Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2011

Some startups won’t make the cut but those founders will have developed invaluable skills and will join the ranks of the survivors. Increased reluctance of angel investors to fund any new hot team based solely on the “social proof&# of who else invested. As an industry this is probably OK.

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation Angel Investor 289

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SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Howard Lindzon weighed in with his comments : “As a CEO of a venture backed business myself and founder of many others, I would add one thing… Thick Skin. I have been involved as an investor in many CEO / founder disputes including many that are not in my portfolio. If you fail, you need to start all over.

Ireland 319

Ireland Sales Bankruptcy Germany 319

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APRIL 13, 2011

So I was an Angel investor from 1994 to 1996. and one of the founders of Oblong, John Underkoffler, was an MIT Medialab PHd., So I was on the front line of this very aggressive rollup and I got involved in helping with the technical due diligence…”. “As And it’s that combination with a long-term view.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

Almost every successful company is a mixture of very hard work by the founders mixed with a pinch of luck, good fortune and perseverance. They sold 2 years later for $16 million In the financial crisis of 2008 we had a company that had jointly hired lawyers to consider a bankruptcy and also pursued (and achieved!)

Bankruptcy 294

Bankruptcy Bridge Financing Portfolio Angel Investor 294

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 4, 2016

I find the over-introducers especially corrosive around first-time founders who often struggle with the balance of their time between tasks like building product versus tasks like speaking at conferences or meeting with potential business development partners. Showing founders they know important people makes them feel more self important.

Angel Investor 255

Angel Investor Founder Global Conversion 255

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FEBRUARY 7, 2011

Such was my recent meeting with Seth Sternberg, founder & CEO of Meebo. And I’d recommend them to any talented startup founders out there.&#. Meebo angel investors also include Marc Andreessen and Auren Hoffman. With three co-founders, what was decision making and roles and responsibilities like?

Connecticut 286

Connecticut Cofounder Silicon Valley Web 286

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). Chris Dixon made the point that he thinks investors should look for the founders to have the domain knowledge rather than them having domain knowledge themselves. Obviously I agree.

Angel Investor 284

Angel Investor Early Stage Cap Table Deal Flow 284

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

But most importantly I lectured founders that you can’t avoid the admin of setting up your ESOP. If you are thinking about angel investors please read this piece I did on Angel Funding Advice. I also did a piece on how to think about pricing on angel deals. Do it early. Not if you don’t have to.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Term Sheet Valuation Stock Options 282

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

But I fear that for most angel investors who invest over the long haul angel investing will not be a profitable endeavor. So I’m going to offer my view on the “angel poker table” so you can decide if you really want to sit there. I will publish what I believe the five are in a series of articles. I could obviously go on.

Silicon Valley 306

Silicon Valley Deal Flow Angel Investor Cofounder 306

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

This is the second article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). And we all know that Ron Conway is considered the savviest of angel investors and yet by definition not all of his investments succeed. Want to do a Q&A website? They count the cards.

Angel Investor 288

Angel Investor Deal Flow Viral Algorithm 288

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SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). Chris Dixon made the point that he thinks investors should look for the founders to have the domain knowledge rather than them having domain knowledge themselves. Not everybody agreed.

Angel Investor 152

Angel Investor Cap Table Early Stage Deal Flow 152

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

I wonder sometimes if founders even know about the hours their lawyers or advisers put in on evenings, weekends, vacations. I had dinner with my friend Brooke Hammerling , founder of Brew PR recently. Coincidentally my good friend Roger Ehrenberg wrote a post this past week on founders having trust in their VCs. VENTURE CAPITAL.

Startup 363

Startup PR Venture Capital Angel Investor 363

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JANUARY 15, 2010

The event last night in Los Angeles was great. Local angel investors totaled 18 people including Matt Coffin , Brett Brewer , Kamran Pourzanjani , Jarl Mohn and many others that young entrepreneurs would be blessed to work with. Also present were NorCal angels including Ron Conway , Chris Sacca and Shervin Pishevar.

