Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2014

If you think you are the perfect fit for the entrepreneur lifestyle, but you’re not yet sure if you’re ready to start your own, then I recommend that you take a job with an existing startup first to validate the culture realities against your dream. Hang out where entrepreneurs meet. business entrepreneur lifestyle startup'

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Technical Review Stock Options Due Diligence Silicon Valley 250

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2018

Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs seem to prefer to fail their way to the top, rather than do some research and learn from the successes and mistakes of others. It seems to be part of the “ fail fast, fail often ” mantra often heard in Silicon Valley. Underestimate the importance of due diligence.

Technical Review 158

Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence Silicon Valley 158

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

I don’t have an MBA and I don’t live in Silicon Valley. Entrepreneurs need to find a way to get traction (sales) without funding. If entrepreneurs are only pitching to angel groups, they’re only pitching to 6% of the active angels, and 0.4% Angel investors come from a variety of ages, backgrounds, and professions.

Angel Investor 159

Angel Investor Technical Review Software Review Accredited Investor 159

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2020

As an advisor to entrepreneurs and active angel investor, I often get questions about the realism of the Shark Tank TV series, compared to professional investor negotiations. The simple answer is that with all the staging of TV lights and billionaire investors, it’s nothing like Silicon Valley.

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Due Diligence Angel Investor Silicon Valley Green 317

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Last week a company we enthusiastically backed, uBeam , led by a very special entrepreneur, 25-year-old Meredith Perry , announced a $10 million round of financing. Here I make the case that entrepreneurs must stay focused on the prize, not the doubters. Entrepreneurs. ” **. It can be one of the strongest motivators.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2015

Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs seem to prefer to fail their way to the top, rather than do some research and learn from the successes and mistakes of others. It seems to be part of the “ fail fast, fail often ” mantra often heard in Silicon Valley. Underestimate the importance of due diligence.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence Silicon Valley 120

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 25, 2015

Some were Silicon Valley early stage companies, such as Apple, Quantum, and Masstor Systems. As dollars flowed into the industry, cooperation was replaced by competition, to the detriment of deal flow, due diligence, ability to add value and, of course, returns. Silicon Valley firms also did many non-tech deals.

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Venture Capital SBIC Technical Review Silicon Valley 70

Steve Blank

MARCH 19, 2009

When I went through their financials as part of my due diligence I realized that if they ditched their low margin disk drive products, it wouldn’t take much to make them a profitable company. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Order Here. To Order Outside of the U.S. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 146

Silicon Valley Software Review Technical Review RSS 146

Steve Blank

JULY 7, 2009

Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. The relevant part starts about 4:30 into the video (wait for it to download.) luck… and as one of Steve Blank’s posts today mentioned, you can’t test hypotheses from within your building. to make sense of the unstructured feedback received from customers.

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Customer Development Developer Silicon Valley Customer 124

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Thomas Clayton has started and run numerous high-tech startups in Silicon Valley. The process of raising money in Asia is very different from raising money in Silicon Valley and, frankly, it’s not nearly as easy. Set your expectations – VCs in Asia are different from the Valley.

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Asia Silicon Valley India Term Sheet 132

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.

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Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

Steve Blank

JULY 2, 2009

Entrepreneur-in-Residence After SuperMac I had been approached by one of our venture investors to be an entrepreneur in residence (EIR), a Silicon Valley phrase which says one thing but means another. I offered to introduce him to the firm whose Entrepreneur-in-Residence offer I had just accepted.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS Software Review 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Product Development – Getting Funded as The Goal In a traditional product development model, entrepreneurs come up with an idea or concept, write a business plan and try to get funding to bring that idea to fruition. Hopefully this will get more bootstrapping entrepreneurs focusing on making money instead of raising money.

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

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

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

I was out and about in Silicon Valley doing what I would now call Customer Discovery trying to understand how marketing departments in large corporations worked. I remember presenting our ideas for Marketing Automation to one VP of Marketing in a large Silicon Valley company. It’s just a story about what happened to me.

Silicon Valley 225

Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 225

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2015

We live today in a golden age of writing and resources for entrepreneurs. Even 10 or 15 years ago, when I first cut my teeth as an entrepreneur, there were very few things to read. It was part Silicon Valley insider and part marketing huckster. But it was not always this way! Study them so you can at least tell new lies.

Entrepreneur 60

Entrepreneur San Jose Technical Review China 60

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Silicon Valley is still emerging from the tech bubble and massive downturn of late 2000-2002. Online social networking is a concept still being evangelized even in Silicon Valley… Friendster is in private beta (wasn’t until Oct 2003 they received Google acquisition offer which they turned down for Kleiner/Benchmark round).

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Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

ithacaVC

SEPTEMBER 8, 2016

But over our months of due diligence the understanding grows. The entrepreneurs (also mostly white men) often work on a lot of meaningless stuff, like using code to deliver frozen yogurt more expeditiously or apps that let you say “Yo!” (and ” The understanding can definitely be acquired. and only “Yo!”) to your friends.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Software Review Due Diligence Silicon Valley 40

ithacaVC

SEPTEMBER 8, 2016

But over our months of due diligence the understanding grows. The entrepreneurs (also mostly white men) often work on a lot of meaningless stuff, like using code to deliver frozen yogurt more expeditiously or apps that let you say “Yo!” (and ” The understanding can definitely be acquired. and only “Yo!”) to your friends.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Software Review Due Diligence Silicon Valley 40

Hippoland

AUGUST 21, 2016

But, it’s easy for investors to request meetings, and it’s an investor’s job to meet with lots of entrepreneurs. 3) Do due diligence on your prospective investors This leads me to my next point - if you are not familiar with a particular investor, it’s important to do due diligence on him/her. And maybe they do.

