Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

The functions of an early-stage board are pretty obvious and well understood: Providing introductions to customers, biz dev partners, recruits, the press, other investors, etc. We we’re now a tight board of early-stage VCs, management and two hands-on operational experts in our target markets.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

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. 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. And in my experience Journeyman are not good in two scenarios.

Early Stage 350

Early Stage Startup Sales Campaign 350

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. I have seen bad behavior from later-stage VCs, believe me. But I have seen equally bad behavior from super early stage investors. As always a balanced perspective is in order.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2011

With more competition in early-stage many VCs are investing smaller amounts at earlier stages. Some are going later stage to not miss out on hot deals. I call this “stage drift.&#. What I’ve started to observe is that we’re certainly headed for a bit of a brick wall for early-stage companies.

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation Angel Investor 289

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

If you’re an early-stage enterprise startup services revenue is exactly what you need. The most important way to sell a product for an early-stage business (or frankly any stage) is to have strong referenceable customers. We only want software revenue.” ” This is a huge mistake.

Technical Review 403

Technical Review Software Review Startup Churn Rate 403

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

So super angel and seed funds are proliferating – As a result there has been an explosion in the number of amazing early-stage investors such as Softtech VC , Floodgate , Felicis Ventures , K9 Ventures , OATV , Lowercase Capital , Founder Collective , and many, many more. I have written more in depth on this topic in the past.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

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. Enter social media and its importance as a traffic source. Is Facebook unstoppable? Of course not.

Silicon Valley 299

Silicon Valley Technical Review Early Stage Seattle 299

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2014

For all the things he’s likely known for, he probably hasn’t yet built a strong relationship as an early stage venture investor (he invests often in later-stage deals where he is very respected). He’s wise, thoughtful and has made money across so many different industries it’s humbling.

Silicon Valley 333

Silicon Valley Early Stage Later Stage Technical Review 333

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

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. Trust me – if you haven’t figured out your sh*t – neither have they.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

There’s a quick litmus-test conversation any early-stage VC will have with the founder and it’s one that you should be as prepared for as your elevator pitch. It’s true that some later-stage private equity firms like to fund “roll ups” (a company that acquires many related companies in it sector), but this is seldom the domain of VCs.

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Dilution 247

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

It should help some entrepreneurs to better access early-stage capital and should allow some angel investors better access to deal flow. Syndicates can move faster in early-stage deals than rounding up 40 individual investors. For starters, what is AngelList Syndicates? Helpful to Entrepreneurs – The most obvious.

Syndicate 356

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Early Stage 356

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

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

I recently wrote a post about why I didn’t think early-stage startups should have COOs. In summary, tons of early-stage M&A is driven by only one thing: CEO ego. I expected it to be controversial and it was. I’ve had several COOs at companies in which I’ve invested. I avoid it like the plague.

Operations 292

Operations CTO Hire Startup Early Stage 292

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. A Short Presentation I was invited to do a keynote presentation at the Khosla Ventures CEO Summit this week in Sausalito.

Management 234

Management Startup Dividend Early Stage 234

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

I hear tons of ideas for early-stage apps. 12m on a $60m for an early-stage business is a not a bet that most LA firms could or would take. Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy were fresh out of college in this generation as was James Bailey who was slightly older but not much. I simply couldn’t see it. I should have.

IPO 214

IPO Los Angeles Technical Review Silicon Valley 214

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. The problem is that in an early stage business there probably isn’t a perfect fit between your early product and a customer’s needs.

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.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review Hockey Stick SEM Channel 384

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

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 13, 2011

In an early stage start I believe it’s the CEO’s job to manage these functions. But at that stage of the company as we were approaching $20 million in sales I think, sure, a COO might have freed up my time a bit. For now, if you’re early stage, I’m not convinced.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Due Diligence 325

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

I think you have to listen to the queue’s.” “…if you look at a lot of the early stage investors, whether it be Union Square Ventures or First Round or Jeff Clavier at Softtech or Dave McClure – we want to try the product, we want to experience the product, we want to get a sense of how the entrepreneur is thinking about it.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

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. The firm focuses on early stage companies in the Northeast but occasionally invests in California startups. I’ve also found him to not be dogmatic either.

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Cofounder API 281

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

I’m proud to say that most early-stage VCs that I know really do care about making money ethically. So consider integrity on my personal list of attributes required to raise money from a reputable, early-stage VC.

Technical Review 284

Technical Review Due Diligence Entrepreneur Early Stage 284

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2017

Early stage tech startups aren’t public companies so you don’t need to obsess with “having your books formally closed” or scheduling the board meeting only after the end of the quarter. Maybe 2 hours.

Early Stage 212

Early Stage Technical Review Email Valuation 212

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

Working with early-stage teams : coaching, mentoring, setting strategy, rolling up sleeves: 9/10. I divided success into the phases of venture capital and 18 months into writing my first check here was my view (details on each in the link above). Sourcing high-quality leads : 9/10.

Los Angeles 387

Los Angeles Intellectual Property LP Venture Capital 387

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. And there are very few people who so consistently exceed my expectations when I hear them speak. ” This week was no exception.

Lean 301

Lean Silicon Valley Social Media PR 301

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As an early-stage VC I love this phase. While early-stage companies have all of their engineers working on product innovation, companies that want to scale realize that you also have to build systems to help with organizational scaling.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

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

APRIL 26, 2016

In product business it is often measured over multiple purchases and assumptions are made about the repeat rates and in the enterprise or services world LTV can be based on churn rates, which are notoriously hard to predict in an early-stage business. Poorly calculated LTVs can become BVs (bankruptcy values).

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

We’re clearly in the early stages on Twitter monetization but let me offer some views on why we find Ad.ly But 70% of my investment decision in early-stage companies is the team. But as with any early-stage company: it’s a bit of skill, a bit of timing and a bit of luck. We think we know.

Technical Review 286

Technical Review Advertising Early Stage Internet 286

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

They have insights others don’t, they are getting into early-stage deals across the country that have become big but they backed the companies before others. 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

JUNE 27, 2013

Santa Monica is the place where the highest concentration of early-stage startups are created if you consider also the contiguous geography of Venice Beach. But in Los Angeles, Santa Monica is akin to SoMa in San Francisco, Cambridge in the Boston area or Flatiron / Union Square in NYC. We chose a location that fit our style.

Los Angeles 343

Los Angeles Las Vegas San Francisco Baltimore 343

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 11, 2021

As an investor in early-stage companies, many of whom are living the customer acquisition challenge every day, I’m excited to see how Trust can reshape the playing field for startups and larger organizations alike.

Founder 424

Founder Product Cofounder Acquisition 424

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. And I have seen inefficient early-stage CEOs staying up late working through QuickBooks entries. 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

OCTOBER 11, 2016

It’s the executives who trust you to join the early-stage startups you’ve funded. In the end I know the only true differentiator in venture capital is the company you keep. It’s the people who want to work with you. It’s the founders who are willing to let you join their boards.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Fractional CTO Cofounder Early Stage 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

That’s a reason why some are quick to portend “a new bubble” but this post sets out to show that would be a misunderstanding of the market and in fact by historic levels this may be amongst the best times to invest in seed and early-stage funds. More on that later.

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital IPO Mezzanine Early Stage 292

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

VC’s in early rounds will argue that “participation&# is simply downside protection and if you sell for a lower price they should get more of the proceeds. Privately some early-stage VC’s talk about participation helping them to “juice their returns&# on smaller exits. This is a shame.

Valuation 405

Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405