Professor VC

JULY 22, 2009

The burn rates of my portfolio companies is certainly top of mind right now, but thats not what this post is about. Since Im not a fan of any of those genres, I have been looking forward to the release of his latest work, Burn Rate. Bootstrapping 101. I also teach Entrepreneurial Finance at San Jose State.

Burn Rate 28

Burn Rate San Jose Silicon Valley Angel Investor 28

Professor VC

APRIL 7, 2011

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. Ive seen a number of entrepreneurs, angels and VCs fall into the trap of providing debt in small pieces. In cases where it is truly a bridge financing (i.e.

San Jose 36

San Jose Technical Review Angel Investor Valuation 36

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

However, I have seen some blog posts posing the question about whether the same principles of valuing baseball players could be applied to entrepreneurs. I encourage entrepreneurs to give it a shot and let me know what you think. Bootstrapping 101. I also teach Entrepreneurial Finance at San Jose State. Steve Bennet.

Technical Review 38

Technical Review Early Stage San Jose Angel Investor 38

Professor VC

APRIL 1, 2010

was part of a Dow Jones VentureWire webinar last week titled Negotiating An Angel Deal: What Angels, Entrepreneurs & VCs Need to Know. 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. Steve Bennet.

Term Sheet 32

Term Sheet Angel Investor San Jose Venture Capital 32

Professor VC

JANUARY 27, 2008

The spring semester of my Entrepreneurial Finance class starts tomorrow. We will also look at a variety of financing methods including venture capital, angel investing, licensing, franchising, roll-up, venture debt and my old favorite, bootstrapping. Labels: entrepreneur , entrepreneurial finance course , venture capital.

San Jose 28

San Jose Technical Review Angel Investor Venture Capital 28

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

At a high level, I definitely agree that being an entrepreneur and being in school dont necessarily mix. Most of us know of Exhibits 1 ( Bill Gates ) and 2 ( Mark Zuckerberg ) from Harvard, but I have met dozens of other successful entrepreneurs who felt a greater need to get going on an opportunity than to wait around to complete a degree.

San Jose 43

San Jose Silicon Valley Las Vegas Venture Capital 43

Professor VC

DECEMBER 18, 2008

The NIF (in its 5th year), is essentially a science fair for entrepreneurs. Here are a few of the budding entrepreneurs that I chatted with at the event: Jeff Gibboney, a graduate mechanical engineering student, developed a battery operated skateboard for cruising to school or work. Bootstrapping 101. ► September. (1).

San Jose 28

San Jose Silicon Valley Technical Review Angel Investor 28

Professor VC

MAY 29, 2008

An entrepreneur will pitch their business plan to what they think is a group of angel investors and will get a number of follow-up calls afterwards, but they are pitches for services not investment interest. ► October. (1). Bootstrapping 101. I also teach Entrepreneurial Finance at San Jose State. ► September. (1).

Angel Investor 28

Angel Investor Angel Groups Accredited Investor San Jose 28

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 26, 2008

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. Do you have the right make-up to be an entrepreneur? Bootstrapping 101. I also teach Entrepreneurial Finance at San Jose State.

Technical Review 28

Technical Review San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

Professor VC

JANUARY 17, 2008

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. One group charges entrepreneurs "an administrative fee" to present to the group. Touched by an Angel. for a total of $10.5M

Pre-Money Valuation 28

Pre-Money Valuation Angel Investor Angel Groups Valuation 28

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 12, 2008

While spending time with the entrepreneurs and championing the deal through the group, you tend to become emotionally attached. In most cases, the entrepreneur hasnt hidden anything, it is just buyers remorse kicking in and the realization that the hard work is beginning. Bootstrapping 101. February 15, 2008 2:08 PM.

San Jose 31

San Jose Technical Review Venture Capital Angel Investor 31

Professor VC

JUNE 20, 2011

Financing, that is.I One truth of start-up financing is that it generally takes twice as long and twice as much money to accomplish your milestones. Most companies dont come close to their rose colored financial models prepared when going out for Series A financing. As I said up front, I have mixed emotions about the financing.

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Term Sheet Venture Capital 28

Professor VC

AUGUST 26, 2011

I get asked this question a lot by entrepreneurs (and students). To that last one, there is certainly some truth as the standard time vs. revenue chart in most business plans looks like this: Im not teaching Entrepreneurial Finance this semester for the first time since Fall 2007. Bootstrapping 101. ProfessorVC. Steve Bennet.

