Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2017

Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. The challenge is to recognize and recruit that ideal partner match early with minimal cost and risk. Some people are too independent to be partner material.

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Partner Software Review CTO Hire Cofounder 140

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2011

A while back I talked about how and where to find a co-founder in “ Ten Steps in Choosing the Right Startup Partner ”. The feedback was good, but some readers asked me to be a bit more specific on attributes that might indicate an ideal startup partner. You may be too independent to be partner material.

Partner 240

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 240

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2010

A week ago I talked about how and where to find a co-founder in “ How to Select an Ideal Startup Co-Founder ”. The feedback was good, but some readers asked me to be a bit more specific on attributes that might indicate an ideal business partner. You may be too independent to be partner material.

Partner 230

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 230

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 25, 2018

It’s taken the Toronto executive from the world of Big 3 Accounting (as a CPA with PricewaterhouseCoopers in his early career) to Investment Banking(National Bank Financial) and capital markets (co-founding Eight Capital after leading the management buyout of Dundee Capital Markets). You also talk about challenges to entrepreneurs.

Partner 113

Partner Technical Review Management Due Diligence 113

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Arif Bhalwani is the co-founder and CEO of Third Eye Capital (TEC) in Toronto, Canada. As the CEO of one of Canada’s largest private credit firms, can you describe the basics of private credit and its increasing importance to budding entrepreneurs? The firm has made more than $4.5 The firm has made more than $4.5

Technical Review 132

Technical Review Due Diligence Bankruptcy Intellectual Property 132

Hearpreneur

FEBRUARY 1, 2019

Toronto’s Mark Attanasio , co-founder of Hillcrest Merchant Partners, has years of significant experience with advising clients on mergers and acquisitions raising capital and navigating the landscape of general capital markets. Hillcrest Merchant Partners with Donato Sferra. Resilience and grit. Perseverance.

Cofounder 48

Cofounder Venture Capital Partner Leadership 48

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

by Kenneth Coats, founder of eKnowID. If you don’t perform a background check on your potential partner before doing business with him, you’re setting yourself up to get duped. It’s imperative to perform a due diligence check before entering into any business relationship — especially for an entrepreneur.

Technical Review 219

Technical Review Partner Due Diligence Bankruptcy 219

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

You race back to the office to tell everybody how well it went and you wait for the follow-up call to have a partners’ meeting or talk about term sheets or at least dip into due diligence. This is a very common scenario when entrepreneurs pitch VCs and frankly is a very common scenario when VCs try to raise money from LPs.

Software Review 381

Software Review Churn Rate Due Diligence New York 381

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 20, 2015

As an advisor to startups, I often get asked what to look for in an ideal co-founder or business partner. After some reflection, I now realize these attributes are necessary but not sufficient to be an ideal business partner. Too many entrepreneurs later see their partners as working against them.

Partner 120

Partner Technical Review Due Diligence Startup 120

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

We are often asked how companies get funded, why VCs make the decisions we make and what we’re looking for in entrepreneurs. I first met Andrew Stalbow , the founder & CEO of Seriously in August of 2013. Domain knowledge gives entrepreneurs an “unfair advantage” over newbies. (on

Technical Review 373

Technical Review North America Los Angeles Cofounder 373

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. By tying payments to actual revenues, founders and investors remain aligned around the company’s real-time performance, good or bad.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

The Equity Kicker

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

Entrepreneurs can now achieve an awful lot with very little money. We see this all the time at Forward Partners where we invest right from the idea stage and most of the companies get a first version of their product live for less than £30k (that generally includes founder salaries and time spent doing customer research).

Early Stage 119

Early Stage Development Team Review Technical Review Software Review 119

Small Business Force

AUGUST 31, 2013

Picking a partner or co-founder isn't like finding a new friend. Just like people that tend to jump into marriages, entrepreneurs tend to get starry-eyed and join forces without thinking through the long-term implications of having a partner. You think about it ahead of time! Let me give you an example.

