Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 8, 2010

Very few of them are started, in my experience, by sales people and very few early stage companies really understand sales. They work through ROI calculations with customers. a) they don’t tend to make great heads of sales departments and b) they aren’t the people you want early in your company.

Early Stage 350

Early Stage Startup Sales Campaign 350

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

There is nothing more pure than building a product, putting it out in the world and seeing paying customers using your product and in some cases loving it. As an early-stage VC I love this phase. How long does it take me to pay back my original customer acquisition costs? How profitable is my product or service?

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

One of the biggest mistakes I see early-stage startups making is hiring “seasoned&# sales professionals or hiring people too senior, too early. I see way too many startup founders who don’t have experience in selling and probably don’t feel that comfortable going to customers and asking for orders.

Hiring 346

Hiring Sales Startup Early Stage 346

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

” Sean is somebody widely respected in Silicon Valley (although he now lives in SoCal) for having helped many early-stage companies go through major growth periods by quantitatively testing features with audiences to help diagnose what led to growth. they’ll flock to your channel with marketing budgets and tech prowess.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review Hockey Stick SEM Channel 384

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

Perhaps the most misused terms I see these days from entrepreneurs involve CAC (customer acquisition costs) and LTV (life time value) and a lack of understanding these critical components is driving many companies to premature failure. Customer acquisition cost. This is how much you spend to get a new customer. That bit is easy.

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

Most large companies (tech or otherwise) have two functions that make it hard to drive the most successful early-stage innovation. The Innovators Dilemma – which means that if you have large customers with big profit margins it’s impossible to throw that all away to destruct your industry. Is Facebook unstoppable?

Silicon Valley 299

Silicon Valley Technical Review Early Stage Cofounder 299

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2019

It was an amazing gathering of some of the most ambitious early-stage CEO’s looking to make a dent in fields related to healthcare, biology, AI and other transformative fields. Often these projects took 12–18 months so by the time companies shipped product they often found out that the product didn’t meet customer needs.

Management 234

Management Startup Dividend Early Stage 234

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

In an early stage start I believe it’s the CEO’s job to manage these functions. Of course they “need&# the title to convince customers, biz dev partners and VCs that they’re to be taken seriously. I had heads of sales, marketing, business development, product management, technology and customer service.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Due Diligence 325

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

Focus on your customers and don’t obsess about deals or keeping up with your competitors releases.&#. The only thing worse than your early-stage company buying another early stage company is you trying to pull off a merger of equals. If they’re early stage like you, they’re likely just dogs.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

We back very early stage companies and work alongside executive teams as their build their teams, launch their products, announce their companies and raise their first downstream capital rounds. The biggest change for us in early-stage investing is that we now need to commit earlier.

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 11, 2021

Photo by Vanna Phon on Unsplash Customer acquisition is the lifeblood of many startups from e-commerce to gaming to marketplace companies, among others. that’s where the customers are. But if you ask anyone in the ecosystem of customer acquisition?—?founders, no surprise?—?that’s founders, marketers, investors?—?and

Founder 424

Founder Product Cofounder Acquisition 424

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

Nor do they exist in the investors of early-stage companies. Whenever I heard why we didn’t feel a sales process at an important customer was going well (or if we lost) I would get involved myself. They are as good at selling you as they are at selling your product to customers. Customers seldom buy on price.

Sales 382

Sales Startup Technical Review Matching 382

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

They want to lock in future clients at an early stage. For a very small fee they can get your Delaware C corp registration, make sure that you have IP protection and ensure you didn’t make an early bumbling mistakes that you’ll pay for dearly in the next 7-10 years of hard work. Our lives are intertwined.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

I talked about this in my social proof post where I gave some suggestions about how to get the early guys off of the fence. Most early-stage entrepreneurs who have worked with me (either as an angel or as a seed VC) know that I don’t rely at all on the social proof of other investors. When I’m in, I’m in.

Finance 286

Finance Term Sheet Technical Review Warrant 286

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

There are very few people in Silicon Valley who have such a precise grasp on what defines success of early-stage startup companies than Eric Ries. 57: 00 How do you rectify company mission and customer demand. And there are very few people who so consistently exceed my expectations when I hear them speak. 48:30 Vanity metrics.

Silicon Valley 301

Silicon Valley Lean Social Media PR 301

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2011

He and I once took different sides of an debate about whether “VC signaling&# in early-stage deals is a serious problem or not. 3. We then addressed competition in the context of SiteAdvisor and how it is important for journalists, customers, and the companies themselves. West Coast”).

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Cofounder API 281

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

4 times / 100 means if a customer uses your app frequently (say 10-20 times / day) then they are crashing nearly every day. And given your stage of development you sure better at least know what your goal is. Because it can be hard to define or agree company objectives at an early stage I believe most people avoid them.

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup Acquisition SEM 346

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Invoca has grown its enterprise customer base 550% in the past three years including major customers like Microsoft, Allstate and SunTrust. It’s the executives who trust you to join the early-stage startups you’ve funded. I think he wanted a meaty role if he was going to leave and finally we had something compelling.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Fractional CTO Cofounder Early Stage 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

And especially if you are dealing with early stage firms where partners might have different areas of specialization but they might have a lot of connective tissue across things. And that’s very different than a firm where you have an IT team and a Clean Tech Team and a Bio Team or an early stage team and a late stage team.”.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

So that we’re speaking the same language I would define “exclusive” as a period in which your company is prohibited from doing business with certain customers or business partners, which is why many incorrectly assume this is necessarily bad. Why Exclusivity Matters to Your Customers or Business Development Partners.

