Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

The speaks to the continued confidence in the venture capital markets and as I had predicted some time ago the VC markets right now are a great place to invest – especially relative to other places to put one’s money. Our last fund we raised was in 2012 and we began investing it in April of 2012. But that’s it.

Venture Capital 396

Venture Capital Funding Technical Review Startup 396

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

When convertible debt first started being introduced as a “faster, cheaper way to get startups funded” they didn’t have pricing built into them. In fact, most early investor work hard to help their startups get to the next level so it makes no sense for the angel investor and founders to be at odds.

Startup 354

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. Limited Partners or LPs (the people who invest into VC funds) have taken notice as 2014 is by all accounts the busiest year for LPs since the Great Recession began. and the bigger funds can’t get in directly.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

” I hear it when I visit LPs (the people who invest in VCs) all across the country, “Yeah, I haven’t been out there for a few years but I keep hearing that something is going on there.” Given how efficient markets are when a large market like LA starts to blossom it attracts capital pretty quickly.

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Even bigger is the desire to stick one’s middle finger up at all of the people who doubted you all along. In fact, the headline of one read, “How Putting $10m into uBeam illustrates everything that is wrong with tech investing today.” But “what is wrong with tech investing today?” We checked safety.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

I often advise startup companies not to try and pin all of your brand equity into an announcement. It’s something you must earn over time by living up to the name you define. We are trying hard to live up to the guidelines we laid out for our investors, our portfolio companies and our community. It would be out of sync.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Startup Blogging Platform 324

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 12, 2018

seems like an unlikely place to grow one of the next billion-dollar startups in the booming Los Angeles tech ecosystem. But it’s here in the (other) Valley’s southernmost edge that investors have found a startup they consider to be the next potential billion-dollar “unicorn” that will come out of Los Angeles.

Glendale 271

Glendale Los Angeles Startup Technical Review 271

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. Most experienced VCs won’t push you to give up founder control at this stage of the business nor should they. As You Start to Mature. In the Early Days. You’ll get empathy. Experience.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

If you want the whole deck you can find it on SlideShare but I’ve written up a short summary with commentary below. Yes, VC / Startup Funding is up Massively If you look at how much VC firms have raised from Limited Partners (LPs) over the past 2 decades you’ll see that we’ve returned to a level that we haven’t seen since 1999.

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital Capital Startup Funding 292

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

My good friend Adam Lilling and I started Launchpad more than 5 years ago . I had witnessed a number of early-stage tech startups in LA raise seed capital from the Bay Area and relocate. By 2011 the market had started to change dramatically. Adam had a full time startup and then was doing consulting (he later raised a VC fund).

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Startup Idealab Funding 290

socalTECH

JANUARY 5, 2015

As founder of Digital LA, I run one to two tech events every week bringing together tech, startups, investors, Hollywood, developers designers, and more. My most significant event of 2014 is definitely Silicon Beach Fest, the multi-day tech community fest, which just keeps getting bigger. This is just the start.

Cornerstone OnDemand 100

Cornerstone OnDemand Belkin Entertainment Newsletter 100

socalTECH

JANUARY 5, 2015

The Pasadena Angels , one of the most active organized angel investment groups in the Los Angeles area, released some details on the groups'' 2014 performance over the holidays, saying that it saw a total of four exits--including a $100M exit over at Bluebeam --and closed 17 deals during the year. The group said it provided $4.7M

Pasadena Angels 100

Pasadena Angels Pasadena Angel Venture Capital 100

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

The Pasadena Angels investment group released its investment totals for 2015 this week, saying that it has invested $4.9M across 27 deals in 2015, bringing its total invested since the group was started to over $65M in over 175 companies. The total number of deals in 2015 was up from just 17 investments in 2014.

