Berkonomics

JANUARY 14, 2021

If you seek funds from an organized investment group such as an angel fund, venture capital entity, or even an investment club, the first thing you want to do is to find one person to buy into your vision, become excited by your enthusiasm and be willing to become the internal champion for your fund-raising effort.

Technical Review 156

Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Summary Email 156

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I Know Everybody Told You to Send Your Fund-Raising Decks as a Link. Here’s Why You Should Just Send the Deck I know you have your document sending tool to send your fund-raising deck to VCs and track who read your deck, which pages they read and how much time they spend on each page. Many of my colleagues do, too.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

If you’re funding the same stuff as everybody else and if you started your activities when the clues were obvious you’re much less likely to drive enormous returns. When Fred Wilson funded Twitter I guarantee you it wasn’t obvious that it was a billion dollar idea. Venture Capital is a tricky industry. Far from it.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

If you are one of the thousands of entrepreneurs who need equity funding to get your startup going (no loans to repay), you are probably overwhelmed at the prospect of finding, contacting and pitching to the huge number of qualified angels and investment groups around the country. Register Internet and social media startup names.

Platform 94

Platform Equity Invest Technical Advisors 94

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. If you don’t believe in your bones that you’re amazing then it’s no wonder you don’t want to sell them on making the investment.”

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

the most counter-intuitive fund-raising advice you’ll ever get I’m about to offer you some fund-raising advice that flies directly in the face of what most conventional wisdom will tell you. Let me start out with my premise: “Data rooms are where fund-raising processes go to die.” I have to back up and give you more context.

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

I get questions from startup founders about executive summaries all the time. I answered some of those questions in a previous post, Crafting Your Executive Summary , so I won’t rehash them here. Here’s what not to do when crafting your executive summary. They range from “what should I include?” to “how long should it be?”

Summary 40

Summary Outsource Development Writing Outsource 40

Berkonomics

JUNE 19, 2014

If you seek funds from an organized investment group such as an angel fund, venture capital entity, or even an investment club, the first thing you want to do is to find one person to buy into your vision, become excited by your enthusiasm and be willing to become the internal champion for your fund-raising effort.

Technical Review 207

Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Summary Email 207

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2023

They don’t realize that according to statistics from Startup.co , almost 60 percent are funded with personal savings and credit, and another 25 percent get their money from friends and family. That leaves only about fifteen percent that actually get their funding from investors, through crowdfunding, banks, angels, and venture capitalists.

Statistics 98

Statistics Entrepreneur Funding Social Media 98

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There has been much discussion about VCs doing seed funding in the past year. I’ve written about it myself (Is VC Seed Funding Dead?) and (Is There Really a Signaling Problem with VC Seed Funding?). Short summary of my posts: 1. There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

The first three skills I espoused were: access to the highest-quality deal-flow, domain knowledge of the topic area in which you’re investing and access to VCs to help fund the next stages of development. Markets like these are very kind to angel investors because you get taken out early and see a nice pop on your investment.

Invest 283

Invest Angel Startup Marketing 283

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Conventional wisdom says I shouldn’t tell you this because I invested in their main competitor, MakeSpace. Clutter is LA based and many of my friends invested. We will have two well-funded companies educating the market on why this market opportunity for the $24 billion US storage market is ripe for disruption.

Funding 150

Funding Competition Marketing Summary 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

Executive Summary. I believe the rise in angel investing is here to stay and the professionalization of this class (aka “super angels&# or “micro VC&# ) is a good thing for the VC industry and for entrepreneurs. Here’s Lewis on gambling vs. investing: “The line between gambling and investing is artificial and thin ….

Invest 306

Invest Angel Venture Capital Slides 306

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

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 10, 2014

Many entrepreneurs seems to be convinced that the “crowd” of regular people using the Internet will somehow solve their startup funding needs, when they sense a lack of interest from accredited investors. But safely seeking equity investments from the crowd via the Jobs Act of 2012 is problematic and has still not been defined.

Funding 101

Funding Equity Entrepreneur Invest 101

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

Rolf Winkler wrote a piece in the WSJ about A16Z’s returns in which he says they “lag behind Sequoia, Benchmark and Founders Fund.” Scott Kupor of A16Z responded with a comprehensive overview of valuation methodology in a post that while accurate feels more targeted at sophisticated Limited Partners (LPs) who invest in funds.

Venture Capital 264

Venture Capital Invest Funding Competition 264

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Yet according to the latest data from Gust (formerly AngelSoft), only about 3 out of 100 companies who initiate the formal request process actually get funded. Remember the old adage that “investors fund people, not ideas.” Line up an experienced team.

Invest 99

Invest Angel Technical Review Summary 99

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

Very few people fund individuals. Professional angels / former entrepreneurs / seed funds – In Silicon Valley there are people like Ron Conway, Jeff Clavier, Mike Maples and many more. They know that the money they invest may be lost. Make sure these people understand the nature of early-stage angel investing.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 19, 2014

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?

