Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

Recently I wrote a post arguing to make the definition of a Startup more inclusive than that to which Silicon Valley, fueled by Venture Capital return profiles, would sometimes like to attach to the word. Most of what I think about startup communities came from mentorship by Brad Feld through hours of private discussion and debate.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

. Many people don’t realize that the majority of the monetization of the Internet originated in Los Angeles but was perfected in Silicon Valley. But the “monetization heart of the Internet” doesn’t stop at Overture, Applied Semantics and MySpace.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

We threw a Launchpad LA dinner to bring the community together as we tend to do 6-10 times a year. Somebody asked the question, “What do you think about the term ‘Silicon Beach? I hate Silicon Whatever. If anything using the word “Silicon” seems a bit derivative to NorCal. LA should be LA.”

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Steve Blank

AUGUST 13, 2009

Customer Development/Lean Startups In hindsight startups and the venture capital community left out the most important first step any startup ought to be doing – hypothesis testing in front of customers- from day one. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. I was an idiot. Order Here. To Order Outside of the U.S.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2010

First, I’d like to quote (paraphrase) Brad Feld speaking at Twiistup in LA in 2009, “I keep hearing people in LA talking with a chip on their shoulders about building a tech business here relative to Silicon Valley. But LA is not Silicon Valley and we don’t need to aspire to be so. Come join us.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

Last year I was on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley meeting with one of the most prominent venture capital firms in the country. And this Silicon Valley bias isn’t limited to any single meeting – it has been a recurring theme in my time as a VC. Funding is different outside of Silicon Valley.

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Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

If you’re a visiting dignitary whose country has a Gross National Product equal to or greater than the State of California, your visit to Silicon Valley consists of a lunch/dinner with some combination of the founders of Google, Facebook, Apple and Twitter and several brand name venture capitalists. Hackers’ Guide to Silicon Valley.

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