Berkonomics

APRIL 1, 2021

My favorite example of a world class pivot comes from the CEO and board of one of my most successful investments. Green Dot Corporation was formed by an entrepreneur in the year 2001 to create a product to permit those without credit cards to purchase items on the Internet. My story of a great pivot.

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board entrepreneurs investing investment 62

Dream It

APRIL 12, 2020

Martino outlined essentially two types of outcomes for this financial crisis from a historical perspective: “In 2001-2003, there was a depression in Silicon Valley. I think you’ll start seeing pushback on complete board control by the founding team,” stated Martino. “I I think this is the area that will fall first during this crisis.”

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ventures startup capital board 334

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 26, 2018

Now that your goals are set and the organization is on board, it’s important to track progress and make it easy for employees to understand how, specifically, they can improve customer experience. Hold them accountable for the goals. Consider using incentives to increase motivation. Track and operationalize customer experience.

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board innovation technology culture 130

TechCrunch

MAY 17, 2022

” Mar is a successful serial entrepreneur, with numerous industry accolades. ” Strohband also served as PM at Volkswagen, led Stanford racing’s autonomous car, Stanley, co-founded Metamind, and sits on the board of various companies. Mar has been recognized in the Midas List of Top Tech Investors in 2021.”

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pitching energy startup consulting 76

Smart Hustle Magazine

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

Kedma talked about a common occurrence among entrepreneurs: being control freaks. There are also penalties that businesses can face if other legal documents aren’t filled out properly when a hire comes on board. She is also a proud fifth generation entrepreneur, whose great-great grandfather peddled various products across Ireland.

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culture entrepreneurship entrepreneurs development 81

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. And for some strange reason entrepreneurs didn’t share this information. I’ve started from day one trying to build total transparency into my process with entrepreneurs.

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founder VC venture capital entrepreneurs 405

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. But any entrepreneurs raising capital should keep in mind that this opening of the markets could possibly be temporary. disclosure: I am thankfully no longer on this board). I only had one board with this problem.

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VC board investing investment 263

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2010

It’s like adding rocket fuel to space ship before you’re sure that it’s pointing in the right direction for take off (or even if all of the people on board are qualified to take this into outer space). I’ve seen too many entrepreneurs try to do things on the cheap. But the lower end also has risks.

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startup advice venture capital VC 319

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

TechCrunch Europe ran an article in November of last year that European startups need to work as hard as those in Silicon Valley and I echoed the sentiment in my post about the need for entrepreneurs to be maniacal about their businesses if one wants to work in the hyper competitive tech world. We were based in London.

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entrepreneurs advice real estate venture capital 308

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

A friend of mine is a serial entrepreneur and is running a high-profile, early stage company in NorCal. We exchanged ideas when I was an entrepreneur along side him in NorCal in 05-07 and my point-of-view on founder / VC relationships hasn’t shifted even 1% since I went to the dark side. I believe this is wrong.

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founder VC advice pitching 329

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2009

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 worked with the board who encouraged me to bring in heavy weights. I had always been a scrappy entrepreneur.

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startup advice SaaS consulting 327

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. I never suggest that entrepreneurs just randomly pitch VCs. You’ll never make a great entrepreneur. So your journey to fund raising begins by strengthening your relationships with other entrepreneurs.

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strategy development VC advice 366

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 15, 2019

One factor was the realization that, since I was the only female Global Board member at that time, not seeking the position would mean there would be no female Global Chair again for at least four years. I really wanted the board to unite toward moving EO forward. Set your goals as a board at the beginning of the year.

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