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

MARCH 19, 2013

The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. If you’re an early-stage enterprise startup services revenue is exactly what you need.

Technical Review 403

Technical Review Software Review Startup API 403

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. I recommend hiring or appointing a growth hacker.”

Technical Review 384

Technical Review Hockey Stick SEM Channel 384

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

You don’t have to hire as many sales people because much can be sold online. There is also True Ventures that does early stage, seed investments. This is producing a “boomlet&# or a bubble in early-stage investing. I have written more in depth on this topic in the past. That’s OK.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

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. One great solution I see is to hire an outstanding CFO who runs both. 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.

Operations 292

Operations CTO Hire Startup Early Stage 292

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

They often involve big hugs on stage. But to be clear the overwhelming majority of deals involve one company driving the cultural integration, establishment of uniform processes, hiring / firing decisions, etc. If they’re early stage like you, they’re likely just dogs. This is a good thing.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

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. interviewing critical hires at a time where they have 3 other offers. Syndicates can move faster in early-stage deals than rounding up 40 individual investors. founder fighting.

Syndicate 356

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Early Stage 356

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. For a well-funded seed company I have controversially recommended hiring a great office manager that doubles as an administrative assistant.

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

Nor do they exist in the investors of early-stage companies. ” So I did want any rational person who wants to improve does – I hired a coach. That doesn’t make them bad – it just means that they know that they are “hired guns” and they act accordingly.

Sales 382

Sales Startup Technical Review Matching 382

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. Seksom Suriyapa ?—?he

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

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

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

JANUARY 21, 2010

I know he’s smart but you wouldn’t hire a Javascript developer to do your database design – would you? They want to lock in future clients at an early stage. So I tell you this because if you build a strong relationship with an early-stage VC they can be a great source to help you with your funding.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

My internal compass has always steered me strongly toward the belief that founders who can scale with their startup companies are better to back that founders who eventually need to hire a CEO. You can simply hire a COO to do these things while retaining the CEO title but focusing mostly on product.

Technical Review 303

Technical Review Cofounder Analytics Founder 303

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 1, 2009

I know this is unconventional thinking but if you want to understand more I cover my rationale on this post about The Most Common Early Stage Startup Mistakes and again in this post covering how to implement startup prenuptials. Resist the temptation to hire clones of you. Are you intuitive vs. process oriented? Plug your gaps.

Hiring 289

Hiring Cofounder Dilution Startup 289

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 31, 2010

As your company develops multiple offices, hires a larger number of sales people or increases product complexity over time this kind of tacit knowledge doesn’t scale. The new hires that you pick up will use your same sales decks created by marketing but will have less impact and you often don’t realize it’s happening.

Sales 286

Sales PR Forecast Technical Review 286

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Recruits, hires, and retains the very best talent for the company. Hiring & Firing the CEO. This is the failure of many early-stage companies when they try to scale. As things got bigger we hired a head of European sales and a head of European marketing. Makes sure there is always enough cash in the bank.

Ireland 319

Ireland Sales Bankruptcy Germany 319

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Nor do they exist in the investors of early-stage companies. So I did want any rational person who wants to improve does – I hired a coach. That doesn’t make them bad – it just means that they know that they are “hired guns&# and they act accordingly. My first startup was no different.

Sales 316

Sales Technical Review Matching Hiring 316

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

You’ll need to hire and retain talen to grow your company. 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. But this example above is all entrepreneur math, not the VC’s. That’s normal.

Valuation 405

Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2013

If you’re at a startup and new to sales & sales people you might want to read my basic primers: Why hiring seasoned reps at a startup might not work. Or thinking about how much capital you have and therefore how many people you can hire – you rigorously prioritize. Beware of crocodile salesmen.

Customer 324

Customer PR Marketing Technical Review 324

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

Over funding often produces bad behavior in early-stage companies. You hire people too fast, you over build your products, you try to force market adoption and you do PR blitzes before your product is really ready for prime time. You can’t get 5 years into one.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Bulgaria Lean 374

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

Early-stage investors in technology startups are only looking for growth-oriented companies that can achieve an “exit&# someday – either via selling your company to a larger company or via an IPO. 1 year in you stop catching early morning flights. But 6 months later you’re not working past 10pm.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

Quick caveats: having fewer investors (3-5) is better than many investors (10-15) and PLEASE make sure you hire a great lawyer who has experience in doing start-ups to avoid pitfalls that will make VC harder down the line. Make sure these people understand the nature of early-stage angel investing. Have they added value?