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Technical Review Due Diligence Silicon Valley Portfolio 48

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2015

As an advisor to entrepreneurs and active angel investor, I often get questions about the realism of the Shark Tank TV series, compared to professional investor negotiations. The simple answer is that with all the staging of TV lights and billionaire investors, it’s nothing like Silicon Valley.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Due Diligence Angel Investor Silicon Valley 120

Lightspeed Venture Partners

OCTOBER 7, 2012

I’ve been writing up reviews of this season’s Shark Tank pitches from a silicon valley VCs perspective. This does neither, so I’m out” Cuban said, “I see you guys not as entrepreneurs but as wantrepreneurs” I agree with him. In this way, they remind me of the Lifter Hamper entrepreneur.

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Technical Review Technical Cofounder Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 110

Pascal's View

OCTOBER 11, 2013

But I am coming to the Museum to talk about the leading of edge of startup financing in the digital age and about real time investment risk management in the new Wild West– crowd-funded Silicon Valley post the lifting of the ban on General Solicitation. Adult Education Corporate Governance Entrepreneur Venture Capital Web/Tech'

New York 31

New York Technical Review Angel Investor Finance 31

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 27, 2014

The Innovation Culture of Silicon Valley. To me, what’s most interesting about this story is the light it sheds on the clash of values between Icahn’s Wall Street world and the culture of Silicon Valley. The reality of Silicon Valley is that innovation takes time. It’s since been corrected.).

Silicon Valley 57

Silicon Valley Software Review Stock Due Diligence 57

Seeing Both Sides

APRIL 28, 2011

But if you are a competent engineer, sales executive, online marketer or general manager in Silicon Valley, NYC, Boston or other start-up hotspots, the unemployment rate is 0%. CNN recently reported that 40% of the 130,000 job openings in Silicon Valley are for software engineers. Recruiting is a proactive exercise.

Hiring 44

Hiring Software Review Due Diligence Silicon Valley 44

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Additionally, Feenix typically needs fewer financial covenants and can provide quicker turnaround for due diligence with the benefit of transparency they receive by tracking credit card sales activity. Each year, Founders First Capital Partners works with hundreds of entrepreneurs. Apply for funding. Get Funding.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

. × At Greylock , my partners and I are driven by one guiding mission: always help entrepreneurs. It doesn’t matter whether an entrepreneur is in our portfolio, whether we’re considering an investment, or whether we’re casually meeting for the first time. Entrepreneurs often ask me for help with their pitch decks.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 28, 2012

To find out how real startup founders dealt with the accelerator issue, we asked eight successful entrepreneurs from the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) to share their experiences – and their advice for other founders considering a startup accelerator. Do Your Due Diligence. Build A Relationship.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Chile Startup Due Diligence 60

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2016

As an advisor to entrepreneurs and active angel investor, I often get questions about the realism of the Shark Tank TV series, compared to professional investor negotiations. The simple answer is that with all the staging of TV lights and billionaire investors, it’s nothing like Silicon Valley.

Founder 120

Founder Due Diligence Angel Investor Silicon Valley 120

David Teten

FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Detailed due diligence. The Geography of Successful and Unsuccessful Venture Capital Expansion ” that the best performing VC funds are based in the major venture centers (Silicon Valley, Boston, and the New York area), but their best investments are outside of those geographies. Profiled initially. Target Selected.

Private Equity 114

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Equity 114

Seeing Both Sides

FEBRUARY 28, 2012

He observed that the entrepreneurs he has been most successful with typically had a major and personally defining failure in their career. Conduct extensive due diligence on the team, the product and the market opportunity. Entrepreneur and start-ups have many varied models for success.

Technical Review 47

Technical Review Due Diligence Silicon Valley Boston 47

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2015

Most new entrepreneurs assume that great investors will find their startups based on the compelling solution the founders have created. Thus it behooves every entrepreneur to optimize their investment strategies early, based on time and dollar costs, as well as odds of success. There are just too many scams.

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Cost Angel Groups Due Diligence Silicon Valley 120

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

A little less than a month ago, we reported on ChubbyBrain's new Funding Recommendation Engine , a service that will help entrepreneurs find suitable investors. One of the most surprising results, perhaps, is the location of entrepreneurs, with New York beating Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley 118

Silicon Valley Due Diligence New York Angel Investor 118

VC Adventure

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

While I consistently have the entrepreneurial itch, I actually think this makes me better at investing – it reminds me of why I’m in business (to support entrepreneurs who are the real stars of the show). Can you identify a couple of common errors that entrepreneurs make when raising funds?

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mashable.com

JUNE 11, 2013

Lucky for you, time-strapped entrepreneur, weve gathered some tips from the pros to help you avoid some of the most common, game-ending mistakes committed by young startups. How many entrepreneurs opening words are about how stealth their project is, followed by a 10-page NDA to hear word one? As an entrepreneur, theres a lot going on.

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Cofounder Technical Review Startup Software Review 111

Pascal's View

SEPTEMBER 5, 2010

This textbook combines the strength of my Silicon Valley experiences as a venture capitalist and Mannie’s research as a professor, and it will help strengthen Chinese college-education programs in this particular field.

Venture Capital 44

Venture Capital China Technical Review Due Diligence 44

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

That will keep the Silicon Valley wags buzzing for some time to come. Make your choices only after you’ve done some due diligence with other companies where they’ve served. Keep a close eye on your competitors but also on your peer entrepreneurs in your town; they provide the context relevant to you.

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