Tech Zulu Event

MAY 28, 2013

Join us for a special evening with InfoWorld’s Dave Linthicum as he delves into global enterprise software trends with some of LA’s most successful SaaS and cloud computing companies. The opportunities cloud computing and SaaS afford management. Paths to SaaS and cloud computing that will work for your enterprise. Scott Kriz.

SaaS 92

SaaS Cloud Computing CIO Web 92

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 11, 2013

Experience has shown that a strong emotional tie to a deal will help more than any other factor when raising venture funding. Entrepreneurs spend a lot of time and effort tracking performance, measuring sales traction and predicting growth in an effort to win over outside investors.

Venture Capital 45

Venture Capital Capital Startup Invest 45

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 11, 2013

Experience has shown that a strong emotional tie to a deal will help more than any other factor when raising venture funding. Entrepreneurs spend a lot of time and effort tracking performance, measuring sales traction and predicting growth in an effort to win over outside investors.

Venture Capital 40

Venture Capital Capital Startup Invest 40

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

All the data actually suggests with the growth of mobile, inbound sales calls will double from 30 billion to 60 billion in 3 years (source: Kelsey). It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. Much more data in the full post. PHONE CALLS.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

I’d like to do a few posts on what life looks like on the way up and perhaps how to keep your head on straight and avoid drinking your own Kool Aid because as I often advise entrepreneurs on irrational exuberance, “ In a strong wind even turkeys can fly.” Have sales bonus plans based on more than just sales targets.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2017

One of the hardest decisions entrepreneurs make when they start a company and raise outside capital is figuring out what an acceptable “burn rate” is. That is, how much should your company be willing to lose in cash every month as you make investments in staff and equipment that funds technology, sales, marketing and management.

Startup 212

Startup Venture Capital .Net Capital 212

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

In a world where the economy only heads in one direction (read: 2009-2014) most investors & entrepreneurs forget to pay attention to gross burn. This is why investors really like SaaS software companies where you have recurring revenue and your largest customer accounts for < 5% of your revenue and your renewals rates are > 90%.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

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. With small amounts of money invested (sub $3 million) the risks are reasonably low for most VCs and the consequences of bad decisions or decisions a VC has limited say in is tolerable.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

InfoChachkie

MAY 5, 2016

Given TimeHop’s failed experiment, I was especially intrigued when I learned that a team of a dozen remote entrepreneurs hack the typical corporate structure and creates a company that generated nearly $100 million in revenue. Dan Engel, Co-Founder and former CEO of FastSpring, is a highly successful serial entrepreneur. FastSpring.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Santa Barbara Email Outsource Development 100

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

profitable and companies like Amazon who chose to focus on growth > profitability were not losing money on each book sale (ie they were gross margin positive). The tl;dr version is this: Many have been taught to focus on LTV/CAC ratio and if that number is substantively > 1 said entrepreneur feels great. Gross margin positive

Metrics 150

Metrics Startup SaaS Course 150

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 22, 2016

My venture firm, Rincon Venture Partners recently teamed with Jason Lemkin, Founder of SaaStr , to host the first SaaStrX event. We had a spirited discussion regarding a number of issues related to blowing past $10M in annual recurring SaaS revenue, in front of a sold-out crowd of about 400 entrepreneurs.

Customer 100

Customer Custom Cornerstone OnDemand Metrics 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

When I started my second company I was a serial entrepreneur. I introduced myself as a serial entrepreneur. I talked with a few VCs and batted around the idea of becoming a VC. No prizes for guessing how my VC chats went. But you don’t really have VC experience.” I was a serial entrepreneur.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

Our interview today is with Andrew Schydlowsky , the CEO and founder of Santa Barbara-based TrackStreet (www.trackstreet.com), a startup which is backed by Okapi Capital, The Cove Fund, Early Light Ventures, SaaS Venture Capital, and Stage Venture Partners. Andrew Schydlowsky: I'm a serial entrepreneur.

Artificial Inteligence 140

Artificial Inteligence Startup Commerce Sales 140

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

VC funding. We love capital efficiency until we love land grabs until we abhor over funding until we get huge payouts and ring the bell for more funding until we attract every non-VC on the planet to invest in startups until it crashes and we start the cycle all over again none the wiser. ” I’m not so sure.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

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.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2015

. “the ecommerce company gained fauxmentum by raising artificially high amounts of venture capital and spent lavishly on customer acquisition despite long payback periods and questionable LTV” __. I’m not saying don’t hire sales staff or market your products aggressively. We live in heady times.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Customer Custom 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 21, 2011

When I first got into VC I decided I better have some investment themes. My macro theme was “great entrepreneurs&# who mapped to my belief system about the kind of entrepreneurs I wanted to work with. To be clear, that is excluding the sales uplift from the calls. “People still want calls …&#.

Mobile 329

Mobile Advertising Media Marketing 329

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

As a fourteen-year veteran of the venture industry I have often heard the phrase, “value added investors”, which is usually touted by certain VC’s as their biggest differentiating quality. The value that is being “added” is often at arms length or via a specialist who interacts with the entrepreneur.

Web Design 103

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 103

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 30, 2011

Topics of discussion will be Saas, Cloud, Mobile, Gaming, Social Markets, what surprises are coming for 2012, creating value with your company, hiring problem solvers, and building sensible businesses. The panel is comprised of Southern California’s Top VC’s, Angels, and Startup Accelerator founders. Our Panelist Include.

