Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

You Manage What you Measure. One of the things I discuss the most with the portfolio companies I’m involved with is that “you manage what you measure.”. Or they go in the opposite direction and spend too much time capturing & measuring data that isn’t used to make management decisions. On measurement.

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup Acquisition SEM 346

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 18, 2019

The key is being able to dial back variable costs during these period. Each with better torque for getting up hills, better suspension, lower maintenance costs and improved batteries. Their time is free and there is no “driver COGS” (costs of goods sold). I know Bird is 100% ready with a plan of action for next winter.

South America 250

South America Global New York City Software Review 250

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

” So Ethan went to work as a product manager at Google Video. Ethan had pointed out to me that merchants were being barraged by “deal site” wanting to drive customers in the door but they didn’t have great tools to manage their customers. When Ethan was considering leaving Google we talked about it.

Southern California 359

Southern California San Francisco CTO Hire SEM 359

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

If you hire 6 sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business for 4-6 months. ” If you’re not profitable you’re purely a cost center to them. Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) =. Operating Costs.

Startup 418

Startup Revenue Technical Review Flash 418

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

So if your costs are $500,000 per month and you have $350,000 per month in revenue then your net burn (500-350) is equal to $150,000. Gross margin (GM) is the amount of profit you make per sale of your product or service taking into account your total costs of selling that product or service. Think DropBox, Airbnb, Uber, Maker Studios.

Burn Rate 383

Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net Valuation 383

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

.&# I took it to mean, “making decisions with small amounts of money (pennies) that end up making bad sense for affecting larger amounts of money (pounds, as in Great British Pounds).&# I thought of it as people who cut corners on small costs but paid dearly in terms of lost productivity on expensive staff.

Warrant 333

Warrant Germany France Cost 333

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Lately I’ve been having to say things I thought I’d never have to remind people, like, “getting to positive gross margin in several territories is a very low bar to claim success” or “profitable excluding marketing costs” is not actually a real thing. But not doing basic research makes no sense.

Startup 150

Startup Seed Money DC Software Review 150

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

And many of these people are money managers rather than people like Gus who inspire entrepreneurs. At just 24 years old I was given the responsibility of managing teams. I think the best VCs act as a sounding board for management. They think that they know better than management. But much good also came.

Pakistan 297

Pakistan India Technical Review Software Review 297

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

So rather than hiring a VP Marketing [to establish a strategic marketing plan, build and manage the marketing team, manage outside vendors, etc.] The more the supply of dollars spent in your channel the higher the cost-to-acquire new customers. If you can’t do this, nothing else really matters.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review Hockey Stick SEM Channel 384

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

He also nails the reason why venture capital is still necessary to grow large businesses quickly in a world where the costs of running startups have fallen dramatically. My first company was used to manage workflow & share CAD drawings and plans on the $16 billion refurbishment of the London Underground. Growth, again.

Silicon Valley 390

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 390

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 19, 2011

As people realized streamlining client-side development really matters to cost-effectively build software, new tool sets emerged to streamline the process. The costs of multi-platform development are too expensive. There is an acronym we use in computing called TCO or Total Cost of Ownership. Data, data, data.

Web 355

Web AJAX Distribution HTML 355

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2013

” For starters OpenTable had an advantage in that the restaurants back then needed an IT system to help with table management (the restaurant layout, table configurations, etc.) But it’s not as easy as you think to be “the OpenTable of X.” That is what we set out to solve at MyTime.

Development Team Review 324

Development Team Review Los Angeles San Francisco Mobile 324

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

It’s true that big companies can do a “fast follow” but the structure isn’t in place for a mid-level tech manager to work the kind of hours and attract the kind of talent that it takes to really break through. Not just in Silicon Valley but in LA, NY, Seattle and other major tech markets. “ And my fear?

Silicon Valley 299

Silicon Valley Technical Review Early Stage Cofounder 299

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 10, 2011

Each customer segment of your business needs to be analyzed to determine whether they are profitable enough given ongoing costs to serve them relative to the revenue you would receive and the retention money you’d have to money to keep them with your service. A 20% savings for a cost conscious consumer. If they were on the $9.99

Customer 287

Customer Technical Review Caching PR 287

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 8, 2010

Most technology startups seem to be founded by three types of people: product managers, engineers or biz dev types (MBAs and the like). These people take directions well from a sales manager on how to approach sales campaigns. I think I made a pretty good CEO but I know I would be lousy sales manager. Almost by definition.

Early Stage 350

Early Stage Startup Sales Campaign 350

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

It’s not zero calories but with the right board the benefits should far outweigh the time and emotional costs. But gone are the days where VCs put dollars into companies and ask founders to step aside quickly so that the VC can install their favorite management team. Can I really manage a 7-person board plus 2 board observers?

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Startup Angel Investor Silicon Valley 236

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2013

deliver profitable revenue that while on gross margins of 50% vs. software at 85-95% it is still profits to help you cover fixed costs. PS Business Cannot Become a Management Distraction. PS capabilities are important for enterprise startups because they: ensure your projects are more successful & thus more referenceable.

Software Review 321

Software Review Software IP Technical Review 321

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

We focused together on improving our sales methodology, our training and our comp plans through a larger than life ex country manager from PTC named Kai Krickel. We worked with customer X who saved 38% of their costs in the first year and increased sales by 14%. He taught me much – most of it unconventional. And finally.

