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SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

by Michael Woolf that is worth any startup founder reading to get a sense of perspective on the reality warp that is startup world during a frothy market such as 1997-1999, 2005-2007 or 2012-2014. (it is also the title of a fabulous book from Internet 1.0 Think DropBox, Airbnb, Uber, Maker Studios.

Burn Rate 383

Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net Valuation 383

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APRIL 13, 2011

One of the successful investments was a company called Nigenisis, which ended becoming a public company in 1999. Product Management – Brad and Mark discuss the role of Product Managers in Startups. One (thing) we have talked about in the past is a lack of Product Managers, experienced technology Product Managers. (in

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

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APRIL 2, 2010

It in not uncommon to see a VC talk about “total assets under management&# as in “We have $1.5 billion under management.&# I don’t really understand why VCs do this since it’s mostly a meaningless number. What is total assets under management? -

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Early Stage Software Review 269

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OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. The managing partner of the firm called me the next day. we had about 25 firms contacting us – more than I could manage. Experienced and serial entrepreneurs in the content management space. At the end of this post I’ll tell you what he said.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

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NOVEMBER 14, 2010

The problem is that this is longer than the average economic cycle , which means you need to be able to manage in good times and bad. It was an investment management class. At dinner parties I was wrong for several years but I stuck to my guns. The numbers just didn’t make sense to me. People buy at the wrong times.

Florida 299

Florida Technical Review San Antonio Los Angeles 299

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JUNE 13, 2013

Like most startup entrepreneurs, when I began my first company in 1999 I had no formal sales experience. In my journey to better understand the sales process, my management team and I developed a sales methodology. This article originally appeared on Inc.com. This is a very important to do when you first start a company.

Sales 393

Sales Startup Framework Search 393

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JULY 25, 2011

When I first started as a startup CEO in 1999 there were no guides on raising venture capital. But know that every term in your term sheet is there as a result of some dispute of the past between shareholders or between shareholders & management. This article originally ran on TechCrunch. Drag along rights? That sounds fine to me.

Liquidation Preference 304

Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Cap Table Participating Preferred 304

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JUNE 28, 2011

When I built my first company starting in 1999 it cost $2.5 million in team costs to code, launch, manage, market & sell our software. We had to learn how to be better at “load balancing & replication&# – meaning how we managed data across all the boxes since they weren’t centralized on one box.

Venture Capital 334

Venture Capital Software PHP Open Source 334

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NOVEMBER 4, 2009

If you’re thinking about joining as the director of marketing, product management manager, senior architect, international business development lead, etc. Or you have to hit the lottery and be an early player middle management player at Google, Facebook, MySpace or Twitter. It was 1999. Let’s face it.

Stock Options 418

Stock Options Stock Liquidation Preference Option Pool 418

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MAY 19, 2019

It was 1999 and I had valuable Internet skills. After just 4 years I become managing partner of what is now the largest venture capital fund in Los Angeles. It is better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission After 5 years in Europe I decided I really wanted to work in Japan. And once in the door it was up to me to perform.

Japan 253

Japan Chicago Europe South America 253

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JULY 11, 2010

The CIC, founded in 1999, is located adjacent to MIT and has more than 100,000 sq ft of space for nearby startups that qualify to be housed there. I also had lunch there which was served buffet style with the rest of the office, which apparently costs $5 / day and you just let the office manager know in advance so they can plan numbers.

San Francisco 285

San Francisco Incubator Silicon Valley Startup 285

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SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

I freely admit this (along with nearly everything between 1999-2000) was a mistake. Options are obviously a very important economic motivator for your first 3-5 employees and your most senior management team. Whatever the intent of the dialog let me encourage all management teams to be transparent with their employees.

Stock Options 294

Stock Options Stock Valuation Liquidation Preference 294

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MARCH 28, 2010

Manager Bob: “Our associates will not repond positively to further cuts in their benefits. Dick then processes Bob’s pink slip and cuts non-management benefits by 30%.&#. I strongly recommend against it.&#. You know our employees are our most important asset.&#. That’s the classic definition of Grin Fucking.

Framework 378

Framework Reputation Global Employee 378

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JUNE 3, 2010

Provides electronic book services for content publishers; services include digital scanning and conversion, distribution to leading e-book retailers, monetization and royalty management. Founded in 1999 in Austin, Texas. Brought in new CEO, Russ Reeder in 2008. Competitors: SmashWords , Google Books.

Founder 214

Founder San Diego SMS Los Angeles 214

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SEPTEMBER 16, 2009

If you manage to kill an elephant they have so much meat they’ll feed you for a long time. On some level we felt we did because being a SaaS company in 1999 was trailblazing. It’s landing AT&T or Microsoft as a customer when you’re a start-up. It’s tempting on many levels to be an elephant hunter.

