Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

We have previously raised funds in 1996 ($200 million), 2000 ($400 million) and 2008/9 ($200 million). Well, the venture capital industry has changed a lot in the past 20 years … and we have too. Why should investors know all the tricks of the trade while first-time entrepreneurs operated at a disadvantage?

ventures 343

ventures venture capital advice VC 343

AsiaTechDaily

APRIL 16, 2023

In an interview with AsiaTechDaily, Mun warns against investing in the business rather than the people and advises entrepreneurs to be realistic in their funding requests. I spent the first seven years of my career in corporate finance and advisory, helping entrepreneurs in either raising capital (through IPO) or growth through M&A.

investing 75

investing investment advice VC 75

TechCrunch

AUGUST 12, 2022

“Decreased consumer confidence, inflated brand value, and a freeze in investment capital are creating a perfect storm,” says David Wright, co-founder and CEO of Pattern, an e-commerce accelerator. Elated Entrepreneur. Jomayra Herrera, partner, Reach Capital. Full TechCrunch+ articles are only available to members.

pitching 79

pitching advice education energy 79

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.

entrepreneurs 308

entrepreneurs advice real estate venture capital 308

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

We’ve been dying to tell you all for a while that we had raised a new venture capital fund and of course given SEC filing requirements the story was somewhat already scooped by the always-in-the-know Dan Primack a few weeks ago. Will our strategy change now that we have 40% more capital? . Why do they invest in venture capital?

ventures 396

ventures VC venture capital real estate 396

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 3, 2010

This was really a fun week at TWiVC because we decided to have an entrepreneur come and talk about raising capital rather than having a VC come on. It’s always such a pleasure for me to spend time with Farb because he has all of the enthusiasm and energy you love to see in entrepreneurs. Brought in new CEO, Russ Reeder in 2008.

VC 214

VC founder advice ventures 214

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). I should say that I agree that naive optimism in entrepreneurs can produce higher beta (upside or flops) and that’s good from an investment standpoint if you’re looking for big returns.

angel investing 284

angel investing investing investment VC 284

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. At least later stage investors.

financing 344

financing finance ventures real estate 344

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

This was an audience of mostly first-time entrepreneurs. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs. So here is what I have been telling entrepreneurs privately for the past 6 months. I guess that makes USV, Spark Capital, Foundry Group, Accel, Benchmark, Revolution (along with several others) pretty happy right now.

real estate 309

real estate entrepreneurs financing finance 309

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

A reminder that it is important for all entrepreneurs is to remember to be careful about “deal drift.” It quickly became impossible to raise venture capital. History repeated itself in September 2008 with that market crash. It isn’t even a story about raising venture capital or M&A. Any deal. Things change.

venture capital 301

venture capital advice VC real estate 301

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 2, 2014

Think about it – most of us accept the world of free-market capitalism in which of us acts as greedy individuals but the well-being is guided by an “ invisible hand ‘ the ends up maximizing benefits for society. But the book is a must read for entrepreneurs. Startup Advice' Photo credit from NY Times.

startup 385

startup coworking advice leadership 385

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

I thought about things I never had to as an entrepreneur: check size, ownership percentage, deal stage, portfolio construction and risk. By 2008 I had gotten more serious about championing companies through our investment process. It was September 2008. I have a young entrepreneur friend who IMs me a lot. We did not.

VC 305

VC disruption entrepreneurs venture capital 305

Entrepreneurs' Organization

NOVEMBER 14, 2018

What is your advice for entrepreneurs to achieve such longevity? My advice for longevity is to always stay tuned to your values. I have learned that mental capital is just as valuable as financial and physical capital. If people understand what is happening they are more likely to believe in the mission.

hospitality 130

hospitality culture advice mix-use 130

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.&#. On a panel that I sat on with Ron in LA in 2008 he stated that there were no circumstances in which the founder should take money off of the table. It’s that simple. I believe this is wrong.

founder 329

founder VC advice pitching 329

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In the first post in this three part series I described why I believe the VC market froze between September 2008 – April 2009. My advice : if you’re raising a $750,000 round and you have demand for $1.2 My advice in my post Should You Even Raise VC still holds. So if I am unnecessarily concerned in this blog post (great!)

VC 269

VC startup advice innovation 269

Forward Cities

JANUARY 30, 2020

It’s great to be in KC during this really exciting time, and being able to capitalize on some of the momentum the city has gotten over the past 5-8 years. I graduated from Michigan State University with a BS in Clinical Laboratory Science in 2008. I enrolled in culinary courses at The Culinary Center of KC (Overland Park).

communities 94

communities entrepreneurial ecosystem business incubator education 94

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). And if I were an entrepreneur I’d rather find investors who understood “my space&# so that in tough times they felt comfortable about “doubling down.&#. Not everybody agreed.

angel investing 152

angel investing investing investment VC 152

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. We’re staring to get the hang of how to divide the show up into talking about deals but also talking about issues for entrepreneurs during funding.

