Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

It’s the one bit of advice I find myself giving most frequently these days, “raise money at the top end of normal.&#. 2007, 2011) and for the hottest of companies and in bad markets for fund raising (2003, 2008) prices test the bottom end of the range. I thought I’d post on one of the topics before hand.

startup 336

startup advice pitching VC 336

Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

Me: So, you raised venture capital? 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. On the phone ….

VC 153

VC financing finance entrepreneurs 153

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

We raised a seed round of capital in 1999 and our first venture capital round was the first week of March 2000 (e.g. We found a way to make our venture capital last when it shouldn’t have, at around the same time one of my all time favorite New Yorker cartoons was published on this topic. You can do it.

entrepreneurs 308

entrepreneurs advice real estate venture capital 308

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 29, 2012

We also spent a fair bit of time talking about the changing nature of venture capital and in particular the hand-on practitioner role of early-stage VC led by accelerators such as YC, 500Startups, Betaworks and the like. Nate, tell us a bit about Rustic Canyon Venture Partners. I agree with him. My guest today is Nate Redmond.

VC 279

VC culture incubation venture capital 279

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

There is all sorts of advice on the Internet about how to raise capital. I’ve raised money as a “hot company” and I’ve raised capital when no one would return my phone calls. I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies.

strategy 366

strategy development VC advice 366

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. We built a long-term relationship.

advice 285

advice venture capital VC construction 285

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

Around 2003, Quigo was doing tens of millions of dollars in revenue with two main products: a ready-to-use, search engine marketing solution for advertisers called FeedPoint and a contextual advertising platform for publishers called AdSonar. Quigo Lands Overture as Client, Rejects Their Acquisition Offer.

disruption 302

disruption technology financing finance 302

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2011

Sometime around 2003/04 my technology team turned me on to “Spolsky on Software&# a periodic newsletter served up blog style from Joel Spolsky of FogCreek Software, a maker of bug-tracking software. Blogs weren’t popularized yet so it was an oddity for me to read the founder of a software company spewing out advice.

peer-to-peer 285

peer-to-peer communities development innovation 285