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.” We did know about Snapchat as early as anybody. Mostly I wanted the journalist to know: We love Snapchat.

Snapchat 214

Snapchat Invest Technical Review Dollar Shave Club 214

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

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 ;-)). Think DropBox, Airbnb, Pinterest, Maker Studios, SnapChat, Tinder). These are most notable in late-stage, D-round, investments. Startup Lessons'

Venture Capital 362

Venture Capital Capital Startup Writing 362

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

JUNE 17, 2017

There are certain topics that even some of the smartest people I talk with who aren’t startup oriented can’t fully grok. It’s common cocktail party chatter to hear people confidently pronounce that some well known startup is sure to blow up because, “How could they succeed when they’re not even profitable!”

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

socalTECH

JANUARY 17, 2014

Southern California''s venture capital investments totaled a little more than $598.4M The investments were a drop from Q4 of 2012, $711.8M was invested in the region. billion was invested across Southern California''s technology industry. in the quarter and social media darling Snapchat raised $50.0M. For Q4, $8.4

Southern California 246

Southern California Venture Capital Orange County Tech Coast Angels 246

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2016

conversation literally every week with startups. There is a general guideline of how much investors want to own in order to invest in your company and the norm is 15–30% with the most common range 20–25% per early stage round. million and in my second company we raised only $500,000 by choice. I have this “How much should I raise?”

Startup 292

Startup Software Review Pricing Entrepreneur 292

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 10, 2015

A report Tuesday in the Financial Times said that investment giant Fidelity has written its investment in Los Angeles-based Snapchat by 25 percent, citing data from a Morningstar report. Snapchat--arguably, the most visible "unicorn" startup in Southern California--had been valued at $15 billion in its last fundraising round.

Snapchat 100

Snapchat Writing Invest Report 100

socalTECH

MARCH 5, 2014

Add another, Southern California company to the exclusive list of billion-dollar plus startups here. billion startup--which puts it in the ranks of only three other startups here known publicly to have passed the $1 billion mark in terms of valuation. READ MORE>>.

Southern California 154

Southern California SoCal Snapchat Startup 154

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. But it still takes VC to scale a business (thus large capital into industry winners like Uber, Airbnb, SnapChat, etc). Seed funds now represent 67% of all funds being created now, which is up 100% from 6 years ago.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Do you need a board when you first start you company? If you haven’t raised any money or if you raised a small round from angels or friends & family I would suggest you avoid setting up a formal board unless the people who would join your board are deeply experienced at sitting on startup boards.

Startup 236

Startup Venture Capital Tips Capital 236

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2014

The Disney Accelerator , the startup accelerator sponsored by Walt Disney and being run by TechStars, had its demo day Tuesday, showing off the nine companies to emerge out of the accelerator. Disney offered up up to $120K in investment capital, access to entrepreneurs and executives at Disney, and other resources to its startups.

Class 185

Class Startup Seed Funding Entertainment 185

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2014

A few years ago I started calling the local tech ecosystem down here #LATech. In fact, many people know I grew up in NorCal and still have a 650 area code on my mobile phone. I’m super proud of the work produced by Gravity , a local #LATech company I invested in who was recently sold to AOL for $90 million. Maker Studios.

Startup 318

Startup Santa Monica Snapchat Yahoo 318

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 2, 2017

the parent firm behind Snapchat , has joined up with R/GA Marketing --which helps run the Dodgers Accelerator in Los Angeles--to launched a new startup accelerator, the R/GA Marketing Tech Venture Studio with IPG. Venice, California-based Snap Inc. , READ MORE>>.

Snapchat 100

Snapchat Startup Venice Advertising 100

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

JULY 16, 2013

I work with a lot of startups. I start to notice when bad behavior creeps into the system as a whole. The minute you try to monetize now they have metrics with which to beat you up and say you’re business has limitations.” ” Case in point: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, SnapChat.

Venture Capital 412

Venture Capital Startup Funding Snapchat 412

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2016

In 2006 I started using Facebook and most of my friends & colleagues thought I was strange. In 2007 I started using Twitter and most of my friends & colleagues wondered why people would care what I ate for lunch. In 2008 I started VC blogging. In 2011 I started using Instagram. I already have Facebook.”.

Snapchat 150

Snapchat Product Startup AMA 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize. The start of marketing is figuring out a market need and a way to solve that need better than anybody else.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

SoCal Tech Calendar

MAY 26, 2016

Venice, California-based Snapchat has raised $1.8 billion in its Series F funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the firm this morning, in what might be the largest funding round ever for a Southern California startup. Details on the round have not been announced.

Snapchat 113

Snapchat Funding Southern California Venice 113

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 16, 2013

Today’s startup innovators come from about six hours south of Silicon Valley. Previously known as GRP Partners, Upfront Ventures has focused on early stage investments since 1996. Fun Fact: One of the most prominent figures from their firm, Mark Suster t, runs a blog startups follow religiously. Social Media: Snapchat.

Startup 111

Startup Snapchat Venice Social Media 111

L.A. Business Journal

FEBRUARY 21, 2018

Snapchat promises update after users balk at redesign; Elon Musk leaves AI foundation he co-founded; and Port Logistics Group invests in e-commerce startup Whiplash.

