with net cashflows plus your previous LPAs. So what does a VC do when he or she isn’t ready to say “no” or perhaps might like to talk with you in a year but not now?

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

This is a blog post I really didn’t want to write. I didn’t want to write it because I have mixed feelings about AngelList. I didn’t want to write it because the bloggosphere doesn’t always do nuance well. So why I am writing it then? That’s less interesting for me as a VC.

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

Or as I picked up from Bruce Dunlevie at Benchmark Capital (who I’m told took the quote from elsewhere). I plan to write a whole separate blog post about this quote because it’s always stuck with me. I wanted to write a follow up post because it was such an important lesson for me and so eye opening.

Startup 247

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Writing 247

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

As an advisor to many entrepreneurs, I still hear frequently the irrational exuberance that crowdfunding is the quick alternative for startups that are passed over by overly demanding angels or venture capital investors. In reality, crowdfunding has become a major startup funding vehicle, expected to reach $3.62

Startup 100

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Demand 100

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

APRIL 10, 2014

One of the interesting things about being a VC is that you often see companies in transition. If you’re an early investor like I am that often means writing the first $2-3 million check into a business that previously had either survived on fumes or on a $500,000 angel round. The C-round CEO has to be more leader, less doer.

Startup 381

Startup Resource Venture Capital Activity 381

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Frankly, I think venture capital is that way, too. How do VCs break out of group think when they are shuttling from one board meeting to the next, from one conference to the other and talking with all the same people? How does the world in Los Angeles intersect differently with venture capital?

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Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2018

We sat down with Kelly ahead of the announcement to chat about the new fund, why they think military veterans are particularly well suited as startup entrepreneurs, why the two went from organizing individual deals for funding to a formal fund, and more. An entrepreneur with a fundamental trust with their lead VC is not always the case.

Capital 164

Capital Funding Startup Venture Capital 164

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 22, 2019

Upfront immediately wrote a check to back this vision and we later teamed up with their former colleague from Twitter turned VC, Rishi Garg of Mayfield and we’ve stayed quiet on what we were up to. I believe that the fundamental nature of getting buy-in from organizations to make complex decisions involves visual storytelling.

Startup 191

Startup Social Media Slides Design 191

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? Another unabashed proponent of fan fiction is N.K.

Writing 196

Writing Outsource Development Technical Review Examples 196

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2018

The challenge is finding and using qualified affordable support organizations for each stage. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. The incubator organization can help you find them, or show you how to apply for a government grant. Early or embryonic stage.

Funding 94

Funding Startup Organization Incubator 94

SoCal CTO

MARCH 11, 2013

Yesterday, I was talking to a startup founder about their MVP and they said something that finally got me to write this post: "I have a few investors interested but they want to see a product." What The Heck Does “Traction” Really Mean To A VC? Great analysis from John Greathouse: Do You Speak VC?

Metrics 264

Metrics Venture Capital News Product 264

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2014

Fund Raising – No self respecting VC would admit (even to themselves) that they are influenced by what they read about you in the press. The reply was, “So many of our employees fly every week to projects and by seeing us advertised every time they fly they feel more proud working for our organization.”

Press 415

Press Google Course Writing 415

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 10, 2015

I write about sales often both because it’s the lifeblood of any organization and because in my experience it is the area in which more startups are least experienced or inclined. I also write and talk about it frequently because raising capital is a part of sales and this is important for entrepreneurs to understand.

Sales 150

Sales Startup Venture Capital Funding 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Your goal should be to turn your VCs into extended members of your team to get real value from them. Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. He is very pleasant when he calls and writes.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

We all like to think of startups as “non hierarchic&# organizations and to some extent that should be true. I never built a Google-sized business but I did build an organization from scratch that grew to 120 employees in 5 countries before we sold it. This applies to both founders and to VC’s that work with them.

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Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308