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. the sale of the company for $1 billion. We do other things, too.

Bankruptcy 294

Bankruptcy Bridge Financing Portfolio Angel Investor 294

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2009

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

PR 331

PR Software Review Ireland Germany 331

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” __. I’m not saying don’t hire sales staff or market your products aggressively. __. faux·men·tum.

Balance Sheet 150

Balance Sheet eCommerce Venture Capital Acquisition 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. For starters you have to realize that fund-raising is a sales process.

Cap Table 336

Cap Table Due Diligence Forecast Churn Rate 336

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

Jeremy Liew, a respected VC from LightSpeed, obviously saw the change to ramp up sales. Boy, there has been a lot of innovation in the eCommerce space in the past few years with GroupOn, HauteLook, Gilt Groupe and others. You can read in Jeremy Liew’s own words why he invested in the deal. 10mm in Series C.

Venture Capital 270

Venture Capital Cofounder Spain San Diego 270

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

That way your VC meeting becomes a sales lead AND the VC can get input from a trusted source (a portfolio company) without having to immediately commit more time. These are artifacts of a sales process designed to get you back in front of the VC and have further engagement.

Portfolio 261

Portfolio IP Later Stage Email 261

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2015

Best is if you have a combination of ad revenue, sponsorships and some forms of non ad revenue (subscriptions, merch, music sales, etc.). Take for example, an eCommerce company. But here is the most misunderstood fact about YouTube that I think most smart business people have missed in their rush to criticize revenue splits* or CPMs.

SEM 150

SEM Los Angeles Silicon Valley Acquisition 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

Greg was the CMO at HauteLook from the early days all the way through growing the business to 12 million registered users and far in excess of $200 million in annual sales. His plans are still solidifying but will likely involve some later-stage activities in the eCommerce & retail sectors unrelated to early-stage venture capital.

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

AUGUST 21, 2011

Nordstrom sales reps are trained to do this to, but of course they can’t know every customer that walks around the store. eCommerce companies that don’t recognize this are turning away business. eCommerce companies that don’t recognize this are turning away business. Or can they? see here for more details ).

Mobile 329

Mobile Advertising Affiliate Internet 329

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

If a consumer will pay a fixed price for a product or service then the battle over who gets the margin in any sale is between the person who merchandises a product and the person who manufactures it. If you can achieve these things there remain very healthy profit margins and large, defensible businesses in eCommerce.

Curation 296

Curation Los Angeles Differentiation Channel 296

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?” All of this, of course, is Sales 101. Borrowing from that post: “Remember that fund raising is a sales process. Not get mad.

LP 215

LP San Francisco Minneapolis Partner 215

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

JULY 27, 2013

You have an eCommerce company and have to much unsold inventory. Confidence is THE single most important attribute in being able to attract money, hire staff, stave off creditors, get press, do biz dev deals, close big sales and one day sell your company. Your app isn’t getting enough repeat visitors. Nearly every one.

Churn Rate 371

Churn Rate Vesting Viral eCommerce 371

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2016

Your eCommerce company has too much unsold inventory. Confidence is THE single most important attribute in being able to attract money, hire staff, stave off creditors, get press, do biz dev deals, close big sales and one day sell your company. Your app isn’t getting enough repeat visitors. Your churn rates are too high.

Churn Rate 150

Churn Rate Vesting Dilution Europe 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. Do you have sales productivity software? Mint.com is the second result. Think Magento. Blog on that topic.

Startup 373

Startup eCommerce Audience Community 373

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. Each of these companies exited for more than $500 million and several north of $1 billion.

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.&#. They dropped their number one selling product and switched to a competitor’s product while managing not to lose a single sale. I know this guy is a money maker. I just had to line up behind him.

Valuation 292

Valuation Deal Flow Lead Investor Cofounder 292