Southern California 254

Southern California Los Angeles Angel Investor Early Stage 254

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MAY 10, 2014

For those in the know, Jarl has been a savvy angel investor and a mentor to many young tech founders (and a few of us VCs as well). , EVP of MTV, President of Liberty Digital and on the boards of CNET, Scripps, comScore, Riot Games and Rubicon Project to name a few.

Los Angeles 299

Los Angeles Angel Investor Hosting Media 299

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

Nobody is offering to put you on their scout program and pay you to be an angel investor. And revisit my point about whether you are the archetypal founder who will get tons of money thrust upon you. I tell the founders I work with, “Listen, our incentives aren’t always 100% aligned. You’re out of money.

Burn Rate 412

Burn Rate Dilution Revenue Valuation 412

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MARCH 25, 2016

But it is often what happens with first-time entrepreneurs who are spoiled for choice with angel investors willing to fund with little thought or with the plethora of incubators that now exists who need a steady flow of options to hope to have the next big winner so they may not ask all the tough questions. Validate data. ”

Startup 150

Startup Seed Money DC Software Review 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

You have to strike a balance between the commitment you have to each and every entrepreneur but also to your own reputation in the market not to be over-selling the performance of companies to downstream investors. Co-founder discontent. What would this founder do if he got an offer to be acquihired quickly by Facebook?

Cofounder 374

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 374

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JANUARY 18, 2014

If the deal is from out of your geography and/or out of your focus area or a deal is being referred by a well-know investor who normally co-invests with similar syndicates – at least ask yourself, “Why am I so lucky to be getting this call.” I’m certain we’ll talk about it soon enough.

Cofounder 337

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Angel Investor 337

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AUGUST 30, 2010

Your goal as an early stage investor is specifically to lock in the most fair early-stage valuation you can. You clearly don’t want to price it so low that the founders don’t feel incentivized so it’s not about the lowest possible price but more about guaranteeing a certain cap. What about “super angel&# funds?

Equity 319

Equity Early Stage Angel Investor Valuation 319

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JULY 15, 2010

If you’re an angel investor you prefer a “priced&# rounds because you want to lock in a lower price given that you’re taking more risk up front. We then had a full session with Rick Smith, founder of Crosscut Ventures (along with Brian Garrett).

Southern California 210

Southern California Venture Capital Seed Stage Angel Investor 210

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MAY 1, 2014

So today I’m excited to announce that Upfront Ventures is leading an $8 million round with some amazing co-investors including Founder’s Fund, OATV, Lowercase, High Peaks, Collaborative Fund and many great angel investors. And for the next several months the founders literally ran the business.

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Software Review Cofounder CTO Hire 380

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APRIL 17, 2010

There were prominent founders of business like PriceGrabber, LowerMyBills and MyLife. The team has experience in building startups (Doug Ludlow was formerly a founder in a TechStars company) and have all worked at local Los Angeles based startups. We had executives from the studios like Fox, Warner Bros and Disney.

Los Angeles 276

Los Angeles Stealth Securities and Exchange Commission Southern California 276

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APRIL 21, 2010

entrepreneur Wil Schroter (I am an angel investor in Affordit). I spent a bunch of time with Co-founders Alex Bard and Gary Benitt. I also talked about Virgin Money , a product that I have used to lend friends money in the past. One interesting point about Wonga that I didn’t cover in the show. 5.0mm in Series B.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Social Network Angel Investor Chad 265

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 22, 2010

It’s still important advice for startup founders and something that I’m passionate about. You’re a startup founder. You start fighting with your co-founder whom you thought you understood. This is part of my startup advice series. This post isn’t going to be popular. I’m sure of that.

Hiring 392

Hiring Employee Vesting Silicon Valley 392

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2010

Right before I got into the industry I was at a cocktail party in Palo Alto and spoke with James Currier , the founder of Tickle and a former VC for Battery Ventures. If he reads this he’ll know that I’m still open to being an angel investor ). So he left and focused on starting companies.

