Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

A reminder that it is important for all entrepreneurs is to remember to be careful about “deal drift.” We moved into the legal process and final due diligence in January and February of 2000. Conversely I offered the same deal to another entrepreneur who decided to shop around longer. They accepted my argument.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Venture Capital Due Diligence 301

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

They are issues, though, that your VC would certainly find out during due diligence or at a minimum you’d be ethically obliged to tell them. Did you hear that he was an entrepreneur? Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Raising Venture Capital Start-up Advice Startup Advice. Skeletons in the Closet are these types of issues.

Technical Review 311

Technical Review Venture Capital Due Diligence Partner 311

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2009

I told entrepreneurs that it was a bit of a Faustian bargain. But I’m no longer an entrepreneur – I’m a VC at a $200 million fund called GRP Ventures , the largest active fund in Southern California. I have spoken at length to one such entrepreneur who tells me that he hardly hears from his VC.

Software Review 283

Software Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Southern California 283

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

The Exchange Fund – This allows the entrepreneurs to diversify their founders stock into other portfolio companies stock. Office Hours – Two or three partners post a sign-up sheet to meet with entrepreneurs. These partners travel to a city and take ten minute pitches from the entrepreneurs. Ultimately, only 25 will be chosen.

Pre-Money Valuation 284

Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Cofounder Cram Down 284

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

These collective sets of documents form the basis of what somebody looking at investing would call “financial due diligence.” If you’ve got the skills to be a strong entrepreneur then it shouldn’t be too difficult to find people who know a partner at a VC firm and if you can build relationship with them you can get introduced.

Cap Table 336

Cap Table Due Diligence Forecast Churn Rate 336

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Much of this historically didn’t matter to entrepreneurs. If they trust their own due diligence process why worry about a silly thing called “signaling?” ” Entrepreneurs can be caught in the middle. What a second, what about entrepreneurs? Sometimes entrepreneurs get screwed.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

Not that they’re “such a bad idea&# but more that there are inherent problems for entrepreneurs in the process of raising angel money that need to be addressed. This leads to the problem of “herding cats&# for entrepreneurs raising angel money. Here’s where I feel common ground : 1.

Finance 286

Finance Term Sheet Technical Review Warrant 286

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

There is a telltale sign of an inexperienced startup entrepreneur. I’m doing due diligence on a company of another entrepreneur in LA whose company was apparently doing very well. They get premature merge elation. I understand this. I was a premature merge elater once. Here’s what I learned: 1.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 3, 2009

Yesterday I had lunch with a really interesting and capable serial entrepreneur who is raising his A round. Many serial entrepreneurs who have been burned would use something less kind than quotes. Many strategics have less experience in helping entrepreneurs. This is part of my ongoing Raising Venture Capital (VC) series.

Strategic Investors 279

Strategic Investors Venture Capital Due Diligence Early Stage 279

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

There was a lot of consumer internet activity again…resurgence of things, but it was still mysterious, venture capital was still kind of closed, 1st time entrepreneurs had a lot of questions that were unanswered, and there was still some sort of hand waiving around all the financing stuff and so we took it on….”. was starting.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

I get paid (well) for interesting people to come in and tell me how they want to change the world – Being an entrepreneur is like having blinders on. At least for the best entrepreneurs. Some people do the conference circuit too much, get involved in lots of side projects and attend every entrepreneur dinner. I love it.

Technical Review 312

Technical Review Due Diligence Spain Warrant 312

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

This has led VC & entrepreneur bloggers alike to similar conclusions: start raising capital early and be careful about having too high of a burn rate because that lessens the amount of runway you have until you need more cash. I’m surprised how few entrepreneurs have this open conversation with their investors.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate Cap Table Valuation Software Review 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

Any SoCal entrepreneur raising early-stage money should put Rincon on their short list. He covers this is the first 15 minutes or so of the video and he’s awesome to listen to (more than 25,000 people have listend to this video so far – mostly entrepreneurs ;-)). It is how angel rounds come together.&#.

Silicon Valley 293

Silicon Valley Technical Review Southern California Angel Investor 293

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

Yet nearly any entrepreneur who has an idea that other people aren’t doing will tell you that it’s hard to get investors excited. I saw VCs doing crazy things in 2007-08 when I first entered the VC market – crazy prices, limited due diligence, large funding rounds. Investors are conformists by nature.

Florida 299

Florida Technical Review San Antonio Los Angeles 299

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

Remember, I was an entrepreneur for 10 years before a VC). Even though I got a “no” he helped me understand why I wasn’t a fit for him and that always set the bar for how I wanted to treat entrepreneurs?—?friendly, Keep your eye focused first and foremost on any VCs that are A’s and are in your “analysis” or “due diligence” phases.

Term Sheet 332

Term Sheet Due Diligence Campaign Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 6, 2010

THE ANALYSIS MEETING: I once was doing some due diligence work on an industry. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. But whether you’re raising money, selling to customers, looking to make an investment or whatever – listening pays more dividends than talking.

Churn Rate 311

Churn Rate Due Diligence Dividend Conversion 311

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

Other times the partner wants to test whether there is support before sinking in tons of due diligence time. As both an entrepreneur (in VC and sales meetings) and as a VC I’ve seen this happen many times. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Pitching VCs Raising Venture Capital Start-up Advice Startup Advice.

Technical Review 318

Technical Review Venture Capital Partner Silicon Valley 318

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

He has many of the attributes I look for in an entrepreneur and importantly he has deep domain experience in ad management. But I believe it’s a very comprehensive solution and our due diligence with large app developers confirmed as much. He knows the ad management and ad network businesses. What does it do?

Mobile 282

Mobile Management Application Development Southern California 282

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. I never suggest that entrepreneurs just randomly pitch VCs. You’ll never make a great entrepreneur. So your journey to fund raising begins by strengthening your relationships with other entrepreneurs.

Developer 366

Developer Silicon Valley PR Las Vegas 366

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2010

It’s meant to be a bit provocative but the reality is that I give this advice to entrepreneurs all the the time and I usually leave the “e&# off of the end. I normally offer this advice in the capacity of really wanting to help entrepreneurs so please bear with me. The list goes on. Legacy deals have “hair.&#.

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Common Stock Pre-Money Valuation 289

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

And I always encourage entrepreneurs to do reference checking. Best if you get much of this from due diligence of calling other portfolio companies and then use this information to confirm with the VC. So obviously before agreeing to work with this VC you better make sure you know them really well.

Dilution 314

Dilution Cap Table Due Diligence Option Pool 314

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2010

If you’ve done this 6 times in a short period of time then one should conclude that either a) it might actually be you rather than bad employers or b) you don’t do enough due diligence before joining companies. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. What if I was laid off 2-3 times?

Due Diligence 285

Due Diligence Hiring Employee Salary 285