Professor VC

JANUARY 27, 2008

The spring semester of my Entrepreneurial Finance class starts tomorrow. During the next four months, we will examine over a dozen entrepreneurial ventures from a diverse mix of industries - technology, service, food & beverage, and fashion. After a successful career in a technology leader (Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, etc.)

San Jose 28

San Jose Technical Review Angel Investor Venture Capital 28

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 12, 2008

Of course, rigorous diligence is performed, the team is challenged, and assumptions are tested. Once the point is reached where you want to move ahead, we put the sales hat on and convince our partners about the incredible opportunity that we are lucky enough to be able to invest on the ground floor. How Much Diligence is Due.

San Jose 31

San Jose Technical Review Venture Capital Angel Investor 31

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

If you have a reputation for cutting corners, not treating employees or partners right, it will become very difficult to do business. How Much Diligence is Due. I take CFO roles in early stage companies and participate on the management team during the early financings and business model development phases. ► May.

San Jose 43

San Jose Silicon Valley Las Vegas Venture Capital 43

Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 9, 2011

Venture capitalists have an information advantage – startups are required to be fully transparent about everything before a VC invests in it during weeks if not months of diligence, but prospective employees are limited to just a few questions they ask during a series of interviews with only a few people at the company.

Startup 146

Startup Burn Rate Technical Review Down Round 146

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

He knows how to advise entrepreneurs on hiring/firing, running teams, managing funding, when/how to control burn rate, and making other tough management decisions in the real environment of startups. How do I measure my partners and myself? The board members were nice, friendly cheerleaders. I was almost isolated in my view.

Burn Rate 87

Burn Rate Hiring Engineer Entrepreneur 87

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

Why the Unicorn Financing Market Just Became Dangerous…For All Involved. All Unicorn participants — founders, company employees, venture investors and their limited partners (LPs) — are seeing their fortunes put at risk from the very nature of the Unicorn phenomenon itself. In Q1 of 2016 there were zero VC-backed technology IPOs.

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

www.chubbybrain.com

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

Also worth a read after you review these startup failure post-mortems. A month ago, half way through my angel funds raised from family members, I decided to review the progress I’ve made and figure out what still needs to happen to make this a viable business. We focused too much on technology. Company : Untitled Partners.

Software Review 79

Software Review Startup Technical Review Vesting 79

abovethecrowd.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2015

Every successful technology company raises money throughout its lifecycle, perhaps starting with a seed investment and progressing through Series A, B, C, late-stage investments, and, for the most successful companies, an IPO. An unprecedented 80 private companies have raised financings at valuations over $1B in the last few years.

IPO 40

IPO Liquidation Preference Valuation Technical Review 40

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 6, 2011

Jussi Laakkonen , CEO & founder of Applifie, summarized it well: We recently raised our seed round at Applifier and it was led by a silicon valley seed fund MHS Capital, whose general partner is Mark Sugarman. R&D outside SV is normally cheaper, so it helps you keeping your burn rate low. And what do the investors think?

Silicon Valley 104

Silicon Valley Startup Seed Stage Delaware 104

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

Venture Capitalists typically have partners’ meetings on Mondays. So the industry formed around a day of the week when all partners could avoid having company board meetings or traveling. I introduced my partners, we spent weeks with the team and felt good rapport. Let’s review all of our existing investments.

Stock 305

Stock Technical Review Marketing Greece 305