Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I know that most people who are close to them tend to deny their existence, as we saw in the great housing bubble of 2002-2007 and the dot com bubble of 1997-2000. I believe a bubble occurs when a market is willing to pay greater than intrinsic value for an asset class. That asset class need not represent the broader market. You feel it, too.

Saudi Arabia 309

Saudi Arabia Valuation IPO Technical Review 309

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

Just ask anybody who was trying to close funding the fateful week of September 11, 2001 or even March 2000. Three reasons: There is a relative valuation between the price a VC pays and their expectations of what it will exit for in an IPO or trade sale.

Burn Rate 263

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Private Equity 263

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

In 1998 there were around 850 VC funds and by 2000 there were 2,300. By 2000 the total LP commitments had mushroomed to more than $100 billion. So of course returns from 2000-2010 were subpar on average for the industry. In 1998 it was 150 million, 1999 250 million and by 2000 it had crossed 350 million.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

I freely admit this (along with nearly everything between 1999-2000) was a mistake. If Ventro was worth $8 billion on $2 million of sales surely a paltry $1 billion would suffice. It kind of reminds me of sales employee bonus plans. The stupid thing is we sort of believed it ourselves.

Stock Options 294

Stock Options Stock Valuation Liquidation Preference 294

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

million which closed the first week of March 2000 – a week before the market crashed. This includes writing product specs, going on sales calls, handling customer complaints, building the financial model and a host of other activities that will ultimately owned by functional experts. I did all of the sales myself.

Founder 299

Founder Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 299

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2010

In 1999-2000 they weren’t doing enterprise-wide installations at Merrill Lynch, Dell and Cisco. The incumbents have expensive product features to maintain and often expensive sales channels. What is “disruptive&# is that is also dramatically less expensive. Enter Salesforce.com. That would have been laughable.

Vesting 376

Vesting Framework Revenue Technology 376

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

My SVP of Sales & Marketing quit 30 minutes before an important board meeting. If you became a principal or a new partner in 2000/01 you had a good salary but as it turns out you were very unlikely to see a large upside “carry” return for quite some time. And that’s what it’s like – all superlatives.

Entrepreneur 384

Entrepreneur Startup Salary Egypt 384

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. Fund raising (as is much of life) is a sale – pure and simple. As with any sales campaign you need to: Qualify your buyers early so you focus your scarce resources on people likely to buy your product. .

Developer 366

Developer Silicon Valley PR Las Vegas 366

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

A year ago I blogged about one of my most common mantras that applies to sales, biz dev & fund raising alike: “ Time is the Enemy of all Deals.&#. As anyone raising money in April 2000, September 2001 or September 2008 can tell you that. When times are really good for fund raising many teams delay to maximize their valuation.

Pre-Money Valuation 303

Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Valuation PR 303

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

In 2000 our industry had more than $100 billion in LP money. Nothing was more heart warming than the photo of David Karp hugging Bijan Sabet after the sale to Yahoo! The industry isn’t dying. It is changing. And reinventing itself. And some firms will go under. And others will emerge. That’s normal.

LP 374

LP Later Stage IRR Term Sheet 374

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2011

My SVP of Sales & Marketing quit 30 minutes before an important board meeting. If you became a principal or a new partner in 2000/01 you had a good salary but as it turns out you were very unlikely to see a large upside “carry” return for quite some time. And that’s what it’s like – all superlatives.

Entrepreneur 176

Entrepreneur Startup Salary Egypt 176

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 13, 2010

Within a year, by late 2000 / early 2001 consulting firms were firing people en masse. During the down market they were able to double down on recruiting, sales, outsourcing, new market entries and marketing (yes, with Tiger ads ). Ameet said, “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine, just wait for the next downturn.&#.

Turkey 302

Turkey Differentiation IP Technical Review 302

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

We moved into the legal process and final due diligence in January and February of 2000. Our final closure was the first week of March 2000. VC, sales, biz dev, M&A or otherwise. We moved into the legal process and final due diligence in January and February of 2000. VC, sales, biz dev, M&A or otherwise.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

We raised a seed round of capital in 1999 and our first venture capital round was the first week of March 2000 (e.g. But this was early 2000 and our US competitors had already closed rounds North of $45 million. We had a $40 million round lined up to close in the Autumn of 2000. Our first big institutional round was $16.5

Entrepreneur 308

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley San Diego Non-Compete 308

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2012

It’s the first functional series I’ve done since sales & marketing. 1 week later the market crash of 2000 began and the dot com market began to collapse and financings with it. I’ve started a series on negotiations in startups. In it I list some books and also link to some of my previous posts.

Term Sheet 301

Term Sheet Ireland Cofounder Finance 301

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Private, flash sales site focused on apparel goods (women, men and children). Business model: Premium brands offer select goods (often excess inventory) for sale at 40%-70% discounts; consumers need to be invited by existing member or via application to participate in private sales; HauteLook collects percentage of gross sale.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Los Angeles Oakland Asia 217