Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. There is one source I never liked and no early-stage VC should – investment bankers. They are venture bankers not investment bankers. What stage?

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

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.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Huge thank you to Steve De Long for the write up. Yeah, that was when I changed for me…” “…there was so much positive feedback on demystifying this one element of venture capital. Either it’s a bunch of pictures or screen shots or it’s a bunch of words. Brad’s start in Venture Capital. was starting.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

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. 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. Not so fast.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

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. And just like any other business, you need capital to grow faster, services to make you more money, tools to manage it all.”. “And

Platform 170

Platform Marketing Tool Venture Capital 170

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 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

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. 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.

Software Review 381

Software Review Startup Email Conference 381

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

When I sit down to write every week I never really imagine what is going to end up resonating the most with people but it seems I’ve most often been defined by my post that I Invest in Lines, not Dots. He found creative ways to politely stay on my radar screen. So what is an EIR and why Sam? I thought that was the end of it.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

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

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

You’re writing a freaking blog post! Can you please intro me to XYZ VC? 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. I know it’s different as a VC than as a startup company providing a product or service.

Email 314

Email Product Startup Writing 314

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. The power of large screen real estate. The power of a keyboard.

Web 334

Web Mobile Startup Software Review 334

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

One of the great joys of doing the web series This Week in VC every week is that I get to spend time with great people debating the issues of our day including how our industry is evolving as well as insights into how companies got started, got their initial traction and dealt with adversities. Oh, yeah.

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Web Ideas 286

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

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

JANUARY 10, 2021

I mostly talk about startups, technology & venture capital. Suddenly I look at the screen and 45 minutes have passed. Noom worked really well initially because it dealt with the psychology of why people make bad food choices and forced me to write down what some of my bad behaviors actually were.

Coach 538

Coach Startup Guide Journal 538

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

AUGUST 15, 2009

We helped the write out their requirements for a system. Something happened and it was clear to me that this IE issues was just a smoke screen. You are most vulnerable right after it has been announced that you won (I will write a separate post on this). Write things down. We met everybody in the organization.

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

Steve Reich

FEBRUARY 15, 2012

They have to be aggressive, and they have to be willing to write a check. Getting Angel funding can be a challenge–you have to submit a business plan/presentation, survive the screening process, and then deliver a compelling presentation. Everyone makes their own decisions, and sometimes with very individual criteria.

Tech Coast Angels 40

Tech Coast Angels Angel Pasadena Angels Startup 40

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 295

Startup Email Technical Review Course 295

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.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Customer 306

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2017

I am so proud and humbled to be able to formally announce that Upfront Ventures has raised its 6th venture capital fund in the past 21 years. A huge thank you to all of the Limited Partners who have entrusted us with your capital, time and reputations. Overall we write about $100 million of investment checks every year.

Funding 287

Funding Venture Capital Santa Monica Invest 287

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. So, I reached out to this VC I mentioned, who sent him an email. We're very transparent on what products we are approving on and our filtering process. A lot of it is the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Software Review 200

Software Review Commerce Startup Sites 200

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 19, 2010

A bright and beautiful screen thanks to the Super AMOLED display. 264, WMV, VC-1. Swype, Write & Go. Dedicated zoom buttons, double tapping the screen and multi-touch pinch-zooming are all available to you. It features an on-screen QWERTY keyboard by Swype in both landscape and portrait mode. 263Sorenson.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Screening RSS Web 40

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 30, 2012

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. We write and create our own content for the game. Everything happens in the browser (no software to download) and the finished product looks amazing on large screens!

CalTech 91

CalTech Company Companies Idealab 91

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

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 ). I’ll explain in detail below.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

So I thought I’d write a piece on how to not suck when you give a presentation. I spotted my fellow VC Leo Spiegel (from Mission Ventures) who had spoken previously to the same group and asked about his experiences. Nobody wants to read your text on a big screen. I can then change my focus based on the results.

Startup 362

Startup Twiistup Slides Screening 362

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A The key is channeling what you learn when you drive onto paper for retention purposes so you have to write it down soon afterward. When I write a blog post I often see the words before I write them. These are all creative processes.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2009

One of the questions I’m most often asked as a VC is what I’m looking for in an investment. This post covers the first out of 10 that I’ll write about. I once had a debate with a prominent VC on a panel. What attributes am I looking for during the process? Excite, Ask Jeeves and Lycos? Yeah, right.

Entrepreneur 338

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Google 338

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

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

I’m still planning to write some in depth pieces on the topic but I thought, “given that this is about how video will consume the Internet over the next 5 years, what better way to exemplify this than with a 10-minute video.” And where GRP Partners , the VC firm in which I’m a partner, is based.

GRP Partners 371

GRP Partners Content Technical Review Press 371

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

I never asked Marc why he stopped blogging but I presume it is some combo of having started a venture capital firm (which you might guess takes a bit of time) and also allowing some air time for his then-less-well-known compadre. ” He was writing to people. To get on his radar screen. Many people. Any people.

Social Media 307

Social Media Blogging Media Startup 307

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 22, 2010

This week I was preparing for my weekly This Week in Venture Capital web show and was researching some of the deals that were announced for the week. I registered it in my mind at the time, “hmm, a screen cast while you’re on Skype, that’s pretty clever.&# CloudShare as a product also sounded like a great idea to me.

Screening 266

Screening Screencast Web Yammer 266

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. Romain Gaillard founded the Detox Market with Valerie.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 2, 2021

I’m sorry to write so much about losing weight. I promised people I would write a few posts about this and I wanted to cover eating, mental game, measurement, what gear I’ve used, sleep, water consumption / tracking, etc. More recently I was trying to help a VC friend lose 15. lbs this week or I stayed flat, etc).

Email 293

Email Startup Writing News 293

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My original thinking from Oct ’09 was, while I didn’t (and still don’t) have a crystal ball I worried that: consumers were over-stretched with debt (and make up 77% of the economy), unemployment would continue to rise, which in turn would drive the stock market south and cut the rate of M&A activity and VC investment even further.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2016

Your customers are all on this product so not trying to grok this platform gives you a few big handicaps: Some VCs on on Snapchat and interacting with them daily on Snapchat and you’re not. That’s like you saying you don’t want to go to cocktail parties and network anymore while every 25-35 year-old VC steals your customers.

Snapchat 150

Snapchat Screening Venture Capital Guide 150