Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

One would think entrepreneurs would never want less available cash – until such time as their competitors ridiculously and unnecessarily all raise $50 million in the name of a “land grab” thus making it much harder for your totally reasonable company to attract investors.

Software Review 150

Software Review Turkey Portfolio Syndicate 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 18, 2010

Responsive Low Hanging Fruit – I view email in the category of urgent but not (always) important. Sounds harsh but when you think about it that’s what email really is. I used to be a “respond to 100% of emails&# guy but I simply can’t keep up. Some of it is important, no doubt.

China 374

China Asia Email Technical Review 374

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

<< we then discussed the need to do trademarks on your company and your key brand names. 5: Q: “What’s the best way to get a VC’s attention in an email&# – I’ve written about this topic so more in depth is here on How to Access a VC as well as I Emailed a VC and Never Heard Back – What Now?

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Term Sheet Valuation Stock Options 282

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

It’s a tough dance but I would suggest the following: In most cases don’t name an actual price Your job is to “anchor” by giving the VC a general range without saying it. Why shouldn’t most founders just name a price? this is seeking feedback / testing your reponse) Here you’ve set a bunch of signals without naming your price.

Valuation 324

Valuation Post-Money Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Cofounder 324

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

They chose the name First Round Capital because they thought capital would be deployed most efficiently at smaller seed stage rounds considering the cost to build an internet business had come down drastically. CEO Summit – Two people are invited from each company to attend an event with big name speaking guests.

Pre-Money Valuation 284

Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Cofounder Cram Down 284

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

I became aware of Sam several years ago as I started noticing his name repeated in the comments section of my blog. He sent me a few nice emails. Sam in the perfect example. So I had a sense that I knew who he was. I thought that was the end of it. Nice kid, but I see lots of nice kids. Sam had different plans.

San Francisco 372

San Francisco Jordan Angel Investor Partner 372

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

His early experience was at LogMeIn and then he went on to help Xobni, DropBox, LookOut and EventBrite to name a few companies I’m sure you’ve heard of. We spend a lot of time trying to get people focused on building products that have viral components and why that has to be measured and constantly tested.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review Hockey Stick SEM Channel 384

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

I hired a sales coach named Kai Krickle who helped me figure out how to close more deals. Many times I’ve been asked for the names of references only to find that they were never called or only 1–2 were called. There is nothing you can provide in a data room that you couldn’t send via email.

Cap Table 336

Cap Table Due Diligence Forecast Churn Rate 336

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Two emailed Marc Benioff directly. He emailed the head of corp dev to say essentially, “who is this guy who’s telling everybody he’s working with Salesforce.com. I asked every VC not to call Salesforce. I was concerned that too many inbound calls would put pressure on my fledgling relationship. How did VCs respond?

Entrepreneur 292

Entrepreneur Technical Review Stealth Valuation 292

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

So I recommend a high-level “state of the company” email a couple of times a year but a message that you assume might get shown to others. I was just super fortunate that since it listed our name in the email solicitation that an investor reached out to me to ask us about it. I’ve never heard of him until now.

SEC 352

SEC Venture Capital Early Stage Cofounder 352

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

I recently got an email from a friend who had been approached by a well known VC. He sent me an email asking whether the approach was real and whether he should take it seriously. Here is the email he received (reprinted without names with his permission). Looking forward to speaking, Name [redacted].

Programming 294

Programming Entrepreneur Private Equity Equity 294

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2012

One VC (I won’t name but with whom I still won’t work today) called Marc Benioff directly. He forwarded an annoyed email to my main contact at Salesforce. They knew I was fund raising but I didn’t want to annoy them with unnecessary calls. They somehow figured I wouldn’t find out. What did he do?

Technical Review 316

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Cap Table 316

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2009

After all, most people are good for a few introductory emails. It’s OK to have the advisor slide where you glance quickly over the names. So after realizing that you’re not getting the strategic insight you had hoped for you fall back to asking for introductions. People like to help. Just don’t lay it on thick.

Advisory Board 306

Advisory Board Startup Equity Valuation 306

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2019

Another part of managing relationships outside of the board construct is sending update emails and/or making regular, short calls to board members to keep them in the loop & solicit feedback as well as to create an open channel and build a relationship. I generally prefer not to have assigned seating with names pre-assigned.

Networking 262

Networking Conversion Naming Hosting 262

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Consumers responded to name and concept well, solves real problem, o Took 4 months to build initial prototype. o On 1/11/05 his daughter was born at 8AM, at 6 PM email showing first million dollar rev day for the company and 8 PM term sheet from Experian to buy the company – all on the same day! He told them it was now or never.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

Fred Wilson wrote a blog post yesterday called “Real Names” in which he talked about a commenter on his blog who preferred not to comment because he didn’t want to use his real name. If you want to have a public debate then at least have the decency to do it using your real name! It’s a powerful concept.

Social Network 329

Social Network Iran Naming Networking 329

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2014

If you attract names like these you’re bound to attract some media attention and then Chad Hurley dropped the bomb that he was leaving YouTube while he was at the f.ounders event. He began messaging and emailing me to try and get me to come out to the event, which he was now turning into a conference called Web Summit.

Ireland 392

Ireland Global Las Vegas Switzerland 392

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 23, 2010

When somebody is new to Quora and is following you it encourages you to “give them topics&# to follow, which is clever because if they accept the topics they get more alerts, more emails – more bacn – and thus they come back to the site more frequently. Want to get more followers?

Silicon Valley 301

Silicon Valley Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Software Review 301

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 7, 2011

Many of the people who post use real names, real pictures and have links back to a website. I see their faces all the time and their names. Disqus emails me when somebody puts a comment on the blog or when I put a comment on somebody else’s Disqus blog and if somebody responds to me. So I never have to go back and check.

