Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

The last couple of years has also seen the huge initial success of Ycombinator, the Lean Startup and many other product driven approaches to going to market. That died with waterfall software development. Do you really want to spent $100k building a product to discover through Customer Development that the market is too small?

Business Plan 334

Business Plan AJAX Venture Capital Technical Review 334

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

You develop a cynicism that the future will be better. Admittedly annual pay increases weren’t as much as we would have wanted because these were the lean post dot com days but we at least tried to have Ryan top the range. In my observation this seldom worked.

San Francisco 322

San Francisco South Africa CTO Hire Fractional CTO 322

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

Other than that we’ve adopted a “barbell strategy” where we may choose to avoid the high-priced, less-proven A & B rounds but we have raised 3 Growth Funds that then can lean in when there is more quantitative evidence of growth and market leadership and we can underwrite a $10–20 million round from a separate vehicle.

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

I know that this all seems obvious now with the movements started by Steven Blank ( Four Steps of Epiphany ) with the whole Customer Development processes / Lean Startup movements also popularized by people like Eric Ries. I used to always tell my development team, “you need to design a product that my dad could use.

Customer 280

Customer Technical Review Software Review Mexico 280

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

Huge structural under-employment in much of the country and full employment in some niche tech markets where it’s impossible to hire developers, designers or sales professionals. If you are interested the Vimeo is here. For others it feels like a two-speed economy, where rules apply to hot tech startups that don’t apply elsewhere.

Saudi Arabia 309

Saudi Arabia Valuation IPO Technical Review 309

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 20, 2018

I have now developed this into my own standard (softer) speech I give to entrepreneurs. if he engaged he’s have to make up his mind and I knew he was leaning against saying “yes” but I forced myself to actually hear “no” from him. People are afraid to hear ‘no’ so they don’t push hard enough. Then he went a little bit dark on me.

LP 189

LP Software Review Europe Founder 189

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2016

Snapchat is a “lean forward” technology. We as consumers develop “banner blindness” ( which I’ve been talking about for years ), which is why publishers who can offer unique ad units like “take overs” can make much more money. Engagement. Users are highly engaged. Brand Recall / Uniqueness.

Advertising 150

Advertising Iowa Campaign Media 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Lean startup: o It’s situational so some businesses are operationally/people intensive, high LTV (lifetime value) means you can spend more upfront. If you need money to even hire a developer [means you cannot even excite one person to put in some sweat equity – not a good sign about your ability to motivate people.].

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

I learned everything I know about startups in these lean years: 2001-2004. Our company developed a cost-conscious mentality. We went “nuclear&# and slimmed down to 33 people (yes, I know, still large by today’s standards but this was 2001), raised $10 million and we built a real company.

Warrant 333

Warrant Germany France Cost 333

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013

Greg immediately hit the ground running with a few themes that he had developed while the CMO at HauteLook, a successful eCommerce business that sold to Nordstrom for $270 million. I guess he’s one step ahead of the rest of us in being super lean. Congrats to my partner Greg and the entire team at Deliv. Startup Advice'

B2B 331

B2B eCommerce B2C Differentiation 331

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you have a mediocre meeting with a high-quality prospect and you don’t think they’re likely to lean in they drop to a B or C. If you fold simply because they haven’t responded to your last two emails you won’t have success in business development, sales, press, recruiting … anything. To be clear?—?your your list never stays static.

Term Sheet 332

Term Sheet Due Diligence Campaign Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

No matter how much it bothers you, people do like to entertain themselves with a “lean back” experience. 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. But here’s what Silicon Valley doesn’t get about Hollywood.

Silicon Valley 374

Silicon Valley Los Angeles Distribution Java 374

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

Are you in the “lean&# phase? I’m a very big believer in the “Lean Startup&# principles as espoused by Steve Blank and Eric Ries. they can develop a product advantage by building with 10 developers what you have 3 people dedicated towards. So here’s my framework. They get the PR bump.

Pre-Money Valuation 303

Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Valuation PR 303

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

You want to develop a “narrative” that holds the readers attention and helps shape the company into context. I would literally start the meeting with “I know you’ve seen our teaser deck but I’ve got a longer version where I’m going to share more insights with you here.” it’s worth paying attention.”

Portfolio 261

Portfolio IP Later Stage Email 261

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

An example was that while we were in the seed round at Ring and followed in the A, B, C and D … we were also able to lean into the E round when Jamie really wanted to scale up his funding and the final check was still > 420% IRR!

IP 223

IP Intellectual Property IRR Cofounder 223

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Very few people turn up with a strong sense of “what we should be doing” or ready to lean into a productive conversation The financials were prepared by the VP of Finance / CFO. This can include: Fund raising, product development choices, sales, marketing effectiveness, competition, business development, M&A … whatever.