Startup 389

Startup Early Stage Demand Channel 389

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SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

So many companies suck at managing their booths. million … yes that was seed in 1999!) Worth a read on how to maximize the traffic that comes to you site since much of it will be fleeting. Their post links to a great post by Jason Calacanis ( here ) on how to make the most of your booth experience at the show.

South Africa 310

South Africa Europe Disintermediation Poland 310

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OCTOBER 15, 2009

I had an MBA, had done a few years of strategy consulting and knew all of the management theory. From then on I was forced to do detailed sales calls, get intimately involved with product management decisions and even make minute technical operation decisions. We had 6 developers, 1 head of product management, 1 QA in India and me.

Founder 299

Founder Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 299

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APRIL 27, 2010

My original post was directed at hiring managers. My view still stands – for many hiring managers a large factor in looking through resumes of somebody who is 30+ and has never worked somewhere for more than 18 months will be the job hopping element. I learned how to better run a product management process.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Hiring Software Review Stock Options 285

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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 was December 1999. Let me start with a story. I was resolute. I was resolute.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

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SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

The VCs basically have liquidity in management fees along the way, in the sense they get paid decently along the way. But the day after you’ll wake up and see yourself more as a manager than an owner. Coupled with my participating preferred from 1999 and 2000 I had more than $55 million of liquidation preferences.

Founder 329

Founder Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Participating Preferred 329

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MAY 23, 2012

For starters we saw a huge influx of inexperienced managers enter the VC industry proving clearly that being a VC is not a purely quantitative job. In 1998 it was 150 million, 1999 250 million and by 2000 it had crossed 350 million. Just why does over-funding dampen returns? There are 20x more consumers online.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

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FEBRUARY 17, 2010

App is one step forward, two steps back – In 1999 I launched my first company, BuildOnline, a SaaS-based (back then we were ASP’s) content management platform for large-scale engineering and construction projects. I think Apple has become corrupted and its dominance in mobile is not good for the industry.

Flash 326

Flash Mobile Application Development Cloud 326

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JANUARY 16, 2012

I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. These include building products, recruiting, managing your finances, marketing, selling, getting feedback from customers and … fund raising. People who manage processes make more sales. Test interest.

Developer 366

Developer Silicon Valley PR Las Vegas 366

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JANUARY 31, 2010

Mine started this way … I started my first company in the “go-go years&# of the Internet: 1999. We raised a seed round of capital in 1999 and our first venture capital round was the first week of March 2000 (e.g. We hired a new executive management team that had to be stormed, normed and performed. You can do it.

Entrepreneur 308

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley San Diego Non-Compete 308

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FEBRUARY 7, 2016

The founding partner of Upfront, Yves Sisteron, has been a mentor for me since 1999 and was on the board of my first company. And Yves and I decided to share the Managing Partner responsibilities and to manage generational change over the course of two funds. ” I told everybody I wasn’t going to and I meant it.

Artificial Inteligence 150

Artificial Inteligence Partner .Net Technology 150

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SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

My first company was a SaaS software company started in 1999. Lock users into proprietary rights management, distribution or consumption models? Many of us argued at the time that the browsers would get more powerful and we bet our companies on that by not developing client applications. Launch a closed iTunes / iTV? I choose open.

Web 300

Web HTML AJAX China 300

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DECEMBER 14, 2009

You think that anybody really believed 1999 that two young kids out of Stanford had a shot at unseating Yahoo!, We were launching a cloud-based document management into a space that was increasingly being called Enterprise 2.0. Excite, Ask Jeeves and Lycos? Yeah, right. When I launched my second company I was new to Silicon Valley.

Entrepreneur 338

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Florida 338

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AUGUST 9, 2011

I need leaders who manage in good times and bad.To build a large company you need to manage through economic cycles. Don’t spend like it’s 1999. My deal got dragged out and eventually never happened. Mostly we got to see the team operate in stressful times and that changed my perspective on the deal.

Stock 305

Stock Technical Review Marketing Greece 305

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AUGUST 30, 2010

While not 1999 all over again but I am observing first-hand the signs of funding frenzy. Many entrepreneurs could be caught in the “series A&B funding gap ” Equally worrying for entrepreneurs if the markets take a turn for the worse is that even if they managed to get angel rounds funded they may run into a VC brick wall.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Technical Review Balance Sheet Government 298

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DECEMBER 9, 2010

When I started my first company in 1999 we spent more than $2 million on technology infrastructure including Sun servers & Solaris operating system, Oracle databases, EMC storage, load balancers, app servers, back-up devices, disk mirrors and on and on. They deal with energy management, security, physical device failures, etc.

Cloud 343

Cloud Technical Review Database Semantic 343

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SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

And of course any kind of application could be written to run on this infrastructure including things like a file management system that could compete with Dropbox, a database or raw storage company that competes with Amazon’s AWS or something that doesn’t exist already in today’s world. Regulation will come.

Government 280

Government Distribution Stock United States 280