Silicon Valley 291

Silicon Valley Ireland Technical Review Valuation 291

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2014

We had raised a $2 million seed round, which meant taking almost no salary so we could afford to hire staff. I tell them that they don’t have the experience to charge a startup $200k and even if they did no early-stage startup would want to bring on an in-house general counsel very early. I was investing in myself.

Founder 409

Founder Salary Startup Early Stage 409

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

A good early-stage CEO needs to be accessible, to be accountable for producing results and should be establishing the cultural norms of the company through direct leadership at all levels. We all like to think of startups as “non hierarchic&# organizations and to some extent that should be true.

CTO Hire 308

CTO Hire Management Technical Review Part-Time VPE 308

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

They hire their initial co-founders and early employees and everybody has a sense of “mission.” We want to invest in early-stage technology enabled startup businesses – upfront in the funding cycle. You can’t let every team hire as many team members as they want. A Sense of Purpose.

Leadership 150

Leadership Southern California San Diego Hiring 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

They sold 2 years later for $16 million In the financial crisis of 2008 we had a company that had jointly hired lawyers to consider a bankruptcy and also pursued (and achieved!) Early-stage venture capital is about extreme winners. the sale of the company for $1 billion. It was ~30 days from bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy 294

Bankruptcy Bridge Financing Portfolio Angel Investor 294

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

Because it can be hard to define or agree company objectives at an early stage I believe most people avoid them. Clearly in the early stages of your company you’ll have to estimate this because you don’t know how long each customer will stick around for or how your monetization will change over time. What would that take?

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup Acquisition SEM 346

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2010

When the CEO of an early-stage startup tells me that they plan to hire a COO I’m usually not interested in the next meeting. As I said, there are VCs who are fooled by all this but it doesn’t equal success. 12 months later the president and the CEO had moved on. But even then I think it’s funny.

Entrepreneur 286

Entrepreneur CTO Hire Cofounder Early Stage 286

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Erin’s main points: “As a former tech sales executive, I agree with many of [Mark's] lessons — when applied to later-stage, post-traction point startups. However, I advocate a more nuanced approach for early-stage startup teams” 1. Specifically, 1.

Startup 319

Startup Early Stage Sales Cofounder 319

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2013

For the past 5 years or so Google, Facebook and a handful of tech industry giants have been quietly buying scores of early-stage startups for their talent. The Aqui-hire Business. Many buying companies price these deals on the basis of $1 million per engineer on the team for an early-stage deal. Go do a startup.

Liquidation Preference 357

Liquidation Preference Early Stage Retention Lock-up Period 357

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2016

I laid out the following goals: Hire investment partners with operating experience combined with investment experience and deeply committed to LA Tech, but with strong relationships in SF, NYC and beyond. Move our offices to Santa Monica so we could be closer to the early-stage companies being created in LA.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Early Stage LP Partner 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 24, 2012

If you’re not getting great deals early – you may never see them.” ” I was trying to encourage him to set up an early-stage practice. At GRP Partners we’re all in on Los Angeles having written about $35 million in early-stage venture capital investments in this market alone in the past six months.

Los Angeles 299

Los Angeles Early Stage DC Silicon Valley 299

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

You’ve got entrepreneurs and founders who are really – a lot of them are in the very early stage of their startup. Because I’m going to say no to you, and the guys you want to hire from Facebook are going to say no to you. Should I hire or not hire this person? We’re not hiring now.

Cofounder 337

Cofounder Technical Cofounder San Diego Startup 337

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

My job doesn’t involve the daily grind of customer complaints, product outages, business partner / channel problems, hiring / firing, etc. As a VC I spend tons of time with companies at an early stage in their business. I work hard, don’t get me wrong. And the VC job has plenty of admin and minutiae.

Technical Review 312

Technical Review Due Diligence Spain Warrant 312

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

I suppose it depends how much money you’ve raised but if hiring critical staff, raising VC and streamlining your biz dev or sales is important to you then you might consider putting a small amount of spend against PR. If you haven’t yet raised an A-round my recommendation would be that you not yet hire a big, well-known PR firm.

PR 319

PR Venture Capital Hiring Seed Capital 319

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 15, 2013

In part one I covered the need for early-stage enterprise software companies to build up professional services staff to ensure successful implementation projects. This is my third post in a series on Enterprise Software. This goes against the conventional wisdom of VCs. Before you think it, this was not prostitution.

Egypt 297

Egypt Early Stage Mexico Wiki 297