Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Due to competitive markets we ended up with a pretty good term sheet until we needed to raise money in April 2001 and then we got completely screwed. Tags: Startup Advice This Week in Venture Capital. Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company.

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founder VC venture capital entrepreneurs 405

Gust

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

Amid the remembrance of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks this past weekend, much was made of the voluminous 9/11 Commission report, which described in excruciating detail countless ways in which the United States homeland security and emergency response infrastructure failed to respond adequately to a disaster of unprecedented proportions.

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startup communities culture consulting 98

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Start Up Advice &# but I’d really like to call this post, “VC Advice.&#. In my first company I had to raise money in April 2001 or die. Tags: Pitching VCs Start-up Advice VC Industry startup technology vc venture capital. It’s that simple.

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founder VC advice pitching 330

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

I lived through this again September 2001. This is part of my ongoing series with Startup Advice (although this also applies tightly with Raising Venture Capital ). I lived through this again September 2001. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Pitching VCs Raising Venture Capital Start-up Advice Startup Advice.

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venture capital advice VC real estate 301

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

At an accelerator … Me: Raising convertible notes as a seed round is one of the biggest disservices our industry has done to entrepreneurs since 2001-2003 when there were “full ratchets” and “multiple liquidation preferences” – the most hostile terms anybody found in term sheets 10 years ago. Actually not.

venture capital 417

venture capital capital ventures financing 417

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. Tags: Pitching VCs Raising Venture Capital Start-up Advice VC Industry startup technology vc venture capital. I am very grateful to my friend Zoli Erdos for finding this retro posting for me at web.archive.org. He handled this perfectly.

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VC venture capital pitching capital 274

Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

Me: Raising convertible notes as a seed round is one of the biggest disservices our industry has done to entrepreneurs since 2001-2003 when there were “full ratchets” and “multiple liquidation preferences” – the most hostile terms anybody found in term sheets 10 years ago. Isn’t that conflicting advice? At an accelerator ….

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VC financing finance entrepreneurs 153

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 22, 2010

This is part of my startup advice series. It’s still important advice for startup founders and something that I’m passionate about. When my company hit the fan in 2001 I could have easily walked and gotten a better paying job. Or if you need that next job here is some advice: Try to merge jobs on your resume.

advice 392

advice peer-to-peer consulting startup founder 392

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

Dedicated Public Servant : Garcetti has been a member of the LA City Council since 2001 and was a three-time president. Startup Advice' Smart : He was graduated from arguably our top-rated high school (Harvard Westlake), B.A. from Columbia, Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and studied at London School of Economics.

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advice communities innovation financing 325

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 3, 2012

I think Fred was trying to offer some friendly advice to young investors that you're going to "take lumps" and that it's worth learning from those who are more experienced. So the next time you read something that you have a viceral reaction to, re-read it. Try to think about why the person said what they said.

VC 274

VC board venture capital ventures 274

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2009

This is part of my ongoing posts on Startup Advice. My advice: don’t. This was a reasonable achievement when you consider that it was 2001-02, one of the worst years to be selling enterprise software and we were selling it SaaS style, which was still evangelical back then. I’m not one of those. Your solution?

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startup advice SaaS consulting 327

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 18, 2009

This was soon after the bursting of the dot com bubble – in early 2001. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. The agreement was that both sets of investors would fund the combined entity, we would reduce overlapped costs and become a healthier company.

entrepreneurs 298

entrepreneurs advice VC SaaS 298

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 13, 2010

Within a year, by late 2000 / early 2001 consulting firms were firing people en masse. On July 27th, 2001 Accenture IPO’s and many of the partners grew fabulously wealthy. My advice to entrepreneurs is to have a sense of purpose and stick to that regardless of what you’re reading in TechCrunch or Business Insider.

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consulting leadership entrepreneurs advice 302

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

We went “nuclear&# and slimmed down to 33 people (yes, I know, still large by today’s standards but this was 2001), raised $10 million and we built a real company. I learned everything I know about startups in these lean years: 2001-2004. Tags: Startup Advice. Photo courtesy of Pat Page via Flickr.

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culture construction startup advice 333

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

The A round was done in February 2000 (end of the bull market) and my B round was done in April 2001 (bear market). If you are thinking about angel investors please read this piece I did on Angel Funding Advice. Tags: Start-up Advice. I explain in the video what happened in my first company (e.g. I eventually needed more money.

