Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

After my company was acquired by Salesforce.com I was asked to stop blogging and they took over my blog as an asset in the sale of the company. There was no viral social networking products back then like Twitter where people could easily discover your content. My blog was wiped out. Don’t be frazzled … this is just the way it is.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

Before booking a hotel I always check out Trip Advisor and read reviews. It’s hard for angels to assess whether or not to invest because they often have day jobs and can’t commit to the kind of due diligence that most VCs go through. Obviously I’m assuming that you have a great product and/or strategy.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2009

The week before your meeting 2 people need to cancel due to travel conflicts. Time to start thinking about how to make it more productive. So one of your sales pitches to them to join is the other people you have on board (or are approaching). It’s OK to have the advisor slide where you glance quickly over the names.

Startup 306

Startup Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 306

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2012

The New York Times recently ran an article titled, “ Tech Companies Leave Phone Calls Behind.” Tech Companies most certainly do take calls. Tech Companies & Calls: I once read a quote on Twitter that said, If you use a tech service for free then product is you. As I said, YOU are the product.

Mobile 311

Mobile Technical Review Google Screening 311

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

If you buy into the argument that a strong board can actually help you then this post will lay out how to help you have more productive meetings by preparing properly in advance. How Most Board Meeting Prep Works I’ve been sitting on tech boards for two decades so I have some experience with what goes wrong. There are too many pages.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. Or on a sales campaign you’ve finally gotten your project sponsor to take you to the “executive committee&# where decisions are made and budgets are agreed.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

This is often management’s fault because a long-deck plus financials that arrive the night before a board meeting don’t allow for directors to properly review them. If I see tons of “update slides” and know that we don’t have an important board decision I might just bite my tongue. Materials should always be 72 hours in advance.

Startup 251

Startup Help Technical Review Writing 251

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2010

Not making hard choices in terms of organizational structure or product direction. Your sales team is pounding the table because engineering won’t ship new features fast enough. Marketing wants the sales teams to use the materials they’ve produced. But his tenure as CEO (and frankly the whole culture of Yahoo!

Entrepreneur 330

Entrepreneur Yahoo Startup Technical Review 330

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

The need for creativity extends well beyond product design. When I need to give a speech and I’m writing a slide for my deck, I think up the story in my mind that I’m going to tell for this slide. I want to know how many people, their level of tech sophistication, their age and their interests.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

It eventually closed at 11,204 in April ’10 before sliding back around 10,000 as I sit here and type. Here talking about lithium-ion batteries and the early lead we’ve squandered in that market: “ With some technologies, both scaling and innovation take place overseas. Such is the case with advanced batteries. We took $2.3

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298