Entrepreneurs' Organization

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Many people think multitasking is a skill that women are naturally good at, but eventually working as an entrepreneur at a million miles an hour will take its toll. As female entrepreneurs, we are independent-minded and innovative, and this advice is critical for securing our future and the future of our families.

founder 267

founder advice entrepreneurship entrepreneurs 267

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

There’s a quick litmus-test conversation any early-stage VC will have with the founder and it’s one that you should be as prepared for as your elevator pitch. It goes something like this … VC: “How much money are you raising?” Founder: “$8–10 million” VC: “What’s your current burn rate?” A VC is looking for reasonableness.

VC 247

VC capital incumbents financing 247

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 23, 2012

I'm often the last one to leave an event, held back by the most persistant of entrepreneurs trying to squeeze as much advice as they can out of me. Often times, the advice is terrible or impractical. Maybe you reminded them unconsciously of an entrepreneur they regretted passing on in the past. Most startups fail.

advice 417

advice startup VC strategy 417

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

I recently got an email from a friend who had been approached by a well known VC. “Hi [entrepreneur], I hope all is well. I’m an investor at [Big Name, Large Fund VC] and recently came across [Your Company]. I know the firm well and I know the entrepreneur & his business well. He’s on a fishing trip.

VC 294

VC entrepreneurs advice entrepreneurship 294

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

the most counter-intuitive fund-raising advice you’ll ever get I’m about to offer you some fund-raising advice that flies directly in the face of what most conventional wisdom will tell you. So what does a VC do when he or she isn’t ready to say “no” or perhaps might like to talk with you in a year but not now? It doesn’t.

advice 336

advice VC entrepreneurs investing 336

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 3, 2015

It spoke to me because it so resonates with my nearly daily advice to entrepreneurs and VCs alike. I went as far as to call it the best Tweet of 2015 so far because it encapsulated my advice so succinctly. All advice you receive is too generic to help you – you need to decide for yourself in your exact situation.

advice 332

advice peer-to-peer startup frameworks 332

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

*. What is the role of a VC for entrepreneurs? I suppose it can be different for every founder and for different VCs but I’d like to offer you some context on what I think it is and it isn’t. I was recently contacted by an entrepreneur who was consider a few different business models for his company.

VC 353

VC advice consulting frameworks 353

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2015

So here’s advice I give people all the time when they’re raising money. Many entrepreneurs pitching err on the side of too much information. Or they’ll remind me of my common advice to take “ 50 coffee meetings.” ” The report also notes that 75% of mega financings are led by non-VCs.

advice 360

advice pitching disruption VC 360

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

One of the hardest things about the fund-raising process for entrepreneurs is that you’re trying to raise money from people who have “asymmetric information.” VC firms see thousands of deals and have a refined sense of how the market is valuing deals because they get price signals across all of these deals. So why does a VC ask you?

VC 324

VC investing investment entrepreneurs 324

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

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.” But I also have advice for the 15% that really do want to be a startup CEO. I often tell people in this scenario to focus on a VC “fixer upper.”

advice 334

advice peer-to-peer VC board 334

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. Remember that the goal of an email to a VC or an introduction from a trusted mutual connection is simply to get you the meeting. The VC will smile, thank you, and later pass. This is part of a series on how to improve your fund raising game.

VC 261

VC pitching advice entrepreneurs 261

TechCrunch

MARCH 6, 2023

Serial entrepreneur and seasoned investor Vinod Khosla has some strong, contrarian advice for the venture capital industry: don’t sit on your founders’ boards. Khosla has a history of criticizing some of the mainstream wisdom by VCs. The advice comes at a reflective time for the industry.

board 100

board advice founder VC 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2018

If you’re an entrepreneur who would like to see this clause in more startups please ask your VC to include it in future term sheets and link to it from their home page. “We Many of us had experiences of asking entrepreneurs, “Why are none of our candidates women?” Ours is: upfront.com/inclusion. Well, did you ask them to???”

