Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2020

Based on my years of experience in both startups and large companies, trusted relationships are more the key to success than a great business model, how smart you are, or how much money you have.

Silicon Valley 312

Silicon Valley Bandwidth Angel Investor Equity 312

The Next Web

JULY 20, 2013

Do they really expect that the next Facebook will come knocking at their ivory towers with a polished product, proven business model and the only thing missing on the way to an IPO being their Series A investment?”. And if they do, they complain about lack of global potential or misunderstand my product completely. “Do

Silicon Valley 124

Silicon Valley Mongolia Technical Cofounder Entrepreneur 124

Steve Blank

JANUARY 20, 2014

The differences between the Bend, Oregon region and Silicon Valley are obvious. The sheer density of talent, companies, capital and universities that exist in the Valley are second to none. Job creation in Bend is everyone’s business. People who make the move typically need to start a business to have a job.

Silicon Valley 312

Silicon Valley Oregon Lean Venture Capital 312

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

Whether or not you’re raising money for your business, getting advice from venture capitalists can be invaluable. But, getting in the doors of a Sand Hill Road VC in Silicon Valley can be an incredibly difficult undertaking. Follow Bill on Twitter @billgurley. Don’t miss out on their great podcast!

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Silicon Valley Cofounder 60

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 31, 2014

The trap most of them fell into (common almost everywhere): they were reading the blog posts and advice of Silicon Valley-based companies and believing that it uniformly applied to them. For example, many of the Australian sports tech business models shared common elements. It doesn’t. Born Global or Die Local.

Global 335

Global Australia Silicon Valley China 335

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 6, 2022

John Jantsch (02:29): So I'm curious, how did you get into the business of advising startups? Well, Steve Hoffman (02:34): First of all, I did three venture funded startups in Silicon valley and two bootstrap startups. How do you put together an investor deck? You know, could you look at my business plan?

San Francisco 97

San Francisco Technical Review Incubator Silicon Valley 97

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Unless you are a serial entrepreneur with a string of successes behind you, you need a business plan to convince investors that you can build a business out of the dream that has been driving your passion to change the world. Provide details on the business model and cash flow.

Elevator Pitch 163

Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Silicon Valley Revenue 163

Steve Blank

JUNE 2, 2011

Reinventing the board meeting may allow venture-backed startups a more efficient, productive way to direct and measure their search for a profitable business model. Silicon Valley, New York). Startups now understand what they should be doing in their early formative days is search for a business model.

Silicon Valley 281

Silicon Valley Business Model Early Stage Venture Capital 281

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2014

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over 60 times as many companies, according the Center for Venture Research. Individual angel investors have been filling the gap, and now match VCs in total amount invested.

Angel Investor 260

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Startup Portfolio 260

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

Reinventing the board meeting may offer venture-backed startups a more efficient, productive way to direct and measure their search for a profitable business model. Silicon Valley, New York). Yet boards of large companies exist to monitor efficient strategy and execution of a known business model.

Silicon Valley 290

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 290

Professor VC

MAY 29, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. What does it take to be an Angel Investor? To the SEC, it means that you are an accredited investor and To the man (or woman) on the street, a minimum qualification would seem to be an interest and ability to invest in early stage ventures. ProfessorVC. Thursday, May 29, 2008.

Angel Investor 28

Angel Investor Angel Groups Accredited Investor San Jose 28

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

Reinventing the board meeting may offer venture-backed startups a more efficient, productive way to direct and measure their search for a profitable business model. Silicon Valley, New York). Yet boards of large companies exist to monitor efficient strategy and execution of a known business model.

Silicon Valley 258

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 258

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

Takeaway lesson: There’s a reason that private equity companies tend to concentrate their early-stage investments among Ivy League graduates in Silicon Valley, and that reason is reduced risk.

Private Equity 94

Private Equity Pre-Money Valuation Equity Startup 94

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2013

Sites like KickStarter have for years offered rewards and pre-sales for crowd investments, but real equity won’t be legalized until sometime this year for people other than accredited investors. Super-angels. This usually involves more attention to organizational, operational, and strategic challenges. Osmosis marketing.

Entrepreneur 274

Entrepreneur Accredited Investor Silicon Valley Angel Investor 274

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 22, 2016

Based on my years of experience in both startups and large companies, trusted relationships are more the key to success than a great business model, how smart you are, or how much money you have.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Bandwidth Angel Investor Equity 120

The Next Web

OCTOBER 15, 2012

The main observation of differences between Silicon Valley and emerging tech hubs in the rest of the world is access to early stage seed funding and international press. Many startups are Silicon Valley clones. Startups are up to Silicon Valley standards.

Silicon Valley 148

Silicon Valley Tanzania Chile Rwanda 148

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2010

When I first came to Silicon Valley the world of Venture Capital looked pretty simple. VC’s invested in things that ran on electrons: hardware, software and silicon. The VC business took off with the rapid growth of the semiconductor business. Lean Angels. Here’s why. Electron-based Venture Capital.

Lean 258

Lean Internet Silicon Valley Venture Capital 258

Professor VC

MARCH 10, 2009

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. I moderated a panel discussion last night on one of my favorite topics, bootstrapping, as part of our Silicon Valley Center for Entrepreneurship Eminent Speaker Series at San Jose State. Kennet has a white paper on that summarizes why bootstrapped businesses are the best.

Bootstrapping 28

Bootstrapping San Jose Silicon Valley Software Review 28

Professor VC

JANUARY 27, 2011

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. are investors better just rolling the dice. Ive addressed the due diligence question in previous posts, but this came up again in a debate we were having at a recent meeting of the Sand Hill Angels. What does it take to be an Angel Investor? ProfessorVC. work at home.

