Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). But they are also a tax on your time with portfolio companies, looking for new investments, running your shop and honestly they are a tax on your family life. I don’t.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Berkonomics

JUNE 29, 2017

If you have been following our recent insights, you’ll be up to speed knowing that professional investors negotiate tough terms, from provisions of control over asset acquisition, eventual sale of the company, future investments, forced co-sale when others attempt to sell their shares and more.

Invest 243

Invest Entrepreneur Sales Startup 243

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2014

This week I wrote about obsessive and competitive founders and how this forms the basis of what I look for when I invest. I had been thinking a lot about this recently because I’m often asked the question of “what I look for in an entrepreneur when I want to invest?” I had invested in myself for years.

Startup 409

Startup Invest Venture Capital Writing 409

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

Even then private market investors can paper over valuation changes by investing at the same price but with more structure so it’s hard to understand the “headline valuation.” No blog post about how Tiger is crushing everybody because it’s deploying all its capital in 1-year while “suckers” are investing over 3-years can change this reality.

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

Berkonomics

MARCH 28, 2024

Even venture capitalists who sit on boards where they have significant investments often forget this point. They write in their investment documents that they will occupy a seat on the board for as long as they are invested in the company, thinking of this as a protection for their investment and tool for them to influence growth.

Class 282

Class Coach Invest Sales 282

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. On the one hand, you’re over paying for every investment and valuations aren’t rational. That used to be called A-round investing. of the fund.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

In normal times investors will look for “traction&# before investing. I spoke about this more in depth in these two posts: 4 things I look for in an investment & how to manage VC relationships. I didn’t invest in Orgoo but by the time he launched Ad.ly Investors are writing checks for dots. I funded Ad.ly

Invest 411

Invest Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 411

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 13, 2020

Riot Ventures , the Los Angeles-based, early-stage and deep technology investment firm is going out to market to raise a $75 million second fund to finance the development of startups in LA and beyond, according to fundraising documents viewed by TechCrunch. Marcus has a long background in angel investing and company creation.

Los Angeles 126

Los Angeles Artificial Inteligence Invest Angel 126

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

Every tech or major news journal in the country is preparing to write their Snap, Inc (creators of Snapchat, Spectacles, etc) stories and many of them seem to want a “How does it feel to have missed this investment story.” But local VCs don’t deserve to get beat up for not investing. Mostly kidding. Very, very few pan out.

Snapchat 214

Snapchat Invest Technical Review Dollar Shave Club 214

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2021

In fact, most investors “require” that you already have some investment from friends and family before they will even step up to the plate. You see, investors invest in people, before they invest in ideas or products. If they won’t do it, they why would I as stranger invest in you?

Invest 135

Invest Technical Review Startup Ideas 135

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

In short: Access to great deals, ability to be invited to invest in these deals, ability to see where value in a market will be created and the luck to back the right team with the right market at the right time all matter. So if you truly want to be great at investing you need all the right skills and access AND a diversified portfolio.

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Funding Startup Writing Invest 294

TechCrunch LA

JULY 21, 2020

While it might seem strange to launch a new sports league with an epidemic still raging in the United States, Nortman said that the decision to invest and bring the team to Los Angeles was simple. “We’re venture capitalists. We’re optimists,” Nortman said.

Writing 171

Writing Los Angeles Equity Startup 171

InfoChachkie

MARCH 8, 2011

I write a bit more about how entrepreneurs can protect their ideas here: Spilling The Beans. After investing a few seconds of psychological energy attempting to recognize the character, many readers were willing to read the rest of my response in order to learn the figure’s identity. Simple – Avoid words such as eschew and verbosity!

Writing 150

Writing Social Network Ideas Entrepreneur 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2019

Most social media outlets don’t require a subscription charge, but they certainly always require an investment, sometimes large, in people, in technology, your reputation, and your time. Communication and writing skills are required. Return-On-Investment metrics are not new, but the tools are different. Marty Zwilling.

Social Media 79

Social Media Media Invest Platform 79

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 19, 2017

If you want people to invest in your idea, then my best advice is first write a business plan, and keep it simple. This means writing at the level of an average newspaper story (about eighth-grade level). The one-page Oprah plan is a good executive summary, but it’s not enough to get the investment.

Writing 56

Writing Tips Content Summary 56

socalTECH

MARCH 28, 2019

We spoke with Meredith Finn a new Partner at March Capital--who headed up that the Rise of the Female Entrepreneur sessions this year--to hear more about her perspectives on investments, what the Rise of the Female Entrepeneur was all about, March's interests in artificial intelligence and more. What's your role at March Capital?

Capital 162

Capital Entrepreneur Invest Artificial Inteligence 162

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

And we all know that Ron Conway is considered the savviest of angel investors and yet by definition not all of his investments succeed. I like to invest where I have a personally strong connection with the entrepreneur and/or a strong intuition on the market from prior experience. Who ultimately invested in FourSquare?

Invest 288

Invest Angel Web 2.0 SEO 288

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

I’d rather be Roger Ehrenberg with a thesis around data-centric companies and base my investment decisions on the skills I’ve developed in my career. To some extent Keith Rabois agreed with me about domain knowledge and argued that most of his investments are in the consumer Internet space as a result. Always have been.

