Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 23, 2014

” With Mattermark , I remember the moment clearly – I was at The Kitchen in Boulder with the founders (Danielle Morrill, Kevin Morrill, and Andy Sparks) and my partner Seth. This kicked me in the ass very, very hard between 2001 and 2004.

Technical Review 154

Technical Review Angel Investor Partner Database 154

Steve Blank

JUNE 3, 2010

In fact the people a large firm needs for this kind of innovation looks suspiciously like startup founders and the processes needed look like Customer Development. The Ambidextrous Organization, Charles O’Reilly / Michael Tushman : April 2004. Mastering disruptive innovation in a large company requires: - different people.

Search 242

Search Agile Customer Development Technical Review 242

David Cohen

MARCH 30, 2020

Founders, I’m talking to you. I’ve seen past crises, cycles, and downturns as an investor and as a founder. One in 2004 and one in 2006. Because we know that this is the time for founders everywhere to step forward, not backward. March 30, 2020. I’m one of you. I’ve started four companies, and my latest is Techstars.

Founder 174

Founder Valuation Startup IP 174

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2021

Every startup founder knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. But add another five years, and Google had made it, going public in 2004 with a market capitalization of $23B. Yet we always dream that we are the exception to the rule. So once in a while it’s good to look at some facts to temper our imagination.

Initial Public Offering 317

Initial Public Offering California .Net Business Plan 317

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

Kayak was started here in my backyard of Boston… co-founder & CTO Paul English and the product/engineering team is based here in Concord MA. Co-founder & CEO Steve Hafner and the business team are based in Norwalk, CT. Founding Date: 2004. round closed in June 2004. 1.65M extension round closed Nov 2004.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

Steve Blank

JULY 7, 2015

Jon Sebastiani , founder and CEO of KRAVE Jerky , a company that got its start in my class at Berkeley back in 2011 and was recently acquired by Hershey. My guests on Bay Area Ventures on Wharton Business Radio on Sirius XM Channel 111 were: Eric Ries , entrepreneur and author of the New York Times bestseller, The Lean Startup.

Lean 120

Lean Technical Cofounder Silicon Valley Channel 120

Seeing Both Sides

NOVEMBER 30, 2013

2004), Kayak ($1.8B/2004) 2004) and Fleetmatics ($1.4B/2004), 2004), although the latter was founded in Dublin. Here was a statistic that blew me away: over half of these companies (51%) had an immigrant founder. Essential Role of Immigrants. Strong Diversity.

Boston 55

Boston Technical Review Silicon Valley Software Review 55

Up and Running

APRIL 18, 2014

Voices.com , an online marketplace that matches voice actors with advertising agencies and TV and radio stations, began in 2004 as an idea scribbled down on a napkin by newlyweds David and Stephanie Ciccarelli. “I realized in the early 1990s that there was no appropriate yoga for fitness professionals,” says YogaFit® founder, Beth Shaw.

Detroit 156

Detroit Technical Review Cofounder North America 156

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 26, 2014

It gained recognition during the 2004 presidential campaign when Howard Dean’s IT director decided to use it as a platform for community and campaigning. Angel Investor Drupal founder PHP Revenue Growth SaaS Scalability startup startup CEO venture Cash Flow CEOing leadership scalability tom nora venture capital'

Founder 42

Founder Los Angeles PHP Open Source 42

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

by Donovan Janus, founder of 17hats. Serial entrepreneur Donovan Janus started his first company NTN Publishing in 1998, and started Exposure Manager in 2004. When food and shelter are a freelancer’s two heaviest expenses, a conversation about “costs” sounds absurd, no?

Cost 100

Cost San Francisco Software Review Technical Review 100

Feld Thoughts

MAY 28, 2015

Or if you want to go back to 2004 and 2005 when I was really learning about Agile, well before it had become a household name, you could read my posts Agile Software Development with SCRUM or Do You Develop Software For A Living? Tim Miller (CEO) and Ryan Martens (CTO, founder) have been working together from the start of the journey.

Software 70

Software Technology Agile SCRUM 70

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2023

For me, I have at least two years of active board and observer commitments to roll off of and far more time before all the founders I’ve backed hit (or miss, I suppose) their ultimate goal of returning lots of money to their investors. No more founder pitch meetings. It has been a career that fits my personality well.