PR 150

PR Early Stage Software Naming 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2017

As a starting point the more you’re on their mind the more likely they’re out advocating on your behalf when they are out talking with senior executives at potential customers, future potential investors, potential employees, biz dev partners, journalists and all of the other constituencies where investors should be helping you.

Early Stage 212

Early Stage Technical Review Email Valuation 212

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

What I love about my job is getting to see teams of super-early-stage companies develop ideas that while raw have potential to make an impact on the market. What if you are measuring CAC wrongly and you’re really not acquiring customers cost effectively? The plans are continually updated and so, too, should the budgets.

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

In the initial phases of any new market you’re developing a product (hopefully with a minimal set of features), getting feedback from customers, refining your product based on user feedback and then re-launching your product. Over funding often produces bad behavior in early-stage companies. Rinse & repeat.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Bulgaria Lean 374

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Partly out of the fact that in 1 week I depart for England to speak at LeWeb, attend our DataSift board meeting and generally make myself available to the DataSift team to meet their customers, partners and employees. I would say the norm for many early-stage companies is somewhere between 6-10 in-person meetings per year.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

So I believe that now is the perfect time to build a company and the perfect time for early-stage investors to bet on innovation. Please do not read that I think an early-stage company with limited product and only beta customers should go straight for a $5 million fund raising.

Technical Review 269

Technical Review Stock Hawaii Early Stage 269

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

I want to fail because I backed an extraordinary entrepreneur with a super-ambitious project and we were just wrong about market timing, customer adoption, competition, regulation or similar. Honestly, they are a refreshing group of hustling, young, early-stage VCs and I love working with them.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Detroit Early Stage Partner 150

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 31, 2010

In the first part of this post I talked about how sales in a startup is often evangelical , requires as consultative sale and needs constant adjustments based on customer feedback. Or the sales decks will all be customized by your “feet on the street&# and won’t resemble the way you THINK your company is being positioned.

Sales 286

Sales PR Forecast Technical Review 286

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Nor do they exist in the investors of early-stage companies. Whenever I heard why we didn’t feel a sales process at an important customer was going well (or if we lost) I would get involved myself. They are as good at selling you as they are at selling your product to customers. Customers seldom buy on price.

Sales 316

Sales Technical Review Matching Hiring 316

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2009

But then your customes start using your products, your competitors come out with new offerings and your business partners decide to launch a similar product rather than working with you. They came back 2 months later and had raised money from Crosscut Ventures , an early-stage venture firm in LA run by Rick Smith and Brian Garrett.

Entrepreneur 291

Entrepreneur Term Sheet Early Stage Affiliate 291

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

A good early-stage CEO needs to be accessible, to be accountable for producing results and should be establishing the cultural norms of the company through direct leadership at all levels. By going on sales calls you pick up directly the feedback of what customers want and also what they’re telling you about competition.

CTO Hire 308

CTO Hire Management Technical Review Part-Time VPE 308

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

release out the door and get some customers using it, or friendly people piloting it then at least there is some validation to the product and some people to speak to about their experiences. Make sure these people understand the nature of early-stage angel investing. At an angel round you can get away with no market validation.

Silicon Valley 291

Silicon Valley Ireland Technical Review Valuation 291

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

Plus, most early-stage M&A fails so this isn’t likely a good use of capital for a young company). You are particularly vulnerable if: You have revenue concentration (few customers each providing a large total of percentage of your revenue). We want a strong balance sheet (um, ok. Growth vs.

Burn Rate 383

Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net Valuation 383

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

Rincon is part of the new breed of Seed Stage VCs and with the leadership of Jim Andelman has charted out the most authentic early-stage investment strategy in Southern California. Any SoCal entrepreneur raising early-stage money should put Rincon on their short list. So what are you waiting for?

Silicon Valley 293

Silicon Valley Technical Review Southern California Angel Investor 293

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

This is the failure of many early-stage companies when they try to scale. Once you’ve been around for a few years, attracted some great people, landed real, paying customers and raised venture capital you’ve likely got a talented team around you. Some entrepreneurs make the mistake of never devolving power.

Ireland 319

Ireland Sales Bankruptcy Germany 319

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2014

I believe the middle isn’t being “gutted” but rather is being supplemented by “opportunity funds” and “growth funds” that sit side-by-side “core funds” allowing the firms to stay small and nimble while still being able to grab prorata rights of their best early-stage investments.

Valuation 309

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Later Stage Non-Compete 309

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

I know it sounds obvious but just so you understand: There are more capital sources available for earlier-stage capital, the information on which they are evaluating the investment is less (it is almost certainly just team and product) and the risk of the investor getting things wrong is diminished.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate Cap Table Valuation Software Review 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

Yet our initial customer success didn’t translate into big revenue growth and we faced issues such as: Do we support developers, end-users or both? I loved the entire journey – good and bad – and the employees and customers. I have previously written why I don’t believe in the COO role at early-stage startups.

Technical Review 303

Technical Review Cofounder Analytics Founder 303