Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2016

This is a huge moment for Michael Dubin who had the vision, the market genius, the operating chops and the perseverance to prevail even after the venture funding markets had wrongly written off eCommerce as a category. In his post he says: I’m not an eCommerce expert enough to critique but his outline sounds sensible to me.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles eCommerce France Video 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 16, 2011

Certainly if you look at eCommerce & social media – women are the ones using these products. Make sure they’re on your board, your board of advisors, whatever. Make sure 50% of the people you hire are women. The women are out there. What better to have on your team than someone who understands this at a fundamental level.&#.

Startup 311

Startup Sales Database Community 311

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

We try to balance deals across (amongst other things): cyber-security, FinTech, computer vision, marketplaces, video games & gaming infrastructure, marketing automation, applied biology & healthcare systems, sustainability and eCommerce. We do other things, too.

Bankruptcy 294

Bankruptcy Bridge Financing Portfolio Angel Investor 294

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2012

BUT … I’ve talked to a number of eCommerce sites that also report much higher conversion rates than standard web. I have talked with people in the industry who tell me that mobile movie sites convert ticket sales much higher than desktop websites. They are limited in size. In some senses this might seem like a disadvantage.

Mobile 334

Mobile Web Software Review San Francisco 334

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

If we’re doing too many deals in eCommerce or healthcare IT we might ask whether we’re seeing enough deals in other categories. Periodically we do portfolio reviews to evaluate whether we have enough diversified risk across the fund. We look at stage, geography and of course sector.

Technical Review 362

Technical Review America Partner United States 362

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2015

“the ecommerce company gained fauxmentum by raising artificially high amounts of venture capital and spent lavishly on customer acquisition despite long payback periods and questionable LTV” __. In the ecommerce arena I see some great companies spending heavily on customer acquisition. __. faux·men·tum.

Balance Sheet 150

Balance Sheet eCommerce Venture Capital Acquisition 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2009

Reporters were no longer interested in talking about B2B eCommerce. Our customers were generally happy but they were pushing us hard for promised features. Our business development discussions took longer than planned. Our sales forecasts were revised downward – many times. But still we made progress. We had things to be proud of.

PR 331

PR Software Review Ireland Germany 331

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

It’s always fun debating companies with Dana because she’s always so knowledgeable on deals – particularly those in the digital media, ad-tech and eCommerce spaces. Our guest this week on #TWiVC was Dana Settle , partner at Greycroft Partners , a venture capital firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Greycroft is an early-stage VC.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2015

Almost every online business I know (eCommerce, online software, mobile games) invests heavily in “customer acquisition” This includes investments often not properly measured (SEO, PR, Social) as well as costs that people measure more precisely (advertising, SEM, FB CPA/CPI ads). Take for example, an eCommerce company.

SEM 150

SEM Los Angeles Silicon Valley Acquisition 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

Around this time B2C eCommerce had been dominating the media but the wheels were starting to come off. Everybody thought the real substance was going to come from B2B eCommerce players that would deliver “real value&# by disintermediating supply chains … blah, blah, blah. We felt invincible. Mistakes we made?

South Africa 310

South Africa Europe Disintermediation Poland 310

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 28, 2013

eCommerce was battered this year. In the market we’ve seen the massive uptick of SaaS valuations in the public markets and commensurate attention on private market fundings and valuations. Meanwhile while social networking was white hot 3 years ago it is now persona non grata unless your user numbers are insane.

Valuation 288

Valuation eCommerce Revenue Social Network 288

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

And as you become a later stage company in fund raising you’ll likely have several follow up decks to discuss things like: Unit economics LTV / CAC analyses Cohort analyses Retention rates (SaaS) or repurchase rates (eCommerce) etc.

Portfolio 261

Portfolio IP Later Stage Email 261

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

Boy, there has been a lot of innovation in the eCommerce space in the past few years with GroupOn, HauteLook, Gilt Groupe and others. Jeremy Liew, a respected VC from LightSpeed, obviously saw the change to ramp up sales. You can read in Jeremy Liew’s own words why he invested in the deal. Add this new model to the mix.

Venture Capital 270

Venture Capital Cofounder Spain San Diego 270

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

His plans are still solidifying but will likely involve some later-stage activities in the eCommerce & retail sectors unrelated to early-stage venture capital. But luckily for his wife I don’t think he’ll be spending much extra time there. And largely synergistic with what we do – which is awesome.

Partner 360

Partner Las Vegas Los Angeles San Francisco 360

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

He’s created a blog called #LongLA that is a great combination of the weekly zeitgeist of LA tech plus deep dives into areas like eCommerce that he knows well like this brilliant piece on Zulily and Flash Sales (he was CMO at HauteLook before joining). You can follow Greg on Twitter here.

Ireland 324

Ireland Jordan Portfolio Flash 324

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 24, 2016

I knew that every media company I backed and every eCommerce company I worked with was getting significantly more engagement in FB than in Twitter so I figured the same had to be true for me as a blogger but I wasn’t sure how to make the transition. So I became more interested in experimenting with Facebook.

Social Network 150

Social Network eCommerce Conversion Networking 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

If a VC meets with 40 eCommerce companies and has the data room on all of them (downloaded on to his or her system) then when they DO finally dig in on an investment opportunity they can compare information such as CACs, LTVs, churn rates, margins, etc. But I assure you it plays a big role. against a broad range of similar companies.

Cap Table 336

Cap Table Due Diligence Forecast Churn Rate 336

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

If you can achieve these things there remain very healthy profit margins and large, defensible businesses in eCommerce. But if you want to out Amazon, Amazon you need a really strong brand, with a high-quality and differentiated product, that is highly curated and develops a strong & loyal community.

