Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Almost no financings, many VCs and tech startups cratered for the second time in less than a decade following the dot com bursting. Deep down I love working with founders and products, strategy, go-to-market, financial management, pricing and all aspects of building a startup.

Valuation 466

Valuation San Francisco Ratchet Liquidation Preference 466

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

Helping companies get to next financing round successfully: I was just beginning this phase in Sept 2010 and said so. I’ve now been involved with many other successful foll0w-on financings. Sourcing high-quality leads : 9/10. Working with early-stage teams : coaching, mentoring, setting strategy, rolling up sleeves: 9/10.

Los Angeles 387

Los Angeles Intellectual Property LP Venture Capital 387

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2012

It’s a very common occurrence that a young startup with sub 20 staff and sub $2m in financing is racing around doing too many things. I always tell teams I meet with, “The scarcest resource in your company is management bandwidth. And nobody is more important in this regard than senior management. Let me explain.

Bandwidth 415

Bandwidth Management Startup Channel 415

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Of course it’s much harder to identify “emerging managers” who it turns out have been some of the best performers over the past 5-7 years such as Union Square Ventures, Spark Capital, First Round Capital, True Ventures, Greycroft, Foundry Group, Thrive and Upfront Ventures. and the bigger funds can’t get in directly.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

This financial leader could well have come through the finance org at another startup or at a larger company but they often also can come from strategy consulting (Bain, BCG or McKinsey) or through investment banking (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, etc.).

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2013

On my first real day back the first thought I have is that most entrepreneurs don’t manage their VC relationships as well as they could. You would never sell to one department and then trust them to manage all of the relationships with other departments who have to use your software.

Management 309

Management Venture Capital Partner Boston 309

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 18, 2019

This is only true when: 1) there is funding available to finance short-term losses and 2) when there is a lucrative positive unit-economics business when you become the winner. So for the first year Bird used off-the-shelf scooters that weren’t really built for long-term commercial use. It’s too lucrative not to.

South America 250

South America Global New York City Software Review 250

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

The main thing you’re concerned about in this phase of your company is maintaing control of your board, which in a legalistic perspective is ensuring that founders & management have the majority of seats on the board. how to evolve our management team. We have also built out an amazing management team. Experience.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

By September 26th we had submitted a term sheet which was signed on October 4th and financing was closed in less than 30 days. We funded about $2 million, which allowed a full team in Finland to be recruited for building the app and an international management team led from Los Angeles. The results?

Technical Review 373

Technical Review North America Los Angeles Cofounder 373

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

He wrote a post this long weekend on how he manages the board of DataSift. In this period (less than 2 years) he has brought on incredibly talented senior execs is sales, marketing, product management, client services, finance, vp engineering and more. Manages board meeting expectations (before & after). And improve.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

They will often run all of the daily reports into them covering off for finance, sales, marketing, biz dev & HR. In an early stage start I believe it’s the CEO’s job to manage these functions. What it tells me is that they’re not properly managing their business. But I ran product management.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Due Diligence 325

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2012

You’ll be on the other side of the financing discussions (a board member, rather than the CEO). . You’ll get exposed to new management styles. You’ll understand “fiduciary responsibility” more deeply. . You’ll have a peer relationship with another CEO that you have a vested interest in that crosses over to a board – CEO relationship.

Founder 294

Founder Vesting Startup Stock 294

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2013

But you have no choice since in the first few years everything you do is about showing results to justify financing to continue your operations. As the CEO I would work through my sales deals pipelines by doing “pipeline reviews” with individual sales reps and with regional managers. They should be owned by marketing.

Customer 324

Customer PR Marketing Technical Review 324

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2013

PS Business Cannot Become a Management Distraction. Another rule I outline with our portfolio companies who sell enterprise solutions is that I don’t want them to become a distraction for management. Everything needs to be part of a holistic company strategy. Control Size of PS Revenue Relative to Software Business.

Software Review 321

Software Review Software IP Technical Review 321

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….”. That is a personality type.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 31, 2010

I’m not (and never will be) a good process manager because I’m not process driven myself. You have no choice since in the first few years everything you do is about showing results to justify financing to continue your operations. I wrote a bit about how to better manage journalist relations in this post.

Sales 286

Sales PR Forecast Technical Review 286

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

It felt like there was a wavelength with management and somebody wasn’t on it. And let’s be clear – in almost every company there is executive management fighting. Make sure to call 3-4 members of the management team to avoid one person’s bias. FourSquare. Everywhere. Ask about the criteria above.

Portfolio 364

Portfolio Chicago Sales Incubator 364

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

We might help a management team deal with a vexing strategic question or a thorny negotiation but these are mostly tactical. Importantly, we recently announced a $30 million financing that gives us the resources we need to build a global enterprise software company. That’s why I often say The role of VC is “chief psychologist.”

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Fractional CTO Cofounder Early Stage 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

It encourages a bit too much FOMO (fear of missing out) and over-valuation in companies and a desire to do huge financing rounds to be perceived as the “knock-out winner.” My first company was used to manage workflow & share CAD drawings and plans on the $16 billion refurbishment of the London Underground.