Entrepreneur 297

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Java Ruby 297

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

In fact, most early investor work hard to help their startups get to the next level so it makes no sense for the angel investor and founders to be at odds. Investors call Bull Cap. Convertible debt with no cap is stupid for investors. Convertible debt WITH a cap is stupid for founders.

Ratchet 354

Ratchet Liquidation Preference Equity Stock 354

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APRIL 14, 2010

Liquidation preference is the amount of money that an investor gets paid before the common stock (e.g. management, founders, angel investors) get any money.

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Common Stock Dividend 289

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AUGUST 29, 2012

Nate followed through on his views by investing in LA accelerator Science , run by the venerable Mike Jones , who is a former founder (UserPlane, sold to AOL), tech exec (at AOL and later at MySpace) and one of LA’s most prolific (and well liked) angels. 22:00 Mark’s book recommendation: American Pastoral by Philip Roth.

Southern California 279

Southern California Detroit Los Angeles California 279

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OCTOBER 17, 2009

With open source software (LAMP stack) and cloud computing infrastructure it just wasn’t that expensive to get your company going and founders just wanted to raise less money. I haven’t met a single founder has hasn’t raved about their experience working with Jon Callaghan, Phil Black or Tony Conrad.

Software Review 283

Software Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Southern California 283

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MARCH 1, 2011

Mike is a no BS guy, has all the attributes I look for in a founder and says things like, openly shares knowledge and opines without a filter including this one, “whoever invented uncapped convertible debt should be spanked!&# He is also an active angel investor in companies like Klout and Meetup.

Semantic 302

Semantic Acquisition Valuation Angel Investor 302

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MARCH 1, 2011

Think of Scooter as Justin’s angel investor. This is what Fred Wilson talks about in this post about the FourSquare founders. Scooter went the extra mile, didn’t take no for an answer and even fronted all of Justin’s costs to get him to come to Atlanta. Foursquare is a great example of this.

Entrepreneur 398

Entrepreneur Atlanta Audience SEM 398

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FEBRUARY 10, 2011

In my ongoing quest to get you good transcripts of the wonderful interviews we’ve done in the past, I present you with one amazing interview here with Tom McInerney – a friend, co-investor, former entrepreneur turned angel investor and “wizard of Oz&# behind the scenes at the uber hot startup Klout.

Angel Investor 302

Angel Investor Cofounder Southern California .Net 302

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NOVEMBER 15, 2014

Luckily for our community the founders decided they wanted to build their company in LA regardless of not having local funding from LA. ” The VPs of SnapChat will be LA’s great founders 5 years from now. Silicon Valley is littered with startups where the founders were originally in LA.

Community 369

Community Silicon Valley Chicago Boston 369

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JUNE 23, 2016

During this period Kobie worked closely with many SaaS companies including ExactTarget from its early days and the Founder & CEO, Scott Dorsey, served as a strong reference for Kobie. Kobie then headed to Los Angeles to join LA-based startup REVOLVE as its CMO where he got his direct operating experience.

Partner 260

Partner Los Angeles San Francisco New York 260

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MARCH 6, 2011

I was hanging out the other day with my buddy Jody Sherman, founder & CEO of EcoMom. I was an angel investor in his company, made a bunch of calls on his behalf and then I personally sent it out on AngelList. Q&A with Babak Nivi and Naval Ravikant, founders of AngelList. Through this process he raised $2 million.

Valuation 292

Valuation Deal Flow Lead Investor Cofounder 292

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FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Can Investors Spook the Market into Falling? “10 angel investors walk into a bar …” Do you remember AngelGate at Bin38 ? Many founders don’t understand why inside rounds are so difficult. And down rounds might favor later-stage investors over earlier-stage investors who get wiped out.

Valuation 150

Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

The prices of angel deals have recently crept up, VCs have also gotten their checkbooks out again, frothy deals are happening and people are feeling bullish. This class of investors is more diversified across categories plus is investing personal money and therefore feels the hit in assets declines first.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Technical Review Balance Sheet Government 298