Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

To be a great entrepreneur you really do need talent. Consider Usher a hard-working early-stage VC. As an entrepreneur getting traction, whose life are you going to change ? The movie shows Justin Bieber’s musical talents from the age of two years old. And he has acted as a personal mentor for Justin ever since.

Entrepreneur 398

Entrepreneur Atlanta Audience SEM 398

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. What a second, what about entrepreneurs?

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

And here’s an important point that I think modern entrepreneurs often forget: Investors are “co-owners” of your business. 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.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

Entrepreneurs can still build big businesses on the outskirts.” David encourages entrepreneurs to stay away from the big tech firms (such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple) because they are hard to compete with. Fortunately the forest is expanding, overrunning traditional industries. Where David is Totally Right.

Silicon Valley 299

Silicon Valley Technical Review Early Stage Cofounder 299

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. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Sales & Marketing Advice.

Early Stage 350

Early Stage Startup Sales Campaign 350

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.&#. That’s certainly good for our industry in terms of future returns for investors but I would argue also for entrepreneurs.

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation Angel Investor 289

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. In Jason’s mind half of the VC industry will now disappear as entrepreneurs flock to him and to Dave Morin for their money. Helpful to Entrepreneurs – The most obvious.

Syndicate 356

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Early Stage 356

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. One entrepreneur refrain I sometimes hear is “We want to raise some extra money for M&A activities.” It goes something like this … VC: “How much money are you raising?”

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Dilution 247

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

My initial reaction to Adeo when we spoke was that while it may have solved some issues (debt versus equity) it didn’t solve the ones that I’ve been warning entrepreneurs about most loudly. A standard entrepreneur retort I heard back then (2008-09) was “I don’t know what my company is worth now.

Ratchet 354

Ratchet Liquidation Preference Equity Stock 354

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. The only thing worse than your early-stage company buying another early stage company is you trying to pull off a merger of equals.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

I don’t like distributed development teams in early stage businesses. Outsourcing early often happens when you have non-technical founders who don’t know how to get code out the door. I prefer that early stage companies not offshore development. What about offshoring?

Distribution 335

Distribution Offshore CTO Hire Bulgaria 335

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

And there is so much money around being thrown at so many entrepreneurs that many firms don’t even care about board seats, governance rights or heaven forbid doing work with the company because that would eat into the VCs time needed to chase 5 more deals. And the truth is that several entrepreneurs prefer it this way.

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

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

JANUARY 21, 2010

I recently read a post over on VentureHacks titled, “ Top Ten Reasons Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers &# written by Scott Walker (who blogs on legal issues for entrepreneurs ). They want to lock in future clients at an early stage. I know that people have an allergy to lawyers out of fear of being screwed.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

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

OCTOBER 6, 2010

But in my experience as an entrepreneur and now spending my time amongst investors I can generalize that almost all VC investments in early stage technology & Internet investments come down to just four key factors. This post was prompted by an email exchange I had with a young entrepreneur. That’s fine.

Early Stage 360

Early Stage Startup Venture Capital Seed Stage 360

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 17, 2011

I recently wrote a post about why I didn’t think early-stage startups should have COOs. I’d say about 80% of the experienced entrepreneurs & VCs I know privately agreed with me. In summary, tons of early-stage M&A is driven by only one thing: CEO ego. Naturally some didn’t.

Operations 292

Operations CTO Hire Startup Early Stage 292

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. Wouldn’t we be a bit hypocritical if we talked with entrepreneurs about innovation and change but we weren’t willing to take it on ourselves?

Los Angeles 343

Los Angeles Las Vegas San Francisco Baltimore 343

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. 3:35 The real entrepreneurs come out during a down economy. 19:30 A teachable moment for entrepreneurs: HAVE A HYPOTHESIS! ” This week was no exception.

Silicon Valley 301

Silicon Valley Lean Social Media PR 301

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 API 403

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. and not a min.

Finance 286

Finance Term Sheet Technical Review Warrant 286

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. So I spend an inordinate amount of time with entrepreneurs focused on payback. LTV is imprecise.

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

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

MARCH 24, 2014

Working with early-stage teams : coaching, mentoring, setting strategy, rolling up sleeves: 9/10. “I think the best VCs help drive exits alongside their entrepreneurs. 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).

Los Angeles 387

Los Angeles Intellectual Property LP Venture Capital 387

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

The part of the movement that resonates the most with me (in my words) is that entrepreneurs should keep their capital expenditures really low while they’re experimenting with their product and determining whether there is a large market for what they do. This benefits you, the entrepreneur. It takes options off of the table.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Bulgaria Lean 374

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

And for some strange reason entrepreneurs didn’t share this information. I’ve started from day one trying to build total transparency into my process with entrepreneurs. This starts with understanding how VCs and entrepreneurs often see valuation differently. Back then VentureHacks didn’t exist.

Valuation 405

Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

I’m very excited to be finally be able to announce that this week we’ve added Sam Rosen to our ranks at GRP Partners in the role of entrepreneurs-in-residence – EIR. I looked up his bio, “UVA, banking analyst, doing some early startup work” and thought – sure – come meet me for a coffee.

San Francisco 372

San Francisco Jordan Angel Investor Partner 372

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. He is the CEO of Hunch , company that I believe is solving a very big problem that I have been telling entrepreneurs needs to be solved for the past 2 years.

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Cofounder API 281

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Entrepreneurs are supposed to have insights that others don’t have and we’re supposed to be good judges about which entrepreneurs and executives have both the most clever ideas and the right skill sets to do transformational things against all odds. It’s the executives who trust you to join the early-stage startups you’ve funded.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Fractional CTO Cofounder Early Stage 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

I often talk with entrepreneurs who are kicking around their next idea. When I hear entrepreneurs say that they’re kicking around ideas with friends I ask, “have you legally registered a company?&# This is a BIG mistake many early stage companies make. Register a company. Make sure you own your IP.

Founder Vesting 365

Founder Vesting Intellectual Property Stock Options IP 365

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

OCTOBER 15, 2009

When you’re an early-stage startup that hasn’t raised any institutional money you end up doing almost every job function of the company yourself. I always encourage young entrepreneurs now to flip burgers for as long as they can. This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. We raised just $500k.

Founder 299

Founder Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 299

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2010

I call it the entrepreneur thesis. I’m not talk about the age old debate amongst investors whether you back entrepreneurs, markets or products (or as people like to hedge – product / market fit). It’s entrepreneurs I back. It’s what I call the “entrepreneur thesis.” So what is the “entrepreneur thesis?”

Entrepreneur 321

Entrepreneur Warrant Silicon Valley Early Stage 321

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

The tech market is filled with many stories of early-stage funding. Women Entrepreneurs. Still, for all the discussion about there not being more female entrepreneurs it’s quite an achievement and testament to Andrea & Lyn that they were the most successful in our peer group and both built extraordinary companies.

Partner 285

Partner Las Vegas San Francisco Baltimore 285

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

In most cases if you can’t get a prototype done you’re probably not an entrepreneur. Professional angels / former entrepreneurs / seed funds – In Silicon Valley there are people like Ron Conway, Jeff Clavier, Mike Maples and many more. Make sure these people understand the nature of early-stage angel investing.

Silicon Valley 291

Silicon Valley Ireland Technical Review Valuation 291

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. It’s the nature of most entrepreneurs, honestly. Another thing entrepreneurs f**k up? The plans are continually updated and so, too, should the budgets.

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150