Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

I recently wrote a post on angel financing covering the topic of convertible notes but I realized I was thinking about the issue more from investor perspective and a very narrow topic of how to price the round. So if you’re casually reading and don’t really care about angel financing – abort now!

Silicon Valley 291

Silicon Valley Ireland Technical Review Valuation 291

Professor VC

MARCH 10, 2009

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. I moderated a panel discussion last night on one of my favorite topics, bootstrapping, as part of our Silicon Valley Center for Entrepreneurship Eminent Speaker Series at San Jose State. Jon Fisher purposely avoided raising venture capital in his ventures.

Bootstrapping 28

Bootstrapping San Jose Silicon Valley Software Review 28

David Teten

JANUARY 28, 2019

My former Partner John Frankel of ff Venture Capital observes that 20 years ago, the defining movie of the generation was “Wall Street”. Everyone wanted to work in finance. But now, the defining movie of today’s twentysomethings is “The Social Network”. “CEO is the new Analyst.”. Incubate non-Yalies.

Affiliate 60

Affiliate Connecticut Programming Community 60

Professor VC

JANUARY 27, 2011

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. I strongly believe (at least for very early stage technology ventures) that you will get diminishing returns and arguably negative returns once you get past an initial threshold of team, product, market and financial diligence. The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic.

Technical Review 31

Technical Review Due Diligence Silicon Valley San Jose 31

The Equity Kicker

MARCH 8, 2016

Most networks crack this chicken and egg problem by using a hack of some kind to get either supply or demand in place. AirBnB famously scraped Craigslist to get their business started and here in London Hailo built a social networking app for cabbies as a way to get drivers on the platform before they had any users.

Silicon Valley 60

Silicon Valley Startup Social Network Demand 60

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. I attended the annual LP meeting for a venture capital firm this week and got into a discussion about the above question. While Silicon Valley covers a large amount of turf, it is very small. ProfessorVC. Thursday, November 19, 2009. Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?

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San Jose Silicon Valley Las Vegas Venture Capital 43

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Don't Stop Believin' Is There Any Truth in "The Social Network"? The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic. I also teach Entrepreneurial Finance at San Jose State. Social-Mobile-LOCAL: “Local” Will Be The Biggest of the Three.

Technical Review 38

Technical Review Early Stage San Jose Angel Investor 38

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Bump.com is a social network based on license plate numbers as the identifier. Don't Stop Believin' Is There Any Truth in "The Social Network"? The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic. Venture News. ProfessorVC. ▼ 2010. (7).

Technical Review 38

Technical Review San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley 38

Professor VC

APRIL 1, 2010

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. One comment made by Jason was that angels tend to be less sensitive than VCs on valuation and can potentially make it difficult to get a venture financing done at acceptable valuation. Labels: Angel Investors , fundraising , term sheets , venture capital , venture financing.

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Term Sheet Angel Investor San Jose Venture Capital 32

Professor VC

APRIL 7, 2011

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. This will also serve as a good pointer for all the entrepreneurs who ask why I am not interested in their company led convertible note financing round. This can make it much more difficult to get any bank financing, new investment, and trade credit. ProfessorVC. Thursday, April 7, 2011.

San Jose 36

San Jose Technical Review Angel Investor Valuation 36

Professor VC

DECEMBER 18, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. We recently had our Neat Ideas Fair, which is my favorite annual event of our Silicon Valley Center for Entrepreneurship at SJSU. Manija Ansari is an undergraduate business student (currently in my Entrepreneurial Finance course), working on a social entreprenurial venture.

San Jose 28

San Jose Silicon Valley Technical Review Angel Investor 28

Professor VC

JANUARY 27, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. The spring semester of my Entrepreneurial Finance class starts tomorrow. During the next four months, we will examine over a dozen entrepreneurial ventures from a diverse mix of industries - technology, service, food & beverage, and fashion. ProfessorVC. Sunday, January 27, 2008.

