Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

At our mid-year offsite our partnership at Upfront Ventures was discussing what the future of venture capital and the startup ecosystem looked like. First in late-stage tech companies and then it will filter back to Growth and then A and ultimately Seed Rounds. By 2021 we had to write a $3.5m And reset they must.

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

On Funding?—?Shots Shots on Goal Being great as a startup technology investor of course requires a lot of things to come together: You need to have strong insights into where technology markets are heading and where value in the future will be created and sustained You need be perfect with your market timing.

Funding 294

Funding Startup Writing Invest 294

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

When to start PR? This is somewhat changing in the world of crowd funding where people actually raise money so that they can build products but at a minimum your product design ought to be complete and ready to execute. In a startup this is a mistake. I raised a small seed round. I have no money?

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

We all know that funding markets have changed for startups. The trends are well understood: more angels, more seed funds, more crowdsourcing and so forth. We are doing what we do – writing larger checks and playing an active role at the company. Fundraising / Negotiations Startup Lessons VC Industry'

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 15, 2010

We started this week’s show with a Q&A session where I answered viewer questions about fund raising and the VC industry. Heck, stick around and watch me discuss the seed funding debate that is going on right now and what is happening in the VC industry overall.

Venture Capital 210

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Southern California 210

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

I never implied that startups are all great and job hoppers are all at fault. No rule is ever absolute no matter how it sounds when one writes a blog. Most of what I learned about operating startups I learned from the really tough years at my first company from 2001-2003. Yes, I know that many employers are bad.

Startup 285

Startup Venture Capital Sales Software Review 285

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

As I’ve written about recently, at Upfront Ventures we started talking a couple of years ago about wanting to fund stuff with more meaning. I think this is a combination of being realists as venture capitalists that outsized returns in our funds must come from taking on bigger, more impactful projects that can move markets.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

I attempted to do a fair balance job of an increasingly important service – AngelList – started by a friend of mine – Nivi with the feelings of a colleague who I respect – Bryce – who has opted out of the service. This is a blog post I really didn’t want to write. So why I am writing it then?

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

I love how open Danielle has been throughout the development of her startup Mattermark including honest reflections of when she has changed her opinion. I save room in literally every deal to invite angels (or seed funds) to co-invest with me. I agree up to a point. That’s what it feels like.”. Hua of Apptimize.

Angel 150

Angel Startup Seed Funding Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

We All Know That Dollars into Venture Have Gone Up … As a starting point, we know that the dollars into venture have steadily rebounded to pre great-recession levels, with just under $30 billion committed to US technology venture capital in 2015. That’s money that fuels our startup ecosystems.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Marketing Seed Funding 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2013

If we count seed funds and large angels maybe that number goes up by 2x? I always tell entrepreneurs, “ Clean Your Own S**t Up First. ” (before fund raising). It’s the one post where my wife actually complained I went too far in trying to come up with an authentic image to represent the post.

Pricing 302

Pricing Seed Funding Invest Venture Capital 302

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

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Most are sitting on large portfolios of private companies that are raising money now or will need to do so in the future and they know that they’re up against some headwinds. The Motive for Speaking Up. ” “Mark has a vested interest in talking down valuations of startups.” So prices start dropping.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

I had just left Salesforce.com where I was VP, Products, after they had acquired my second startup. VC is a long-term business Some businesses are overnight successes but few of them really move immediately up and to the right. We not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k?—?$15

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Constance Curtis , the Founder and CEO of The List (www.getthelistapp.com), thinks so, and tells us about her startup's efforts to bring the world of matchmaking to the modern worldand how her own frustration with online dating let to her startup. With matchmaking, you hire someone to do everything for you, setting you up for dates.

Startup 203

Startup Entrepreneur Southern California Netflix 203

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2010

The competition is set up to award $50,000 to the best team each year, and is also tied to a class on entrepreneurship for engineering students. What I thought we would do instead, was to try to come up with a business plan competition for only engineers and innovators that came through the engineering school.

Competition 154

Competition Southern California Mentor USC 154

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2018

We sat down with Kelly ahead of the announcement to chat about the new fund, why they think military veterans are particularly well suited as startup entrepreneurs, why the two went from organizing individual deals for funding to a formal fund, and more. Tell us about this new announcement?

Capital 164

Capital Funding Startup Venture Capital 164

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

Most of you business professionals that I know have at least thought about or talked about starting their own business, to get more control, make more money, or to get more satisfaction out of their life. As a mentor to young aspiring entrepreneurs , I often get asked for tips on a strategy to get started.

Startup 114

Startup Tips Coach Satisfaction 114

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 17, 2012

I had met Richard at a MaiTai tech networking trip of kiteboarders in Maui and ended up traveling again with her later that year with a fragment of the group to explore the tech scene in Australia. You have to come check out the startup scene here in Toronto (for I am a bad Canadian, and have not visited most of my country).