Tech Coast Angels 105

Tech Coast Angels Startup Angel Southern California 105

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

Jay Ackerman: I have a tech background, and have worked at a number of software and SaaS companies, primarily in go-to-market. I've been a sales leader, a Chief Revenue Officer, Head of Customer Success. We're backed by Upfront Ventures, which is a well known venture capital firm here in SoCal.

Artificial Inteligence 113

Artificial Inteligence SoCal Southern California Software 113

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

The path I went down after a few years was to hire more process driven people and devolved more daily operational ownership to people running individual functions such as product management, sales management, finance, etc. One of the most obvious places where you see this is in sales & marketing. Ditto the CFO. I was the laggard.

Sales 296

Sales Pricing Startup Customer 296

socalTECH

OCTOBER 6, 2017

Laurence Sotsky: I've been working in the software-as-a-service space for some time, in medium-sized, venture capital backed companies. Combining that with my previous experience, which was in the platform and SaaS market, and sports, was really a home run. What's the biggest lesson you've learned here so far as an entrepreneur?

Mobile 162

Mobile Platform El Segundo UCLA 162

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 28, 2014

Thaeres is a SaaS-based, dashboard solution for mid-market enterprises. Now, we''re putting together a team of engineers, sales, and marketing people to launch this nationally. We''re looking now to gain more traction and hope by summer is we might consider venture capital, if it makes sense. READ MORE>>.

Startup 159

Startup Oracle Customer Custom 159

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 13, 2010

TechZulu is helping the startup community out by listing all the great startup/entrepreneur oriented panels. Jason Cohen, Capital Thought. Bootstrapping advice, entrepreneur, startups. . The step by step story of an entrepreneur’s journey from idea to bootstrap web startup from her vi. Christopher Watkins, Formspring.me.

Guide 69

Guide Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur 69

Tech.Co

MARCH 8, 2018

The program has been so successful that the startups have leveraged $48M in private capital to further their development. She has created a successful model to bridge entrepreneurs, investors and the federal government. Today, Joanne works with passionate entrepreneurs who use data assets to disrupt business functions and verticals.

Technical Review 70

Technical Review Startup Software Review Entrepreneur 70

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

Many people are too cautious in sales processes and as a result when they present their solutions they end up sounding milquetoast and undifferentiated from anybody else in the market. I recently wrote about the three rules of sales. In sales we often call these USPs (I wrote about them here: Unique Selling Propositions ).

Sales 150

Sales SaaS Startup Venture Capital 150

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

As a fourteen-year veteran of the venture industry I have often heard the phrase, “value added investors”, which is usually touted by certain VC’s as their biggest differentiating quality. The value that is being “added” is often at arms length or via a specialist who interacts with the entrepreneur.

Web Design 40

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 40

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

There have been a lot of entrepreneurs here in software and other industries, and interestingly enough there seem to be more self-funded, bootstrapped firms here, rather than those looking for venture capital to get off the group. Gary Bishop: The founder of the company is Dustin Snell, who is a classic, bootstrap entrepreneur.

Networking 214

Networking IBM IBM Pacific Palisades 214

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 18, 2013

Topics of discussion will be Wearables Technology, Bitcoin, SaaS, Cloud, Mobile, Gaming, Social Markets, what surprises are coming for 2014, creating value with your company, hiring problem solvers, and building a sensible businesses. Brock Pierce is a 10x entrepreneur best known for pioneering the market for digital currency.

Startup 111

Startup Entertainment Media Santa Barbara 111

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

In a short, densley packed timeline, our panel of industry experts discussed the fine line topics of wearables technology, bitcoin, SaaS, cloud, mobile gaming, and social markets. Peter Csathy – CEO Manatt Digital Media Ventures, accomplished media and digital media entrepreneur. Summary of Topics.

Startup 95

Startup Google Education Venture Capital 95

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 10, 2015

I write about sales often both because it’s the lifeblood of any organization and because in my experience it is the area in which more startups are least experienced or inclined. I also write and talk about it frequently because raising capital is a part of sales and this is important for entrepreneurs to understand.

Sales 150

Sales Startup Venture Capital Funding 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2018

Many points will seem obvious but since I observe many fund-raising processes as a VC I can tell you that most people get even the basics wrong. If you’re a SaaS company and the firm is a “consumer” firm (or vice versa) then don’t waste your time. All of this, of course, is Sales 101. No matter how tempting it is.

Funding 215

Funding Startup Venture Capital News 215

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. Congratulations.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 18, 2009

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. You’ve got to be able to come out of unsuccessful VC meetings, pull your socks up, and go into the next pitch. That was our first year of sales.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Startup GRP Partners Venture Capital 298

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2009

Please don’t also confuse this with whether a VC should invest in a CEO who’s done it before – that’s a given. Weight Class : Let’s take sales. At your stage of development do you really think a shit-hot VP Sales is going to join you to head up sales? I’ll explain both below.

Startup 327

Startup Sales Class CIO 327

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

We entrepreneurs have been spinning that line for decades in every boom cycle. But I would point out that raising money is an existential event and I think in the coming 12-18 months you may see loss ratios (companies going out of business or selling in fire sales) go up. I am a VC so this will be seen as self serving.

Startup 150

Startup Pricing Venture Capital Statistics 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? I was meeting regularly with entrepreneurs and offering (for better or for worse) advice on how to run a startup and how to raise venture capital from my experience in doing so at two companies. Absofuckinglutely.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373