Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Think about how profound a difference adding Sheryl Sandberg early at Facebook was to Mark Zuckerberg and knowing that he should stay in charge of product and strategy while she ran operations. For some of my more skeptical portfolio companies I simply asked them to run a trial of inbound sales calls and they were shocked.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Fractional CTO Cofounder Early Stage 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Matt Blumberg, who runs one of Fred’s portfolio companies, Return Path, follows up with an additional three : Don’t be a bottleneck (make sure you aren’t holding up people’s work). My first company was founded in Ireland, headquartered in England and had country operations in the UK, France & Germany.

Ireland 319

Ireland Sales Germany Bankruptcy 319

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 14, 2010

One of my favorite sayings in this area comes from a portfolio company, RingRevenue , who like to say “ease of use = use and use = revenue.&# Better that they work on new initiatives, performance improvements, operational features to help internal management or anything other than just cranking out features for the sake of it.

Development Team Review 323

Development Team Review SEM Channel Social Media 323

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

If you have a very low gross margin (10-30%) it can be very hard to build a large, scalable business because you need to make a lot of sales to cover your operating costs. In startup world low GM almost always equals death which is why many Internet retailers have failed or are failing (many operated at 35% gross margins).

Burn Rate 383

Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net Valuation 383

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

million and we seemed likely to raise another $40 million within the first 18 months of operations. I will quote one portfolio company CEO who said about his office manager, “Mark, this is the most important hire we made last year. Even better if he/she can double as a VP Operations & HR.

Warrant 333

Warrant Germany France Cost 333

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

Each VC has their own take on which services to provide and mostly they’re free but some smaller VCs charge portfolio companies for use of these services but usually at a cheap cost. As many of us are ex operators I think it intellectually suited us.

Portfolio 150

Portfolio PR Partner Early Stage 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

We have a few portfolio companies going through brand changes. We are trying hard to live up to the guidelines we laid out for our investors, our portfolio companies and our community. Expand our partnership, bringing in and nurturing next-generation talent who bring operational experience and different points-of-view.

Ireland 324

Ireland Jordan Portfolio Flash 324

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

I must admit I discuss this very frequently with portfolio companies but hadn’t thought to write about it. The initial Apple/AT&T deal was of course limited to the geography in which AT&T operated and thus after its initial success Apple had a template for exclusivity agreements in other countries.

PR 150

PR Early Stage Software Naming 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

portfolios. 66% Net Operating Margins? Unfortunately this was reinforced by the many conferences that rushed to espouse the benefits of Web 2.0 and the subsequent acquisition sprees of companies like Google, Yahoo!, Cisco and others went out to fill out their Web 2.0 The last 12 months has seen the rise of many new trends.

Business Plan 334

Business Plan AJAX Venture Capital Technical Review 334

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

He has grown our US operations from 1 employee (him) to a global organization of 75 employees that will finish the year with 8-digit revenues (90+% recurring) and more than 350% year-over-year growth. VCs crave the ability to help portfolio companies. What Rob wrote in his post is right. Please meet her while she’s there.”

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

One of the first boards that I ever got involved with where I wasn’t the CEO was with a company in which I hadn’t invested but was brought on board to look deeper into operational issues. I spent a ton of time with the CEO and VP Finance understanding the businesses, its customers and its operational challenges.

CTO Hire 308

CTO Hire Management Technical Review Part-Time VPE 308

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2010

Background: GRP Partners is a Los Angeles based Venture Capital firm with additional operations in London and Paris. Responding to portfolio company requests. We like to get a flow of applicants in before processing. When the process has closed I will update this post to say so. Position: Analyst. Analyzing industries / companies.

Los Angeles 290

Los Angeles Technical Review Due Diligence Venture Capital 290

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

Operating experience (Helped run parts of CitySearch & UrbanSpoon, tons of product management experience, Board of Hatch Labs which helped spawn Tinder). She has been in operations in Seattle and Los Angeles. Competitive (Athlete: skier & rowed at Princeton, hates losing at everything she does).

Partner 408

Partner Las Vegas Los Angeles Baltimore 408

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

I get company portfolio requests (review board packs, sign legal docs, help with fund raising, review a new candidates resume, help with press release, request for meeting to discuss topics, etc.). I like customer service but I also need to do sales, marketing, finance & operations. I invest, work deals and do operations.

Email 287

Email Bankruptcy Equity Technical Review 287

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

My goal in the interview overall was to capture more of the personal side of Fred since so much of his investment thesis and portfolio work already comes out in his blog. In stead of just writing operating and funding advice Fred also talks about industries. But Fred got me to see a broader perspective.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Term Sheet Video 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

We have been on a drive to add more operational partners. I was the first operational startup partner added – having built and sold two software companies. I was the first operational startup partner added – having built and sold two software companies. I wrote about that decision here.

Partner 340

Partner Los Angeles South Africa Cap Table 340

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

So I started introducing him to portfolio companies. And we’ve designed the economic incentives so that Greg is aligned with the overall performance of GRP in addition to his investments so I’m excited to get him involved across all of our portfolio companies helping provide fresh perspectives on the important topic of growth.

Partner 360

Partner Las Vegas Los Angeles San Francisco 360

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2016

Our portfolio company mitú , the fastest growing digital video company focused on the Latino market in the US (in English) and globally (in Spanish) has taken a different approach to the taco. In the US this is often confused as Mexican Independence Day, which is actually September 16th and is called Grito de Dolores.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Mobile Portfolio Global 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

And these ideas have ways of seeping into board discussions with portfolio companies as in, “have you ever thought about trying A, B or C?&# Most app-to-app products are inter-operable, Apple isn’t. Most ones that I know have very high ethical standards so I’m not concerned about that. But life doesn’t end.

