Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As the idea went from innovating on software & systems to launching a company to rolling it out in the field brought on Rahul Gandhi as his co-founder to physically launch the company. Sam & Rahul have worked closely together on “innovate & operate” since the earliest days of MakeSpace. Seriously, this happens.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

Our founder, Yves Sisteron, was my mentor and board member at my first startup. ” But it’s that exact trust that allowed them to agree for me to join, the gradually introduce change (that they encouraged & supported) and to eventually co-lead the partnership after just a few short years on the inside.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Cofounder San Francisco Silicon Valley 320

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2016

When we met Shireen (CEO) and Scott (Co-founder & CTO) in late 2014 they had been inspired to create Nima to address their own personal food issues and empower other people to live their healthiest lives. We are predisposed to backing founders who solve problems in which they have personal knowledge that is authentic.

Cofounder 207

Cofounder Differentiation Hosting Design 207

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 11, 2021

founders, marketers, investors?—?and As a VC, one of the key things I’m looking for in any new investor is “product-founder fit” e.g. does this founder have an insight or advantage that makes them uniquely suited to successfully build this product and business? Founders, marketers and growth leaders?—?join

Founder 424

Founder Product Cofounder Acquisition 424

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

I first met Andrew Stalbow , the founder & CEO of Seriously in August of 2013. and Petri was co-founder and head of creative at Remedy Entertainment that launched the hit PC games Max Payne and Alan Wake. I think this is a Seriously great example of how this process works for at least one VC – Upfront Ventures.

Technical Review 373

Technical Review North America Los Angeles Cofounder 373

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

My internal compass has always steered me strongly toward the belief that founders who can scale with their startup companies are better to back that founders who eventually need to hire a CEO. Very few founder CEOs go into the job ever expecting to give up their seat. We set out to find Jonathan’s “co-founder.”

Technical Review 303

Technical Review Cofounder Analytics Founder 303

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

” From the hyperbolic Jason Calacanis weighing in that “The petty VC’s did everything to deride [Naval, the co-founder of AngelList]” as though the industry was collectively s g its pants that AngelList was going to put us out of business. founder fighting. strategic direction. If I commit to a $2.5

Syndicate 356

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Early Stage 356

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

You have two founders and it was agreed that one would get the CEO role so the other needs to call themselves president or COO. I was the CEO of my startup and my co-founder was the president. None of our staff really knew what that meant but they knew that he was a co-founder and that he was, well, the president.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Due Diligence 325

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2011

This week I sat down with Chris Dixon, co-founder / CEO of Hunch and Partner at Founder Collective in the most recent installment of This Week in Venture Capital. 2. Chris then discussed his time as founder and CEO of SiteAdvisor, his first venture-backed startup.

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Cofounder API 281

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

They have totally changed the way you run a VC firm, investing heavily in systems & events for their founders that are pushing the boundaries of the way our industry works. The discussion with Howard Morgan starts off by acknowledging Josh Kopelman as a co-founder of First Round Capital. I'm a huge fan of this innovation.

Pre-Money Valuation 284

Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Cofounder Cram Down 284

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 5, 2010

I’ve been meaning to write this post since September of last year when Brad Feld first wrote about the The Founders Visa Movement. TWTFelipe is the founder of TWTApps , who had developed some really cool add-on applications for Twitter to extend its functionality. university in math or science&# (Thomas Friedman).

Technical Review 282

Technical Review Canada Green South Carolina 282

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

We then help surround founders with other talent who want to join important causes but don’t have the startup idea themselves. It’s the founders who are willing to let you join their boards. I can try to be as smart as possible on market trends, industry dynamics and so forth. It’s the people who want to work with you.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Fractional CTO Cofounder Early Stage 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

By now you probably know that David Sacks , co-founder of PayPal and founder of both Geni & Yammer made some observations on Facebook that Silicon Valley “as we know it” was coming to an end. “In order to create a successful new company, you have to find an idea that. (1)

Silicon Valley 299

Silicon Valley Technical Review Early Stage Cofounder 299

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.

San Francisco 256

San Francisco Valuation Technical Review Los Angeles 256

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

. “We’re all equal co-founders and we don’t care about titles.&# I usually encourage people to think about titles like, “Founder & CTO&# or “Founder & VP Marketing.&#. Functional roles provide more clarity around roles and responsibilities. and my favorite].

Operations 292

Operations CTO Hire Startup Early Stage 292

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Founded in November 2007 in New York City by Alexis Maybank and Kevin Ryan (co-founder of DoubleClick); CEO is Susan Lyne (ex-CEO Marta Stewart Living Omnimedia) Revenue estimates: $50mm in 2008; $170mm in 2009 (versus budget of $150mm); $450mm forecasted for 2010. Note that I’m not defining who numbers 1,2 are. Time will tell.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. Most experienced VCs won’t push you to give up founder control at this stage of the business nor should they. Founder’s perspective. You’ll get empathy. Experience. Relationships.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

From left to right above is Tristan Walker (founder of Walker & Co), Magic Johnson (successful NBA basketball player and successful business man – his two life goals), Beatriz Acevedo (founder of Mitu, the largest Latino digital media company) and Troy Carter (founder of Atom Factory and Cross Culture Ventures).

Silicon Valley 150

Silicon Valley Video Los Angeles Philadelphia 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2010

I wrote a blog post about being hands on where I argued that startup founders need to be hands-on or in my words, “you can’t run a burger chain if you’ve never flipped burgers.&#. It’s different when you’re co-founders and one person gets the title COO. But even then I think it’s funny.

