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Do VC Platforms Make Sense?

Both Sides of the Table

In the VC insider baseball world a discussion has gone on about “VC platforms” over the past 5 or so years. While firms define platforms differently, let’s just say they are the services that a VC offers outside of investment capital and partner time on boards or providing intros.

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3 Sales Tips for Startups – Creating a Burning Platform

Both Sides of the Table

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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The Changing Venture Landscape

Both Sides of the Table

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? How our VC Firms Like Ours Organizing to Meet the Challenges? $1

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This Week in Venture Capital – Episode 4

Both Sides of the Table

This was the first episode where Jason wasn’t on the show, which gave me the chance to have another VC on the show to discuss deals. Rustic Canyon is an LA-based, but geography-agnostic VC that is currently investing from a $200 million fund. VC Financings: 1. I keep meaning to get him drunk to spill the stories.

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How to Handle a VC Presentation with No Deck

Both Sides of the Table

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. The “Triple Play&# of VC Presentations. But take prompts from the VC.

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The Big VC Thaw – Why The Market is Moving Again (part 2 of 3)

Both Sides of the Table

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.

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Premature scaling can kill your business.

Berkonomics

This form of thinking has been unusually true during the current rise of social media platforms, where market share became the primary goal of a company, with revenues and profitability to follow later. Many, many companies accepting venture capital lost it all following this instruction. But beware.