Both Sides of the Table

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What Does the Post Crash VC Market Look Like?

Both Sides of the Table

What You Can Learn From Public Markets It doesn’t really take a genius to realize that what happens in the public markets will filter back to the private markets because the ultimate exit of these companies is either an IPO or an acquisition (often by a public company whose valuation is fixed daily by the market).

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The Audacious Plan to Make Electricity as Easy as WiFi

Both Sides of the Table

I think this is a combination of being realists as venture capitalists that outsized returns in our funds must come from taking on bigger, more impactful projects that can move markets. We hired IP specialists to review prior art. We grilled their IP attorneys. Could we produce this at cost? We hired OSHA regulatory lawyers.

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How to Make Sure Professional Services Don’t Take Over Your Software Company

Both Sides of the Table

Importantly, make sure that you retain IP rights to your custom work which needs to be part of the engagement contract. At a minimum co-ownership of the IP. If not specified in contract you might find yourself with future litigation over IP. Integrate PS Work Into Sales & Marketing Processes.

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How to Shorten Your Sales Cycle and Avoid Wasting Time

Both Sides of the Table

The thing is … what I see many sales execs do is burn up countless hours on mid-level campaigns that get torpedoed when the go up the organization due to lack of budget, a desire to own that core IP or other more pressing organization priorities. If they’re not buying you need to be marketing to them not selling to them.

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Some Career Advice for Aspiring Tech CEOs

Both Sides of the Table

I wrote this conundrum and the need to take charge of how the market define your skills in my much-read blog post on “ personal branding.” ” If you don’t create the message about yourself, the market will. There is often money to be made in finding places with under-valued IP.

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How to Work with Lawyers at a Startup

Both Sides of the Table

Shame about not getting it in legal writing that you owned the original IP. Consider it a sales & marketing expense for them. For company registration, angel deals, Series A & B funding, Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOP), IP filings and even litigation it doesn’t need to be that way.

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What is the Right Burn Rate at a Startup Company?

Both Sides of the Table

by Michael Woolf that is worth any startup founder reading to get a sense of perspective on the reality warp that is startup world during a frothy market such as 1997-1999, 2005-2007 or 2012-2014. We’re going to start aggressively spend money on marketing our product. (it is also the title of a fabulous book from Internet 1.0

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