Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

But here’s what Silicon Valley doesn’t get about Hollywood. Ironically in Silicon Valley consumer Internet business have become hits driven businesses. And what Hollywood does’t get about Silicon Valley? As humans we like story telling. Think about. ” Guess what, Hollywood.

Silicon Valley 374

Silicon Valley Los Angeles Distribution Java 374

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

The beauty of Silicon Valley and the ethos it has driven in all of us is acceptance of failure and a profound respect for those who at least try. Startup Lessons' If a society shuns people for TRYING you discourage people from creating truly breakthrough innovation out of fear of failure.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review South Korea San Francisco Software Review 417

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

If you’re a startup and you don’t have a close relationship with a few law firms you’re really missing one of the most important relationships that any entrepreneur can have. I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. I know that people have an allergy to lawyers out of fear of being screwed.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Much has been written about when it is time to hire a “professional CEO” to run a startup company and of course that has long been a norm in Silicon Valley when founders find that their inexperience may be a limiting factor in company growth ( know as the Peter Principle ). Startup Lessons'

Founder 309

Founder CTO Hire Silicon Valley Leadership 309

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. I acknowledged this in the article.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

I made every textbook mistake at my first startup, which is why I believe I was much more effective at my second one. The following are some lessons I learned about early-stage startup marketing. I worked with an entrepreneur who was to appear at a startup networking event where he was to talk about his company’s plans.

Early Stage 380

Early Stage Stealth Marketing Startup 380

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Let me start with the obvious baseline that most people probably know instinctively: Los Angeles is the 3rd largest technology startup ecosystem in the US. billion in venture capital to LA’s technology startups and 2014 will shatter that figure. But to answer the actual question “Is there something going on in LA?”

Los Angeles 376

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Seattle 376

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

There are very few people in Silicon Valley who have such a precise grasp on what defines success of early-stage startup companies than Eric Ries. Importantly we also discussed: should startups raise small amounts of money or large? how should you organize teams in a startup? 4:15 Eric’s startup history.

Silicon Valley 301

Silicon Valley Lean Social Media PR 301

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2011

What could you learn from looking at your competitors or other tech startups in a different way? Or you think their startup is a passing fad and yours is the real deal? I was at a dinner about a year ago with a few VCs and startup founders. It’s just a fad propped up by the Silicon Valley elite marketing machine.”

Startup 313

Startup Guerilla Silicon Valley Portfolio 313

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The best and most consistent funds in Silicon Valley (e.g. But my conversations in the private corridors on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley is that many fund sizes will be smaller going forward. Importantly, what does this all mean for startups? Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Accel) can and will easily raise money.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

I recently sat down with Matt Coffin , the founder of LowerMyBills, which sold for $400 million but was very nearly a bankruptcy only a few years early, and talked “startups.&#. Matt is one of the most transparent, focused & honest startup guys you’ll meet. Or read the quick, informative summary below the image!

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

One of my favorite events last year was attending Startup Grind where I got to interview Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator’s Dilemma. And of course we talked about many of my views of building startups. You didn’t join startups then. You joined a startup if you couldn’t get a real job.

Cofounder 337

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Startup San Diego 337

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

Startups are hard. We tell startup stories. ” Strangely, the best I’ve ever heard this exemplified is in Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential - which is really a book about startups as told through kitchen stories. Our founder, Yves Sisteron, was my mentor and board member at my first startup.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Cofounder San Francisco Silicon Valley 320

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2012

I recently wrote about the 12 tips to building successful startup communities. I lived in London from 1997-2005 and for 6 of those years ran my startup based out of London. Everything I learned about startups I learned by making mistakes at my first one. I’m absolutely certain it is critical to any startup community.

Community 350

Community Silicon Valley Detroit Chicago 350

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

“My startup business was acquired and I worked for the company that bought us; which was a public company called Ameridata that bought about 40 companies in about three years. So having spent a lot of time thinking about this Silicon Valley is a thing in and of itself. On the Startup Visa Program. investors.”

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

” I found myself nodding through all of it with quotes like, “Seed investing is the status symbol of Silicon Valley,” said Sam Altman. I love how open Danielle has been throughout the development of her startup Mattermark including honest reflections of when she has changed her opinion. That’s what it feels like.”.

Cap Table 150

Cap Table Cofounder Silicon Valley Startup 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2010

Notes Wadhwa, “Jason [Calacanis], Fred [Wilson], and Silicon Valley VC’s, I’ve got news for you: you’ve got it all wrong. So going into a startup scenario you bring these innate skills or you don’t. You don’t need to be great at all of these attributes to be part of a successful startup team.

Silicon Valley 289

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur United States Leadership 289

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2012

So it reminds me of a recent deal in Silicon Valley from 18 months ago or so. One of the best known VCs in Silicon Valley had decided to come in at the last minute and fund the company even though a term sheet was already signed. You learn a lot about people in these situations.

Term Sheet 356

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Reputation Partner 356

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2014

Their firm is one of those that you think of when you think of Silicon Valley. Startup Advice' I got a call a few years ago from a well-known investor up North. It was the first time he had ever called me. I didn’t remember getting the calls on all of his super big, high profile deals. Why am I so lucky? Nor from me.