Later Stage 218

Later Stage Venture Capital Term Sheet Limited Partner 218

Hearpreneur

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

Airbnb founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia had difficulty securing funding, so they launched a mini project to build some funds and catch investors' attention. Using this capital , the founders launched and enjoyed exponential growth in their first year, with 10K users and thousands of listings. Photo Credit: Jack Underwood.

Entrepreneur 94

Entrepreneur Bankruptcy Southern California South Africa 94

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

Justyn Howard, founder of Sprout Social has a blog post that he’s written about his experiences of migrating from scrappy tools to more efficient ones (i.e. I learned everything I know about startups in these lean years: 2001-2004. Another area where founders sometimes spend too much time is accounting.

Warrant 333

Warrant Germany France Cost 333

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 24, 2014

When Google went public in August of 2004 one of the first things I did with my employee grants was sell enough to pay off my student loans. It’s for reasons like these that I support getting startup founders some liquidity during their company’s first few years, perhaps as early as Series A financing when appropriate.

Founder 108

Founder San Francisco Liquidity Event LP 108

Growthink Blog

MAY 13, 2010

Of most interest is the story of Mr. Peter Thiel investing $500,000 into the company in 2004, at an effective valuation of $4.9 Thiel is part of the famous PayPal Mafia - former founders of PayPal and their friends that travel in the rarefied Silcon Valley air of next generation Internet ideas and technologies.

Technical Review 91

Technical Review Social Media Valuation Channel 91

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2019

Every startup founder knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. But add another five years, and Google had made it, going public in 2004 with a market capitalization of $23B. Yet we always dream that we are the exception to the rule. So once in a while it’s good to look at some facts to temper our imagination.

Initial Public Offering 277

Initial Public Offering Startup California .Net 277

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Many assume it was a cakewalk, based on the success LinkedIn has enjoyed over time and the current stature of our founder/CEO Reid Hoffman (now Chairman). Google is still a private company (their IPO was Aug 2004). conference happened at the end of 2004). It’ll be nearly two years before the concept of “Web 2.0″

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

A Crowded Space

OCTOBER 3, 2018

I remember when I made that first flight out to San Francisco from Boston to meet the team in 2004, the company was down to its last $20K in the bank. Back in 2004 - 2010, he would routinely send me early stage companies to check out as part of his diligence process. Congrats again to the Upwork team.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Bangladesh Ukraine Philippines 60

The Equity Kicker

JANUARY 21, 2015

I’m going to quote his definitions in full: 2004 definition. — B Round: The funding necessary to get founder liquidity, build groovy headquarters, and make competitors give up (or not start in the first place). . — In 2004 it took until Series C to scale your product because it took a lot of money. 2014 definition. —

Founder 60

Founder Incubator Venture Capital Angel Investor 60

ConversionXL

JANUARY 18, 2022

He was swiftly followed by Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic in 2004. At a startup, this can be as simple as defining why the founder started the company in the first place. CXL’s founder, Peep Laja, has a specific “reason why” his company Wynter exists. In 2002, Elon Musk created Space X. The solution: build a brand.

Marketing 109

Marketing Social Media Non-Compete Audience 109

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 16, 2011

She is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Small Business Trends , an award-winning online publication. Anita Campbell Anita Campbell serves as CEO of Anita Campbell Associates Ltd, a woman-owned consulting firm helping companies and organizations reach the small business market.

Marketing 54

Marketing Social Media Software Review Small Business 54

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 1, 2021

But that was back in 2004 and the trillions of dollars of wealth created since in startups, big tech companies and crypto makes earlier questions of extravagance seem quaint. I never heard about giraffes after Google’s IPO, although reportedly one early engineer did buy a carnival-size ferris wheel.

Silicon Valley 123

Silicon Valley Cap Table IPO .Net 123

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

I recently sat down with Matt Coffin , the founder of LowerMyBills, which sold for $400 million but was very nearly a bankruptcy only a few years early, and talked “startups.&#. Selling LowerMyBills: o In 2004 he was getting a lot of call to take more money but was not interested.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 18, 2011

She is also the co-founder, co-owner and CEO of MFE Interactive in addition to being the co-owner and SVP of Marketing for Speedy Incorporation.

