Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. If I were looking at which VCs to choose I would reference strongly for which ones are supportive in good times and bad. The best way – of course – is to reference check. Most VCs are book smart.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

InfoChachkie

APRIL 25, 2011

It has also influenced my thoughts, as evidenced by the six infoChachkie blog entries which reference Art. At the beginning of the index, Guy writes, “I hope Robert Cialdini checks this index.” For instance, Guy refers to an entrepreneur’s venture as their “cause.” Like King, his writing style is breezy and engaging.

Technical Review 279

Technical Review Blogging Class Entrepreneur 279

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

It’s true the some VCs have started writing so many checks that they resemble stock pickers but the majority of us still have less than 10 board seats at any time and tend to go pretty deep so the result is that we care deeply about where we commit our time.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2010

Much of my traffic is through referring websites and/or social media. Don’t just write a carbon copy of what somebody else is doing. OK, well, actually the first thing I did is come up with a list of 50 posts that I wanted to write. I didn’t want to run out of things to write about in the first 6 months.

Blogging 286

Blogging Startup Writing Summary 286

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

there was no frame of reference for the value. My key take away – frame of reference in pricing is important. But it’s PacMan.&# I forgot to get him on record on the show, but Gregg writes all the lyrics for the big presidential videos they’ve done – you can see where the humor of JibJab comes from.

Startup 303

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Writing 303

TechEmpower

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

Profile Blurbs and Writing Prompts Let’s look at our job matching site in more detail. Maybe those references to TFA sound like bragging, or he thinks “passion for numbers” sounds silly. This gives Mark more control over the process, without requiring him to write much, and gives the LLM more to work with.

Generative AI 297

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence TechEmpower Tips 297

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 6, 2010

doing a reference call on a prospective employee. THE REFERENCE CALL: Reference calls are hard. We’ve obviously had a great experience interviewing him or we wouldn’t be doing reference calls. One thing we picked up from another reference call was that Bob has at times fought with co-workers.

Startup 311

Startup Invest Course Research 311

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

Christensen, “We subsidize their education in fields for which there are no jobs” he said in referring to the fact that many courses at universities are still taught with skills that aren’t relevant to the 21st century needs of the US workforce. The numerator (return) encourages more sales, which is fine. Freemium.

Venture Capital 403

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2011

Often recruiters want to handle the final negotiations on package and/or do the reference calls. I’m also reluctant to hand over reference calling. I know that no recruiter will agree with me on this point, but I’ll tell you that I’m certain there’s a positive bias in reference calls. Highly ethical.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Outsource 319

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I know I can’t be in every deal and I know that the easy part of being a VC is writing the first check in a deal. You can’t reference check your way into a “yes.” If an accelerator is writing you they’re also writing 25 other VCs. They worry too much about missing out on a deal.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

You join teams that got good write-ups on TechCrunch, have great VCs, have star CEO’s, whatever. When you’re hiring most reference checkers focus on the person’s former bosses. Just literally this week I had breakfast with a guy giving a reference who said, “He’s brilliant. You REALLY know.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2013

These references make for great discussions with customers. If you have enough references in your arsenal you obviously want to pick out ones that you believe will resonate with your prospect due to job function or industry. Write down the customer pains so you’ll have them for later. It’s just human nature.

Sales 367

Sales Slides Startup Customer 367

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 14, 2011

Journal or Blog – Writing about your experiences will force you to be contemplative and thoughtful. It will also allow you to refer back to past experiences without risking an erroneous decision based on a false memory. Journal or Blog – Writing about your experiences will force you to be contemplative and thoughtful.

Startup 206

Startup Journal Writing Blogging 206

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

I have no reference point from which to judge whether you were higher on the y-axis 3 months ago or lower. Investors are writing checks for dots. .&# But if you understand it you’ll see that it is perfectly rational and it should also influence how you form relationships with investors.

Invest 411

Invest Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 411

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 25, 2013

Write your set of bullet points on paper before the call. Write out the reason you’re calling, your key points and “the ask” in advance and your time allotment so you can always refer back and make sure you’re tracking to your plan. It’s what you want. Let’s be explicit about it.

Startup 364

Startup Writing Help Email 364

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 21, 2021

In terms of employee relations and safety, they want Netflix to recruit trans people, especially BIPOC, for leadership roles, allow employees to remove themselves from previous promotional content like allyship and diversity videos, and eliminate references and imagery of transphobic titles and talent in the workplace.

Netflix 300

Netflix Demand Content Hollywood 300

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2012

This might be somebody I know well (thus the email will come very highly referred) or somebody I just met for which the company will get the “I just met this person. She looks very competent but you’d have to apply your own filter / check reference. I haven’t referenced him/her. I see way too many of these.

Email 359

Email Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 359

TechEmpower

JULY 31, 2023

channels (search, social, viral, new media), cost-efficient distribution We often reference Dave’s work when talking to innovators. Please write us at blog@techempower.com ! Be sure to check out the entire presentation. Conclusion Startup metrics are an invaluable tool for founders and innovators.

Metrics 260

Metrics Startup Slides Technical Review 260

socalTECH

DECEMBER 17, 2008

In their case, people write their scripts on a web site, and when they're done, they can submit them to contests with a single click. If you're doing freelance writing, have a story you're trying to sell, there's a whole process of finding out where you're doing well, not doing well, and what responses you have received.