Silicon Valley 333

Silicon Valley Early Stage Later Stage Technical Review 333

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

While there is much discussion about VCs starting to pull back on their investments into startups, the LPs we surveyed don’t expect to slow the pace of investment into VC funds themselves – at least for the foreseeable future. That’s money that fuels our startup ecosystems.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital LP Silicon Valley Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

The father of “Growth Hacking” appears to be Sean Ellis who wrote this widely read post, “ Find a Growth Hacker for your Startup. For starters it brings a mindset to startups that not all of them have innately. If your startup isn’t committed to growth hacking you’ll never find extra-ordinary growth.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review Hockey Stick SEM Channel 384

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

I was once thinking about writing a blog post called “Is Reid Hoffman the Kevin Bacon of Silicon Valley&# because it seemed that every angel / seed investor I knew looking at deals was shopping their deal to Reid and everybody wanted Reid’s opinion before committing. Tags: Raising Venture Capital Startup Advice.

Silicon Valley 293

Silicon Valley Technical Review Southern California Angel Investor 293

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

Over time you start to figure out who you customers are and how to sell to them or how to get them to adopt your products if you’re a consumer-oriented startup. And I’ve also been convinced that it can be quite useful to have another startup company CEO on your board. As You Start to Mature. how & when to raise capital.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 23, 2010

Answers OnStartups- Shortly after I started blogging I noticed a website called “ Answers on Startups ,&# which I instantly loved and spent a bunch of time on. It was this sort of techie / geeky looking UI implementation of questions that anybody could ask about startups. Quora “Lite&#.

Silicon Valley 301

Silicon Valley Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Software Review 301

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

But not everybody has the right skills to build a highly successful and valuable startup from scratch. For some aspiring to be tech entrepreneurs, I often suggest a two-step process, as I argued in this post that “ The First Startup Founder You Need to Invest in Is You.” In fact, I would argue that most people don’t.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Liquidation Preference Silicon Valley IP 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

We are hugely appreciative of their successes because it’s helped grow technology talent in Los Angeles and some time down the line we know the “Snapchat Mafia” will be armed with millions of dollars and fund and create startups all over LA. Are you beating up every Silicon Valley VC that didn’t do Facebook or Google or Uber early?

IPO 214

IPO Los Angeles Technical Review Silicon Valley 214

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2013

And I think of it as a failure of Silicon Valley startups (and occasionally SV VCs who lack an understanding of enterprise purchasing) to assume you don’t need a sales process and sales reps. And failure to show customer adoption is the death of startup companies. Startup Advice'

Customer 324

Customer PR Marketing Technical Review 324

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

This is an updated post from my ongoing series on Startup Advice that I learned from founding two companies. . I came several times to NorCal (where I grew up, actually) and went and met several partners from each Silicon Valley firm. I hear Silicon Valley firms bragging all the time about how often they release software.

China 333

China Silicon Valley Software Review Technical Review 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

This is an updated post from my ongoing series on Startup Advice that I learned from founding two companies. . I came several times to NorCal (where I grew up, actually) and went and met several partners from each Silicon Valley firm. I hear Silicon Valley firms bragging all the time about how often they release software.

China 328

China Silicon Valley Software Review Technical Review 328

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2013

The media world now has its own leader running the largest YouTube multi-channel network startup. Hollywood vs. Silicon Valley and Who Will Win. And that’s why the online video space and YouTube ecosystem has taken one more leap toward its rightful place as next generation video platform. New Online Video Trends.

Video 320

Video Los Angeles Technical Cofounder CTO Hire 320

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

So why is online video such an attractive market to build a startup? These markets represent about $600 billion of total spend between them, leaving tons of opportunities for startups to disrupt and grow large. And production is where Hollywood beats Silicon Valley. Yet many of the startups I see are very US centric.

Video 339

Video Technical Review Distribution Aggregator 339

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 25, 2011

A year ago I invested, along with Dana Settle at Greycroft Partners , in a startup company called Maker Studios. For one, the consumer-driven startup world has become immensely hits driven. But when you produce on Internet you can test your content in the same way that Silicon Valley firms test early versions of their software.

Silicon Valley 291

Silicon Valley Los Angeles Distribution Internet 291

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

Tracy DiNunzio isn’t your typical Silicon Valley startup founder. She did her first tech startup after the age of 30. Tracy was an artist throughout her 20′s but she watched her then husband found a tech startup. Tracy isn’t your quintessential Silicon Valley startup story.

Silicon Valley 363

Silicon Valley Cofounder Entrepreneur Startup 363

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

As I’ve highlighted I believe we’re in a unique period similar to 2005-08 where the biggest tech firms of Silicon Valley (and some media companies) are scooping up small software companies as “talent acquisitions&# versus accretive revenue / profit generators. This is actually the norm.

Cap Table 283

Cap Table Angel Investor Liquidation Preference Deal Flow 283

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

The biggest difference I cite is that Venture Capital often feels like an “individual sport” while startups are a “team sport.” Startups are team sports because you’re all working on the same shared objective of the company. So Silicon Valley massively shifted to San Francisco.

San Francisco 150

San Francisco Jordan Los Angeles Technical Review 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

Launchpad LA today announces it will accept applications for its third class of Los Angeles-based tech startups. But the most important metric has been the deep and lasting relationships that have been built with startups and also between senior executives. For any company interested in applying please visit the website.

Los Angeles 287

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Incubator Startup 287

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

One of the questions we discussed is, “How much capital should a startup raise?” When I write about topics that are relevant suddenly anybody with a startup solution in that field will approach us. Startup Lessons' ” Here is a three-minute video with Fred answering this question. This works brilliantly.”

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Term Sheet Video 150