Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

You’re writing a freaking blog post! I never get grumpy that people write. If you do randomly write me I have advice. Or ask Tasha to send you a screen shot of my weekly calendar. “But WAIT !!! How the hell can you tell us you don’t have time for email?” ” I never said that. Marketing.

Email

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. In sales there are also three rules: Qualify, qualify, qualify.

Venture Capital

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while and was going to use AngelList by Nivi & Naval as the basis for my example and the perfect prompt came yesterday when I read Fred Wilson’s blog post on AngelList. From there Rob decided to make a small investment. It’s part of my radar/early warning system.&#.

Guide

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2010

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. But at the highest level they’ve created a marketplace for “flash&# sales. And of course we had, TheMan. Now begins the 6-month journey.

Company

socalTECH

OCTOBER 4, 2012

YouTube has a player which works in Google hangouts, so they can instantly screen your work or your pitch, and you can get instant feedback that way. An example is Melissa Rundle, who was been writing for the industry doing FunnyOrDie type comedies. Those teachers are what set us apart. What's your background?

Web

socalTECH

OCTOBER 30, 2008

to the business of script writing, and is looking to combine a free online tool for writing scripts with matching those scripts with content producers. Using this content model, we've made two sales. Are you targeting Hollywood and existing script writing software? What's Scripped?

Content

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

In my LA I often see computer screens open with entrepreneurs talking about digital media. That’s convenience when your VC is hoping to write the next $20 million check. Every developer, biz dev person, marketeer or sales rep on your team will be surrounded by scores of companies calling them like Sirens to switch teams.

Venture Capital

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2011

They’re also good at screening candidates. For one, due to the way liquidation preference work sometimes they have “flat spots&# which means that they might earn the exact same amount from a $40 million sale as they would from a $50 million sale. We’re both principals in a sale. PR firms are the same.

Venture Capital

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2020

Hiring requirements must be anticipated and implemented with the same precision and tracking as manufacturing volumes, sales leads, and customer service. Trying to save costs by seeking resumes on the Internet will result in poor quality candidates, more time required for screening and interviews, and high turnover.

Organization

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

VCs have also gone back to writing checks because as an industry we can’t be seen as “sitting on the sidelines” for years at a time. trillion out of our homes and spent 2/3rds of it on flat screen TVs, trips to Hawaii, time shares, Apple products and everything else we couldn’t afford. VCs get paid to “put money to work.&#.

Entrepreneur

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

That users get the PIN code, enters it into the registration screen, and if they typed in the right code, they can complete registration and get access to all of what a service provider gives them. That ended up as a $200 million sale to Microsoft. We take that number, and send them a one-time PIN code.

Marina Del Rey

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

As I naturally get asked all the time why we invested in Company A or Company B, I thought I’d just put forth my thesis in writing. You can also compare how in-app purchases perform vs. cross-promoting the other apps you may have for sale. Optimization also helps you optimize ad sales if you’re doing pure advertising.

Mobile

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. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. Winning the contract meant that we would hit our quarterly revenue figure and be in good position for our annual sales target.

Startup

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I still think it’s best to take money from Dave when you’re also partnered with a more focused, hands-on seed-stage VC who brings different things to the table – like more ability to write larger checks in a downturn (for one) or solving a deep crisis that involves super hands-on involvement.

Startup

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 10, 2010

Want to take a year pursuing your dream to write a screenplay, travel through Asia, run a triathlon or start your own fashion line? 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.

Startup

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

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

Hiring requirements must be anticipated and implemented with the same precision and tracking as manufacturing volumes, sales leads, and customer service. Trying to save costs by seeking resumes on the Internet will result in poor quality candidates, more time required for screening and interviews, and high turnover.

Organization

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 11, 2012

The multi-tiered platform allows for money to be transferred between Facebook friends, the ability to click and purchase any item that you see on Facebook and through the published API’s, developers can integrate and write their own applications on top of the ZunguZ platform. Why the name? We liked the Z on the beginning and the Z on the end.

Software Review

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2016

Hiring requirements must be anticipated and implemented with the same precision and tracking as manufacturing volumes, sales leads, and customer service. Trying to save costs by seeking resumes on the Internet will result in poor quality candidates, more time required for screening and interviews, and high turnover.

Organization

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

This is a post I’ve been dying to write for 18 months. OK, that sounds like an interesting business, but nothing to write a freakin’ blog post about? At JAMDAT he designed the most successful mobile games – (Bowling, Bejeweled Multiplayer & Solitaire) and knows what drives engagement on “the small screen.&#

Gogii

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

Frankly, it’s the life of ANY executives with whom you want to sell product, do a business development deal with, execute M&A, a journalist you want to write about your company?—?anybody. 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.

Software Review

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I talked about this in the TWiVC video but I didn’t do a good enough job of writing it up in the summary notes in the post. It’s the same as in any sales-oriented meeting and make no mistake raising money is sales. The conversation moves from consuming images on a screen in lean back mode, to active engagement.

Venture Capital

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 9, 2010

Another big innovator in helping manage cloud implementations is Okta , founded by Todd McKinnon, the former VP of Engineering at Salesforce.com (who knows a thing or two about cloud services) and Freddy Kerrest who was senior in biz dev & sales at Salesforce and was there from 2002-07. This is the top layer in the Cloud Stack.

Startup

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 26, 2011

I’m not arguing that no screening is required. He encouraged me to write this post and after smoking me out on Twitter I had no choice. I’ve made every excuse to myself in the past, “I can’t fire him now, he owns the customer relationships and it’s a crucial point in our sales process.” But here’s the thing. So here goes.

Startup

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

People say we’re crazy, but we know creators are legit businesses,” Karat writes on its website — the company didn’t respond to a request to chat about what they’re working on. Podfund , for example, writes checks sized between $25,000 to $50,000 to emerging podcasters. Benett/Dave Benett/WireImage). Rethinking value.

Platform

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 20, 2014

OP: myLINGO is a smartphone app where you can select and download an audio track of a movie in your preferred language and go to the theatre and have that audio track synchronize to the movie playing on the screen. I’d write to my professors and say “I’m so sorry, I have this meeting or I had this phone call that I had to take.”.

Startup

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). Only naive people believe that but for inexperienced entrepreneurs you can be fooled into the narrative by the press who sometimes write stories without the actual data. PHONE CALLS.

Email

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

There are hundreds of entrepreneurs here in Los Angeles who are building awesome companies, writing awesome books, making awesome movies and are trying to solve important problems to help make this world a better place. Here are 62 63 Los Angeles entrepreneurs we can be proud of. Matt McKinney – Founder of TiesForCharity.com.

Los Angeles

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2010

The “second screen&# – One of the most exciting developments in television & media to me will be “second screen&# technologies built initially on iPads and extended to the plethora of devices we’ll see over the next 3-5 years. Will we discover stuff through second-screen apps? Imagine that world.

Content