SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Steve Blank , January 25, 2010 10 Tips for Adding Game Mechanics to a Non-Gaming Service - ReadWriteStart , September 21, 2010 Startups & VCs: Learn How to Design, Market, & Eat Your Own. - First Principles.

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Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 380

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MAY 15, 2010

It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. Next Wednesday we’ll have Dana Settle of Greycroft Partners, a New York / LA early-stage venture capital fund. I’d link to it but it’s behind a paywall.

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Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 286

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OCTOBER 17, 2019

I became a VC 12 years ago in 2007 when the pace of deals was much slower. As I was trying to figure out the role I wanted to play in the VC world I decided I wanted to focus on businesses that were building deeply technical products to solve problems for business users. We not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k?—?$15

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Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

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NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Generally speaking in venture capital financings the legal documents will specify that only “major investors” (a threshold set in the agreement – which can be $500,000 investor or more). We are doing what we do – writing larger checks and playing an active role at the company. You betcha. Speaks on CNBC.

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

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MARCH 27, 2011

But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. GRP Partners last fund is the single best performing VC fund in the US (prequin data) for its vintage year). Absofuckinglutely.

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Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

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NOVEMBER 9, 2009

This is part of my series on Raising Venture Capital. Many businesses that pitch to me have White Elephant issues and I’d like to tell you how to deal with these when you’re raising venture capital. But the VC is thinking about the issue whether you address it or not. Deal with your White Elephants.

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Venture Capital Startup Training Sales 264

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. You’ve found a VC partner or principal who has invited you to the Monday partners’ meeting. tip: write it down when asked / parked).

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Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

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FEBRUARY 9, 2014

It is in her blood to see this journey through and try to launch her product or service to the world. I only say that because after years as a VC I can always tell when my peer group invested in something because “it seemed like it would make money” versus when they invested out of passion. I’m a VC.

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Venture Capital Startup Course Entrepreneur 373

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?

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Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

And that was evident on today’s Angel vs. VC panel. There are real changes in the venture capital industry and it would have been fun to talk about them. The VC industry is segmenting – I have spoken about this many times before. So in the past we needed VC to really get a startup going.

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Venture Capital Training Startup Entrepreneur 308

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

As the authors make clear in the book’s preface, their goal is to create a “definitive guide to venture capital deals” and “demystify the venture capital financing process.” Brad and Jason have been exposing venture capitalists’ secrets since 2005, when they began writing a blog series on Term Sheets at AskTheVC.

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Writing Guide 205

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

VC's love to talk about their successes. Yet most VC's bury their failures under six feet of denial. In the startup world, the former happens when a VC makes a bad investment, and the latter occurs when they miss a great opportunity. As noted in What Does VC Traction Really Mean? , What’s The Worst Mistake? > -jeff.

Venture Capital 181

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 181

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

I took the opportunity this past week to publish summary notes of some of the VCs and entrepreneurs I had interviewed on This Week in VC. Back to regular writing this week so check back in. What did you do before VC and how did that lead you to VC? (1:00 How did you get into VC? (9:30 Thank you. (if

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Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265

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JULY 12, 2011

Chris Dixon is one of my favorite people in tech and writes one of the few blogs I read religiously. He and I once took different sides of an debate about whether “VC signaling&# in early-stage deals is a serious problem or not. If you don’t read it and you care about tech & entrepreneurship, you should.

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Technical Review Venture Capital Startup Artificial Inteligence 281

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JULY 16, 2013

If you are a super young, well-connected, Stanford CS or EE, worked at Facebook early, have a bit o’ dosh and have VCs chasing you … you are exempt. Should I write off my $2.5 My VC told me that if we monetize too early we will scare away our nascent marketplace and not grow as fast. Your VC is right.

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Venture Capital Startup Funding Snapchat 412

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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.

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Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 294

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MAY 5, 2011

I need to take some VC meetings. But it did take Brad as a public spokesman, consummate networker and successful VC to help create legitimacy to let David’s ideas flourish. When you think about the success that is Silicon Valley, the unfair advantage is not just the huge amounts of available venture capital.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 318

socalTECH

JUNE 27, 2013

Despite the increase in startup activity in Southern California, local venture capital funds are still few and far between, and a large chunk of the funding here is still from Sand Hill Road. I can write about anything--Internet video, for example, and I''ll have 50 Internet video plans. It''s the single best. READ MORE>>.

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Funding Venture Capital Los Angeles Social Media 196

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Why Every Entrepreneur Should Write and 9 Tips To Get Started - OnStartups , September 27, 2010 "The best part of blogging is the people you will meet"- Hugh MacLeod repeating wisdom from Loic Lemeur to me at the Big Pink at 2 am in South Beach after the Future of Web Apps 2008. Why You Should Write. Why You Should Write.

