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If You Don’t Respect Your Customers You Won’t Be Successful

Both Sides of the Table

I spend a lot of time with startups and thus hear many companies talk about their approach to sales and their interactions with customers. Given customers & sales are the lifeblood of any organization you’d imagine everybody would respect their customers. Contrast that with a VC conversation I had. ” I cringed.

Customer 341
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What’s Really Going on in the VC Industry? What Does it Mean for Startups?

Both Sides of the Table

Lots of discussion these days about the changes in the VC industry. The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion.

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Does the Size of a VC Fund Matter?

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my series on Understanding Venture Capital. I’m writing this series because if you better understand how VC firms work you can better target which firms make sense for you to speak with. It in not uncommon to see a VC talk about “total assets under management&# as in “We have $1.5

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The Great VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) – Part 1 of 3

Both Sides of the Table

I would argue that the shut-down of September 2009 was equally severe yet there are signs that this “VC Ice Age” has begun to thaw. But any entrepreneurs raising capital should keep in mind that this opening of the markets could possibly be temporary. Why did the VC markets freeze so quickly? Short answer – yes.

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What Angel Investing & Florida Condos Have in Common

Both Sides of the Table

I pointed to several Economist articles I had read that mapped historical prices of real estate for 400 years and how on average property values grow at no more 1.5% above inflation yet in many markets in the US & Europe prices were rising at 10-25% per year. And it’s driving up prices beyond their inherent value.

Invest 299
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Should Startups Focus on Profitability or Not?

Both Sides of the Table

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. You may have leverage when you DO need to fund raise.

Startup 418
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10 Keys To Surviving Startup Cash Flow Requirements

Startup Professionals Musings

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than early projections and product development. Bartering technically means exchanging goods or services as a substitute for money. Joint venture with distributor or beneficiary.

Startup 136