San Jose 28

San Jose Technical Review Angel Investor Venture Capital 28

Eric Friedman

AUGUST 18, 2021

I lovingly call him the curmudgeon of fintech – in this episode we go deep into how he is building a venture capital firm and practice, not just running a fund and how he views the world of fintech investing. What I mean by this is that a lot of folks are perched on soap boxes across social networks, shouting from the hilltops.

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Silicon Valley Venture Capital Cofounder Africa 88

www.drowningamerican.com

JUNE 22, 2012

We have a myriad of connections to local Venture Capital firms, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and many other important individuals. What We’re Doing: We’re currently setting the groundwork for an innovative educational web application that will eventually fuse with social networking. Silicon Valley Bank seems interesting.

Sweat Equity 40

Sweat Equity Equity Hiring Technical Review 40

Professor VC

APRIL 11, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Not to worry, I was busy working on closing the Series B financing for iControl Networks. I started working with the founders of iControl at the concept stage, prior to the first $100K of angel financing. The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic. ProfessorVC.

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Venture Capital Balance Sheet 28

Professor VC

MAY 29, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. To the SEC, it means that you are an accredited investor and To the man (or woman) on the street, a minimum qualification would seem to be an interest and ability to invest in early stage ventures. Don't Stop Believin' Is There Any Truth in "The Social Network"?

Angel Investor 28

Angel Investor Angel Groups Accredited Investor San Jose 28

Professor VC

JANUARY 20, 2009

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic. The latest statistics from VentureSource show 554 financings in Q4, down from 620 in Q3 and 718 in Q4 2007. Labels: bootstrapping , CFO , Fliqz , venture capital , venture financing. ProfessorVC.

Venture Capital 28

Venture Capital Silicon Valley San Jose Bootstrapping 28

Professor VC

JANUARY 17, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. I think the title of this post is a TV show, but fitting as there has been much debate in the venture community as to the whether angel investors are good or bad for entrepreneurs and VCs. I was on a panel earlier this week with several other investors from Angel Groups in the Valley.

Pre-Money Valuation 28

Pre-Money Valuation Angel Investor Angel Groups Valuation 28

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 12, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. I have noticed this same feeling when making a venture capital or angel investment. This was the beginning of the dot com bust and getting a consumer deal through the partners at my venture firm was next to impossible. ProfessorVC. Tuesday, February 12, 2008. Buyers Remorse.

San Jose 31

San Jose Technical Review Venture Capital Angel Investor 31

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 26, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. As I mentioned in the previous post, Jeff Fluhr (founder of StubHub) recently stopped by my Entrepreneurial Finance class to share his 4 Lessons of Entrepreneurship with the students. Don't Stop Believin' Is There Any Truth in "The Social Network"? ProfessorVC.

Technical Review 28

Technical Review San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

Professor VC

JUNE 6, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. It seems appropriate to have this discussion as Kent Desormeaux grabs Big Browns reins and goes after the Triple Crown tomorrow at Belmont.There is an age old debate in the venture business on whether it is better to bet on the horse (business/market) or the jockey (management team/founders).

San Jose 28

San Jose Technical Review Norway Angel Investor 28

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Don't Stop Believin' Is There Any Truth in "The Social Network"? The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic. I also teach Entrepreneurial Finance at San Jose State. Social-Mobile-LOCAL: “Local” Will Be The Biggest of the Three.

Oregon 28

Oregon San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 16, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. I am not sure how this relates to venture finance or entrepreneurship, but Im sure Ill find some connection along the way. Don't Stop Believin' Is There Any Truth in "The Social Network"? The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic.

San Jose 28

San Jose Technical Review Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

Professor VC

JULY 31, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. I actually enjoy the process of pulling together a selection of materials to create a complete course on Entrepreneurial Finance. Don't Stop Believin' Is There Any Truth in "The Social Network"? The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic.

San Jose 28

San Jose Software Review Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

In the era of social networks, LinkedIn, Facebook messaging, Quora and email addresses that are easily guessable, it’s easy to think that maybe you should just approach a VC directly. These include building products, recruiting, managing your finances, marketing, selling, getting feedback from customers and … fund raising.

