Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series, “ Pitching a VC.&# Getting a meeting with a prominent angel or VC is difficult enough. Some advice on how to do that was covered in this link – Getting Access to a VC. If you haven’t read how to build VC relationships and demonstrate traction make sure to read it.

Venture Capital 277

Venture Capital Startup Email News 277

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2011

This might be a VC meeting but also might just be a sales or biz dev meeting. If you look at Diagram A above you’ll see that the presenters are sitting at the opposite end of the table from where the screen is. Your laptop will be synchronized with the screen so resist the temptation to turn around.

Tips 392

Tips Screening Slides Venture Capital 392

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Draw Your Ideas - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 16, 2010 I saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month. Through advertising or direct sales, these sites harvest intent. He’d wasted a year of his life and had a pile of stock options that weren’t very interesting. Tesla is not.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

Those who are more involved in traditional entertainment are seeing a major shift online which is why an additional one-day seminar was created to coincide with Silicon Beach Fest Hollywood as a partnership called, Idea to Screen. tech community and to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing us in the coming years. See you there!

Hollywood 100

Hollywood Screening Ideas Entertainment 100

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 11, 2010

According to Lehmbeck, in an interview with socalTECH, the company's software takes key specifications from products such as televisions and other consumer electronics, and applies them to ads automatically, so that instead of just advertising a big screen television an ad might contain key terms and information about those products.

Yahoo 145

Yahoo Paid Search GRP Partners SoCalTech 145

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

All the data actually suggests with the growth of mobile, inbound sales calls will double from 30 billion to 60 billion in 3 years (source: Kelsey). It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. Much more data in the full post. Not so fast.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

I’m enjoying being a VC. I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. VC meetings going well. 2 million in VC. I swore never to do that as a VC. What do VC’s Experience?

Entrepreneur 384

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 384

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2011

And yes, VC’s, too. They’re also good at screening candidates. Negotiate directly with your VC or acquirer with lawyers present in the room. VCs : VCs are often on your side and usually act in an ethical manner. You can sometimes leverage your VC in a “bad cop&# negotiation with a buyer.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Outsource 319

socalTECH

AUGUST 20, 2010

Patrick Kennedy: Our customers are very active using our technology and analytics as a solution to increase the content sales from all kinds of customers. What happened with smart phones, is consumers are buying more and more applications, but a screen can only fit a dozen icons. We're really headed for three screens.

Content 189

Content Screening Mobile Customer 189

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

At night I had a group dinner where I met 6 new entrepreneurs and hung out with some old friends from law firms, banks and other VC funds. On a phone call it’s too easy to be distracted and thumb through paperwork, stare out the window or glance at your computer screen. I always tell people that fund raising is a sales process.

Software Review 381

Software Review Startup Email Conference 381

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

At JAMDAT he designed the most successful mobile games – (Bowling, Bejeweled Multiplayer & Solitaire) and knows what drives engagement on “the small screen.&# And Austin Murray runs sales & marketing – a role he also held at JAMDAT. Management, SVP North American Sales and SVP European Publishing.

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2010

We held a 90-minute demo session where 150 of LA’s VC’s and senior technology executives watched the LPLA V2 group present in small groups of 12-15 each. The VC’s & executives were then asked to make “commitments&# (in writing) to 3-5 of the companies that they felt they could make some sort of contribution to.

Company 276

Company Companies Startup Southern California 276

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 21, 2011

When I first got into VC I decided I better have some investment themes. Nordstrom sales reps are trained to do this to, but of course they can’t know every customer that walks around the store. To be clear, that is excluding the sales uplift from the calls. “People still want calls …&#. Or can they?

Mobile 329

Mobile Advertising Media Marketing 329

Tech Coast Venture Network

MARCH 9, 2011

Last year, venture capitalists and angels who co-invested with them placed $7 billion into seed and early-stage deals, an 11 percent increase from 2009, according to the most recent PricewaterhouseCoopers/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree report. When asked questions during a screening, do not respond defensively.

Tips 100

Tips Capital Tech Coast Angels Screening 100

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

YouTuber Caspar Lee, the co-founder of a startup called Influencer, attends the UK Gala Screening of “Wonder Park” in London, England (Photo by David M. Another company, Tribe , has similarly raised VC to grow its American footprint. Benett/Dave Benett/WireImage). Rethinking value. million Series A in March.

Platform 170

Platform Marketing Tool Venture Capital 170

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

“Yes&# was given to me by one of my favorite angel investor / seed VC’s to work with – John Greathouse of Rincon Venture Partners and author of the blog InfoChachkie that you should check out because it is filled with great info from a guy who has been a very successful operator. So what are you waiting for?

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2012

Kind of like a law firm (or VC firm) with four partners but shortened to just two, people dropped off his second two words. The power of large screen real estate. They are more likely to be the “bottom end of the sales funnel” or in other words close to “point of purchase.” The power of a keyboard.

Web 334

Web Mobile Startup Software Review 334

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2011

I’m enjoying being a VC. I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. VC meetings going well. 2 million in VC. I swore never to do that as a VC. What do VC’s Experience?