Invest 284

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 284

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 31, 2020

I was chairman of a company that, for twelve years never took a dollar of outside investment. The effort to write a grant request is not trivial. Email readers, continue here…] Grant writing takes skill and immense amounts of time. First, an example of grant-based financing . Other sources of grants.

Equity 156

Equity Writing Education Research 156

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

This is a post I’ve been dying to write for 18 months. I invested in LA-based Gogii , one of the fastest growing, most exciting mobile social networking companies you’ve never heard of and maker of a product called textPlus. I only recently invested and I only got here through persistence. Mostly, I love writing.

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Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

Since the beginning of the year, three companies have been acquired by special purpose acquisition vehicles and are on a path to go public, while a third has raised tens of millions from some of the biggest names in private equity investing for its own path to commercial viability.

Company 363

Company Companies Acquisition Equity 363

TechCrunch LA

JULY 2, 2020

Even specialist fund investors like Karan Wadhera of the cannabis-focused investment firm Casa Verde Capital and Brendan Wallace at the real estate-focused firm Fifth Wall believe that Los Angeles will thrive in the post-COVID world. How much is Upfront focused on investing in the local LA ecosystem versus less geographically focused? .

Los Angeles 277

Los Angeles Venture Capital Capital Invest 277

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

They have marked-up paper gains propped up by an over excited venture capital market that has validated their investments. Logic tells me the following: It is hard to make money angel investing. Too many angel deals just means more to watch and invest in for the ones that do succeed (if the VCs can get in at reasonable prices).

Invest 299

Invest Angel Technical Review Venture Capital 299

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

They often create the biggest tensions between investors who are investing at different stages in the business. Prorata investments rights given investors the right to invest in your future fund-raising rounds and maintain their ownership % in your company as your company grows and raises more capital. return (on paper).

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 23, 2020

The proposal sets out four big initiatives, including zero-emissions vehicle manufacturing, assembly and adoption; zero-emissions infrastructure investments; commitments to public transit investments; workforce development; and job training. There’s $25 billion in money set aside for public transit and $12.5

Southern California 261

Southern California Los Angeles Rosemead Incubator 261

socalTECH

AUGUST 30, 2016

The Tech Coast Angels , Southern California's biggest angel investment group, says its performance record and returns on its investments are higher than the average angel, in nearly all categories, based on a new academic study. in active investments. According to the TCA, it had a 3.3x average of all angels.

Tech Coast Angels 133

Tech Coast Angels Angel Truecar Southern California 133

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. At the time I pointed out: “If I had realized exits almost certainly it would be because I invested in a company that failed. “Ok, so this guy can write a blog and source deals but can he make any money?”

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 7, 2013

When I first started writing this blog several years ago I had less followers than you have right now. But the realist in me knew I couldn’t write daily nor could I convince you to think to check out my blog with regularity. In Gabe’s post he explained why TechMeme was having editors write headlines. I should know.

Writing 326

Writing Buzzfeed Social Media Blogging 326

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

It’s not hard to find people willing to write the narrative that “venture capital is not an asset class” or “venture capital has performed terribly.” I hope to publish that deck and a full write up in the next 10 days in partnership with Dan Primack at Fortune (if my write up doesn’t suck, I guess ;-)).

Venture Capital 362

Venture Capital Capital Startup Writing 362

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2022

Most social media outlets don’t require a subscription charge, but they certainly always require an investment, sometimes large, in people, in technology, your reputation, and your time. Communication and writing skills are required. Return-On-Investment metrics are not new, but the tools are different. Marty Zwilling.

Social Media 126

Social Media Media Startup Platform 126

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

I’d rather be Roger Ehrenberg with a thesis around data-centric companies and base my investment decisions on my background. I should say that I agree that naive optimism in entrepreneurs can produce higher beta (upside or flops) and that’s good from an investment standpoint if you’re looking for big returns.

Invest 152

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 152

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2023

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million-dollar investment before they even have a business plan. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Support organizations are investment banks, similar to the preceding stage.

Startup 122

Startup Funding Organization Incubator 122

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 29, 2023

Not only has this helped to raise its profile, it's also allowed them to invest further into their science team, and their cloud-based planning and monitoring tool, Land Tender. Writesonic Writesonic is an AI writing tool designed to help writers overcome writers block and level up their skills. Vibrant Planet's Land Tender tool.

Startup 210

Startup Generative AI Newsletter Tool 210

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 26, 2020

“It will be making investment decisions year round instead of twice a year. Writing: In a business where timing is everything, I realized the current accelerator model was serving an injustice to founders. This new flexible approach reinforces our continued commitment to invest in founders from all over the world.

Startup 177

Startup Los Angeles Invest Platform 177

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

In addition, the discipline of producing it, like writing a business plan, will help you immensely in understanding the key elements that drive you and your business. I often hear the excuse that writing a book takes precious time away from building and running your business, which you cannot afford.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 17, 2020

We’ve worried together about the moral obligation implicit in taking such investments from people so close, even with their promise never to expect a return. There is an exemption from the requirements that these investors be accredited with net worth or income minimums to qualify legally to invest in your company. Accelerators.

Equity 156

Equity Technical Review Class Organization 156

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

I thought I’d write a post about how to talk about valuation at a startup and give you some sense of what might be on the mind of the person considering funding you. If you’re talking with a typical Seed/A/B round firm they often have ownership targets in the company in which they invest. some might even want slightly more.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324