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. Since I answer this all the time anyway I thought it might make an interesting blog post. But let’s face it, as a VC you spend time with whichever companies you want.

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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. I’m not a doomsday guy, but just believe that we won’t see a V shaped recovery, which could make VC funding more difficult for tech start-ups (don’t shoot the messenger!).

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VC startup advice innovation 269

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 11, 2010

I haven’t written a blog post in a week. And for the last few evenings I decided to get through email rather than blog. I’ve written about the topic before when I wrote the post “ I emailed a VC but never heard back.&# As in, what do you do now that you’ve written them. Blog comments.

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advice VC entrepreneurs creativity 266

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

The frantic pace of technology cycles, the amount of tech news, the blogs, the conferences, the demo days, the announcements, the fundings, the IPOs. It got me thinking about the advice that I often give to new VCs. VC Industry' It’s exhausting. Perhaps unsustainable. Lines, Not Dots. Attitude over Aptitude.

peer-to-peer 317

peer-to-peer pitching VC accelerator 317

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

If you’ve been following the press about VC funds you’ll know this is no small feat. VC has operated as an “old boys club”, with access to capital often requiring entrance through an elite university engineering department in one of two cities. Startup Advice' That seems pretty superficial!”.

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ventures venture capital advice VC 343

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2011

On my blog I’ve been hesitant to take the topic head on. 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? In it she observes that only 3% of the comments on this blog are from women. Please watch this.

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entrepreneurs entrepreneurship VC pitching 341

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

I became aware of Sam several years ago as I started noticing his name repeated in the comments section of my blog. He pinged me that he was thinking about joining a startup based in LA with the CEO in NYC and would I be willing to meet him and give him advice on this process. So I had a sense that I knew who he was.

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pitching advice VC entrepreneurs 372

Entrepreneurs' Organization

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

As female entrepreneurs, we are independent-minded and innovative, and this advice is critical for securing our future and the future of our families. She provided me with so much advice on business strategy, business channels and HR. and more articles from the EO blog.

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founder advice entrepreneurship entrepreneurs 262

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

This is an updated post from my ongoing series on Startup Advice that I learned from founding two companies. . On Losing in VC. I know I won’t win every deal I want to in VC. It’s one of my favorite blog posts. We assumed they would take our advice and upgrade. I HATE LOSING. I hate it.

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consulting advice collaboration VC 328

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

This is an updated post from my ongoing series on Startup Advice that I learned from founding two companies. . On Losing in VC. I know I won’t win every deal I want to in VC. It’s one of my favorite blog posts. We assumed they would take our advice and upgrade. Tags: Startup Advice.

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consulting advice collaboration VC 334

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 11, 2012

I can't put up my track record on my blog, which I'd happily do--whether I have any exits (even though it is theoretically public what I've worked on and who might have sold to a company that rhymes with hype) and how the other companies are doing. Want to know why there aren't more female partners at VC funds? scratches bald head].

ventures 314

ventures incubation VC venture capital 314

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

I told him only 2 weeks ago when we were in London together that I wanted to write a blog post that has been in my head for 2 years. I knew him well before he became a VC. I knew his as he considered becoming a VC and we talked a lot about how it was going for me in my early years. I’ve been told so. I’m one of them.

VC 309

VC data analysis incubation health 309

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2010

So it was my great pleasure to host Chamillionaire on This Week in VC this week talking marketing, entrepreneurship, old media and, of course, music. I had written a blog post on exactly this – how to not suck at group presentations – and what he said reminded me a lot of this post.

entrepreneurs 356

entrepreneurs media VC creativity 356

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I was meeting with a first-time CEO of a very promising young startup recently and offering my advice on what his priorities should be. I gave him the same advice I give nearly all over-worked, control-freak, do-everything-yourself startup founders: “Your number one priority isn’t any of these things. Me: “Bullshit.

communities 319

communities VC innovation entrepreneurs 319

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

In his blog he says, “I responded that I thought it was stupid. IA Ventures – Roger Ehrenberg was doing angel investing before he became a VC. So his Twitter handle is @infoarbitrage and his excellent (must read) blog is Information Arbitrage. Not versus every other VC but versus many. I hate Silicon Whatever.

communities 304

communities startup creativity VC 304

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

” But I pointed out a professor at HBS ( Tom Eisenmann ) who teaches a course where blogs are a part of the classroom reading material. We spoke about the disruption of VC through crowd funding. VC can’t don’t invest in these kinds of companies because they can’t get out (no liquidity event).

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education disruption entrepreneurship venture capital 404

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

I believe that over capitalizing companies too early often favors the VC. Talking about whether to raise more money or not, their VC allegedly said to them: “If you had more capital, could you get to the future faster? I loved the quote so much I wrote an entire blog post on the topic. It takes options off of the table.

entrepreneurs 374

entrepreneurs incubation board VC 374

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

I want to make sure that my sixth year as a VC doesn’t just become an automatic continuation of what I’ve done in my first 5 years. The number of times I’ve had people come to me and say they want to blog more. My wife and I went down 3 days early and had some chill out time. I don’t want to be on autopilot.

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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.

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peer-to-peer communities development innovation 285

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. The following was available: “I kept hearing about startups that raised VC funding, but which hadn’t filed Form Ds (nor issued a press release).