VC 285

VC financing finance advice 285

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JUNE 23, 2017

If an entrepreneur doesn’t have the money to move a business forward, the answer is easy: He needs a partner with money. If that entrepreneur has enough money to conservatively make it work (but not quickly), he or she can go it alone, but the business will not scale quickly and it may lose its niche opportunity.

energy 130

energy accelerator disruption entrepreneurs 130

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

I have conversations with entrepreneurs and other VCs on a daily basis about fund raising, the prices of deals, how much companies should raise, etc. It’s the one bit of advice I find myself giving most frequently these days, “raise money at the top end of normal.&#. Here’s what I mean. That’s fine.

startup 336

startup advice pitching VC 336

TechCrunch

JUNE 9, 2022

A promise: We won’t run any articles on TechCrunch+ with advice for navigating a downturn unless the author actually knows what they’re talking about. Before Karl Alomar became managing partner of VC firm M13, he led one company through the dotcom bust of 2000 and helped another survive the Great Recession of 2008.

advice 83

advice VC education pitching 83

Innovation 2 Enterprise

NOVEMBER 4, 2020

Salyer made the decision to take her community service commitment to a new level in November 2008 when she successfully ran for the Ward 6 City Council seat. What advice would you give to entrepreneurs pursuing a startup in Oklahoma? Oklahoma is very friendly to entrepreneurs. Get started!

leadership 52

leadership business incubator communities energy 52

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 1, 2011

years ago you’d remember RIP Good Times from Sequoia, which still strikes me as having been prudent advice in late 2008. I think that’s the beauty of both capitalism and innovation. I hope to offer experiences from being an entrepreneur and being a VC.&#. If you were reading the headlines from only 2.5

advice 391

advice VC financing finance 391

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In my previous post, The VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) I wrote about the reasons why the VC market came to a screeching halt in September 2008 and remained largely shut until at least April 2009. This post highlights some of the reasons why the market is moving again and what entrepreneurs should do about this. Seems an obvious fit.

VC 255

VC venture capital networking innovation 255

Reforge

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

I still remember reading Eric Ries’ blog post that first coined the term “Lean Startup” in September 2008. The methodology had caught lightning in a bottle, with entrepreneurs worldwide immediately embracing its core concepts, like MVPs, validated learning, pivots, and more. All good advice. And what the world actually needs.

startup 52

startup strategy real estate innovation 52

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. Tell a friend!

strategy 366

strategy development VC advice 366

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

But any entrepreneurs raising capital should keep in mind that this opening of the markets could possibly be temporary. They should heed the age old advice that raising slightly more money while you can is always better than trying to optimize future valuations. So we have almost no triage problem.

VC 263

VC board investing investment 263

Entrepreneur's Handbook

JUNE 17, 2022

( Any views expressed in the below are the personal views of the author and should not form the basis for making investment decisions, nor be construed as a recommendation or advice to engage in investment transactions. Just like on the Schuylkill, there are floaters lurking just below the surface of the capital markets.

culture 125

culture capital enablement technology 125

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2011

Blogs weren’t popularized yet so it was an oddity for me to read the founder of a software company spewing out advice. In 2008, he founded StackOverflow , and it has become the foundation for a question and answer platform called StackExchange. Stackoverflow was created in 2008. But I loved reading them and so did my team.

peer-to-peer 285

peer-to-peer communities development innovation 285

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 24, 2012

For starters, David had once been an entrepreneur himself so it seemed like such a natural fit. At GRP Partners we’re all in on Los Angeles having written about $35 million in early-stage venture capital investments in this market alone in the past six months. There’s more! Congratulations to all those involved.

VC 299

VC communities investing investment 299

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

This is part of my series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. Entrepreneurs are inherently risk takers.

entrepreneurs 293

entrepreneurs VC advice consulting 293

Angel Capital Association

MARCH 22, 2023

The Search: Finding Your Angel Collaboration Platform The Angel Capital Association, in concert with Jeffrey Lang of the Desert Angels and ACA’s proud partner Dealum , has published this informative interview on one of 2023’s most important topics in the angel investment space: angel group collaboration.

collaboration 98

collaboration angel investing opportunity board 98

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

My initial reaction to Adeo when we spoke was that while it may have solved some issues (debt versus equity) it didn’t solve the ones that I’ve been warning entrepreneurs about most loudly. A standard entrepreneur retort I heard back then (2008-09) was “I don’t know what my company is worth now.

startup 354

startup VC entrepreneurs financing 354

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

Because my wife is a superstar she published them all on a blog here along with much other wonderful type-A mom advice. I was saying that I was happy it was all out in the open because I felt at least everybody could now understand the issues & opportunities from the perspectives of angels, entrepreneurs and VCs.

VC 292

VC peer-to-peer investing investment 292

Entrepreneur's Handbook

JUNE 30, 2022

( Any views expressed in the below are the personal views of the author and should not form the basis for making investment decisions, nor be construed as a recommendation or advice to engage in investment transactions. These currency arbitrage and funding trades are very profitable, but they are also capital intensive.

capital 144

capital media strategy health 144

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital. Recently I’ve been debating with a number of young startup companies that are raising money in the next few months, “what is the right about of capital to raise at a startup?&#. I’ve seen too many entrepreneurs try to do things on the cheap.

startup 319

startup advice venture capital VC 319

Entrepreneur's Handbook

MARCH 20, 2023

(Any views expressed in the below are the personal views of the author and should not form the basis for making investment decisions, nor be construed as a recommendation or advice to engage in investment transactions.) (Any Get Out The most frightening outcome for the Fed is if people move their capital out of the system.

real estate 141

real estate energy investing investment 141