Early Stage 380

Early Stage Stealth Marketing Startup 380

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

But I’ve come to the view (only after being in the industry for a few years) that the best investors influence their end-games through well cultivated relationships with eventual buyers of their portfolio companies. It’s an active job throughout the entire life of the portfolio company. And as with VCs the same goes with angels.

Silicon Valley 280

Silicon Valley Early Stage Chad Portfolio 280

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2017

So it was a timely conversation at this year’s Upfront Summit because the week of the Summit, Sequoia had announced that it was transitioning leadership from Jim Goetz to Roelof Botha (and US operations to Alfred Lin). He did what every LP did, looked at returns, talked to portfolio companies, talked with our competitors and so forth.

Leadership 161

Leadership LP Venture Capital Silicon Valley 161

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

Operations. I spend tons of time each day on portfolio company issues. I spent a late morning meeting with a product exec at one portfolio company. I spent time talking with 2 senior execs who are separately joining two of my portfolio companies. Any of my partners or portfolio companies can attest otherwise.

Email 314

Email Product Term Sheet Portfolio 314

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2016

This is a huge moment for Michael Dubin who had the vision, the market genius, the operating chops and the perseverance to prevail even after the venture funding markets had wrongly written off eCommerce as a category. My friend Jamey Sperans says I don’t talk often enough about my “anti portfolio” or the deals I wish I had done.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles eCommerce France Video 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

That means you’re always operating on the client’s schedule. On the positive side, we have a portfolio and therefore more diverse chances of success. I worked nearly a decade as a consultant – first building large scale IT systems and then doing strategy consulting. Then I spent many years as a startup CEO.

Technical Review 312

Technical Review Due Diligence Spain Warrant 312

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Oblong, Minority Report, and the rise of Spatial Operating Systems. You have a company called Oblong (in your portfolio) which is a Minority Report type company. Some Angel groups endorse it. More recently some Chamber of Commerce’s have started to endorse it.”. What is your vision or Oblong’s vision of where all this is heading…. “So

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2013

Perhaps they believe it isn’t a good use of time for each portfolio company to spend time with each partner. I question this logic but I’m sure some firms operate that way. Is there any reason a VC would not want you to meet with his or her partners?

Management 309

Management Venture Capital Partner Boston 309

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 11, 2015

I started by launching a portfolio company’s product on Product Hunt. I began following him when I realized he was in product at Play Haven, who operated in a space that interested me. So I set out to understand this phenomenon a bit more deeply.

Product 150

Product Social Media Startup Community 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

Then there is the EIR (entrepreneur in residence) who is usually at a VC for a temporary period of time and other individuals such as venture partners or operating partners. These are the permanent members of a VC. The process for raising money from a VC is a sales process and as such much of what is taught in enterprise sales can be applied.

Partner 308

Partner Term Sheet Sales Portfolio 308

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

But there are many zombie VC’s with no more investments left in their portfolios so it’s hard to know which trend has more impact. Sentiment is strong in personal portfolios and up commensurately with VC’s expectations that their last fund will now be worth something (and along with that increase the partners’ personal wealth).

Investment Bankers 255

Investment Bankers IPO Venture Capital Marketing 255

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

But my specific point is that while everybody is busy telling you that “kids don’t use email” or “email is dead” I have actual data from portfolio company CEO’s showing the efficacy of email as a communication and marketing channel. The key is understanding the nuance. You’re data looks fantastic.

Mobile 339

Mobile Email Social Media Global 339

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2016

I’m a stickler for focus, being efficient with capital and building out operational excellence, so our strategy initially was very constrained. And while Sam has always been the face of the business one of our secret weapons was that we had Rahul Gandhi running operations. Public Storage does about $2.4 Why is it so valuable?

Video 150

Video DC Chicago Washington 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 15, 2010

So in life I’ve always operated on the principle that “it’s better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission.&# It has suited me well in life. Does that mean that I condone this kind of behavior with portfolio companies in which I invest? Absolutely! How else could I sign up the the JFDI credo ?

San Francisco 379

San Francisco Japan Europe Switzerland 379

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

The Upfront VII and Growth teams are made up of 10 partners: 6 leading investment activities & 4 supporting portfolio companies including Talent, Marketing, Finance & Operations. When we invest, we commit to being long-term partners to our portfolio and we take that responsibility seriously.

San Francisco 408

San Francisco Early Stage Venture Capital Los Angeles 408

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

Think about the tension between media companies and cable operators like last year when Viacom threatened to pull Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, BET, etc. I will use some examples from Parachute and some other portfolio companies to give you examples from our experiences of watching successful brands grow.

Curation 296

Curation Los Angeles Differentiation Channel 296

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2010

When he entered the industry he caught the tail end of the dot com bubble and then was immediately thrust into a 3-year period of “triage&# where VC’s had to deal with problems in portfolio companies. This lasted from about 2001-2004. This is said to be part of a much bigger B round that is in process. Total raised: $17.0mm.

San Francisco 230

San Francisco Los Angeles Cofounder SMS 230

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

This conversation seems to come up very frequently these days both with portfolio companies and with entrepreneurs just looking for mentorship. Every conversation about fund raising should start with what your current operational needs are and the stage of your business.

Pre-Money Valuation 303

Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Valuation PR 303

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

We talked about the negative effect of Apple’s closed system attitude but how that will be a gift to the market because Apple’s cracking of the operator hegemony has forced the industry to innovate. Will expand IBM’s business analytics capabilities and become part of IBM’s application and integration middleware portfolio.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Non-Compete Vertical Europe 225