Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

You help them on stories, act as a source, develop real relationships, read their stories and eventually when you have news they’re more willing to have a conversation. If you feel you need outside help I recommend either going with a small firm local to you or an individual who is working as their own agency.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

Berkonomics

MARCH 25, 2021

And are you prepared to help with concessions if needed? Email readers, continue here…] Recently, I received a hand-written letter from two co-CEOs of a company I had helped with a few hours of time. Pull out a piece of stationery that had been sitting unused for over a decade and write in longhand? What to do?

Competition 156

Competition Customer Custom Email 156

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. If you’re going to play in the big leagues you need to be writing checks from a $700 million?—?$1 Are we in a bubble?” By definition?—?I’m of the fund.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic. They help create confidence amongst your staff in your future. The funding rounds will also build customer confidence and they’ll help journalists feel air cover in writing your more important pieces when you brag about customers, traction, revenue or whatever.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

It should help some entrepreneurs to better access early-stage capital and should allow some angel investors better access to deal flow. Social proof can be helpful. AngelList Syndicate leads don’t take any fees on the investment, which should help with returns. They will have to help get the next round done.

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2013

She entered you reservation by writing in a time slot in a paper calendar and you were in. ” For starters OpenTable had an advantage in that the restaurants back then needed an IT system to help with table management (the restaurant layout, table configurations, etc.) After hours there was the answering machine.

Development Team Review 324

Development Team Review Course Mobile Writing 324

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

It’s why in this article I advise that people “market today not futures” because you don’t want your playbook in the hands of the competition. You help them on stories, act as a source, develop real relationships, read their stories and eventually when you have news they’re more willing to have a conversation.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. It’s insanely competitive to get into our industry so most have degrees from institutions like Stanford, Harvard, Wharton and University of Chicago (blatant plug ;-). I’m not afraid to help make difficult decisions.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

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

socalTECH

OCTOBER 10, 2012

The clean technology sector is infamous for taking a big toll on startups--requiring large investments, risky technology propositions, steep international competition, and fickle government policies. We're there to help with that. We're essentially helping people at the R&D stages. We understand you have some funding?

Help 178

Help Startup Southern California San Fernando 178

Both Sides of the Table

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)? Do I have data or facts to present so the story has legs? Final example.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

As a founder, when you’ve been dealing with these kinds of objections for a couple of years it becomes natural and you easily handle objections on price, product & competition without much thought. And the only way to do that is to help them calculate the ROI (return on investment) of using your product.

Sales 289

Sales Startup Training Pricing 289

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2013

Having a good sales methodology can help you ensure your company runs more disciplined campaigns and focuses scarce resources on your best opportunities. So I often work with teams to get them to codify the key things they do well that the competition does not. The first post covered the topic of “P” or pain.

Sales 336

Sales Startup Competition Customer 336

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

. - Journalists don’t know enough about your company before the show, don’t have time for proper research, and you will be competing for their time afterward with 49+ other companies that want them to write about you. - The more she got to know more the more she called me for help with stories. It started socially.

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 4, 2016

It’s human nature to try and be helpful to others. In many instances this help is genuine, well-meaning and productive. Most of us like to help create connections between people for whom an introduction, we believe, would be mutually beneficial. I find over-introducers are often motivated by their own self currency.

Innocal 255

Innocal Conference Help Study 255

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2: As expected at least one person accused me of writing this post because I want to see lower valuations. As an early stage investor you’re often planning around 10x your investment at the time your write your first check so in this case you’d be going into your investment expecting an exit of $800 – $1.2

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

The idea that the course asks students to write public blog posts is a testament to its more modern teaching style. My list of excuses includes: product, pricing, competition and lack of sales support. This includes presentations, ROI calculators, competitive analyses and so forth. In Summary.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

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. Why not offer to work for $50k to help run biz dev? But at the end of the year you write your own ticket if you’re talented because now you have experience and it cost you less than your law school loans!

Startup 409

Startup Invest Venture Capital Writing 409

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

He listed all of the product releases that were up coming, the customers that were in the pipeline and where he saw his competition moving. Who’s going to help you with improving your marketing / positioning to become a clear platform category leader like Twilio? There’s you and your killer CTO co-founder.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

Competitive sportswoman. Kara on one side of the table showing me market sizes, competitive dynamics, product roadmaps, pricing plans for physical products with COGS and gross margins. She helps write press releases. Remember, it’s about Lines, Not Dots. I first met Kara 5 years ago. Stanford MBA.