Silicon Valley 390

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 390

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2016

They’re corrosive in your relationship with the early VCs, the management teams will take them if they must but they end up feeling demotivated and in a venture world where great new deals are always coming around — why commit to somebody else’s problem child? Most firms are somewhere in the middle.

Pre-Money Valuation 292

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Early Stage Startup 292

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

For a well-funded seed company I have controversially recommended hiring a great office manager that doubles as an administrative assistant. A great finance leader is on top of your numbers with such precision that you don’t have to worry about it. We brought in Cynthia Stephens to head up finance at Invoca.

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

They communicated this to product management who looked at all of the internal requirements we had generated (e.g. and product management worked with me to decide what to build & when. The first application they ever launched was in the property management space. But they went one step further.

Customer 280

Customer Technical Review Software Review Mexico 280

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

In the old days there weren’t many fights about whether angels would take their prorata rights in financing rounds. Thus begins the dance. New investors sometimes want early investors to put in money to “prove” they have confidence in the new price. Why prorata rights used to be less of a big deal to angels. That seems fair.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2014

It’s why I wrote this post that the controversial first hire after an A round out to be an office manager / assistant / HR person who handles everything from stocking supplies to booking travel to scheduling group meetings. The best ones by now have an amazing finance leader who often doubles as head of internal operations.

Startup 381

Startup PR Finance Hiring 381

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

The truth is I have never enjoyed running team meetings, managing processes & procedures and deciding HR policies, promotions and org structures. They need to be passionate about leadership, management, and organizational processes as the company scales.” ” So true. So I look forward to watching the next awe.sm

Technical Review 303

Technical Review Cofounder Analytics Founder 303

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Asked to respond to the topic, “What collusion happens with AngelList, if any&# I wrote the following: “Um, let’s not be naive here and not think that a “form of collusion&# doesn’t happen on virtually any financing round. Typical questions: What do you think of management? Investors talk to each other.

Entrepreneur 292

Entrepreneur Technical Review Stealth Valuation 292

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

While the management of a startup company deals with the day-to-day decision-making within the company (strategy, budgets, goals, tasks, compensation) ultimately the Board of Directors has the legal governing responsibilities for these things. In many cases management teams confuse the roles and responsibilities.

Startup 204

Startup Dilution Government Stock Options 204

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

The managing partner of the firm called me the next day. we had about 25 firms contacting us – more than I could manage. Experienced and serial entrepreneurs in the content management space. Web service architecture that provides a content management platform for the Internet. After Office 2.0 Folksonomy.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

Once a company has raised $2-3 million dollars I often advise them to get an office manager. I will quote one portfolio company CEO who said about his office manager, “Mark, this is the most important hire we made last year. I have freed up so much of my time to focus on the important stuff.&#.

Warrant 333

Warrant Germany France Cost 333

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

Here are some observations I have from this exposure: If a company moves from strength-to-strength with predictable outcomes, easy financings, low staff turn-over, limited competitive threats then the composition of the board probably doesn’t matter as much. As an investor board member I see this as my immediate goal, too.

LP 269

LP Startup Burn Rate Stock Options 269

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

People buy companies for 3 primary reasons: 1) they want the management team / talent 2) they want the technology or 3) they want the market traction (revenue, customer base, profits, etc). The best way is if they hear from third parties but if you can’t manage this it’s OK to tell them directly. Check ‘em out!

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Term Sheet Valuation Stock Options 282

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2019

There are actually several type and I’m going to make the case that if you can avoid board observers you generally should and when you do have them you should be thoughtful about how you manage them. On a board with 5 members plus a CFO plus a legal representative plus 1–2 management?—?every The full lists of posts is on the link.

Strategic Investors 255

Strategic Investors Startup Stock Options Venture Capital 255

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

The other investors around the table didn’t agree nor did the “independent” board members who were willing to turn a blind eye to capital inefficiency since they didn’t have any economic interests that would be diluted by continued fund raising to support a capitally inefficient management team. The deal was done in late 2007.

Burn Rate 263

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Private Equity 263

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2010

Actually, the latter could be a reasonable strategy for super technical entrepreneurs who can sustain themselves without big financing needs (see: Atebits, owner of Tweetie). And I saw a lot of this first hand in Salesforce’s acquisition of my company, Koral, which was a content management company.

Acquisition 287

Acquisition Developer Management Advertising 287

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

That would mean that the increased number of new business startups will lead to a “funding gap&# of deals that can’t get financed. The problem is that this is longer than the average economic cycle , which means you need to be able to manage in good times and bad. It was an investment management class.

Florida 299

Florida Technical Review San Antonio Los Angeles 299

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 18, 2010

I know that would be surprising to many readers since keeping a blog somehow convinces people that I’m a time management or productivity ninja. I have my “hacks&# for delivering outputs that are meaningful while managing the daily life more chaotically than you might imagine. Figure out a way to finance it.

China 374

China Asia Email Technical Review 374

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

It’s nearly impossible to get a services company financed by VCs. They have created two internal technology “products&# and wanted to figure out how they could turn their services business into a product business that could be financed. You’re a small fish. This team is talented. They wanted advice.

Silicon Valley 332

Silicon Valley IP Dividend Finance 332