Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

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? The most connected and high-potential founders start with wads of cash.

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Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

TechCrunch LA

MAY 31, 2022

Bonfire Ventures , a Los Angeles venture capital firm, invests in seed-stage business-to-business software companies and aims to change the odds so that more than the average 33% of companies in this sector make it to Series A. TechCrunch: How did you and Mark Mullen start working together? Andelman : The L.A.

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Software Startup Venture Capital Funding 163

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. Remember that the goal of an email to a VC or an introduction from a trusted mutual connection is simply to get you the meeting. Remember that the goal of an email to a VC or an introduction from a trusted mutual connection is simply to get you the meeting.

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Venture Capital Slides Email Startup 261

socalTECH

JUNE 29, 2017

Managing Director: Arjan Schutte, Kathleen Utecht Investment interests: Fintech startups. Okapi Ventures. Fika Ventures. Moonshots Capital. Watertower Ventures. Investment interests: Wide ranging interests related to the firm's startup accelerator. moonshotscapital.com. Fund size: Not disclosed, but $7.2M

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Southern California Venture Capital Artificial Inteligence Capital 178

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Picking a VC is hard. So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. Most VCs are book smart. I’ve seen too many companies go off track by a VC hell bent on the team pursuing the VCs strategy which at times is about chasing the next shiny object.

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Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

I think I’ve read Paul Graham’s post on “ Startup = Growth ” three or four times now. Viewing the article through the lens of a venture capitalist there’s much to agree with under the mantra of “growth!” Eventually a successful startup will grow into a big company. Growth, again.

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Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review 390

socalTECH

AUGUST 18, 2021

Los Angeles-based PayEngine, a startup developing a white label, payment platform for software-as-a-service companies, has raised $1.6M The funding came from Mucker Capital, BAM Ventures, I2BF Global Ventures, HIVE Ventures and other strategic investors, according to the company.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2017

One of the hardest decisions entrepreneurs make when they start a company and raise outside capital is figuring out what an acceptable “burn rate” is. The Basics The starting point — the 101 — is knowing the difference between gross burn and net burn. You start from the basics, which is if you raise $2.5

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Startup Venture Capital .Net Capital 212

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2014

Scott and I agree on nearly everything: The VC structure is changing and there appears to be a bifurcation into small & large VCs with an impact on “traditionally sized” VCs. I wrote my version here and Scott wrote an excellent write-up of his views here. Startup Lessons' And we ended.

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Venture Capital SaaS Writing Funding 309

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I was reading Danielle Morrill’s blog post today on whether one’s “ Startup Burn Rate is Normal. I love how transparently Danielle lives her startup (& encourages other to join in) because it provides much needed transparency to other startups. Let’s set up a framework. Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

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Startup Company Companies .Net 383

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 16, 2021

Irvine-based billing and payments software startup Chargezoom has raised $2M in a seed funding round, the company said on Wednesday. The funding was led by Okapi Venture Capital and also included Saas Ventures. The startup is led by CEO Matt Dubois.

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Seed Funding SaaS Venture Capital Platform 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 25, 2020

A new, Los Angeles-based fintech startup, Pipe , said this morning that it has raised $6M in its seed funding round, to launch a new platform which offers up financing to subscription-based, software-as-a-service companies.

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SaaS Seed Funding Los Angeles Platform 124

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 24, 2013

Frank Slootman , the CEO of San Diego-based ServiceNow , has invested in a big data startup, as he continues to expand out his angel funding activity. That round was led by Ignition Partners, and also included Atlantic Bridge Ventures, Intel Capital, Amplify Partners and Data Collective. READ MORE>>.

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SaaS Startup San Diego Venture Capital 202

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Our guest this week on #TWiVC was Dana Settle , partner at Greycroft Partners , a venture capital firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Greycroft is an early-stage VC. Closing a VC fund in 2009/10 is a major achievement in and of itself. To be fair to Ben Horowitz – I think he thinks this as well.

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Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2009

This post is part of my series “ Startup Lessons &#. Elephants, Deer and Rabbits – Some thoughts on start-up segmentation. I know that this advice won’t apply to every possible startup – but I think it applies to many. So when I started my first company I naturally went for elephants.

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Startup Customer Custom Resource 389

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

It has historically been the case that VCs would rather fund the promise of 100x in a company with almost no revenue than the reality of a company growing at 50% but doing $20+ million in sales. The Valley has obsessed with a quick up-and-to-right momentum story because we were thought to live in “winner take most” markets.

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Venture Capital Capital Funding Startup 363

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

I have been watching ProductPlan for several years, as the founders are both friends and pillars of the Santa Barbara Startup Community. Without taking a dime of outside capital, the company has achieved impressive success in a competitive, SaaS market segment, landing companies such as Nike, Intuit, NASA, AutoDesk and PBS.

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

socalTECH

APRIL 17, 2013

Venice Beach-based Bitium , a new startup out of LA''s Amplify accelerator, announced this morning that it has raised $2.4M Bitium said it is developing a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) operating system, offering up everything from authentication and authorization of cloud-based software to features like consolidated messaging for apps.

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SaaS Seed Funding Venice Venture Capital 208

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

As a VC with scores of startups in our portfolio we have ringside seats to many, many fund raising processes plus I had to raise money across about 5 different rounds of capital as an entrepreneur so I’ve developed some thought on the process that I hope can be helpful to some of you before you start.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

The new funding round included Moore Venture Partners, Serra Ventures, Okapi Venture Capital, SaaS Venture Capital, and JAM Capital. The startup is led by founder and CEO Luke Fox. According to WhiteFox, it has now raised a total of $26M.