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venture capital capital ventures angel investing 282

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

Then I got engaged to be married in late 2001 and had the motivation to get really serious. Tags: Start-up Advice Startup Advice. It became a social activity. 8-miler in Munich with the CEO of a company we were trying to buy. 7-miler in Dusseldorf with Stuart Lander, my close friend and associate. You manage what you measure.

entrepreneurs 309

entrepreneurs advice venture capital real estate 309

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2015

I’ve seen friends (and family members) lose much of their savings that way over the years because “Black Swans” happen and in 1987, 2001, 2003 & 2008 (just to name a few from my memory) huge market gyrations caused much financial distress to people seeking short-term gains.

financing 344

financing finance ventures real estate 344

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

Just ask anybody who was trying to close funding the fateful week of September 11, 2001 or even March 2000. They should heed the age old advice that raising slightly more money while you can is always better than trying to optimize future valuations.

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VC board investing investment 263

Revolution

DECEMBER 13, 2023

Great advice, but hard to do the “correct” thing when consumed by either of those emotions. Taking extra risk in the 2001–02 and 2008–09 time periods paid off. Not coincidentally, these are often the times that people feel more fearful and risk-averse. That discomfort is the point. The highest score ever was 97.6

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real estate frameworks investing investment 130

Revolution

DECEMBER 13, 2023

Great advice, but hard to do the “correct” thing when consumed by either of those emotions. Taking extra risk in the 2001–02 and 2008–09 time periods paid off. Not coincidentally, these are often the times that people feel more fearful and risk-averse. That discomfort is the point. The highest score ever was 97.6

real estate 130

real estate frameworks investing investment 130

TechCrunch

APRIL 4, 2023

Drawing from the early chapters of her book, this post includes a target prospect list for new investors, along with relationship-building advice from experienced VCs. “You can spend a lot of time searching for something, but if you’re looking in the wrong places, you’ll never find it,” she writes.

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pitching consulting advice health 85

TechCrunch

MARCH 21, 2023

I do know one company that returned 70% of its capital during the 2001 cycle after everything shut down, and one of the co-founders was able to raise a successful round a few years later, but I’m unclear if it was correlation or causality. Any advice to founders on this front? It’s not the end of the world.

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founder entrepreneurs board capital 97

The Entrepreneurs Library

JUNE 30, 2015

So we uncovered some interesting data that between 2001 and 2011 there were more non-profit organizations added to the U.S. Related books: Relevant advice and tips: What did you like and not like about this episode? economy than there were for profit businesses. His Website: howonearth.us and postgrowth.org.

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advice sustainability capital financing 58

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

So my first advice is not to rush in the fund raising process. Don’t take my advice, take Eric Clapton’s. My chips were down in late 2000 / early 2001. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. Not so in venture capital. You’re tied at the hip to your VC. Except GRP.

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VC advice entrepreneurs venture capital 288

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

2001–2007: THE BUILDING YEARS The dot com bubble had burst. How’s that advice holding up? Sure, we built SaaS products before the term even existed but at 31 it was hard to delineate reality from what all of the monied people around us were telling us what we were worth. Until we weren’t. Nobody cared about our valuations any more.

VC 467

VC culture sustainability capital 467

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2023

Last August, I passed the point at which I had spent literally half my entire life working in this asset class, having started at the General Motors pension fund doing institutional investments in venture funds and late-stage directs back in February of 2001. It hasn’t always been as rewarding as it could be, however.

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ventures investing investment VC 545

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

There is all sorts of advice on the Internet about how to raise capital. I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. I’ve tried to make this advice as well-rounded and biased free as I can. So they go out of their way to offer advice and introductions.

strategy 367

strategy development VC advice 367

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2010

But there are also problems / risks: - the funding environment might change dramatically – there may never be a next round (see: March 2000, September 11, 2001 and September 2008). - Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Raising Venture Capital Start-up Advice Startup Advice. .&# If it works you’re a hero.

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startup advice venture capital VC 319

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

If you want that advice please click on the link. Most of what I learned about operating startups I learned from the really tough years at my first company from 2001-2003. My company had raised venture capital in April 2001 but we were told that there may never be any more coming.

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advice venture capital VC construction 285

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

Again, this is highly individualized so no generic advice can be offered. Anyone who meets with me privately these days gets this advice: The market is whack right now. As anyone raising money in April 2000, September 2001 or September 2008 can tell you that. The market is over-valued in 2011 relative to norms.

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advice frameworks capital entrepreneurs 303

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

2001-2004 were very humbling but we built a real company. Tags: Start-up Advice startup technology. This is only the first chapter in my story. That story for another day. Don’t Believe the Hype – take your lesson from Public Enemy (video worth a 4 minute diversion ). But I never took a sip.

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media advice VC capital 310

Tomasz Tunguz

DECEMBER 13, 2015

The fundraising markets have infused more cash into startups in 2015 than in any year since 2001. When potential founders ask me the right time to start a company, I remember his advice to me. But, the venture backed IPO markets touched five year lows and whispers of a bubble have become a meme in the past six months.

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