Entrepreneur 286

Entrepreneur CTO Hire Cofounder Early Stage 286

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2016

We also look for a cultural fit with Upfront, which includes the gravitas to deal with executives and founders at the startups we back as well as the other board members. Having a great co-investor (in good times and bad times, till death do we part) can make all the difference in critical moments of a company’s trajectory.

Partner 150

Partner South Korea Venture Capital Europe 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

We had a wide-ranging discussion which included discussions of Eric’s early career (including his failures), how he came to focus on the Lean Startup movement (at the encouragement of Steve Blank who was an investor in the company he co-founded) and what he wants to do next. There are many in this episode. Check it out.

Silicon Valley 301

Silicon Valley Lean Social Media PR 301

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

ShoeDazzle has Kim Kardashian as a co-founder / company as a spokesperson as well as Brian Lee who was a co-founder at Legal Zoom. Sort of a sophisticated and targeted co-reg – even though I’m guessing they hate that term. Add this new model to the mix. 13mm in Series B. 5.0mm in Series B.

Venture Capital 270

Venture Capital Cofounder Spain San Diego 270

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2013

The founders had been responsible for gaining staggering scale in the past 3 years, having been trail-blazers in building a network of talent and an unrivaled understanding of the YouTube ecosystem. ” Dana & I took a chance on the founders early on. Mr. T (DeStorm) vs. Mr. Rogers. Babe Ruth vs. Lance Armstrong.

Video 320

Video Los Angeles Technical Cofounder CTO Hire 320

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

I save room in literally every deal to invite angels (or seed funds) to co-invest with me. Another founder … “When I pitched the idea to Adam, he was super on board,” Mr. Sloyan said. If anything it felt like a public service to founders to me. I simply want founders to be educated on the topic to be helpful.

Cap Table 150

Cap Table Cofounder Silicon Valley Startup 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? ” As far as “terms” go I’m 100% aligned to have the most vanilla, founder-friendly terms I can. And I listen to the reasons their co-founders quit their well-payed job to join them.

Early Stage 361

Early Stage Deal Flow Investment Bankers Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? ” As far as “terms” go I’m 100% aligned to have the most vanilla, founder-friendly terms I can. And I listen to the reasons their co-founders quit their well-payed job to join them.

Deal Flow 347

Deal Flow Early Stage Investment Bankers Technical Review 347

Both Sides of the Table

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.&#. With three co-founders, what was decision making and roles and responsibilities like? In the early days, decision-making was made by consensus by all three co-founders.

Connecticut 286

Connecticut Cofounder Silicon Valley Web 286

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 11, 2018

We’ve known each other for nearly a decade and he’s been a friend, a co-investor in startups and a mentor to many startups with whom I’ve worked. He has embodied the typical founder journey you would expect from any dropout kid from Stanford or Harvard. It was just announced today on TechCrunch.

Cofounder 206

Cofounder Curation Matching Video 206

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

I’m not talking about two people from the same company (like co-founders) or two partners at a VC firm. If multiple people are in the meeting - Do your best not to reschedule when meetings involve multiple people. Board meetings do get rescheduled but when they do it’s best to do it as far in advance as possible.

Las Vegas 369

Las Vegas Warrant Technical Review Cofounder 369

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2012

Another VC called the co-founder & tech head – Parker Harris. They can get at the most important information early on by simply asking you : How much of the company do the founders own? Founder friction / departures. He forwarded an annoyed email to my main contact at Salesforce. S**t rolls downhill.

Technical Review 316

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Cap Table 316

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 15, 2010

He’s considering making me the permanent co-host so if you enjoy any of this episode or want to see me on the show on a more regular basis please Tweet @jason and let him know (he asked for direct feedback). That said, the founder is Stewart Butterfield , who co-founded Flickr. How do founder get “liquidity&# (e.g.

Venture Capital 271

Venture Capital Affiliate Valuation San Francisco 271

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

When we started our next company, Koral, Ryan was a co-founder. It was a very strange process for me to accept transferring our most senior technologist to the US where we only had a small presence. But we did it and he stayed loyal to us for years and provided significant value despite his location.

San Francisco 322

San Francisco South Africa CTO Hire Fractional CTO 322

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 2, 2014

The acquiring company wants 100% of the proceeds to go to founders whatever the cap table says because buyers care way more about incentivizing and locking in founders than they do about VC returns or legal provisions to protect VCs. Every circumstance is different.

Cap Table 346

Cap Table Cofounder Stock Acquisition 346

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

Tracy DiNunzio isn’t your typical Silicon Valley startup founder. Tracy is knowledgeable enough to talk tech and swap design & product stories with other founders, but she realized early that networking amongst this group and reading and writing in their journals would not bring her more customers.

Silicon Valley 363

Silicon Valley Cofounder Entrepreneur Startup 363

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

years ago and told me, “I just got offered the chance to buy this company because the founder doesn’t want to continue. Sometimes this involves co-CEO’s. A close friend of mine in LA who is 3 years into his startup called me about 2.5 It has awesome features that my main competitor doesn’t have.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 1, 2009

I was reading one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs, VentureHacks, this weekend and noticed that they are running a long piece on how to pick a co-founder. Once it’s set up I recommend bringing in a co-founder and giving them 10-30% of the company depending upon when you bring them in. You’ll be fine.

Hiring 289

Hiring Cofounder Dilution Startup 289

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2015

The hardest thing about starting a company is that from day one you emerge as this completely vulnerable entity trying its hardest to project success, power, trajectory and inevitability while you secretly know that you’re one knock-out blow from extinction.

Oauth 150

Oauth Software Review Technical Review IPO 150