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SaaS Venture Capital Tool Capital 100

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 20, 2014

According to a recent Forbes article , UC Santa Barbara''s Technology Management Program offers students a superior startup education over the University of Pennsylvania (home of Wharton), as well Harvard, Northwestern and even its acclaimed southern neighbor, the University of Southern California. Techpreneurs. Share and Enjoy.

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Santa Barbara Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 258

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

The new funding came from Subtraction Capital, FF Angel, 500 Startups, and other investors. The startup--which is led by PayPal veteran Erik M. caplinked venture capital investment dealroom virtual document collaboration saas software' That funding was worth $3M. READ MORE>>.

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Software Review Funding Draper SaaS 235

SoCal CTO

MAY 18, 2010

Continuing my series of posts that I’ve been collecting that live at the intersection of Startups, Startup Development and being a Startup CTO. Here are a couple of the other collections: 16 Great Startup Posts from March , Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April. SaaS Conversion: Which metrics matter?

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Startup SaaS Metrics Patents 150

socalTECH

DECEMBER 15, 2021

Los Angeles-based LogicBoost Labs, a startup accelerator which focuses on pre-revenue and early-stage B2B SaaS startups, says it has made a $300K investment in Clarevent, which supplies video infrastructure for virtual events. The company said the investment was $200K in cash, plus another $100K in advisory services.

Services 113

Services SaaS Los Angeles Platform 113

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

I only say that because after years as a VC I can always tell when my peer group invested in something because “it seemed like it would make money” versus when they invested out of passion. On reflection of the role that I want to play as a VC it is clearly in the camp of passion. I’m a VC.

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Venture Capital Startup Course Entrepreneur 373

Xconomy

MAY 2, 2019

A new venture capital firm, which in November marked its launch by raising a $53 million-plus fund to invest in startups, has made its first investment.

Equity 93

Equity Venture Capital Software San Diego 93

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

There has been a lot of public debate over the past several weeks about whether it’s a good thing to be “gross margin positive” or not and commentary always reminds me that some people at startups don’t quite understand financial metrics or even how to think about which ones are healthy. So here are some more details ….

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Metrics Startup SaaS Course 150

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 11, 2013

I once had an investor call me in regards to a background check on a start-up he was looking to back. While not wanting to dampen the VC’s enthusiasm for investing in the start-up, I did suggest that some of the investment capital should be used to build out the management team and bring in a seasoned leader.

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Venture Capital Capital Startup Invest 45

socalTECH

AUGUST 31, 2017

Los Angeles-based fintech startup InvestCloud and seed-stage venture capital fund Stage Venture Partners have announced a new collaboration, where Stage will move into InvestCloud's "Innovation Center" in Los Angeles. Stage says it recently raised its second fund. READ MORE>>.

Artificial Inteligence 113

Artificial Inteligence SaaS Los Angeles Venture Capital 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 28, 2014

The startup--which was founded by Scott Kriz and Erik Gustavson--said the round came from Polar Partners, Amplify, Resolute VC, Double M Partners, Social Leverage, Karlin Ventures, Lazerow Ventures and Rob Glaser. amplifyla amplify accelerator capital venture software saas cloud enterprise bitium'

Software 153

Software Santa Monica SaaS Venture Capital 153

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 11, 2013

I once had an investor call me in regards to a background check on a start-up he was looking to back. While not wanting to dampen the VC’s enthusiasm for investing in the start-up, I did suggest that some of the investment capital should be used to build out the management team and bring in a seasoned leader.

Venture Capital 40

Venture Capital Capital Startup Invest 40

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

I have long advised startup companies that if you don’t control your messaging somebody else will and your potential customers will form impressions of you shaped by somebody else or by nobody at all. My starting salary was $27,000. I can’t make this up. I have published many of these PR Tips before. ” F**k.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 12, 2012

During the fall of 2011, Steve wrote a controversial post entitled, Why VCs Should Be Startup CEOs. Steve identifies the following skills as necessary for success as a venture capitalist: People skills (ability to recognize patterns of success in individuals and teams). free weekly Infochachkie articles! Fundraising skills.

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Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur SaaS 239

Xconomy

APRIL 23, 2019

Today’s tech landscape is dotted with companies that investors have valued at $1 billion or more—an elite club, members of which have come to be known as “ unicorns ,” and dozens of SaaS firms are among them. Read more » Reprints | Share:

Tool 82

Tool San Diego SaaS Venture Capital 82

Xconomy

JANUARY 28, 2019

Venture capital firms invest in potentially disruptive technologies with the hope of profit, then keep watch for further advances that could overtake their existing portfolio companies. All this is done while they guide startups through other external challenges such as fundraising droughts and overall market downturns.

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Venture Capital Marketing Guide Invest 67

socalTECH

MAY 19, 2014

in a funding round, and set up shop in Los Angeles. The startup--which has headquarters in Malmo, Sweden--said the funding will go towards launching in the United States. incentive incentivecorp sweden venture capital social software saas cloud intranet sharing business enterprise' READ MORE>>.

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SaaS Venture Capital Blogging Los Angeles 153

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. Of course that website isn’t completely up to date but it’s a great resource for seeing the overall picture. But let me start with some data. Much more data in the full post.

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Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339