Startup 109

Startup Incubator Seed Funding Platform 109

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

Of course you could start your own company. As I talked about in “ Is it Time to Learn or Time to Earn ” – overwhelmingly the best economics go to those that start successful companies. But not everybody has the right skills to build a highly successful and valuable startup from scratch.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

But like a Darwinian experiment, the extent to which these gifts are utilized remains entirely up to each individual entrepreneur. We heard how Jeff transitioned from a start-up founder to an institutional investor when he helped found Amplify towards the end of 2011. Setting up for Eric Garcetti.

Web Design 103

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 103

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2015

Over the years I’ve written extensively about the downsides of convertible notes for startups such as here , here and here. In the old days there usually weren’t convertible notes on early-stage deals and there weren’t party rounds with 20 angels or 6 seed funds. It’s very simple.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2018

The “sure, let’s continue the process” by definition are not yeses so the no’s rack up and the yeses stay stuck at zero. While I tell founders not to let the lemons get to them I also have to remind people that “It only takes one yes to have a successful fund-raising round!” These are the “lemons that ripen early.” Happy raising.

Press 232

Press Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 232

Tech.Co

MAY 9, 2017

He ended up building a digital agency that did everything from custom apps and web development to branding and digital marketing. I’ve always been super into hardware tech and future technology and the only way I could think of actually getting my hands on a headset was to start a meetup group,” Taylor said. And UploadVR was born.

Startup 70

Startup Web Development Design Education 70

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 17, 2012

I had met Richard at a MaiTai tech networking trip of kiteboarders in Maui and ended up traveling again with her later that year with a fragment of the group to explore the tech scene in Australia. You have to come check out the startup scene here in Toronto (for I am a bad Canadian, and have not visited most of my country).

Startup 56

Startup Incubator Seed Funding Platform 56

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

But like a Darwinian experiment, the extent to which these gifts are utilized remains entirely up to each individual entrepreneur. We heard how Jeff transitioned from a start-up founder to an institutional investor when he helped found Amplify towards the end of 2011. Setting up for Eric Garcetti.

Web Design 40

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 40

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

We caught up with the CEO William Zell. There, Jeff Hoffman, one of the founding members of Priceline.com , gave a challenge during a keynote speech to come up with a way to connect fledgling entrepreneurs in places like Egypt or South America with successful entrepreneurs in the US that would be able to mentor them. Any funding yet?

Mentor 94

Mentor Platform Social Network Chief Technology Officer 94

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

In the startup world, the former happens when a VC makes a bad investment, and the latter occurs when they miss a great opportunity. Thus, while we maintain a healthy degree of optimism, we begin each funding discussion knowing that most nascent startups are not worthy of an investment, until we prove them otherwise.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

► August (1) Stay Positive ► July (2) Go Fast, but Don’t Hurry The DNA of an A++ Team ► June (1) Setting up Shop - Picking an Office Space ► May (3) Startup 6.0 - the Rubicon Project: Internet Advert. ► May (5) the Rubicon Project The Journey Startup 6.0: Visit StrongMail Website Startup 4.0:

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Email CTO Hire 40

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There has been much discussion about VCs doing seed funding in the past year. I’ve written about it myself (Is VC Seed Funding Dead?) and (Is There Really a Signaling Problem with VC Seed Funding?). Future investors will also look at whether your angels “re-upped&# if you hit a bump in the road.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 18, 2012

Members can also enhance their expert status by writing informative articles and position themselves as a contact person for other professionals to get information from. Any funding yet? We received seed funding from Investitionsbank Berlin , a state bank investing in innovation and technological advancements.

Networking 71

Networking Help Social Media Platform 71

Steve Reich

AUGUST 15, 2015

If you can’t raise from a few strong angels, from seed funds or from a VC then raising from a ton (let’s say 20+) angels is a perfectly acceptable strategy. ” Everyone has a vision that one or two “Super Angels” will write million dollar checks and all will be well. ” Well said, Mark. .

Angel 40

Angel News Pasadena Angels Seed Funding 40

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.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. Just 3 years ago there was talk of institutional investors “not being able to write small enough checks.” ” Stated simply – if you seed funded Uber at $4.5m Why is this?

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

On December 2nd, 2006 I wrote the blog post published later in this post when I was CEO of startup Koral about my experiences in pitching VCs. I had seen many cycles and decided that since I was going to do it all over again I should write about it. I decided to write about my experience and to be blunt. And covered we did.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

August was a slow month in terms of traffic and I was away for a lot of the month, but there were some really great posts at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. He blogs to 10,000 web entrepreneurs at Software by Rob and co-hosts the podcast Startups for the Rest of Us.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

I’m over-paying for every check I write into the VC ecosystem and valuations are being pushed up to absurd levels and many of these valuations and companies won’t hold in the long term. Today you have funders focused exclusively on “Day 0” startups or ones that aren’t even created yet. of the fund. By definition?—?I’m

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471