Hunter Walker

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

If you combine this with self-awareness, you get a powerful combination for an early stage CEO. And do even the detractors say things like ‘hey, I wouldn’t want to work with him again at this stage of my career but I’d invest in something he founded without reservation.’

Technical Cofounder 101

Technical Cofounder Founder Cofounder .Net 101

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

Companies manage these three types of innovation with an innovation portfolio – they build innovation internally, they buy it or they partner with resources outside their company. Corporate business development and strategic partner executives are flocking to Silicon Valley to find these five types of innovation.

Acquisition 332

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 332

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

If you’re an early-stage enterprise startup services revenue is exactly what you need. The most important way to sell a product for an early-stage business (or frankly any stage) is to have strong referenceable customers. Channel Partners Not Yet Formed. We only want software revenue.”

Technical Review 403

Technical Review Software Review Startup API 403

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2023

If you need funding for these early stage activities, I have some suggestions on better strategies to follow. The first is to be more precise in your definition and understanding of where you are, and how the money will be spent.

Angel Investor 256

Angel Investor Early Stage Incubator Government 256

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2014

It takes more than one person to build a business, so the lone entrepreneur, without support from any visible team, advisors, partners, or potential customers, will not attract investors. Surrounded by the right people and track record. Of course, previous successes provide more direct evidence of a network of the right people.

Angel Investor 268

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Early Stage 268

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

One of the readers asked my opinion around sharing your startup concept: My first question has always been - how do you protect your idea while shopping around for feedback, partners, developers, etc.? He left out capital sources, but it's still a pretty succinct list of the types of people / communication you should be having early stage.

NDA 211

NDA Stealth Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement 211

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2021

These resources are definitely not limited to students, since every university seeks out and needs the real world exposure and experience of entrepreneurs who already are active in the real world marketplace. Early-stage funding. Connections to a mentor.

Arizona 432

Arizona Phoenix Intellectual Property Incubator 432

View from Seed

JANUARY 27, 2021

. $100M is a meaningful increase from our $50M third fund, though it’s still quite small in the grand scheme of venture, especially amid the recent wave of late stage financings and SPACs. We believe that this fund is the perfect size for us to be the best possible partners to early-stage entrepreneurs today.

LP 411

LP Early Stage Seed Stage Venture Capital 411

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

One of the readers asked my opinion around sharing your startup concept: My first question has always been - how do you protect your idea while shopping around for feedback, partners, developers, etc.? He left out capital sources, but it's still a pretty succinct list of the types of people / communication you should be having early stage.

NDA 198

NDA Stealth Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement 198

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. Partners leave the industry. Here’s my take: 1.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

Often if it’s a bigger firm (say 4 partners or more) and it’s a super small investment for their fund size (let’s say $250-500k when they normally invest $5-7 million) they will just require 1 or 2 partners to decide. What happens next feels like a black box to outsiders. ” Some firms are collegiate.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Detroit Early Stage Partner 150

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2023

A better approach is to first understand who these people are, why and how they invest, and then focus on the ones who are the best match for your particular startup stage, location and industry. By definition, angels are accredited investors, who invest their own money for a percentage of the business.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Accredited Investor Syndicate Syndication 265

View from Seed

MAY 11, 2016

Great founders can all evolve to new situations, but I think it’s a bit jarring for some to be stepping backwards to a different time, with a much smaller team, with much less definition around a product. They assemble what looks like a dream team — but one that ends up moving surprisingly slowly in the early stages.

Founder 159

Founder Cofounder CTO Hire Early Stage 159

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

By definition?—?I’m We back very early stage companies and work alongside executive teams as their build their teams, launch their products, announce their companies and raise their first downstream capital rounds. The market definition has changed but what we do mostly hasn’t. each with partners as the lead.

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Up and Running

AUGUST 1, 2018

3 steps to take as an early stage entrepreneur. Orchestrating your ecosystem involves figuring out what is the “new 20 percent” not only of yours, but those of your partners, and figuring out how to harness—orchestrate—all of these capabilities to capture new sources of value in new ways. Let’s see how.

Early Stage 69

Early Stage Business Model Entrepreneur Social Media 69

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

But Jason is one of the smartest thinkers in our industry so while style points in his eye-poking post might be low, he’s definitely scratching at something important. It should help some entrepreneurs to better access early-stage capital and should allow some angel investors better access to deal flow. and much more.

Syndicate 356

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Early Stage 356

YoungUpstarts

MAY 7, 2017

I think it’s important to establish who your mentors will be at the early stage of your career. I think that saying holds a lot of weight when I think back at the beginning stages of my career. Maybe I’m a little biased since I’ve lived in Canada for awhile now, but I definitely see a difference.

Silicon Valley 183

Silicon Valley Technical Review Product Canada 183

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

My recommendation to our lead partner looking at the deal, “Pass. The only thing worse than your early-stage company buying another early stage company is you trying to pull off a merger of equals. If they’re early stage like you, they’re likely just dogs. million uniques.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

So that we’re speaking the same language I would define “exclusive” as a period in which your company is prohibited from doing business with certain customers or business partners, which is why many incorrectly assume this is necessarily bad. Why Exclusivity Matters to Your Customers or Business Development Partners.

PR 150

PR Early Stage Software Naming 150

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 21, 2014

2014 will be a formative year for new business owners and early-stage entrepreneurs. Gladwell says it best himself, ““We have a definition in our heads of what an advantage is — and the definition isn’t right. by Melissa Thompson, CEO of TalkSession. For those would-be entrepreneurs debating the startup leap?