Developer 366

Developer Silicon Valley PR Las Vegas 366

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network) - 500 Hats , November 1, 2010 I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. If network B has 20 users than it’s value is 400 (20*20). Finance, IT, Legal). How to Take Down Facebook -- Hint: It Ain't Twitter.

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Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

Professor VC

AUGUST 26, 2011

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Everyone seems to know someone who has raised huge amounts of venture capital without ever putting together even back of the envelope projections. However, I am teaching the ELAB and a new experimental course (The Silicon Valley Experience) for the MBA program.

Silicon Valley 35

Silicon Valley San Jose Hockey Stick Venture Capital 35

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 26, 2010

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Of course, when 10-year returns for the entire venture capital asset class is about to drop below zero, drastic measures may be in order. While this is not surprising, it would be interesting to look at returns provided to venture capital firms from novice and serial entrepreneurs.

San Jose 28

San Jose Silicon Valley Venture Capital Angel Investor 28

Professor VC

JULY 2, 2010

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Andy argues against common wisdom here in Silicon Valley that start-ups are behind all new job creation. A similar trend is happening in alternative energy, the industry that has greatly benefited from both venture capital and US government assistance over the past decade.

San Jose 28

San Jose Silicon Valley Venture Capital Angel Investor 28

Professor VC

JUNE 20, 2011

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Financing, that is.I had mixed emotions when I read the the press release on the recent funding of iControl Networks. One truth of start-up financing is that it generally takes twice as long and twice as much money to accomplish your milestones. ProfessorVC. How much is enough?

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Term Sheet Venture Capital 28

Professor VC

JANUARY 17, 2008

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Ok, so I think Im the last guy in Silicon Valley to start a blog. In the blog, I plan on sharing my opinions (I generally have no shortage of these) on venture capital, angel investing, teaching entrepreneurship, and anything else that strikes my fancy. Venture News.

Silicon Valley 31

Silicon Valley San Jose Angel Investor Venture Capital 31

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

Friendster’s valuation set the tone for the entire social networking space. You may happen to emphasize the right points that pique an investor’s interest, but you shouldn’t leave your financing up to chance. Second, understand the broader financing climate. Steer into your investors’ objections.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

Professor VC

OCTOBER 26, 2010

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. The search for a world series ticket brought up some more thoughts about entrepreneurial finance. Don't Stop Believin' Is There Any Truth in "The Social Network"? The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic. Venture News. ProfessorVC.

San Jose 28

San Jose San Francisco Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

Professor VC

JULY 22, 2009

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Ross is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, battered but still standing after the Internet collapse. The protagonist, Ross Williamson, is struggling to finance his company and hang on to his team during the process. The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic.

Burn Rate 28

Burn Rate San Jose Silicon Valley Angel Investor 28

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2010

billion to work across 731 financing deals with US startups, a 50% increase over Q1 2009. To me, this indicates that venture capitalists (VCs) are looking for business, but they are clearly moving away from early-stage (pre-revenue) deals. Back to VCs, Silicon Valley venture capital firms are still the most active.

Venture Capital 123

Venture Capital Elevator Pitch Silicon Valley Massachusetts 123

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 2, 2010

The last blogger in Silicon Valley. The fall semester at SJSU started this week and had the first class meeting of my Entrepreneurial Finance class, which was overflowing with students standing, sitting on the floor and begging to get in. Labels: angel groups , angel investing , entrepreneurial finance course , Super Angels.

Angel Investor 28

Angel Investor Angel Groups San Jose Venture Capital 28

Steve Blank

JUNE 22, 2011

Their firm, Andreessen/Horowtiz , has been prescient enough to invest in social networks, consumer and mobile applications and the cloud long before others. They finance companies that invest in new technologies, new ideas and new products. In the last year, we’ve seen Social Networks enable new forms of peaceful revolution.

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Internet Silicon Valley United States .Net 297