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Partner Technical Review Founder 40

David Teten

MARCH 14, 2018

Managers of VC funds typically want to grow their business aggressively, just like the founders we back. My Partners at HOF Capital are younger than I am, which means that we have a half-century horizon for the franchise we are building. . This evolves the VC from a server to a router.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Cofounder 60

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 17, 2020

End of Year Update After officially announcing Breyer Capital Austin earlier this year after two years of active planning and due diligence, I received a humbling number of gracious emails and messages from Austin-based leaders, entrepreneurs, executives, and investors. Richard was previously the Chief Scientist at Salesforce.

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Austin Silicon Valley Technical Review Texas 84

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

They have totally changed the way you run a VC firm, investing heavily in systems & events for their founders that are pushing the boundaries of the way our industry works. The discussion with Howard Morgan starts off by acknowledging Josh Kopelman as a co-founder of First Round Capital. I'm a huge fan of this innovation.

Pre-Money Valuation 284

Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Cofounder Cram Down 284

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

RBI normally requires founders to pay back their investors with a fixed percentage of revenue until they have finished providing the investor with a fixed return on capital, which they agree upon in advance. For background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control. Bigfoot Capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Scott Edward Walker

JUNE 28, 2012

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “ Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.” Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics. This week, we present David Cowan , a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners and a smart investor.

Technical Review 53

Technical Review Entrepreneur Due Diligence Cofounder 53

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Though RBI will displace some traditional equity VC, its much bigger impact will be to expand the pool of capital available for early-stage entrepreneurs. . John Borchers, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Decathlon Capital, claims to be the largest revenue-based financing investor in the US.

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

PEVCTech is partnering with Blue Future Partners to run the first large-scale survey of VCs’ technology stack. Johann Kratzer of Blue Future Partners , a fund of funds, observed, “The majority of the hundreds of funds we’ve diligenced rely predominantly on their relationships to source deals. Greylock Partners.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

There is a telltale sign of an inexperienced startup entrepreneur. years ago and told me, “I just got offered the chance to buy this company because the founder doesn’t want to continue. I’m doing due diligence on a company of another entrepreneur in LA whose company was apparently doing very well.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 1, 2011

Over the weekend there has been some controversy surrounding AngelList , the network that connects startup entrepreneurs and investors. Since the angel network was created, transparent angel investing has exploded and entrepreneurs from any background can get funded. Bryce Roberts , a partner at O?Reilly To my surprise, VC?

Technical Review 123

Technical Review Due Diligence Cofounder Startup 123

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

She had so much insight to share that we broke the interview into two parts, 1) Corporate Venture Capital and more broadly, 2) How the Fortune 500 Can Buy, Invest and Partner with the Innovation Economy (coming soon). . Previously she was Co-Founder and CEO of SNAZZ, a cloud-based event management platform.

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Venture Capital Balance Sheet Technical Review Portfolio 60

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Many assume it was a cakewalk, based on the success LinkedIn has enjoyed over time and the current stature of our founder/CEO Reid Hoffman (now Chairman). I also joke with Reid Hoffman that this was back in the days before he was “Reid” Reid’s an incredible entrepreneur, startup investor, and human being.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Hunter Walker

MARCH 25, 2015

Forerunner Ventures is one of Homebrew’s favorite co-investors for consumer commerce/retail startups. Firm founder Kirsten Green has an amazing analytical mind combined with empathy for the consumer. Ambitious entrepreneurs are setting out to disrupt formidable incumbents across every product, service and experience.

Naming 48

Naming Technical Review Early Stage Green 48

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

I’m very pleased today to announce that I invested, on behalf of GRP Partners, in Burstly alongside Rincon Venture Partners , an early stage VC in Southern California whith whom we love to work (and were our co-investors on RingRevenue ). He knows the ad management and ad network businesses. What does it do?