Entrepreneur 210

Entrepreneur Startup Balance Sheet Non-Compete 210

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

They want to lock in future clients at an early stage. For a very small fee they can get your Delaware C corp registration, make sure that you have IP protection and ensure you didn’t make an early bumbling mistakes that you’ll pay for dearly in the next 7-10 years of hard work. I also like to work with partners.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

Up and Running

OCTOBER 1, 2019

Ignore this if your target market is definitely outside this demographic segment, but do keep in mind that the largest generational spend is shifting right now. . A mentor or partner who can share their power of experience. Traits and skills to look for: Find a mentor or partner with direct experience with startups.

Hiring 77

Hiring Technical Review Small Business Forecast 77

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 22, 2014

Some people have definitively had better experience than others. I''ve funded or committed to a few dozen seed companies in the last few years and worked for First Round Capital and Union Square Ventures--two of the best early stage firms on the planet. They definitely weigh in on whether they like the management team.

Venture Capital 140

Venture Capital Cap Table Startup Early Stage 140

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

02:06] Can you share your experience starting with an early-stage company (Hubspot) that eventually went public? [07:11] In fact, when Brian and Dharmesh were actually creating it and wrote the book Inbound Marketing, that's when Duct Tape Marketing was really around and I had a lot of conversations with them early on.

Metrics 75

Metrics Analytics Forecast Software Review 75

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 11, 2009

She is a go to person for me when I have questions around technology or early stage marketing and branding. Same partner all along: Jorge Alonso, Creative Director. We do a lot of B2B and also have an "Early Stage Branding" practice for technology startups. I've known Farida for quite a while.

Early Stage 150

Early Stage Southern California Los Angeles Marketing 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2021

A better approach is to first understand who these people are, why and how they invest, and then focus on the ones who are the best match for your particular startup stage, location and industry. By definition, angels are accredited investors, who invest their own money for a percentage of the business.

Search 317

Search Accredited Investor Angel Investor Venture Capital 317

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2020

Even though I’m a big proponent of becoming an entrepreneur, it is definitely not for everyone. Here are a few of my favorites sampling techniques that I have seen work out well over the years: Take a job for a while with an early-stage startup. Adopt the Silicon Valley entrepreneur family model.

Silicon Valley 315

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Stock Options Flash 315

abovethecrowd.com

MAY 9, 2017

The partners at Benchmark are excited to announce that Sarah Tavel has joined the firm as our newest General Partner. We define ourselves by a love for the craft of early stage investing, and Sarah’s career-long desire and commitment to be one of the world’s great venture capitalists make her an ideal addition to a Benchmark team.

Partner 72

Partner Early Stage Venture Capital Founder 72

View from Seed

JULY 19, 2022

RH: What’s your favorite thing about being an early-stage founder? SK: Recently started watching “WeCrashed” and would definitely recommend it to everyone that is into startups and building businesses. SK: In the early stages of a company’s life, there are two things that really matter and that you have to get right.

eCommerce 156

eCommerce Greece Early Stage SMS 156

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

I’ve definitely been wrong on market value. I’ve sometimes been right about the market value but too early. million, and we can write as little as $250k or as much as $15 million in our first check (we can follow on with $50 million + in follow-on rounds) We build a portfolio that is diversified given the focus areas of our partners.

Bankruptcy 294

Bankruptcy Bridge Financing Portfolio Angel Investor 294

The Equity Kicker

JUNE 26, 2014

One of the exciting things about Forward Partners is that we’re blazing a trail in the investment world. We are a bit like an accelerator programme, a bit like an incubator and a bit like a straight early stage fund, yet we are also different to all of these things in crucial ways. We definitely don’t do that.

eCommerce 98

eCommerce Partner Incubator Early Stage 98

Gust

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Marc Andreessen kicked off another great debate on Twitter last night, one that I’ve been talking about incessantly in private circles for the past 2-3 years – what actually IS the definition of a seed vs. A-round. My view: “Spending any time or energy trying to game the ‘definition’ of your round of fund raising is a total waste.

Cap Table 136

Cap Table Silicon Valley Term Sheet Non-Compete 136

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 11, 2018

Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn and Greylock Partners will be talking about “blitzscaling” with his co-author Chris Yeh, and Stanford Professor Bob Sutton. This kind of testing, done right, is definitive for creating growth. As is the right business model, which is the focus of the Don’t Bet on Your First Business Model workshop.

Lean 103

Lean Las Vegas Cofounder Startup 103

Version One Ventures

DECEMBER 14, 2016

Every announcement – whether it was a funding round, exit or layoffs – was analyzed within the context that the tech bubble has definitely burst or that we’re still in the bubble. This can set up a perfect storm if early-stage companies don’t manage their expectations and reality properly. So, what really happened in 2016?

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Early Stage Portfolio Valuation 60

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 28, 2012

But when it comes to core technical skills, more and more entrepreneurs are opting to partner with technical co-founders rather than hiring someone for an in-house position. Very early-stage startups may have to give up as much as 30% of their company to bring on a rockstar programmer. Laura Roeder , LKR.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Cofounder Founder Software Review 131

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Limited Partners or LPs (the people who invest into VC funds) have taken notice as 2014 is by all accounts the busiest year for LPs since the Great Recession began. The result of these new market trends of Prorata Takers, Corporate Investors & Public Market Entrant has led to a sharp spike in the valuations of late-stage financings.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

VC Cafe

AUGUST 2, 2022

think about the entrepreneurs that started in the early days of the Internet, mobile, crypto, VR and yes… now Metaverse. Given the ‘fuzzy’ period we’re in, where we still struggle with a definition of the Metaverse, it’s easy to dismiss it all as a fad.

IP 206

IP Cofounder Valuation Acquisition 206