Web 48

Web Software Review Cofounder Small Business 48

Feld Thoughts

JULY 25, 2013

Following is a guest post by Zack Rosen , co-founder and CEO of Pantheon. I spent a year on the Dean campaign Web Team during the presidential campaign of 2004. Pantheon is building “A big badass platform that will run 30% of the Internet.”

Vermont 165

Vermont Startup Campaign Virginia 165

Berkonomics

JANUARY 28, 2021

Why fight about valuation, or disappoint the founder at the outset? The first is of a 2004 startup that I cofounded and led the investment group for several early rounds, then VC rounds. Email readers, continue here…] The second story involves the same founder. Lessons founders learned. More of my stories.

Early Stage 62

Early Stage Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Cofounder 62

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 17, 2020

The founders of the companies all have stories to share. Facebook was founded and developed by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. There are plenty of tech companies out there that have been around for some time. Each and every company has its own story to bring to the table.

Artificial Inteligence 160

Artificial Inteligence Stock Social Media Seattle 160

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 17, 2011

Janine Popick Janine Popick is the CEO and co-founder of VerticalResponse (Inc. Read all five posts in today’s series and come back each day this week for five new posts in this great educational series and another chance to win. 5000 2006-2010), a leading self-service direct marketing provider to over 100,000 small businesses.

Small Business 41

Small Business Social Media Engineer Matching 41

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 4, 2022

Cameron is t he founder of the COO Alliance, the World’s Leading Network for Seconds in Command. And that was, you know, 2004, 2005 was, I was realizing that it was no longer about working harder. I mean, I'm sure you run into a lot of companies that are still founder driven, very good at selling and they've grown.

CTO 80

CTO Cofounder Networking Operations 80

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 23, 2018

by Melvin Wong , founder of Kodorra. This is why it is especially important for startup founders to seek help to guide them through the tedious and often perilous process of starting and growing a company. Founded in 2011 and based out of London, F6S is one of the world’s largest founders’ online communities with over 2.7

Incubator 118

Incubator South America San Francisco Chile 118

Feld Thoughts

JULY 8, 2013

Following is a guest post on DevOps by Gene Kim , Multiple Award-Winning CTO, Researcher, Visible Ops Co-Author, Entrepreneur & Founder of Tripwire. Our findings went into a book that we published in 2004 called The Visible Ops Handbook , which described how these organizations made their “good to great” transformation.

Phoenix 175

Phoenix Software Review Technical Review Cofounder 175

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 24, 2019

TorFX was founded in 2004. The company was established when its founders Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Käärmann kept losing a lot of money with the conversion of Euros to Pounds. World First began in 2004 with its founders’ desire to give customers an alternative to big banks when it comes to money transfers.

Somalia 85

Somalia Startup Australia Global 85

Growthink Blog

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Not mentioned in the movie is the unbelievable story of a Peter Thiel one of the founders of PayPal investing $500,000 in 2004 in exchange for approximately 5% of Facebook. At a current U.S. Here are three ideas: I. Run With the Right Crowd. Through this professional and personal network, Thiel sees lots of great startups.

Social Network 72

Social Network Networking Technical Review Flash 72

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 18, 2014

Michael Baum ( @michaelbaum ), whom I first met at LinuxWorld at in 2004, has a charismatic personality and an extraordinary track record, largely unheralded. Founder.org founder Michael Baum. In Paris today at the World Founder Forum he announced the top 10 student team winners who split $1 million in seed money prizes.

Founder 60

Founder Entrepreneur North America Startup 60

Genuine VC

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

There are a couple classic archetypes of internet/software founders, including the genius college student cooking up something quirky but ultimately disruptive in his dorm room who launches his company straight out of undergrad. Today the landscape is very different from 2004.

Boston 206

Boston Internet Entrepreneur .Net 206

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2011

In a nutshell – I think airbnb eventually got to the right place and I was impressed with the letter their founder Brian Chesky wrote and their new commitment to safety and damages. The short article in Fast Company is here if you’d like to read it. Think John Kerry and the “swift boat&# scandal.

PR 329

PR Management Startup Vietnam 329