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Startup Product Technology Venture Capital 191

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2010

VC’s Want to Help! To understand what most VC’s want between board meetings I think it’s useful to start with a quote from Mark Solon ’s blog for which I’m in complete agreement (along with agreeing with his entire post, which was brave, honest and accurate ). Most VC’s want to help.

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Startup Venture Capital Software Review Email 301

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NOVEMBER 25, 2014

This blog started from a series of conversations I found myself having over and over again with founders and eventually decided I should just start writing them.It The desire to be better than anybody else in one’s field. Last week’s obsession was about obsession itself. Zuckerberg. Larry / Sergey. But I would ask you this.

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Competition Startup Writing Marketing 395

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 11, 2010

I’ve written about the topic before when I wrote the post “ I emailed a VC but never heard back.&# As in, what do you do now that you’ve written them. Are all VC’s just a-hole’s? Not all VC’s feel this way in my experience. And when I have time I try to write back. I understand that.

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Email Startup Writing Blogging 265

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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. That’s convenience when your VC is hoping to write the next $20 million check.

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Venture Capital Southern California Google Startup 314

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

” It was meant both as a call to those writing angel checks into other people’s companies that they ought to think about putting that capital toward themselves either by becoming a startup founder or (and this was my real point) by taking an under-market salary in a company where they can learn the right skills to do it in the future.

Technical Review 335

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 335

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Your goal should be to turn your VCs into extended members of your team to get real value from them. Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. He is very pleasant when he calls and writes.

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Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 366

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2012

My personal rules are: I must know the individual whom I introducing well enough to vouch for their character and therefore the likelihood that their product or service is of high quality. But the reality is that unfiltered intros just create work for the VC. It’s a matchmaking service. I see way too many of these.

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Email Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 359

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2010

Service providers will want to get to know you. Potential employees want to “get together.&# VC’s will want to learn about what you’re up to and later stage VCs will have their 23-year-old analysts call you to tell you how interested they are in your company. &#. I suggested something like the following.

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Startup Venture Capital Writing Conference 305

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MARCH 6, 2011

That, plus I love the space of high-customer-service, focused eCommerce for moms worried about what their kids eat & wear.&#. 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.

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Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 293

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

Having street smarts with no inspirational ability to build teams can yield a great small business but will be difficult to scale into a large VC-backed business. So we as VCs search for entrepreneurs/founders who have the whole package or as much of it as possible. In the book they profile how VC worked in the early days (60s / 70s).

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Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital CTO Hire 293

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MAY 10, 2015

As I write these words I already imagine my next deposition in which I’m asked to read this out loud. The vendor who previously serviced those accounts sued them. I started writing about problems when founding a startup years ago but the problem has gotten worse. *. Lawsuits. Lawsuits are becoming so prevalent these days.

Startup 352

Startup IP Writing Ideas 352

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MARCH 14, 2013

.” Here’s what I mean … Let’s start with what it takes for a journalist to want to write a story. Do I have an “angle” from which to write the story (first company to do X, company does biggest X, consumer behavior is doing X)? I am a VC. They sell accounting services. I hand out money.

Marketing 390

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 390

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SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

You’re writing a freaking blog post! But it’s mostly customer service. Can you please intro me to XYZ VC? I never get grumpy that people write. If you do randomly write me I have advice. But what kind of business person would I be if I allocated 100% of my time to customer service and zero to marketing?

Email 314

Email Product Startup Writing 314

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2010

I’ve always thought about writing a few posts on features in products that drive me nuts. Let me explain: Bcc’s function, as I’m sure you know, is to be able to write to people without other people emailed knowing that the blind copied people are on the distribution list. We all use email in our daily lives.

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Email Writing Venture Capital Course 276

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SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

I’m not going to cover in this post the obvious post-show marketing tasks such as following up on all those business cards you grabbed, communicating with all those people who registered at your site and leveraging your new found fame to score venture capital. If you need VC, no better time than the present.

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Startup Press Venture Capital Journal 310

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MARCH 8, 2010

If you’re a financial services firm blog about personal finance. Now I’m a VC. Don’t just write a carbon copy of what somebody else is doing. OK, well, actually the first thing I did is come up with a list of 50 posts that I wanted to write. Every time I write a post I send it out on Twitter.

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Blogging Startup Writing Summary 287

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2010

So it was my great pleasure to host Chamillionaire on This Week in VC this week talking marketing, entrepreneurship, old media and, of course, music. As a teenager he experimented with writing & producing his own rap music and received a lot of feedback from elders that he had a talent with words.

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Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup Email 356

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. I spoke about this yesterday on Fox Business News. I can then change my focus based on the results.

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Startup Twiistup Slides Screening 362