Entrepreneur 176

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 176

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

On Losing in VC. I know I won’t win every deal I want to in VC. There are other great VC’s in SoCal and there is always the allure of the NorCal guys flying down and talking about how they invested in Google, Facebook, Yahoo! I later learned one of my biggest lesson in sales. The one that you thought you had.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

On Losing in VC. I know I won’t win every deal I want to in VC. There are other great VC’s in SoCal and there is always the allure of the NorCal guys flying down and talking about how they invested in Google, Facebook, Yahoo! I later learned one of my biggest lesson in sales. The one that you thought you had.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

If I were writing about the most important attributes of a VC (hmmm) one of the things that would make my list is “ability to spot patterns.&# I see the same things over-and-over again and being able to spot things and compartmentalize them is important – it helps with short-handing analysis and learning. We were SMOKING cash.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Customer 306

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

Can you please intro me to XYZ VC? Or ask Tasha to send you a screen shot of my weekly calendar. I know it’s different as a VC than as a startup company providing a product or service. I sent an email to another about what I thought we should cover at his next board meeting and what was missing from the deck he sent.

Email 314

Email Product Startup Writing 314

Tech.Co

JANUARY 19, 2016

Investing in Caplinked was an easy decision for us,” explained Subtraction Capital General Partner Jason Portnoy. Given the nature of the venture capital industry, we understand the need for a secure deal management and stakeholder communications platform. It complements other tech you are using. They are great filing cabinets.

Doc 120

Doc Invest Screening Capital 120

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

Many people are too cautious in sales processes and as a result when they present their solutions they end up sounding milquetoast and undifferentiated from anybody else in the market. I recently wrote about the three rules of sales. In sales we often call these USPs (I wrote about them here: Unique Selling Propositions ).

Sales 150

Sales SaaS Startup Venture Capital 150

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2011

They probably won’t respond well to high pressure sales tactics, information overload, or bribes. It boasts 595 member-managed groups and VCs, 30,203 investors, and 2,900 new company applications a month. As an entrepreneur, simply enter your location online, and it will list the angel and VC organizations near you.

Angel 102

Angel Keiretsu Organization Template 102

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

And of course I’ve sat on the other side of the table: As a VC. This is not just the perspective of a VC although I can’t say I have zero VC bias. This is not just the perspective of a VC although I can’t say I have zero VC bias. Fund raising (as is much of life) is a sale – pure and simple.

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

Babak Razi – Founder of Third Waves Ventures, innovator and supporter of emerging high technologies. Heather Wilburn – Founding Member of AdWords Program & Biz Dev Manager for Channel Sales team at Google. How do VC’s actually know when an emerging technology is going to be promising? Summary of Topics.

Startup 95

Startup Google Education Venture Capital 95

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

I was working hand-in-hand with my close friend and associate Stuart Lander who was running our UK office and with one of our local sales reps. Winning the contract meant that we would hit our quarterly revenue figure and be in good position for our annual sales target. I later learned one of my biggest lesson in sales.

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 10, 2010

When a new email comes in you see the little pop-up in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen and like Pavlov’s dog you feel an adrenaline rush and need to read that email. Obviously if you’re in a customer support role, a sales role or a customer service industry this can be impossible.

Startup 295

Startup Email Technical Review Course 295

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2010

As an entrepreneur, simply enter your location online, and it will list the angel and VC organizations near you. You can then begin your application to one or more of these organizations right on the same screen. They probably won’t respond well to high pressure sales tactics, information overload, or bribes.

Angel 48

Angel Keiretsu Startup Template 48

socalTECH

MAY 11, 2010

Once that a product has made that initial screen, we look further, to make sure it's also cost effective and easy to live with. For lack of a better word, it's really social shopping--not in the way of using social networking to drive sales, but because moms are social, to allow them to share information regularly online.

Software Review 200

Software Review Commerce Startup Sites 200

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

I’m very pleased today to announce that I invested, on behalf of GRP Partners, in Burstly alongside Rincon Venture Partners , an early stage VC in Southern California whith whom we love to work (and were our co-investors on RingRevenue ). Optimization also helps you optimize ad sales if you’re doing pure advertising.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

Last year I was on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley meeting with one of the most prominent venture capital firms in the country. The VC partner, somebody I greatly respect said, “Yeah, we like Gil and what they’re doing. In my LA I often see computer screens open with entrepreneurs talking about digital media.

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital Southern California Google Startup 313

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 8, 2011

For those who still might be wondering what Spotlight: LA Tech is all about, It’s a screening room for new technology homegrown in our region. Their all new all electric car is set to be released for sale in limited quantities at the end of 2011. The Spotlight is shining down these amazing LA companies! wonder what that might be?

CalTech 100

CalTech Technical Review Company Companies 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I was saying that I was happy it was all out in the open because I felt at least everybody could now understand the issues & opportunities from the perspectives of angels, entrepreneurs and VCs. Let’s be clear: AngelList doesn’t scare a single VC I know. But it’s not cutting VCs out. It is additive.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

Matt McKinney is the Founder of TiesForCharity.com, a trendy tie company that donates a percentage of each tie sale to unique charities. Traveling from city to city the Detox Market introduces carefully screened green brands in beauty, fashion and food to the consumer who wants to detoxify their body and living environment.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 12, 2016

He spent nearly five years at each of Salesforce.com and Oracle and was an Area VP at Salesforce leading sales efforts at some of the largest clients that Salesforce.com has. The heads of sales operations were emphatic in ways I have seldom experienced. You might want to ask, “What is the Q3 sales forecast for the central region?”

Software 105

Software Mobile Artificial Inteligence Oracle 105