Pasadena Angels 100

Pasadena Angels Pasadena Invest Angel 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 26, 2014

Our first post over the holidays is from Howard Marks --who co-founded Activision--and recently founded startup accelerator StartEngine, and who has been very active in encouraging the technology industry in Los Angeles. After investing in 60 startups, we realized that the biggest pain point was to help them raise the first $1M in financing.

Activision 100

Activision Southern California Los Angeles Capital 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 28, 2013

Companies being created has continued to go up dramatically making managing dealflow nearly impossible. You’ve had a few difficult years outside of work – I feel confident 2014 is going to be a great one! I know your 2013 success will lead to more sustained travel in 2014. I feel confident in our 2014 plans.

Santa Barbara 288

Santa Barbara SaaS Help Social Network 288

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 1, 2014

Today, with the help of the aptly named JOBS act (Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act) and companies like SeedInvest , it has never been easier for companies to gain exposure and enter the investment solicitation process. The investment environment at large in light of the JOBS Act. From Finance to Crowd-Investing.

Invest 100

Invest Startup Technical Review Software Review 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2015

Since the recession, and at least partially sparked by it, I’m seeing a real resurgence of entrepreneurial spirit, and more startup activity than ever before. The rate of new entrepreneurs increased about 10 percent, from 280 out of 100,000 adults in the 2014 Startup Activity Index, to 310 out of 100,000 adults in the 2015 Index.

Startup 108

Startup Social Media Entrepreneur Satisfaction 108

socalTECH

OCTOBER 27, 2009

Irvine-based Fisker Automotive , a venture backed startup developing electric vehicles, said today that it has acquired a dormant GM plant in Wilmington, Delaware, to build its plug-in hybrid cars. According to Fisker, the new plant will support the firm's Project NINA, affordable plug-in hybrid sedan. formerly General Motors Corp.),

Invest 196

Invest Capital Funding Startup 196

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 21, 2014

Introducing Bitcoinference | A Decentralized Conference , hosted by illustrious startup accelerator, 500 Startups. Bitcoin has had a rough start to the year (to say the least) – with a never-ending news feed consisting of massive bankruptcy , scandal stories, and car chase media fiascos. Getting Things Started.

Startup 104

Startup Venture Capital Draper Invest 104

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 18, 2013

TechZulu is excited to invite you to the 2014 Startup and Entrepreneurial Forecast taking place on Tuesday Jan. We will have a line up of amazing panelist who will share their insights and forecast for startup trends in 2014. 28 from 7pm-10pm in Santa Monica. There will be plenty of FREE food and drinks!

Startup 111

Startup Entertainment Media Santa Barbara 111

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. We deployed a little over $10 million from the syndicate since 2014.

Capital 164

Capital Funding Startup Venture Capital 164

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2013

Since the recent recession, and at least partially sparked by it, I’m seeing a real resurgence of entrepreneurial spirit, and more startup activity than ever before. It still adds up to over 20 million non-employer businesses out there today, with more starting every day. No wonder 90% of the successful startups still bootstrap.

Startup 109

Startup Entrepreneur Social Media Satisfaction 109

socalTECH

DECEMBER 26, 2014

Our first post over the holidays is from Howard Marks --who co-founded Activision--and recently founded startup accelerator StartEngine, and who has been very active in encouraging the technology industry in Los Angeles. After investing in 60 startups, we realized that the biggest pain point was to help them raise the first $1M in financing.

Activision 191

Activision Southern California Los Angeles Capital 191

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2015

Entrepreneurs who require funding for their startup have long counted on self-accredited high net worth individuals (“angels”) to fill their needs, after friends and family, and before they qualify for institutional investments (“VCs”). Rose, according to his recent book, “ Angel Investing.” billion collected in 2014.

Startup 106

Startup Angel .Net Entrepreneur 106

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2014

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” On the other hand, there are many additional creative options available for starting a business that you might not find for buying a car, home, or other major consumer item. Trade equity or services for startup help.

