Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

This is why investors really like SaaS software companies where you have recurring revenue and your largest customer accounts for < 5% of your revenue and your renewals rates are > 90%. Many software companies have > 80% gross margins which is why they are more valuable than say traditional retailers or consumer product companies.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. Do you imagine eventually raising VC and trying to build a faster growing company?”

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

Or as I picked up from Bruce Dunlevie at Benchmark Capital (who I’m told took the quote from elsewhere). I plan to write a whole separate blog post about this quote because it’s always stuck with me. 5 years or so later I still revisit that sales campaign and relive many of the steps. That is, until I lost.

Startup 247

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Writing 247

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! Write things down. We helped the write out their requirements for a system.

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! Write things down. We helped the write out their requirements for a system.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

No rule is ever absolute no matter how it sounds when one writes a blog. My company had raised venture capital in April 2001 but we were told that there may never be any more coming. But in these years I learned how to sell software – necessity is the mother of all invention. I never built Google.

Startup 285

Startup Venture Capital Sales Software Review 285

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC. I’m a software guy so I’m sure there are cases where building isn’t feasible. They might be as hard as raising VC. The key to getting money is that the people writing the check trust you. Product : You should build a product or a prototype.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

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. I’ve wanted to write a blog post called “Mobile Second” for a long time to make this point more forcefully. Try writing long reviews of a restaurant. They do both well.

Web 334

Web Mobile Startup Software Review 334

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

File this under both Startup Adivce and Sales & Marketing Advice. Journalists don’t know enough about your company before the show, don’t have time for proper research, and you will be competing for their time afterward with 49+ other companies that want them to write about you. - Many other great companies are not. -

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

socalTECH

MAY 11, 2010

We have almost a thousand bloggers who are writing reviews about the products we offer, and we also review them from our own point of view, to help support parents decisions and learning about products in the real world. So, I reached out to this VC I mentioned, who sent him an email. How long has the site been around?

Software Review 200

Software Review Commerce Startup Sites 200

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 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 5, 2010

I’ve been meaning to write this post since September of last year when Brad Feld first wrote about the The Founders Visa Movement. I commented briefly on his blog and made a mental note to write a blog post. At the time he granted me permission to write about his story. We then moved our Chief Software Architect over.

Technical Review 282

Technical Review Startup High Tech Software Review 282

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

There’s one attribute (coming soon) that I need to have in order to write a check but I don’t believe is vital for success. I’ll publish the final post in this series this week and then move on to my next series – sales & marketing. I’ll be covering my PUCCKA sales methodology.

Entrepreneur 267

Entrepreneur Startup SaaS San Diego 267

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

This can include: Fund raising, product development choices, sales, marketing effectiveness, competition, business development, M&A … whatever. You can write this as a narrative in 3–5 key bullet points. There is limited way for board members to read them, digest them, compare them to the last board meeting, write up questions.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I spoke about how Amazon Web Services deserves far more credit for the last 5 years of innovation than it gets credit for and how I believe they spawned the micro-VC category. I said that I felt that Micro-VCs were the most important change in our industry. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs. I believe that.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2018

Many people will write the history on why Ring became an enormously successful company and why it became a real-world unicorn in a world when many startups are anointed that merely on paper. Having recurring revenue allows you to keep the original purchase price down, which in turn increases sales.

Startup 247

Startup Pricing Product Marketing 247

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

It says that selling an airplane ticket for $500 and getting paid a $5 fees by the airlines (1% gross margin) is not the same thing as selling $500 of software that you built (>90% gross margin). The questions that a VC mulls before writing a check are precisely the questions you should be asking yourself. Market Size.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

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

JANUARY 28, 2011

I’m looking for somebody who can sell, but not better than our head of sales. You want somebody who can raise $15 million to build out your R&D, business development and sales organizations. I’ll write that post one day – it is a very interesting story. You have beautifully executed software.

CTO Hire 363

CTO Hire Technical Review Startup Demand 363

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , July 11, 2010 I just reviewed several hundred startup pitches for Capital Factory. So, I’ve had about 4 years on the “inside” of a fast-growing, venture-backed B2B SaaS startup. Most were on paper and video; 20 were invited to pitch in person.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217