Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. This is a story of one of the risks of venture capital. When you’re an early-stage startup that hasn’t raised any institutional money you end up doing almost every job function of the company yourself. And this is how it should be in startups.

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Founder Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 299

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Advisor. ); STARTUP. Before Roving Software could receive its first round of financing from professional investors, in early 1999, he had to put all the stock arrangements in writing. Chip Morse , cofounder and partner with Morse, Barnes-Brown & Pendleton P.C., Entrepreneur news from reporter Eric Markowitz. Email address: Home.

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Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

thebarefootvc

DECEMBER 16, 2011

Startups such as Shopkick offered real time deals when users were in stores and Shopsavvy and similar mobile price comparison tools from Amazon and Google empowered consumers to find the best deals. Kiva co-founder Jessica Jackley’s latest venture Profounder is one platform that could power these transactions.

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Technical Review India Mobile Hockey Stick 110

thebarefootvc

FEBRUARY 1, 2011

When I looked at my inbox this morning, I had emails from six organizations I have advised/worked with over the past couple of years (including Astia and Techstars ) announcing their partnership with the White House’s Startup America initiative. Now, the present. I have just started a new job with the Omidyar Network.

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Silicon Valley India Africa Burma 45

Steve Blank

MAY 17, 2011

Endlessly curious, I went from startups in military intelligence to microprocessors to supercomputers to video games. As time went on, I was a co-founder or member of the starting team for six high-tech startups…. With every startup came increasing responsibility. I was always learning.

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Philadelphia Miami Thailand Silicon Valley 336

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 12, 2011

I followed her writing and bought her AOL book back in 1999. Ironically enough, the second nudge she gave my career also had to do with AOL--ten years later when in 2009, she introduced me to Jon Brod who was forming AOL Ventures. That's how you win out in the venture and startup world. How did this startup come to be?

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Silicon Valley Cofounder Venture Capital Valuation 112

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

When I was raising money for my first company we had closed a seed round in 1999 and were working on our A round. We had many term sheets (it was 1999 and we had a pulse) and we were deciding which one to take. It was December 1999. It quickly became impossible to raise venture capital. Let me start with a story.

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Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Great content again in September that meets at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. Chris Dixon , September 12, 2010 My most useful career experience was about eight years ago when I was trying to break into the world of VC-backed startups. Why You Should Write. Your service: the game.

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Technology Product San Francisco CTO Hire 191

Campus Entrepreneurship

MARCH 19, 2012

(I was at the University of Chicago when a bunch distinguished professors created UNext.com during the late 1990s — BIG BUST just like the startup I joined in 1999). Last year Mr. Ferreira’s company scored a $33-million investment of its own in one of the biggest deals of the year.

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Indiana Cofounder Chicago Venture Capital 54

David Teten

FEBRUARY 3, 2014

But in practice, these phenomena create a tremendous volume of startups, which investors then have to filter. Prior to joining ff Venture Capital , I published the first-ever study of how private equity and venture capital funds originate new investments, with my coauthor Chris Farmer , CEO of SignalFire and an experienced VC.

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Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Equity 114

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

If a company has reached a level of success, has been around for a few years and you believe the company has potential to break out into a much bigger company then you should let the founders take money off of the table. Founders however are asked to take low salaries and never really get back the time they worked for free.

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Founder Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Participating Preferred 329

ConversionXL

JANUARY 16, 2019

As detailed in a co-authored book , Brian Halligan, a recent MIT grad in 2005, observed startups failing with “‘tried-and-true’ marketing techniques that he had seen work throughout his career; techniques such as trade shows, telemarketing, e-mail blasting and advertising.”. An eponymous book (e.g. More than just ‘Content Marketing.’”.

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Naming Conversion Flash Cofounder 119

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 18, 2011

about Moshe Lichtman, and why he is one of few men or women capable of leading an Israeli startup to global billions. He worked his way up the corporate ladder; in 1998 he became VP of the Digital TV platform strategy, which did not pan out, and in 1999 he found an opportunity in Microsoft Internet (MSN) international.

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Venture Capital New Zealand Startup 100

Scalable Startup

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

The Future of Startups 2013-2017, beginning of a series. Marc Andreesen gave a great interview about a year agi about “The Future of the Enterprise” and where the next startups will be playing – Hadoop, Big Data, BYOD, etc. Some of these next big startups are in L.A., You mean startups?

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Software Review Startup Venture Capital Stock 22

The Equity Kicker

JANUARY 19, 2016

Fortunately Steve Schlenker, co-founder of DN Capital has captured most of them in his Quora answer to the question: How hard is it to be a venture capitalist. The root of the problem, I think, is that from the outside venture capital looks easy, especially during bull markets.

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Europe IPO LP Venture Capital 60

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

You may feel as I did in 1999 that the more smart people around the table the more intros you’ll have, the more sage advice you’ll receive and the more impressive you’ll seem to outsiders. Hopefully each lead or co-lead their round so there is more harmony in the configuration. The Perils of Many. The Pitfall of One.

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Dilution Cap Table Due Diligence Option Pool 314

Seeing Both Sides

SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

This post was co-authored with Omri Stern and originally appeared in Harvard Business Review. Israel has been branded the “startup nation.” Frequently cited as one of the world’s most vibrant innovation hubs, Israel boasts more startups per capita than any other country in the world. The founders have started companies before.

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Cofounder Technical Review United States 20

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Some really great stuff in 2010 that aims to help startups around product, technology, business models, etc. 500 Hats , February 1, 2010 When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Google Friend Connect for Authentication? 500 Hats , February 1, 2010 When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Google Friend Connect for Authentication?

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Silicon Valley Startup Term Sheet Venture Capital 378

David Teten

JANUARY 13, 2015

I’m speaking on a panel this afternoon on fundraising for minority founders at the Rainbow PUSH Wall Street Project. Fundraising is always difficult for all founders; the median PE/VC fund sources and reviews 87 companies before investing in 1. I think the same goes for startup entrepreneurialism. Own your “anti-pattern”.

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Venture Capital Advisory Board Greece Cofounder 60

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

While not 1999 all over again but I am observing first-hand the signs of funding frenzy. This affects M&A activities for startups, which with the reduction of the IPO market could spell lower returns in the short-term for technology startup investors. VCs get paid to “put money to work.&#. I know not everybody agrees.

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Entrepreneur Technical Review Balance Sheet Government 298

Cracking the Code

JUNE 24, 2021

Co-founder and CEO Nicolas Brusson spoke to me about BlaBlaCar’s early ambitions to be a European rather than local country winner and its progression to global player. How did you end up heading to Silicon Valley from France to join a startup? You then came back to Europe and joined a venture firm before co-founding BlaBlaCar.

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Global Europe France Cofounder 62

VC Cafe

MAY 21, 2021

This is a guest post by Kevin Baxpehler , co-founder and Managing Partner at Remagine Ventures. We at Remagine Ventures completed a new investment deal, continued working with our portfolio companies and in general saw IPOs, startups fundraising and succeeding at unprecedented levels. Photo Credit: AFP.

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Iran Cofounder Germany 148