Sales 382

Sales Startup Technical Review Matching 382

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

They chose the name First Round Capital because they thought capital would be deployed most efficiently at smaller seed stage rounds considering the cost to build an internet business had come down drastically. They did not take salaries during the first two years and invested more money in the firm than they received from management fees.

Pre-Money Valuation 284

Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Cofounder Cram Down 284

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 6, 2014

Seek “disconfirming evidence” The strange thing about most reference calls is that by the time the hiring manager is calling she is often already pre-disposed to hiring the candidate. One obvious example is that HR can make a few calls that the hiring manager doesn’t make. And they have a general sense of reputation.

Technical Review 302

Technical Review Hiring Later Stage Employee 302

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

The other investors around the table didn’t agree nor did the “independent” board members who were willing to turn a blind eye to capital inefficiency since they didn’t have any economic interests that would be diluted by continued fund raising to support a capitally inefficient management team. I only had one board with this problem.

Burn Rate 263

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Private Equity 263

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

We missed our sales targets that year by 66% and the next year by 45% and never really cut costs very much. I walked through my logic, “well, if a customer installs your tool on his website he’s going to have to hire an entire staff to manage the project. The company incinerated cash. And I asked to leave the board.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Burn Rate Cofounder Sales 306

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. Many prominent LPs have also recognized the “prorata opportunity” and have set up “direct investment vehicles” themselves to take prorata stakes in their managers portfolio companies.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

It’s the one thing I miss having switched from player to manager – I love the joy of winning and of competing. I realized that it is not enough to know one partner per firm and it is not enough for only the management team to like you. It’s what makes you stand out from the rest. Entrepreneurs are neurotic about it.

China 333

China Silicon Valley Software Review Technical Review 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

It’s the one thing I miss having switched from player to manager – I love the joy of winning and of competing. I realized that it is not enough to know one partner per firm and it is not enough for only the management team to like you. It’s what makes you stand out from the rest. Entrepreneurs are neurotic about it.

China 328

China Silicon Valley Software Review Technical Review 328

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

It meant that the management teams hadn’t figured out a product / market fit for their own businesses. bring in management who can take your company to the next level and you stay on the board with some control. Many investors and management teams panic and get stranded without cash. how to cut redundant costs. -

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

The managing partner of the firm called me the next day. we had about 25 firms contacting us – more than I could manage. Experienced and serial entrepreneurs in the content management space. Web service architecture that provides a content management platform for the Internet. After Office 2.0 Folksonomy.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

He presented a system where your search results would be ranked based on companies bidding for placement and where merchants would be charged on a “cost per click” basis (CPC). What was Bill Gross’s heretical idea as portrayed to the tech elite?

Los Angeles 376

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Seattle 376

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Back then it was a larger than life ex country manager from PTC named Kai Krickel. We worked with customer X who saved 38% of their costs in the first year and increased sales by 14%. Management always sets sales budgets that roll up to a number beyond the actual board budget. He called his business TEDIC. And finally.

Sales 316

Sales Technical Review Matching Hiring 316

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

If you hire 6 senior sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business 6 months. COGS” represents the amount that each sale costs you. After all, they doubled their operating costs when they weren’t even profitable.

Stock Options 227

Stock Options Startup Dilution Venture Capital 227

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

I work hard to create working relationships with my fellow non-management board members in the same way that every investor ultimately works to develop strong working relationships with founders. Should we cut costs, do layoffs, close divisions and focus scare resources on fewer projects? The founders of a company are fighting.

LP 269

LP Startup Burn Rate Stock Options 269

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 18, 2010

There is no cost but you must physically be based in or move to Los Angeles for the 6 months of the program. Today we announced Launchpad LA V2. Full press release with more details is here. We will be selecting 10 startup companies to participate. I’m excited.

Southern California 259

Southern California Los Angeles Technical Review Covenant 259

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Board meeting gets scheduled Nobody thinks too much about it until a week or two before Management team has a last-minute scramble to pull materials together Management is super focused on its daily work of … winning customers, signing biz dev, shipping product … so this prep is a last minute “fire drill” and is seen as a slight distraction.

Stock Options 226

Stock Options Metrics Stock Valuation 226

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

Costs of product on YouTube content is literally 99% cheaper than traditional TV and; Distribution of content can now go viral and can predictably distributed via social networks. Hits driven businesses come when production costs or distribution costs are so high that you need a home run to cover the huge costs of development.

Silicon Valley 374

Silicon Valley Los Angeles Distribution Java 374

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

Legal costs of early stage financing should be cheap – this is one of the final remaining arguments for convertible debt but even Paul acknowledges that this is no longer necessarily the case: “Different terms for different investors is clearly the way of the future. That’s OK, but it gives you a max (read: price!)

Finance 286

Finance Term Sheet Technical Review Warrant 286

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2019

There are actually several type and I’m going to make the case that if you can avoid board observers you generally should and when you do have them you should be thoughtful about how you manage them. On a board with 5 members plus a CFO plus a legal representative plus 1–2 management?—?every The full lists of posts is on the link.

Strategic Investors 255

Strategic Investors Startup Stock Options Venture Capital 255

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2011

I’m sure the management team & board over there know that they need to focus on what comes beyond mayors, badges & check-ins. I use technology precisely to try and develop an intuitive feel about what will work and what won’t” The management team got it. I’m interested to see where they take it next.

Startup 313

Startup Guerilla Silicon Valley Portfolio 313