Writing 209

Writing Hollywood Startup Sites 209

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

I told him only 2 weeks ago when we were in London together that I wanted to write a blog post that has been in my head for 2 years. These engagements went well and he came highly referred by my friend Gary Swart who runs oDesk. When he writes them online his Tourette’s comes out and sometimes the substance gets lost in the style.

Startup 309

Startup Venture Capital Email Writing 309

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2013

” In the article I discussed the downside of raising capital at a too high of a price and referred people to a previous article I had written encouraging founders to raise “ At the Top end of Normal ” as opposed to stratospheric prices. Yesterday I wrote a post about “ proprietary dealflow for VCs.”

Pricing 302

Pricing Seed Funding Invest Venture Capital 302

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

If you don’t follow the image reference above or the tag line, “ You don’t need double talk; you need Bob Loblaw “ (try saying it out loud) , and if you care! I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. Shame about not getting it in legal writing that you owned the original IP.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 13, 2011

With all these companies vying for attention & others just here to soak up the vibe I thought I’d write a much broader piece on how startups can make the most of their attendance at conferences & events. Write them in advance and request meetings. In the email write something that will remind them who you are.

Conference 289

Conference Startup Technical Review Writing 289

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2013

The other worthwhile exercise is to write down what your competitors uses as its USPs – even ones that you don’t think are really valuable to customers. It’s equally useful to know what your weaknesses are against your key competitors and honestly capturing those. You’re ready to test drive your new deck.

Sales 336

Sales Startup Competition Customer 336

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2011

The title was “The Jerk,” which is a reference to both the Steve Martin film but more precisely to Robert Scoble’s interpretation of Steve Jobs having just read his biography. Of course I can’t write every press release for the company nor would I want to.

Press 337

Press Venture Capital Doc Summary 337

InfoChachkie

APRIL 9, 2013

They often write their own material, book their gigs, arrange their travel and negotiate and collect their compensation from club owners. Comedians often deploy the bookend technique, in which they reference their opening joke at the conclusion of their show. A version of this article previously appeared on Inc.

Tips 241

Tips Entrepreneur RSS Startup 241

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

I’ve started writing up some of those sales & marketing lessons and I plan to continue to build that section out over time. They like a solid product, well defined pricing, good references to sell against, a clear quota and well defined competitors. Please call our references. They’re in beta).

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

Berkonomics

MARCH 13, 2014

For example, while Steve Jobs was abusive, rude, and unappreciative, he had what his colleagues referred to a reality distortion field. None of the angels in my group is likely to write a check without hearing and believing a story about how something dramatic is about to happen. They wanted to come to pitch to my angel network.

Invest 237

Invest Examples Networking Writing 237

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2022

Communication is not just talking, but also listening, writing, body language, and “actions speak louder than words.” From an entrepreneur perspective, here are the key barrier-to-understanding elements: Unclear frame of reference. Stereotyping and biases.

Technical Review 137

Technical Review Entrepreneur Guide Mentor 137

TechEmpower

FEBRUARY 14, 2017

If you write a lot of Java code, then you should read that book and follow its advice. If you don't want to use Guava, then wrap the modifiable Enum{Set,Map} instances in Collections.unmodifiableSet(set) or Collections.unmodifiableMap(map) and throw away the direct references to the modifiable collections. forEachRemaining(.).

Java 330

Java Class Ideas Writing 330

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2014

We live in interesting times where working at a startup is glamorized to the point that many founders even refer to their team members as “rock stars,” which to my ears is cringe worthy. Passion is also the featured heavily in nearly every presentation I give to entrepreneurs or on college campuses or in talks with MBA students.

Startup 419

Startup Entrepreneur Design Funding 419

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

Even artisan-based services, like graphic design and writing good ad copy, have innovative processes and principles. Be accessible on social media, write a blog or articles for industry publications, and participate in conference panels and speaking engagements. Capture your “secret sauce.” Start with a service you know and love.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2009

The same article refers to several other people who are coming back to blogging: Liza at Maui Blog and the futurist Chris Saad. I’m enjoying the creative process of getting my own personal thoughts down in writing. Shel Israel , famous tech blogger from Wave 1.0 started blogging again outlined here. Thank you, Twitter.

Blogging 219

Blogging Venture Capital Startup Social Media 219

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2013

I’ve been writing a series on a simple methodology that we used at my first enterprise software company. Preferably you’d have a customer testimonial where the customer reference will be able to talk through their economic benefits. There are many out there and many books have been written on the topic.

Sales 328

Sales Customer Custom Examples 328

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

Brad and Jason have been exposing venture capitalists’ secrets since 2005, when they began writing a blog series on Term Sheets at AskTheVC. For instance, in a section describing the ramifications of a No-Shop clause, Matt writes, “Insist on spelling out key terms prior to a signed term sheet if it has a no-shop clause in it.

Venture Capital 205

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Writing Guide 205

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 17, 2011

I do not often write blog entries which reference other blog articles. However, I recently came across a truly delightful post entitled, Jeffrey Aaronson’s Improbable Journey with Steve Jobs, the Guy Who Changed His World (and Ours).

Slides 164

Slides Blogging Writing Demand 164

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 15, 2011

Before contacting me, the consultant should have explored how well the referring party knew me. If that were the case, I would not be writing this entry, as I realize young people are learning “on the job.” One might think the caller was a young person who is still learning the networking game.

Networking 231

Networking Blogging Santa Barbara Startup 231