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VC finance financing capital 286

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 17, 2011

I talked specifically about it in the context of raising VC / establishing credibility over on the Sales School blog where there’s a video & a transcript. Keep it human -Far too many presentations, keynote speeches, conference panels or blog posts seem wooden. They’re going t0 publish all 4 parts of my talk.

peer-to-peer 365

peer-to-peer leadership support construction 365

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. In particular I tried to do most of the “entrepreneur advice on VC” up front so that if you don’t want to watch our views on the deals you don’t have to. They sponsor TWiVC.

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VC founder advice ventures 214

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 I have seen in your 5 years with us countless hours dedicated to mentorship and advice to younger founders of color and showing them a roadmap for success.

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VC leadership mentorship entrepreneurs 284

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

It’s why I always work hard to find images for my blog posts & why all of my keynote presentations are visual rather than bullet points with words. When I write a blog post I often see the words before I write them. I have a process I use for blog posts, too. I look carefully at who is speaking before me.

creativity 356

creativity frameworks media innovation 356

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

I’ve blogged about this before and provide a lot more details in these posts: 1. On my trip I also gave my usual advice to entrepreneurs who don’t live in a major tech funding hub: Find VCs who are from your area originally. The Foundations of the Seattle startup community.

startup 392

startup communities venture capital angel capital 392

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

I just want to figure out what a fair valuation is.&# I figured all the VC’s talked so we should. How VC’s Calculate Valuation : We walked through a standard deal where you raise $1 million at a $3 million pre-money valuation leading to a $4 million post money valuation. The VC assumes you’ll have an option pool.

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founder VC venture capital entrepreneurs 405

Onevest

APRIL 1, 2015

By Michael "Luni" Libes In the traditional world of early stage, Angel and VC investing, money is local. Studies show that over 80% of funding at Angel groups and Series A VCs goes to businesses in the same city/region as the funders. This post was originally published on the blog of Michael “Luni” Libes.

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angel investing investment investing funders 110

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

You can watch the video above for a very brief overview of why we rebranded and where we see our place in the VC ecosystem along with what has changed in our industry. Relaunching our brand is part of our larger initiative to build a VC firm of the future. When he starts his blog I’ll let you know. But I miss blogging.

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ventures VC strategy advice 324

FundersClub

JUNE 12, 2017

They seek a VC model where dogma is less of a drag on the enterprise, and investment discovery can come from a wide network of smaller investors—mini LPs, in a way. Founders needn’t have revenue to draw VC investment, but they do need some way to show that they’ve validated the model. These are angels and VCs.

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VC venture capital networking founder 93

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

I’m going to save that for a future blog post. And awesome to get to spend time with Ian Sigalow “comparing notes” (VC speak ). If you can get 30 CEO’s sitting on the edge of their seats about about 8 VC partners to not use their Blackberry’s for 90 minutes you’re really achieved something.

peer-to-peer 279

peer-to-peer advice VC board 279

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

I only say that because after years as a VC I can always tell when my peer group invested in something because “it seemed like it would make money” versus when they invested out of passion. On reflection of the role that I want to play as a VC it is clearly in the camp of passion. I’m a VC. Startup Advice'

peer-to-peer 373

peer-to-peer VC pitching entrepreneurs 373

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

By spending more time educating your board on your business you get more valuable advice from them. Your goal should be to turn your VCs into extended members of your team to get real value from them. So what are Rob’s secret hacks that he didn’t spill in his blog post? . Startup Advice' Rob does it.

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board VC advice pitching 365

TechCrunch

MAY 7, 2022

For more thoughts, read a round-up of all the tech layoffs this past week , and then head to TechCrunch+ for some advice on how to navigate the market. Need advice on navigating a tough startup market? As always, you can support me by forwarding this newsletter to a friend or following me on Twitter or my blog. Start here.

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advice ventures capital startup 97

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

The major battle for press is a battle for “mindshare” and it’s exactly the reason I blog. I am a VC. We provide strategic advice to digital media companies in a manner that reflects how corporate development is actually done. I hand out money. How differentiated is that?

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mix-use advice VC technology 389

David Teten VC

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Tim Friedman, Founder, PE Stack , said, “If I could offer one piece of advice to today’s managers, it would be to take the time to understand the demands of the modern institutional LP. Keren Moynihan, CEO, Boss Insights , said, “Last week at an industry function, we asked a high rolling VC, “how’s your lead gen?” 3) Raise capital.

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technology investment investing VC 96

David Teten VC

DECEMBER 4, 2019

Haystack VC runs almost entirely on Notion. I always make a point of keeping firm records updated in the major data-trackers tracking the VC industry: AngelList , CB Insights , Crunchbase , Dealroom , Dow Jones VentureSource , Pitchbook , Preqin , and Refinitiv Eikon. Pollen VC offers a LTV calculator.

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technology investment investing ventures 82

Entrepreneur's Handbook

JUNE 15, 2022

You’ll receive the best practical startup advice straight to your inbox every week. Send blog posts, not sales emails ?—?Rather Rather than send “Course open, buy now, 2 hours left” emails, provide value through blog posts or other content, and add CTA at the end. ?? Welcome to another edition of our new newsletter!

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investment investing incubation venture capital 52