Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 25, 2015

When we first funded the company in 2009 we knew there was a big opportunity to help businesses automate marketing through phone channels. Many people said, “phone calls are dead, people want to text” but luckily conventional wisdom is often wrong.

Silicon Valley 150

Silicon Valley IPO Demand Revenue 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

This is not unlike a major biz dev deal you’re trying to sign or a big sales campaign into the VP of a major company. I like to tell entrepreneurs to treat it like a sales campaign. EXACTLY like a sales campaign. It is much easier to follow up by calling the junior staff (again, just as you would in a sales campaign).

Campaign 277

Campaign Email Venture Capital Term Sheet 277

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2010

If you want to run marketing campaigns you need to know who influences whom and in which product categories and geographies. We talked about ReachLocal and how we think they’ll be a great channel for any software company wanting to sell online services to local businesses (they have a nationwide salesforce).

IPO 236

IPO .Net Venture Capital Strategic Investors 236

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

The sooner you understand that the sooner you can plan your campaign. 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. Create a sustained campaign. All sales campaigns are processes that occur over time.

Developer 366

Developer Silicon Valley PR Las Vegas 366

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2018

Research whom the partner knows both for an introduction as well as for back-channeling So now you know the firms and the partners. You could easily guess their email addresses or ping them on Twitter?—?don’t. No matter how tempting it is.

LP 215

LP San Francisco Minneapolis Partner 215

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

. <Small plug> – I invested in an awesome company called … awe.sm … that is a performance tracking tool that let’s you measure efficacy of channels like this (email, facebook, twitter, linkedin, etc.) as well as what drove the success of the campaigns. It changed everything.

Viral 303

Viral Investment Bankers Video Business Model 303

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

I’ve written extensively on the topic , but in a nutshell it is: an RSS reader, a chat room, instant messaging, a marketing channel, a customer service department and increasingly a data mine. Products like awe.sm (I’m an investor) will help you manage the efficacy of your social media marketing campaigns.

Social Network 318

Social Network Networking Internet Technical Review 318

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2016

Mark dutifully went to partner meetings, back-channel references began, firms started calling existing VCs to “test prices” and we started debating whom our best partner would be. We cut price and doubled down on an aggressive campaign to call back people who had been on the fence given the economic climate of prices dropping.

Balance Sheet 150

Balance Sheet Burn Rate Valuation Forecast 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 19, 2012

Facebook, Twitter, Salesforce.com, Apple, Google … channels all. And you need to have a channel strategy as a startup. Study channel strategies. In the video we discussed supermarkets and product companies as channels as an example. data to run effective social media campaigns. Let them be your friend.

Philadelphia 268

Philadelphia Channel Social Media Video 268

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2017

Again he looked to the media industry history and pointed out that before Ted Turner founded CNN he had an entertainment channel. And the idea that my employees many of whom felt directly attacked by the rhetoric on the campaign trail and they felt that their lives or their identities were directly attacked.

Media 210

Media Los Angeles Russia Viral 210