Startup 106

Startup Funding Technical Review Ideas 106

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

Until recently it was headquartered 2 blocks from our offices in Santa Monica so we literally saw it emerge under our feet and we proudly invested in the last 3 rounds of financing. This is why so many great LA funds like Upfront, Greycroft and B Capital Global have all backed Bird. having raised $300 million?—?less

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

If there are conflicts within the team, or differing views of the strategy, or evidence of missing processes and tools, the investment process will likely be terminated. Make yourself available to answer any questions, show your enthusiasm, and explain both the positives and negatives of the external investment process.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2013

Many entrepreneurs seems to be convinced that the “crowd” of regular people using the Internet will somehow solve their startup funding needs, when they sense a lack of interest from accredited investors. But safely seeking equity investments from the crowd via the Jobs Act of 2012 is problematic and has still not been defined.

Funding 106

Funding Equity Entrepreneur Sample 106

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

With the current volatile economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the side door as a reverse merger. Yet reverse mergers are not all bad.

Funding 104

Funding Summary Entrepreneur Acquisition 104

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 29, 2016

On the surface that sounds unremarkable — fundings happen daily. But this isn’t just any funding. That’s why this funding story is different. It’s a Chanukkah story where 18 months of venture capital funding ends up lasting more than 4 years and where against all odds the underdog succeeds. of credit for its success.

Venture Capital 199

Venture Capital Summary Writing Funding 199

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

The first check I wrote was just over 10 years ago into a company called Invoca who just announced a new $56 million in funding led by Scott Hilleboe at HIG Growth Partners. Ownership Matters At Upfront we focus our energy on fewer companies where we take meaningful ownership and we continue to invest throughout the lifecycle of the company.

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2023

Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan. It does need to include a high-level summary of the components in the product plan, with key additional sections as follows: Definition of customer problem, followed by your solution. Marty Zwilling

Product 112

Product Summary Activity Entrepreneur 112

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

If you’ve read any of my ongoing series on fund raising from venture capitalist (episode 1?— ?controlling Some firms are trickier since they artificially call everybody “partner” but they’re not all “investment partners.” Find a portfolio company or two that they’ve invested in. It’s super easy to suss all this out.

Venture Capital 314

Venture Capital Technical Review Invest Slides 314

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 23, 2012

And they invest n select VC funds. Here’s the summary and on YouTube the links to skip right to these moments is below the actual video. 45 minutes in: Andrew’s process for investing in startups. 6:30 Do you disclose which funds you’ve invested in? 30:30 Are you investing in email?

Media 285

Media Company Companies Venture Capital 285

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 17, 2010

Summary: Amazon.com's own entry into the online movie contest business, Amazon Studios said it will award $2.7 Summary: Openfilm has its own warchest of film financing dollars as part of its online movie competition site, saying in April that it would invest $1M into independent filmmakers who are selected through the online community.

Sites 217

Sites Hollywood Summary USC 217

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 3, 2014

With the uptick in the economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, and an old one long out of favor, the so-called “reverse merger.” Yet reverse mergers are not all bad.

Funding 98

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Summary 98

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Yet according to the latest data from AngelSoft , only about 3 out of 100 companies who initiate the formal request process actually get funded. Remember the old adage that “investors fund people, not ideas.” Build an investor presentation and summary.

Angel 89

Angel Funding Technical Review Startup 89

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The rise of “micro VCs” or seed-stage funds. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. ” Stated simply – if you seed funded Uber at $4.5m Why is this?

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

TechEmpower

AUGUST 21, 2023

Due diligence prep: You’re coming up on a funding round or looking at a potential exit. We provide you with a report, written for a business audience, that includes: Executive Summary: We grade your architecture, source code, process, and teams, and provide a brief rationale for each grade. But what does the right team look like?

Technical Review 260

Technical Review Development Team Review Software Review TechEmpower 260

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

They have totally changed the way you run a VC firm, investing heavily in systems & events for their founders that are pushing the boundaries of the way our industry works. I think you'll enjoy hearing him, but if you're in a rush check out the summary notes below. In 2008 they raised a much larger fund $132.5 and Half.com.

Capital 284

Capital Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 284

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 5, 2019

At this San Diego Event, we will be showcasing some of the newest early-stage venture funds and angel groups in the San Diego area! The panels of seasoned and newer investors will focus on Early-Stage Venture Investing: How to meet investors, pitch them, and what it really takes to get them to write you a check!

San Diego 100

San Diego Venture Capital Angel Summary 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 24, 2023

Here is a paraphrased summary of the eight-level scale she offers, with my own insights and experience added, for your consideration in starting your own self-assessment and move up: Extreme bias toward status quo as the right way. Sustained executive sponsorship with funding. This requires dedicated resources of both time and money.

Organization 111

Organization Activity Resource Examples 111

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 20, 2020

Indeed, while the rules and technologies for lead generation have changed, Forrester and other experts still see it as the most effective way for businesses with limited budgets to maximize their return on marketing investment (ROMI). How many of these lead generation techniques are funded in your business plan? Cold calling.

Customer 146

Customer Custom Marketing Startup 146