Curation 296

Curation Los Angeles Differentiation Channel 296

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2011

That said, Amazon – through AWS – even without strong competition is as wonderful an experience as Amazon the eCommerce retailer feels to you as an online shopper. And 9 years after they launched AWS there are still no credible competitors. I find this strange. And maddening.

Venture Capital 334

Venture Capital Software PHP Open Source 334

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

It’s the company that evokes fear into more startups and venture capitalists looking to fund eCommerce businesses than any other potential competitor. Every pitch I’ve ever seen has led to the, “Would Amazon eventually do this? And could we then compete?” ” type questions.

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Software Review Cofounder CTO Hire 380

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 21, 2011

eCommerce companies that don’t recognize this are turning away business. Affiliate marketing is a several billion dollar / year industry yet the average value of goods sold on affiliate networks is less than $75.

Mobile 329

Mobile Advertising Affiliate Internet 329

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

I can tell you from working with them the past two years that both of them have great insights on various online business segments and I’ll frequently ask their opinions on performance-based marketing, eCommerce (Dave was at PriceGrabber), online gaming (Dave is a fanatic), digital living room, millennial points-of-view, etc.

Programming 294

Programming Entrepreneur Private Equity Equity 294

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

We’ve had just one market since then and it could confuse one into thinking: every deal finds downstream investors, every company good or bad finds a home, you know anything at all about brazil, india, china or even saas sales, ecommerce or analytics (you know all these in a bull market).

Churn Rate 150

Churn Rate Silicon Valley Brazil Valuation 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2010

eCommerce is hot again! What is interesting about this deal is that LivingSocial took in $14 million in VC just 6 weeks after they announced a $25 million round and the money came from Jeremy Liew, who is a well respected venture capitalist who just completed a similar type investment in ShoeDazzle. the funding and market coverage.

IPO 236

IPO .Net Venture Capital Strategic Investors 236

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2018

And throughout the process you should constantly be asking people, “Is that partner doing deals?”, “Do you know if she invests in eCommerce businesses?”, “Is he willing to fund companies in Boston?” If you take 10–15 coffee meetings with friends who can comment you’ll learn a hell of a lot about whom to approach.

LP 215

LP San Francisco Minneapolis Partner 215

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2016

Your eCommerce company has too much unsold inventory. And back home when you land and come into the office on Monday your staff still knows the truth. Your app isn’t getting enough repeat visitors. Your churn rates are too high. Your lead developer quit to join the new, new thing. We’ve all been there — every entrepreneur.

Churn Rate 150

Churn Rate Vesting Dilution Europe 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2013

You have an eCommerce company and have to much unsold inventory. And back home when you land and come into the office on Monday your staff still knows the truth. Your app isn’t getting enough repeat visitors. Your churn rates are too high. Your lead developer quit to join the new hot thing. It happens to nearly every startup.

Churn Rate 371

Churn Rate Vesting Viral eCommerce 371

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2015

The obviousness now of how this retail fulfillment powerhouse dominated eCommerce in the US is precisely what excited me the time I heard the concept of MakeSpace except in reverse. Thus Amazon’s market cap is $200 billion.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review San Diego Dallas Sacramento 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

They are an open-source & SaaS provider of eCommerce solutions. eCommerce is an enormously competitive search term. They did it by creating a blog, discussion board and hub for eCommerce advice and information. Mint.com is the second result. Think Magento. They are the fastest growing player in the world in this space.

Startup 373

Startup eCommerce Audience Community 373

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2014

In my shop I’m not the eCommerce expert – Greg Bettinelli is. And as you can see from this photo he set out to build stylish products rather than the low-quality stuff marketed to African Americans at the drug store.

Silicon Valley 419

Silicon Valley Startup Algorithm eCommerce 419

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

billion in annual subscription revenues not including advertising or eCommerce). That might not sound like a lot in a Facebook world but remember that these people were paying an average of about $20 / month to AOL for access alone (i.e.

Social Network 318

Social Network Networking Internet Technical Review 318

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

What is the mix of revenue between ads, subscriptions, digital downloads & ecommerce. They’ve worked with a few small companies like Zynga, Playdom, GroupOn and TopSpin Media. If you have this sort of need – check ‘em out. </end of plug> 4.

Viral 303

Viral Investment Bankers Video Business Model 303

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

Look beyond California and you have group purchasing (GroupOn in Chicago, LivingSocial in Washington DC), private sales (Gilt Groupe in NY, HauteLook in LA), artisan marketplaces (Etsy in NY), eCommerce (Amazon in Seattle) and on and on. To be clear – nobody builds bigger “pure tech&# firms than Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley 313

Silicon Valley Southern California Los Angeles Semantic 313

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

That, plus I love the space of high-customer-service, focused eCommerce for moms worried about what their kids eat & wear.&#. When I described to people why I initially invested my calls went something like this, “He’s taken kicks to the face for nearly 2 years and is still standing. I know this guy is a money maker.

Valuation 292

Valuation Deal Flow Lead Investor Cofounder 292

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 9, 2019

The only other significant cost item that I see in some early-stage startups is inventory (for hardware or eCommerce companies). With a standard tech startup I can tell you in my sleep that your two biggest cost items by a long shot are people (between 60–75% of total costs) and space (10–20% of total costs).

Product 214

Product Software Review Technical Review Security 214

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

Because so many of us (myself included) love out technology providers, few have begun to fully grasp how much centralized control Amazon has over cloud-based storage and processing and it’s even more dominant in eCommerce and physical, last-mile distribution.

Government 280

Government Distribution Stock United States 280