Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. You can be pissed off, but I don’t set prices.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

If you’re interested in recruiting sales people, I wrote on the topic of startup sales people: who to hire & when – understanding the roles of Journeymen, Mavericks & Superstars. Evangelical sales – Understanding startup sales people and process. Here is my recommended approach. You learn by asking.

Sales 346

Sales Startup Technical Review Customer 346

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

At our mid-year offsite our partnership at Upfront Ventures was discussing what the future of venture capital and the startup ecosystem looked like. This happens slowly because while public markets trade daily and prices then adjust instantly, private markets don’t get reset until follow-on financing rounds happen which can take 6–24 months.

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. Many startup companies hire advisory boards. If you plan to set one up – no problem. Advisory Board Problems : There are several problems that I have encountered myself and in my many discussions with CEO’s who have set up advisory boards. Too much effort.

Startup 306

Startup Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 306

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

It is also a result of pent-up demand. Consumer spending is 70% of the economy and will continue to be stretched – We can look all we want at tech innovation, VC funding cycles and hot M&A deals, but ultimately growth and therefore investment must be underpinned by revenue. See point 2 below. Consumer spending will decrease.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Startup Funding Technical Review 269

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

Shallow and superficial and racing from segment to segment in search of some take up has never been a strong strategic plan for me. I have written this up before if you’re interested – I call it Deflationary Economics. LEAN STARTUP MOVEMENT. INNOVATOR’S DILEMMA. He’s awesome to learn from. Business Model.

Startup 401

Startup Customer Custom Technical Review 401

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

It’s the company that evokes fear into more startups and venture capitalists looking to fund eCommerce businesses than any other potential competitor. He would pick up stuff from your apartment and bring it to storage for you and he could save money by having that facility be off site. And could we then compete?”

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire Startup 380

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

Let me start with a story. We were trying to optimize around a few criteria: price, size of round, number of syndicate partners and, of course, terms. We were trying to optimize around a few criteria: price, size of round, number of syndicate partners and, of course, terms. We ended up agreeing a term sheet for $16.5

Venture Capital 301

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Technical Advisors 301

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. This is the mysterious and dreaded due diligence process, which can kill the whole deal.

Technical Review 151

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 151

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 21, 2009

On the third Wednesday of every month I co-chair a meeting called the SoCal VCA (venture capital alliance), which represents participants from all of the top venture capital firms in Southern California as well as prominent members of the Tech Coast Angels (TCA). We feature a prominent speaker at every event.

Venture Capital 241

Venture Capital Technical Review Southern California Company 241

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened? There was no money train.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

When the masses start all running one way without questioning “why?&# – and when it defies any logic I can figure out in my head – I call bullshit. I pointed to several Economist articles I had read that mapped historical prices of real estate for 400 years and how on average property values grow at no more 1.5%

Invest 299

Invest Angel Technical Review Venture Capital 299

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

But VC is an “illiquid asset&# so funds didn’t disappear quickly - In 2000/01 the stock market quickly adjusted punishing investors in the NASDAQ and in individual public technology stocks. Many funds have not performed and will start to disappear. PEHub followed up their analysis with this. Think about the math.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. Seed funds now represent 67% of all funds being created now, which is up 100% from 6 years ago. Twitter spread through the tech crowds at SxSW and raised its first venture capital round led by Fred Wilson.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Nearly every successful tech startup I’ve observed over the past 20 years has gone through a similar growth pattern: Innovate, systematize then scale operations. Innovate In the early years of a startup there is a lot of kinetic energy of enthusiastic innovators looking to launch a product that changes how an industry works.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

You might like to think that a bunch of savvy venture capitalists saw a market niche for raising smaller funds or perhaps there was a generational shift where disgruntled junior partners spun out of bigger firms to start their own gigs. I launched my first startup in 1999 so I know the economics of launching from first-hand experience.

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Invest Seed Funding Startup 328

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I was reading Danielle Morrill’s blog post today on whether one’s “ Startup Burn Rate is Normal. I love how transparently Danielle lives her startup (& encourages other to join in) because it provides much needed transparency to other startups. Let’s set up a framework. Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

What price? I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). I think my mentality to banker pitches was best summed up in this article about Y Combinator in which Paul Graham apparently made the following quotes. start-ups are overvalued. What kind of deals should I be doing? What stage?

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

What price? I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). Before I tell you the reasons I’m concerned about investment banking intros, I should start by saying I think bankers are enormously helpful for entrepreneurs in raising money. start-ups are overvalued. What stage? I hustled.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 23, 2012

"I started the site when I was 19. "When you give everyone a voice and give people power, the system usually ends up in a really good place. " Creating and sustain a successful startups is beyond difficult. " I recently performed a 360-Review on two Co-Founders who were the company's CEO and CTO. ."