VC 284

VC leadership mentorship entrepreneurs 284

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

This is part of a series of advice for founders who need to raise money from venture capitalists. The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. Same with VC. If in high school you got a 3.6

VC 332

VC advice entrepreneurs energy 332

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Picking a VC is hard. So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. Most VCs are book smart. VCs should be more of a coach than proscriptively telling you what to do. You want a VC who will spar with you but then STFU and let you get on with things.

VC 364

VC advice board leadership 364

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

I became a VC 12 years ago in 2007 when the pace of deals was much slower. As I was trying to figure out the role I wanted to play in the VC world I decided I wanted to focus on businesses that were building deeply technical products to solve problems for business users. VCs have different views and strategies on this.

VC 223

VC venture capital capital investing 223

TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 17, 2020

Put off by high taxes and paperwork in their home country, many Italian entrepreneurs moved to places like London in years past to startup. Indeed, the Italian Ministry of Economic Development and the Italian Trade & Investment Agency in London have even been known to fund Italian entrepreneurs abroad to help them gain more experience.

VC 122

VC venture capital mix-use accelerator 122

Entrepreneur's Handbook

JUNE 21, 2022

You’ll receive the best practical startup advice straight to your inbox every week. In this week’s edition, we discuss: Approaching the funding raising process from a VCs point of view The future of cryptocurrency in 2022 Is your side hustle profitable or a waste of time? That way, you can anticipate questions that a VC might ask.

VC 86

VC startup advice media 86

Entrepreneur's Handbook

FEBRUARY 18, 2021

No one decides to be an entrepreneur because it’s easy?—?but As they say, to be forewarned is to be forearmed, so here are the 10 things no one ever tells you about being an entrepreneur: 1. Perhaps unsurprisingly, for every £1 of VC investment in the UK, 89p goes to all-male founding teams. I look back and chuckle. No pressure.

entrepreneurs 114

entrepreneurs advice VC venture capital 114

Founder Bounty

DECEMBER 19, 2022

Having been in touch with top tier VC's for pre seed and seed these are the best ones. Its aim is to invest $20k into each of its accepted companies at an early-stage and then provide six months of hands-on support, advice and mentorship as they build their product or service.

accelerator 98

accelerator VC mentorship startup 98

Startup Grind

AUGUST 15, 2018

He has worked with several startups, invested in companies like Mayvenn, Gimlet Media, Blavity, Airspace Technologies, Codeverse, and many others Pitch your startup for a chance to meet with Cross Culture VC Q&A: What is your / your fund's mission? What is one piece of advice you’d give every founder? BUILD and EXECUTE!

culture 111

culture VC pitching media 111

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

In the VC insider baseball world a discussion has gone on about “VC platforms” over the past 5 or so years. While firms define platforms differently, let’s just say they are the services that a VC offers outside of investment capital and partner time on boards or providing intros.

VC 198

VC peer-to-peer mix-use leadership 198

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2015

I’m so tired of seeing young entrepreneurs get screwed by their angel investors on convertible notes and I know I can’t convince you not to do it so I’d like to offer one simple bit of advice to help you avoid getting screwed (at least on one part of your note). It’s the silent screwing that stings.

entrepreneurs 381

entrepreneurs VC advice financing 381

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2013

I spent countless hours with VC firms, startups & LPs (the people who invest in VC firms). On my first real day back the first thought I have is that most entrepreneurs don’t manage their VC relationships as well as they could. It’s best to think of your VC partnership as a customer.