Technical Review 31

Technical Review Due Diligence Silicon Valley San Jose 31

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 15, 2011

Startups now understand what they should be doing in their early formative days is search for a business model. The process they use to guide that search is "Customer Development" ; and to track their progress startups now have a scorecard to document their week-by-week changes – the business model canvas.

Silicon Valley 118

Silicon Valley Startup Early Stage Business Model 118

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 13, 2011

Reinventing the board meeting may offer venture-backed startups a more efficient, productive way to direct and measure their search for a profitable business model. Silicon Valley, New York). Yet boards of large companies exist to monitor efficient strategy and execution of a known business model.

Silicon Valley 117

Silicon Valley Balance Sheet Metrics Early Stage 117

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Card Counting for Investors. How would Billy Beane have done as an early stage investor? What does it take to be an Angel Investor? I am an active angel investor and on the board of Sand Hill Angels. ProfessorVC. Monday, September 26, 2011.

Technical Review 38

Technical Review Early Stage San Jose Angel Investor 38

Venture Chronicles

MARCH 27, 2012

I love the fact that Pinterest exploded in popularity outside of the echo chamber that is Silicon Valley. Prominent SV angel investors passed on the deal, few people wrote about it, and it took 2 years from it’s founding (2008) to get a Crunchbase entry, much less any significant press coverage.

Silicon Valley 59

Silicon Valley Angel Investor Bootstrapping America 59

Up and Running

MAY 28, 2015

I’m in my seventh year now as a leader and an angel investment group where we just announced an investment last Thursday, and I’m very familiar with how this works for angel investors. Tell your angel investors a story about need. Depending on who the investors are, some want more, some want less.

Lean 60

Lean Business Plan Video Software Review 60

Professor VC

APRIL 1, 2010

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Negotiating an Angel Deal in your PJs. was part of a Dow Jones VentureWire webinar last week titled Negotiating An Angel Deal: What Angels, Entrepreneurs & VCs Need to Know. Labels: Angel Investors , fundraising , term sheets , venture capital , venture financing.

Term Sheet 32

Term Sheet Angel Investor San Jose Venture Capital 32

Professor VC

JANUARY 17, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Touched by an Angel. I think the title of this post is a TV show, but fitting as there has been much debate in the venture community as to the whether angel investors are good or bad for entrepreneurs and VCs. What would the VC corollary to Touched by an Angel, be.

Pre-Money Valuation 28

Pre-Money Valuation Angel Investor Angel Groups Valuation 28

Professor VC

DECEMBER 18, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Some result from years of work and/or education while others are a result of trying to identify a unique solution to a consumer or business problem. We recently had our Neat Ideas Fair, which is my favorite annual event of our Silicon Valley Center for Entrepreneurship at SJSU.

San Jose 28

San Jose Silicon Valley Technical Review Angel Investor 28

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. What does it take to be an Angel Investor? I am an active angel investor and on the board of Sand Hill Angels. I take CFO roles in early stage companies and participate on the management team during the early financings and business model development phases.

Technical Review 38

Technical Review San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley 38

Professor VC

APRIL 7, 2011

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. I thought about doing this in a top 10 format, but will limit to my top 3 reasons: Misalignment of incentives - As an angel investor I want to do everything I can to help the entrepreneur succeed. What does it take to be an Angel Investor? ProfessorVC. ► July. (1).

San Jose 36

San Jose Technical Review Angel Investor Valuation 36

Steve Blank

AUGUST 8, 2016

Lane served as Executive Vice President at Disney for five years before returning to his entrepreneurial roots to become an angel investor and launch FreshGrade. . No MBA business model would ever come out with, “Hey we’re going to go target the academics.” ” If you can’t hear the clip, click here.

Cofounder 145

Cofounder New York City Entrepreneur New York 145

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. If you are not transparent with your investors, you won't raise money the second time around, regardless of whether you were successful or not successful the first time. While Silicon Valley covers a large amount of turf, it is very small. ProfessorVC. June 3, 2010 9:50 AM.

San Jose 43

San Jose Silicon Valley Las Vegas Venture Capital 43

Steve Blank

AUGUST 8, 2016

Lane served as Executive Vice President at Disney for five years before returning to his entrepreneurial roots to become an angel investor and launch FreshGrade. . No MBA business model would ever come out with, “Hey we’re going to go target the academics.” ” If you can’t hear the clip, click here.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder New York City Entrepreneur New York 120

Professor VC

JANUARY 27, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. In addition to the case study analysis, the students also have the opportunity to develop a business model and financial model for a new concept, which always proves a lot more challenging. As an angel investor and start-up CFO, I should have a good vantage point.

San Jose 28

San Jose Technical Review Angel Investor Venture Capital 28

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. Is there a profitable business model? The Traditional VC Pitch Entrepreneurs who pursue the traditional product development model don’t have customer data to answer these questions. Can it scale?”

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. This got me thinking about the business model that Mike Keiser has built at the resort and a lecture began to form in my head. cant wait to go back, which is clearly goal #1 in the list of critical success factors if anyone is still following the business model tangent.

Oregon 28

Oregon San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

Professor VC

APRIL 11, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Not to worry, I was busy working on closing the Series B financing for iControl Networks. What does it take to be an Angel Investor? I am an active angel investor and on the board of Sand Hill Angels. ProfessorVC. Friday, April 11, 2008. Babys All Grown Up.

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Venture Capital Balance Sheet 28

Professor VC

JULY 31, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. This whole process got me thinking about the textbook business model. Labels: business models , Grateful Dead , textbook. What does it take to be an Angel Investor? I am an active angel investor and on the board of Sand Hill Angels.

San Jose 28

San Jose Software Review Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28