Snapchat 100

Snapchat Commerce Report Invest 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 16, 2016

Computer Vison Startup Nanit If you follow me on Snapchat ( msuster ) you might already know that I’ve been looking at and investing in a number of companies in the computer vision space. Today I am so excited to announce our latest investment in the category —  Nanit  — which is a smart baby monitor.

Invest 150

Invest Course Startup CTO Hire 150

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 17, 2018

“We are the preferred prescription provider of Snapchat Spectacles,” says Lensabl chief executive Andrew Bilinsky. “[And] we are already talking to and partnering with a variety of brands to start and scale their prescription operations [and] really scale our direct to consumer lens business.”

Snapchat 179

Snapchat Los Angeles Pricing Startup 179

socalTECH

MAY 23, 2018

Venice, California-based Snap , the parent company of Snapchat, is launching a new startup accelerator, named "Yellow", the company disclosed on Wednesday afternoon. The accelerator said it will invest $150,000 into ten different "creators" and startups focused in the media area.

Media 100

Media Startup Venice Snapchat 100

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 21, 2014

These figures, among others, indicate LA’s digital startups aren’t simply keeping pace with past years, but exceeding them. JustFab , the ultra-successful fashion membership company, upped the ante with two additional rounds of funding that totaled $55 million. Originally posted by the good people at Built In Los Angeles.

Los Angeles 105

Los Angeles Angel Startup Snapchat 105

socalTECH

JANUARY 16, 2015

Venture capitalists invested more than $1.3 billion in Southern California startup, according to the latest MoneyTree Report issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association last night, based on data from Thomson Reuters. billion in investments in Los Angeles, near $125M in Orange County, and $106.6M

Southern California 100

Southern California Invest Orange County San Diego 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Most are sitting on large portfolios of private companies that are raising money now or will need to do so in the future and they know that they’re up against some headwinds. The Motive for Speaking Up. ” “Mark has a vested interest in talking down valuations of startups.” All of these are false.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Back then only 15% of our dollars were invested locally whereas today 50% of our dollars are invested in LA. It’s not just Snapchat, although there’s that. And I constantly have to remind people that the largest tech startup employer in LA is actually SpaceX and that, yes, Elon Musk does live in LA. Don’t we know it.

Dollar Shave Club 321

Dollar Shave Club Cornerstone OnDemand Riot Games Venture Capital 321

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 14, 2018

TechCrunch is heading to UCLA on October 18 and we’ve assembled some of the AR/VR industry’s most prescient founders, investors and executives to chat about the startups and trends driving virtual and augmented reality in 2018. Startups are working to centralize the experience but it’s going to look a lot different.

UCLA 185

UCLA Startup Snapchat Los Angeles 185

L.A. Business Journal

MARCH 14, 2017

Rubicon Project chief executive steps down following rough year, Softbank invests in artificial intelligence startup Oben, and Vice Media to produce original Snapchat shows.

Artificial Inteligence 113

Artificial Inteligence Snapchat Report Media 113

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. They're all big winners.

Funding 160

Funding Capital Artificial Inteligence Startup 160

Tech.Co

JULY 31, 2017

Shift to Snapchat-Styled Videos. Michael Litt recently shared how her B2B company decided to use Snapchat-style videos to engage with both her team and their customers. Next, instead of investing in an advanced industry go-to tool, try a simple, more scalable alternative first. The hacks below should help you do just that.

Snapchat 59

Snapchat Product Email Social Media 59

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

In the end it will be up to you to figure out what to do. The other problem with extreme success is that for some VCs it makes them disinterested in middling outcomes, things that take a long time to incubate or solving thorny problems when a company doesn’t immediately move up and to the right. Past Success? FourSquare.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 27, 2013

Meet the next generation of startup success stories at Be Great Fest in Los Angeles. Their mission: to support a charity, savor the hot SoCal nightlife, and transform Los Angeles into the startup capital of the world. Although the Startup Genome Project named Los Angeles the No. 3 startup ecosystem in the world, with L.A.

Los Angeles 101

Los Angeles Angel Startup Venture Capital 101

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2017

He was running to be the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles and he outlined his vision to “open up the city government to technology and innovation” if he were elected. The “Snapchat effect” as I like to call it is that many engineers now want to stay and many more want to move here.

Riot Games 191

Riot Games Los Angeles Technical Review Venture Capital 191

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2022

A question that I still hear debated often is whether a new online platform startup growth strategy should focus on user count or profits. Most startups and investors I know don’t have unlimited funds, so the first question they should ask and do ask today, is “When is your company going to be profitable (self-sustaining)?”

Platform 118

Platform Snapchat Startup Course 118

socalTECH

MARCH 16, 2017

We are going to write checks of between $100,000 and $500,000, and we are going to invest in what we are calling first institutional capital. Where are you planning making investments? Derek Norton: We're investing in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and New York. Our investment thesis we refer to as the connected consumer.

Invest 145

Invest Funding Capital Startup 145

socalTECH

AUGUST 12, 2015

Los Anngeles-based RadPad , the online job marketplace led by Jonathan Eppers, said Wednesday that it is offering up a $10,000 referral reward to anyone who helps land the company an engineer.

Flipagram 100

Flipagram Snapchat Technical Review Invest 100