Stock Options 226

Stock Options Metrics Stock Valuation 226

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2010

You bump into the person you’ve always wanted to chat with or your perfect business development partner who can “make” you. You can’t help but lean forward and want to hear what the next line is. So my list for you is: Develop your 60-second pitch. Can you introduce me to the head of corporate development at Google? (I

Elevator Pitch 315

Elevator Pitch Southern California Media Hosting 315

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2014

There’s an old joke in software development, “How much time does it take to design software?” We feel pressure to hit milestones for a variety of reasons: Investor presentations, conference demos, customer sales meetings, competitive pressures, a need to drive revenue, business development commitments – whatever.

Software 344

Software Part-Time VPE Engineer Leadership 344

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2014

Feedback driven product development versus visionary (Steve Jobs) driven development. In this clip we discuss why Nanea is a proponent of a lean startup and data driven development methodology. She combines gathering: Quantitative data – data hook implementation, click tracking, A/B testing.

Technical Review 315

Technical Review Leadership Engineer RSS 315

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

Since Arrested Development is back I thought I’d resurrect Gob Bluth’s answer when he was told he needed a “business model” – he quickly figured out that he was missing one so he asked Starla, the Bluth company secretary, if she would be his business model. LEAN STARTUP MOVEMENT.

Technical Review 401

Technical Review Startup Business Model Non-Compete 401

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 19, 2009

I like to describe tenacity as “leaning forward.&# It’s those things that you push for – in which you never accept “no&# for an answer. You want to hire a crack team of developers but you haven’t raised enough money yet. I then covered Street Smarts , Ability to Pivot and Resiliency.

Entrepreneur 288

Entrepreneur Early Stage Leadership Salary 288

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2013

From the experience in my earliest days of designing products for Windows and OS2 machines in the early 1990′s I developed a product philosophy, “Design for the novice, configure for the pro.” So when you’re doing your next product review make sure to question all of your assumptions.

Product 408

Product San Francisco Green Technical Review 408

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2018

It’s why when you hear that somebody went to Stanford, worked at Google, graduated summa cum laude, played professional tennis or whatever else determines a degree of achievement, competitiveness or success in your mind you start by “leaning in” when you meet that person. I measured twice and cut once. Be humble, sit down.

LP 215

LP San Francisco Minneapolis Partner 215

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

If I see your alpha product then I can judge how it develops over time. If you have 2 developers and the next time I see you it’s a team of 6 with a new head of products I can see momentum. If you have good experience then the VC will be leaning forward for the rest of the presentation.

Early Stage 360

Early Stage Startup Venture Capital Seed Stage 360

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

The conversation moves from consuming images on a screen in lean back mode, to active engagement. Half baked ideas get refined, new ideas emerge and a two way dialoge develops where a one way monologue once was.&#. There’s movement, there’s action, there’s something happening that requires attention. Beautifully written.

Early Stage 299

Early Stage Venture Capital B2B Sales 299

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

So when he saw the browser it instantly dawned on him that this would be the greatest customer development tool ever. But also when you’re developing so is your competitor. When he tells his stories from the 1990′s your realize that he was probably the original “lean startup.&# Think YouTube vs. the rest.

Product 350

Product Tuvalu Dilution Incubator 350

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

It is not uncommon to see a team out of Utah, Texas or for that matter Finland with 8-10 developers build iPhone apps that get 10′s of millions of downloads and doing hundreds of millions of monthly page views. They should start “lean.&# I believe that most companies can exist in the experimentation mode for 3-4 years.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Software LP Early Stage 296

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

But while universities are developing online content they are not fundamentally disrupting leaning because the method of delivery is not a new business model. Today’s higher education is responding by making more courses online and available to people outside of physical boundaries.

Bankruptcy 403

Bankruptcy Offshore Liquidation Preference Balance Sheet 403

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 31, 2015

I have attention deficit disorder, it is a real condition , I have been diagnosed including having radioactive isotopes through my brain to map my development and yet I’m a leader, I have accomplished much, I did well in school and went on to earn a master’s degree and I can actually concentrate when I want to.

LP 150

LP Lean Chicago Video 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

I’d put a note down against their name reminding me of this view they had and then between fund-raising cycles I’d include them on data that we had showing LA’s continued development and growth (including SnapChat, Tinder, Maker Studios, Riot Games and others). This is true for startups, too. “Listen.

Sales 150

Sales Silicon Valley Las Vegas Southern California 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2010

It means that you may have great times and very lean times. He talks about why he’s not bothered about job hoppers when it comes to hiring developers. To give us the benefit of the doubt that we did care about employees and wanted to see everybody develop their careers, increase their earnings and enjoy themselves.

Due Diligence 285

Due Diligence Hiring Employee Salary 285

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 18, 2014

” What is charming in your lean first year because you’re feeling like a true startup begins to become annoying when you’re tired of a loud work environment, a single bathroom stall for 40 people or uncomfortable chairs, bad lighting or old computers. I can’t imagine anybody enjoys coming to this office every day.”

Seed Stage 352

Seed Stage Startup Retention PR 352

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 6, 2016

We still do have a long way to go on gender equality and Hillary becoming president — whatever your political leanings or views — will go along way towards telling young women anything can be achieved. Nobody will ever again utter the b t words that “ she doesn’t have the stamina.” She’s a competitive athlete.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles LP Nevada South Korea 150