Silicon Valley 35

Silicon Valley San Jose Hockey Stick Venture Capital 35

Early Growth Financial Services

JANUARY 10, 2013

Of utmost concern to many entrepreneurs is how to retain maximum equity in their startups. Whether you’re funded, seeking funding, or still bootstrapping, here are some of the best strategies for avoiding dilution and maintaining maximum equity: 1. Rightly so. Milestone raises.

Equity 38

Equity Dilution Bootstrapping Startup 38

Professor VC

JANUARY 20, 2009

The latest statistics from VentureSource show 554 financings in Q4, down from 620 in Q3 and 718 in Q4 2007. Of course, the most important funding statistic to an entrepreneur relates to one specific company, and whether there is sufficient capital available to build and scale his business. Bootstrapping 101. billion to $5.5

Venture Capital 28

Venture Capital Silicon Valley San Jose Bootstrapping 28

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 2, 2010

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. Entrepreneurs struggle to find investors and investors struggle to find the best start-ups. Steve Bennet. at 11:54 AM. Newer Post.

Angel Investor 28

Angel Investor Angel Groups San Jose Venture Capital 28

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 26, 2010

For firms that dont have access to the most successful entrepreneurs, trying to predict an individual or individual teams success rate based on experience, personal attributes, intellect, etc. might very well be a good way to find some promising first time entrepreneurs. Steve Bennet. at 1:42 PM. Email This BlogThis! Newer Post.

San Jose 28

San Jose Silicon Valley Venture Capital Angel Investor 28

Professor VC

MAY 30, 2009

In addition to the first prize, he was also given office space at the Plug and Play incubator for the summer and get to spend his days with other entrepreneurs and investors. Labels: bootstrapping , business plans , entrepreneurship. We have invested a combination of ~$20K in founder financing and ~$200k in vendor financing.

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley Bootstrapping 28

dondodge.typepad.com

JANUARY 15, 2011

Entrepreneurs face some pretty tough questions at a very early stage. Both the entrepreneur and the investor have much higher expectations than just "even money" on their bet. The entrepreneur expects the company to be worth many times this valuation and so does the investor. Should I take Angel or VC money?

Equity 40

Equity Employee Dilution Valuation 40

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 26, 2008

I spent most of the time with the reporter talking about Sand Hill Angels and how we add value to the start-ups and entrepreneurs that we partner with, which is why I just have a small mention in the article. How passionate are the entrepreneurs about their business? Bootstrapping 101. Can they recruit and get others excited?

Angel Groups 28

Angel Groups San Jose Early Stage Angel Investor 28

Professor VC

JANUARY 17, 2008

I thought about the name some more and I do spend much of my time teaching entrepreneurship and coaching entrepreneurs. Bootstrapping 101. I take CFO roles in early stage companies and participate on the management team during the early financings and business model development phases. Watch Out for the Red W(h)ine.

Silicon Valley 31

Silicon Valley San Jose Angel Investor Venture Capital 31

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 18, 2011

Why can’t anyone just say, “it wasn’t a great outcome for investors, but was for the entrepreneurs and glad we could help make that happen” I guess nobody wants to pull a kazoo out of their pocket when it feels so much better to blare a trumpet. Bootstrapping 101. Steve Bennet. at 1:20 PM. ► October. (1).

Acquisition 31

Acquisition San Jose Angel Investor IPO 31

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

Last week, the House of Representatives passed the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act (H.R. Since small businesses are responsible for the vast majority of new jobs, legislators believe that these new rules will make it easier for entrepreneurs to raise capital and ramp up hiring. Crowdfunding - Good Idea or Really, Really Stupid Idea?

SEC 54

SEC San Jose Angel Investor Accredited Investor 54

Professor VC

OCTOBER 20, 2009

I have been following the rallying cry of entrepreneurs with some amusement over the past couple of weeks in response to a blog post by Jason Calacanis, " Why Start-ups Shouldnt have to pay to pitch angel investors." Ive written about the practice of charging entrepreneurs in earlier blog posts and it is not something we would ever do at SHA.

Angel Investor 35

Angel Investor Due Diligence San Jose Silicon Valley 35

Professor VC

JANUARY 19, 2012

VFAs tagline is "Mobilizing graduates as entrepreneurs" and is "A program for young, talented grads to spend 2 years in the trenches of a start-up with the goal that these graduates will become socialized and mobilized as entrepreneurs moving forward." Bootstrapping 101. I also teach Entrepreneurial Finance at San Jose State.

Silicon Valley 28

Silicon Valley San Jose America Venture Capital 28