Mobile 282

Mobile Management Southern California Application Development 282

www.xconomy.com

JUNE 9, 2012

Sakti3 Founder Sastry to Step Down From U-M. Co-Founder and CEO, Wetpaint. Managing Director, Enterprise Partners. Founder, DEKA Research and Development Corporation. Amazingly, nobody has aggregated this data before,” says Coats, who was previously a managing partner at San Diego’s Hamilton Bioventures.

San Diego 40

San Diego Venture Capital Technical Review San Francisco 40

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 6, 2010

THE ANALYSIS MEETING: I once was doing some due diligence work on an industry. I was interviewing the founder of a prominent company of which many of you would have heard. One thing we picked up from another reference call was that Bob has at times fought with co-workers. That’s pretty narrow.

Churn Rate 311

Churn Rate Due Diligence Dividend Conversion 311

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2016

Mark Zuckerberg can tell you a horror story about how his early informal breakup with a co-founder ultimately cost him a settlement later worth four billion dollars. A co-founder who loses interest and backs out early will likely be back to claim his half after you reach unicorn status. Don’t give away your business.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Due Diligence Non-Compete Startup 120

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

But in business, you want a lot of partners. However, in private markets, there is more room to optimize across all 11 steps of the investing process: firm management , marketing, fundraising , origination , manage relationships, due diligence, negotiation, monitoring, portfolio acceleration , reporting, and. 2) Market .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Seeing Both Sides

APRIL 28, 2011

As an entrepreneur, I was initially very skeptical of fast-talking, expensive recruiters. I thought hiring them represented a personal failure on my part as an entrepreneur. It requires effort and energy from the entrepreneur to generate candidate flow, meet candidates, vet them, check references. 2) Hiring Inexperience.

Hiring 44

Hiring Software Review Due Diligence Silicon Valley 44

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

The initial hypothesis for Epiphany (from my much smarter partner Ben ) was that as departments in the enterprise (manufacturing, finance, customer support sales) became automated, the marketing department would eventually get its turn. As a young entrepreneur in his first startup, this post hits our current situation spot on.

Silicon Valley 225

Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 225

www.readwriteweb.com

MARCH 7, 2011

Since the angel network was created, transparent angel investing has exploded and entrepreneurs from any background can get funded. Bryce Roberts , a partner at O?Reilly Chris McCann is the co-founder of StartupDigest , the members-only guide to the tech startup world. To my surprise, VC? spray-and-pray?

Technical Review 50

Technical Review Due Diligence Startup Angel Investor 50

crowdSPRING Blog

JULY 11, 2018

It not easy for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and marketing strategists to keep their marketing campaigns relevant and competitive. Social media is a virtual world that is filled with half bots, half real people,” said Rami Essaid, the founder of Distil Networks, a cybersecurity company that specializes in eradicating bot networks.

Marketing 62

Marketing Software Review Social Media Audience 62

Up and Running

MAY 22, 2017

Each day, entrepreneurs of all ages come up with fresh ideas for their new startups. The key to being a successful entrepreneur is not just coming up with a great idea—it’s continuing to come up with great ideas, even after failure. Are you a bold, determined entrepreneur, willing to fight to see your startup succeed?

Due Diligence 113

Due Diligence eCommerce Cofounder Bootstrapping 113

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

A fter years of talking with many of you in the Israeli startup industry, investors and entrepreneurs alike, I was invited to present some tips for entrepreneurs at the Launch48 conference in London this weekend. Very cool concept and I want to thank the founder Adil Mohammed for inviting me to take part in it. Be a salesman.

Elevator Pitch 102

Elevator Pitch Incubator Technical Review Startup 102

crowdSPRING Blog

JULY 11, 2018

It not easy for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and marketing strategists to keep their marketing campaigns relevant and competitive. Social media is a virtual world that is filled with half bots, half real people,” said Rami Essaid, the founder of Distil Networks, a cybersecurity company that specializes in eradicating bot networks.

Marketing 48

Marketing Software Review Social Media Audience 48