Social Network 287

Social Network Reputation IP Audience 287

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The surest sign a fund-raising process has stalled is when you aren’t getting follow-up meetings or hearing from the VC or hearing from friends that they got a phone call or email asking about you. they told you it was a great meeting but then they don’t respond to emails) DO NOT ASSUME it means they’re not engaged. Sometimes?—?best

Term Sheet 332

Term Sheet Due Diligence Campaign Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 1, 2011

That was back when VCs weren’t so quick to respond to emails. People who comment to me privately about how surprised they are by how rapidly I’ve “built a name for myself in VC&# remind me of this fallacy. As with tonight I got my kids to bed, did some email, caught 30 minutes of the news then sat down to type.

IPO 391

IPO Finance Valuation Naming 391

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2016

My partner Greg Bettinelli (worth following on Twitter) was recently named by The LA Business Journal as the “ Top deal maker in Los Angeles in Venture Capital.” Rebrand with a name that would authentically lay out our values. I also noticed that inbound emails were no longer directed at just me.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Early Stage LP Partner 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 3, 2010

For anyone who attacked me on my blog but used their actual names I left their comments. From Ji [last name withheld]. Make all users post under real names that you verify – This in and of itself would help temper comments. Believe me there were plenty of these and many were hurtful and inflammatory. No problem.

Aggregator 258

Aggregator Naming Early Stage Email 258

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 29, 2013

You got to keep the name of the new company – ecomom. You were so proud of that name and what it stood for. Please don’t email David Hornik. You had renegotiated your way out of that agreement. Now you wanted to merge with a broader-based business and sell all products. You wanted good in the world. And I did, too.

Mexico 406

Mexico Naming Restful Email 406

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 24, 2015

I was waiting for my son’s basketball game to start this morning and with the morning’s emails all drained I turned to Twitter and saw this Tweet from Marshall Kirkpatick. But over time I’ve seen the same names through the years and I know all of these people by name if not by face. You wrote me on Twitter.”

Networking 150

Networking Conversion Naming New York 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

You have this perception that they’re billing you for the lunch meeting they invited you to and the friendly banter emails flying back and forth. In Silicon Valley the name I hear mentioned most often for very early stage deals is Joey Tran from Fortis. I saw the same bad behavior in consulting.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Today we’re in a world where 10 accelerators are bombarding you with emails to meet their 10-15 companies. I told my friend that I felt that in 2014 too many new VCs feel the pressure to chase deals, to be a part of syndicates with other brand names and to pounce on top of every startup whose numbers are trending up quickly.

Cofounder 374

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 374

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

My firm GRP Partners recently funded a young LA based company named Ad.Ly We have spam filters for our email. Advertising has driven the majority of Internet innovation. that is an “in-stream advertising&# company currently focused on monetizing Twitter. So many I couldn’t mention them all. Check out TwtApps alone!

Technical Review 286

Technical Review Advertising Early Stage Internet 286

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 4, 2009

This is important … If you send somebody a message and you START it with an @name then the only people who will see your message are people who follow you and people who follow the person you replied to. If you truly want it to be private stick to DM or email (or better yet … telephone!). More advanced: 1.

Social Network 291

Social Network Social Media Valuation Naming 291

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 13, 2011

Here’s my advice: A got an email from a young, super bright entrepreneur today. He responded by emailing the COO and asking him to lunch. I get emails all the time from people asking me on a first date and saying, “how about if I buy you dinner.” A guy I would love to work with – maybe even hire myself.

Networking 397

Networking Email Portfolio Sales 397

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2019

The right company and colleagues are better than the perfect title, role or brand name. If I never emailed anybody back after our meeting I can tell you something that would shock you. You can’t get mad if people don’t return your emails or calls. But what you know is a function of who you know. Find your tribes.

Japan 253

Japan Chicago Europe South America 253

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2010

I have Twitter chats, respond to blog comments, trade emails, respond to comments on This Week in VC. I’m less good at names. I speak at conferences where I might meet 75-100 people and have conversations. I do dinners too often as my waistline can attest. I have long one-on-one conversations with people for hours.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Database Conversion Naming 288

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

His name was Chip Kelly and he came off of a very successful stint as the coach of the collegiate Oregon Ducks. ” They prefer to sit in front of a computer doing spreadsheets or coding or writing emails and working on marketing materials than they do investing time in human relationships. They respond to email.

Leadership 150

Leadership Southern California San Diego Hiring 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 16, 2010

It was a big industry luminary and he needed to see whether he could meet with this advisor.&# I can’t name who this advisor was or it would give the company away. In this case it warrants a personal email (or better yet a phone call) from you and a Herculean effort to reschedule the meeting. But it is a very big bigwig indeed.

Las Vegas 346

Las Vegas Warrant Cofounder Email 346

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2010

Have a column for board members / investors to put their names against whom they know. This will help because no investor wants to be the one without their name against anybody. Have a space where you say, “please add other useful intros you feel you could make&# and encourage them to add more names. We want to help.

Software Review 301

Software Review Early Stage Agile Partner 301

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Then I get people sending me Twitter comments, blog comments and tons & tons of email intros. I am too often in the situation at an event where I see a face I immediately recognize but seeing the person out of context I can’t quite place who they are, what their name is or what they do. 80% of the people never do.

Email 322

Email Hosting Boston Partner 322

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 19, 2009

It’s why I believe PalmPilot missed the important shifts to email that RIM (Blackberry) saw. Often entrepreneurs show me their management team slides with the names of the people who are going to join him once they’re funded. In turn Blackberry missed the Internet and still has a sucky browser after all these years.

Entrepreneur 288

Entrepreneur Early Stage Leadership Salary 288