VC 309

VC advice venture capital support 309

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

I recently read a blog post by Beezer Clarkson, Managing Director of Sapphire Ventures about why entrepreneurs should care about from whom their VC funds raise their capital. There are a lot of things I think entrepreneurs should care about when raising from a VC: How big or small their fund is? I’m still not sure.

entrepreneurs 237

entrepreneurs VC mentorship strategy 237

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 16, 2021

In the scuffle, VCs are turning to scouts to do the legwork, but that has meant being yet another step removed from their founders. Investors have already been signing the dotted line without meeting entrepreneurs in person. When a VC spends time at an accelerator, they’re in front of a number of talented founders at once.

accelerator 86

accelerator VC mentorship pitching 86

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Of course these are great places to network with other investors, meet great entrepreneurs and keep your connections strong with senior execs at larger companies like Yahoo!, I know I can’t be in every deal and I know that the easy part of being a VC is writing the first check in a deal. And there’s conferences. Web Summit.

VC 374

VC investing investment entrepreneurs 374

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

Beware of VC Seagulls, who shit on you and then fly away (or worse yet leave you with Red Herrings). This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. I write this post as a warning to pick your VC’s carefully. I like to say to first-time entrepreneurs, picking a VC is more permanent than marriage.

VC 297

VC board consulting advice 297

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

You’re tied at the hip to your VC. So my first advice is not to rush in the fund raising process. Get to know VCs over a long period of time so that when you’re ready to get engaged you feel you know their character. Good recruiters never stop at the official list and neither do VCs. Don’t stop there.

VC 288

VC advice entrepreneurs venture capital 288

Entrepreneur's Handbook

MAY 23, 2022

You’ll receive the best practical startup advice straight to your inbox every week. How to survive the startup funding downturn DC Palter a serial entrepreneur and angel investor who has already lived through 4 major downturns. Welcome to another edition of our new newsletter! Now, he expects another is just around the corner.

VC 52

VC pitching advice media 52

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

And I am often approached by entrepreneurs in cities which don’t have a vibrant VC community. If you don’t live in a major VC zone, I have some tips for how to make it easier to raise Venture Capital. It’s a goal to help you understand the life of a VC. I travel the country a lot. Ask SuperCell.

VC 365

VC board communities pitching 365

Entrepreneur's Handbook

AUGUST 2, 2021

Photo Credit: Fortune Adding to the lack of female representation in the industry, research also shows that only 8% of the investment professionals at the top 25 VC firms are women. As Lindquist adds, “We all have unique networks, personal relationships, market knowledge, and talents, which contribute to the fabric of a VC ecosystem.”

VC 111

VC venture capital mentorship leadership 111

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

One of the questions I’m most often asked is, “what’s it like being a VC?&# I’ve been a VC for nearly 3 years now. I always start my answer to this question with, “you’d have to be a pretty big baby to complain about being a VC.&# At least for the best entrepreneurs. That’s true.

VC 312

VC consulting entrepreneurs creativity 312

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 8, 2011

Any success as an entrepreneur? How about as a VC? He hasn't founded or built either a successful, let alone innovative company, and he hasn't raised $ to invest in those entrepreneurs. Fred has basically always been a VC, Mike was a reporter, and Jim worked in product marketing and management consulting. What did I do?

VC 275

VC peer-to-peer board advice 275

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2010

I’m not anti VC. But there are a lot of things that become norms in the VC industry that always drove me crazy from entrepreneur’s side of the table. One of them is when VCs say, “I’d like to ‘noodle’ on that for a while.&#. I’d love it if VCs gave more honest and direct feedback.

entrepreneurs 297

entrepreneurs VC advice strategy 297

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC. In most cases if you can’t get a prototype done you’re probably not an entrepreneur. Professional angels / former entrepreneurs / seed funds – In Silicon Valley there are people like Ron Conway, Jeff Clavier, Mike Maples and many more. They have advice to share.

advice 291

advice VC pitching angel investing 291

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2011

I’m often asked the question about why there aren’t more women who are entrepreneurs. But last week I noticed a blog post by a woman, Tara Tiger Brown, that asked the question, “ Why Aren’t More Women Commenting on VC Blog Posts? She has a quote from literally every major VC from whom you’d want to hear.

entrepreneurs 341

entrepreneurs entrepreneurship VC pitching 341