Startup 113

Startup Entrepreneur Funding Equity 113

socalTECH

JANUARY 28, 2015

The Walt Disney Company said Tuesday that it is running another, startup accelerator class, as part of the Disney Accelerator program in Burbank, and is now accepting applications for a class of another, ten startups for the program. Disney said that so far, of its prior 2014 class, one company--SnowShoe--raised $2.2M

Class 100

Class Startup Burbank Venture Capital 100

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 25, 2014

Tons of great conversations about new startups, hardware, and the entrepreneurs building them. To cap off our 6th year at SXSW and follow up on last year’s amazingly successful Trend Lounge , we knew this year had to be bigger, better, more engaging, and of course, even more fun. Hustle hard, ride in comfort.

Entertainment 99

Entertainment Google Entrepreneur Course 99

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

When to start PR? So my simple advice is to start PR as early as possible (and certainly earlier than most of your investors will advise) when you have your head around your product plans and are well into execution (or ready to launch) precisely because your recruiting, seed funding and initial user base may depend on it.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

socalTECH

DECEMBER 11, 2017

The top 10 companies only make up 45 percent of the entire space. In the last few years, we've seen a spurt of activity where technology has started to penetrate the industry, and has started to change it. Scott Cannon: We started in 2012, when it was basically a couple of people on a telephone and the yellow pages.

Startup 174

Startup Metrics Customer Custom 174

TechCrunch LA

JULY 3, 2018

Postie , a new Los Angeles-based startup, has a vision for the future of advertising and marketing — and it’s direct mail. The company was founded by Dave Fink and Jonathan Neddenriep, two former principals at the startup studio and early stage investor, Science.

Dollar Shave Club 232

Dollar Shave Club Chief Technology Officer Advertising Los Angeles 232

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2014

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over 60 times as many companies, according the Center for Venture Research. Individual angel investors have been filling the gap, and now match VCs in total amount invested.

Angel 104

Angel Funding Startup Venture Capital 104

InfoChachkie

APRIL 14, 2014

However, far less attention has been applied to entrepreneurial philanthropy, in which a startup mindset and accountability is applied to issuing non-profit grants. Even the organization''s lexicon reinforces its startup mindset. The convergence of startup principles and the world of philanthropy makes total sense.

Organization 199

Organization Startup Technical Review Invest 199

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

The Annual TechZulu Startup Forecast is one of our most anticipated events. This year’s TZ #startupforecast (Jan 28, 2014) was no exception. Speakers listed: Brock Pierce – Digital currency pioneer investing in Bitcoin, games, and online gambling businesses; Clearstone Global Gaming Fund. Summary of Topics.

Startup 95

Startup Google Education Venture Capital 95

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2015

I was out to raise my first seed money in my second startup of $500,000. Neither did Y Combinator, 500 Startups, TechStars, Amplify, Mucker and countless others. And importantly they play an important role in helping to introduce you to the right A-round VC based on your startup type. It is, of course, a very recent phenomenon.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Invest Cloud Computing 150

Tech.Co

MAY 25, 2018

Fortunately, the Startup of the Year program aims to make it easier for founders to connect with resources. In 2006, a passion to help startups grew into Tech Cocktail , a company whose mission was to showcased burgeoning companies in bars around the country. The Case Foundation invests in people and ideas that can change the world.

Startup 137

Startup Technical Review Competition Software Review 137

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2014

I wrote my version here and Scott wrote an excellent write-up of his views here. We both agree that the later-stage valuations are being driven up to a point that feels irrationally priced [he uses b-round SaaS valuations as an example and I am willing to be even more broad based]. Startup Lessons' And we ended.

Venture Capital 309

Venture Capital SaaS Writing Funding 309

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

We started March Capital in late 2013. We did our first close in the summer of 2014, and over the first nine months we raised our fund and started investing. Fund I was fully deployed by June 30th of 2017, and we went out to raised Fund II, which was a wet close, where you invest as you close.

Funding 160

Funding Capital Artificial Inteligence Startup 160