Startup 398

Startup Design Downey Activity 398

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

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. In addition to helping manage the board Chris also helps represent the interests of the angel investors / common stock holders.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

It’s building a product that is substantially differentiated, and, as Bill Gross, one of the most prolific tech entrepreneurs of our era says, “ It needs to be 10x better than the competition ” (because if you shoot for that then in competitive markets you might achieve 3x. Simply write a great book?

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2011

Albert Wenger from Union Square Ventures wrote a great post the other day that reminded me I’ve been meaning to write about this topic. And that has had me thinking about the tech sector and how dismissive both startup teams & VCs can be about both their competition and the “hot” companies in any sector.

Startup 313

Startup Press Writing News 313

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

He can’t help himself: He’s Dave. I told him only 2 weeks ago when we were in London together that I wanted to write a blog post that has been in my head for 2 years. How to help his companies. When he writes them online his Tourette’s comes out and sometimes the substance gets lost in the style. My pal Dave has problems.

Startup 309

Startup Venture Capital Email Writing 309

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

For starters some funds are small and thus while they put $750k into your company to own 10% of your company they might not be able to write another $2 million if you then raise a $20 million round (10%). You now own 20% of a company valued at $50 million but you’ve put in $4m to get that.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 2, 2009

The volume of Tweets is enormous and growing at a rapid pace so tools are emerging to help brands manage this information. Twitter, by contrast, started as an open platform where people let anybody see what they were writing. People write their thoughts knowing that anybody else can see them.

Social Network 235

Social Network Writing Tool Startup 235

TechEmpower

AUGUST 7, 2023

Increasing competitive advantage? A CTO can help you find the right answers. Instead, they should consider a Fractional CTO who can help close the gap. Bottom line – if you recognize this gap, then reach out to get a slice of a CTO who can help bridge the gap. Please write us at blog@techempower.com ! It might be.

CTO Hire 260

CTO Hire Develop Development Fractional VPE 260

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. Getting his / her buy-in to your approach is important as they can help you steward the meeting in the right direction. tip: write it down when asked / parked).

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. They’re competitive. They had a prominent NorCal investor already so I thought a SoCal lead would make sense – that I could help them in a more hands-on way. Write things down.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. They’re competitive. They had a prominent NorCal investor already so I thought a SoCal lead would make sense – that I could help them in a more hands-on way. Write things down.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2016

I answered in the same way I always do so I thought I’d just write it publicly. “I As a starting point I have to believe the founder has the attributes of an entrepreneur that matter most to me : Tenacity, resiliency, inspiration, perspiration, attention-to-detail, competitiveness, decisiveness, risk tolerance and integrity.

Invest 254

Invest Writing Pricing Metrics 254

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 15, 2010

Yet many would-be entrepreneurs feel that they don’t have enough access to investors and that the opportunity to present to a group will help them short circuit the fund raising process. In my next post I will write about one of the five companies. This can be true if it’s the right event, but most of these events suck.

Angel 254

Angel Startup Tech Coast Angels MyShape 254

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

When to get a lawyer - If you plan to be a venture or angel backed technology company (what I mostly write about) the best time to start meeting and getting to know lawyers is long before you ever start your company. I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. Many people start companies arse backwards.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

I get to do a deep dive on their business model, product roadmap and competitive positioning. I’m not saying I don’t spend time trying to help entrepreneurs that I am not planning to invest it – anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I do. So I spend much time with them and trying to help.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

We talked with Noah about how the company grew out of a business plan competition at the University of Southern California, his recent funding from the Maverick Angels, as well as how the firm hopes to stand out among a crowded list of comparison shopping sites. Noah, thanks for the interview. So, we decided to go out and do it.

USC 207

USC CPC Sites Startup 207

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. Having a price helps them to evaluate the deal better. Many VCs will have a distribution curve where they’ll do a small number of early-stage deals (say $1.5–3

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

As an entrepreneur and startup investor, I have helped create companies which achieved two IPOs which collectively raised over $100 million, as well as two acquisitions which totaled $385 million. However, it is my hope that this article will help you avoid learning the following lessons the hard way. 8 ) Grant Exclusivity.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242