Startup 268

Startup Tips CTO Coach Technical Review 268

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2021

The E-Myth (“Entrepreneurial Myth”) is the mistaken belief that most businesses are started by people with tangible business skills, when in fact most are started by “technicians” who know nothing about running a business. Perhaps an innate business savvy is no longer a requirement for starting a successful business.

Technical Review 136

Technical Review Startup Social Media Satisfaction 136

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

He is not a technical person, but is somewhat web savvy. I asked some of the same questions I ask in my Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions and then I get to a very common conversation: Me : Do you have specs? Conversations with a technical advisors or possible developers should be iterative. Go find a new technical resource.

Develop 354

Develop Development Technical Review CTO Coach 354

TechCrunch LA

MAY 20, 2021

One startup that aims to help make the process simpler, cheaper and less stressful by helping people manage the home renovation process has raised $6 million to help it grow even faster. Construction tech startups are poised to shake up a $1.3-trillion-dollar trillion-dollar industry.

Technical Review 185

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital Software Review 185

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2021

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Summary 152

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

As I’m generally a believer in ‘pricing rounds’ I initially didn’t agree with the premise of the post. Having re-read it, I believe his real premise instead is, “Fixed-size, multi-investor angel rounds are such a bad idea for startups that one wonders why things were ever done that way.&#. Photo credit: D.

Venture Capital 286

Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review Startup 286

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. My first startup was no different. I’ve started writing up some of those sales & marketing lessons and I plan to continue to build that section out over time. Startups are the art of the possible.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. This is the mysterious and dreaded due diligence process, which can kill the whole deal.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2013

I researched the pricing of the car at TrueCar – not because we’re an investor – but because it gives you complete price transparency over what other people in your area paid for a car. “Invoice price” is an equally meaningless marketing tool. It got me thinking about the tech industry.

Conference 398

Conference Technical Review Truecar Software Review 398

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2016

conversation literally every week with startups. The larger the round, the higher the price, the harder the next hurdle is to hit But the bigger point I want to make is what happens when the coffers are depleted and you need more money? million and in my second company we raised only $500,000 by choice. million or $4 million.

Startup 292

Startup Software Review Pricing Entrepreneur 292

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2021

Many startups fail before reaching that magic “cash-flow positive” position they have been striving for, despite seemingly reasonable financial projections. A closer analysis often indicates the cause to be a lack of diligence in handling common business finances. A startup must ensure that the payments are collected per agreed terms.

Technical Review 151

Technical Review Startup Summary Pricing 151

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

This is part of my Startup Advice series. So I was surprised at the sheer volumes of decisions that had to be made when I became a startup CEO. Most of them are completely mundane such as choosing which: bank, office space, 1-year lease vs. 2-year lease, logo, URL, pricing structure or which VC. This was such a guy.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

There’s an article making the rounds in tech circles titled “ Growth Hacking is Bull ” written by Muhammad Saleem. His quip to suggest this is all a slight-of-hand, trickery dreamed up by marketing b *s is quite clever if misguided. For starters it brings a mindset to startups that not all of them have innately.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review SEM SEO Marketing 384

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. The United States is now a debtor nation to China and that the bill is about to come due. Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? These are probably the two sites where I've posted the most reviews.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

Industry reviews. Associates often shadow partners at board meetings so that they can help follow up with the company on important initiatives between board meetings. So the “VC associate” is largely a launching pad job for exceedingly bright and hard-working young tech professionals. Startup Advice'

Help 365

Help Invest Venture Capital Technical Review 365

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Tech entrepreneurs' consternation with MBAs does not rise to the level of loathing. Rather, entrepreneurs' frustrations are often due to an incongruence between an MBA's expectations versus the value they can deliver to a startup. Startups Need Execution, Not Administration.

Entrepreneur 279

Entrepreneur Technical Review Case Study Class 279

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 4, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about “ the politics of startups ” in which I asserted that all companies have politics, which in its purest sense is just about understanding human psychology. I think as a tech industry we have bred a culture that places more emphasis on product excellence than managing human behavior.

Startup 340

Startup Technical Review Course Press 340

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 6, 2022

Hello friends, and welcome back to Week in Review ! This writeup from industry analyst Karl Guttag showcases how Magic Leap has turned away from several of the key technologies it raised billions of dollars to develop with its latest hardware which he nevertheless believes will “blow away” the HoloLens 2 in image quality.

Marketing 246

Marketing Newsletter Technical Review News 246