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. I always start my answer to this question with, “you’d have to be a pretty big baby to complain about being a VC.&# And the VC job has plenty of admin and minutiae.

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VC consulting entrepreneurs creativity 312

TechCrunch

MAY 26, 2021

Here’s another edition of “Dear Sophie,” the advice column that answers immigration-related questions about working at technology companies. With a surge of VC investing, many startups are urgently hiring. Are there any unique strategies that you would recommend we explore? Dear Sophie, I do recruitment for tech startups.

strategy 68

strategy consulting advice VC 68

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 8, 2011

How about as a VC? Fred has basically always been a VC, Mike was a reporter, and Jim worked in product marketing and management consulting. Surely--but then I realize how difficult it is to be an early stage VC in NYC. Really never managed anything of significant or built anything major.". what has this guy done?

VC 275

VC peer-to-peer board advice 275

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

First and foremost, this is not tax advice. I am not a tax advisor and you should never take anything you read here as tax advice. If you read something here that makes you think you should take some tax-related action, please always consult your tax advisor. You can read the comment letter here.

advice 234

advice consulting strategy founder 234

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 26, 2010

With VCs my strong suggestion is that you be open & realistic. Leaving your real competitors off of you presentation to a VC is not recommended. The best way to do it in my opinion is to really have this form the basis of your company strategy. The Harvey Ball slide should in a way just be a depiction of this strategy.

VC 313

VC education strategy opportunity 313

Entrepreneur's Handbook

NOVEMBER 15, 2022

You’ll receive practical startup advice straight to your inbox every week. Do the opposite of everything you’ve learned in entrepreneurship Al Anany has spent 10 years consulting. But blindly following some of that advice led him to multiple failures. But blindly following some of that advice led him to multiple failures.

entrepreneurship 83

entrepreneurship advice consulting venture capital 83

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Gregg Johnson, CEO of Invoca For the first 5 years or so after I became a VC I didn’t talk much about what I thought a VC should be excellent at since frankly I wasn’t sure. The number one advice I give is “stop trying to be too smart”. That’s why I often say The role of VC is “chief psychologist.”

venture capital 363

venture capital capital ventures VC 363

David Teten VC

MARCH 8, 2022

You can use multiple strategies. But I also invested in a number of VC funds in parallel. VC is truly a very separate, unique and complex asset class that requires real expertise to achieve returns. Invest in VC funds (or funds of funds) exclusively. My return multiple is excellent, nearly 5x.

investing 105

investing investment technology VC 105

Entrepreneur's Handbook

DECEMBER 23, 2022

I never liked being a consultant; I always thought I wanted to create and not “just” give advice or solve problems for others. Looking back at my time as founder and CEO, it would have helped me so much to have someone by my side giving me not only advice but something I would call active guidance. But then something happened.

startup 74

startup consulting advice frameworks 74

David Teten VC

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

Here’s what I said: In your career in tech and VC, how has your focus on ESG responsibility changed over time? Bank of America has predicted $20T to flow in ESG investing strategies in the next two decades. How do you leverage your VC expertise in politics? A key skill set in VC is working with other investors.

venture capital 52

venture capital VC capital ventures 52

TechCrunch

JULY 23, 2021

It’s all about simplifying your strategy into something that is digestible, memorable and applicable.”. Marketing Cube founder Maya Moufarek’s lessons for customer-focused startups : Founder of growth consultancy Marketing Cube Maya Moufarek joins Miranda Halpern for an interview as part of the TechCrunch Experts series.

creativity 102

creativity strategy consulting advice 102

AsiaTechDaily

JANUARY 30, 2023

In addition to his rich experiences working in the venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) sectors, Joseph has also sharpened his investment acumen through his multiple years in the audit and stock-broking industry before deciding to finally launch his cross-border investment firm, Kairous Capital , in 2015.

capital 68

capital investing investment venture capital 68

David Teten VC

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

Here’s what I said: In your career in tech and VC, how has your focus on ESG responsibility changed over time? Bank of America has predicted $20T to flow in ESG investing strategies in the next two decades. How do you leverage your VC expertise in politics? A key skill set in VC is working with other investors.

venture capital 40

venture capital VC capital ventures 40

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 28, 2010

Anyway, I spent the first part of my career consulting for large companies. Accenture always had a chip on it’s shoulder in strategy consulting – especially compared with McKinsey, BCG and Bain. We called it “integrated strategy.&# I actually think from a marketing perspective it could have been brilliant.

frameworks 378

frameworks consulting advice strategy 378

TechCrunch

MARCH 4, 2022

The strategy worked well over the pandemic because Winnie experienced a surge in traffic, leading to 8x growth in revenue, Mauskopf says. The pivoting business model feels like a natural evolution for the company, which can now give consultancy-like advice to centers based on the demand that it sees from parents.

SaaS 97

SaaS education consulting advice 97

Dream It

APRIL 7, 2020

Expect quick loan application processing once banks formalize their processes Work with specific investors and your law firm on affiliation to address specific problematic covenants, if your company is VC-backed. What protective provisions are VC firms willing to forgo to ensure that my company doesn’t get deemed as affiliated?

startup 348

startup communities VC ventures 348

David Teten VC

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

One of the first decisions we had to make in setting up our new VC fund, Versatile Venture Capital , was our CRM and marketing technology infrastructure. . I’m very interested in the tech stack of private equity/VC firms , both to improve the efficiency of Versatile VC and also as a focus area for our investing.

venture capital 123

venture capital capital ventures VC 123

TechCrunch

MARCH 1, 2022

The co-founder explained that startups may appear to have a community — aka, can get a community of people to come and talk about your product — but that doesn’t mean that they have an embedded community as part of the company’s strategy. What about newcomers or people who are looking for more basic advice?

communities 82

communities capital strategy consulting 82

TechCrunch

JULY 23, 2021

Early-stage startups tend to claim that their go-to-market strategy is fully operational. The European VC market is so hot it may skip its summer holiday. Alex Wilhelm and Anna Heim continued their exploration of the scorching global VC market, this time taking a look at Europe. How we built an AI unicorn in 6 years.

micromobility 118

micromobility VC venture capital ventures 118

Startup Blogpost

DECEMBER 29, 2023

We’ve gathered insights from Co-Founders and CEOs who have faced these hurdles head-on, sharing their experiences and strategies. Our strategy was to guide them in balancing the technical brilliance of their product with a strong, clear business proposition. This shift in focus made their proposition more attractive to investors.

startup 59

startup strategy networking pitching 59

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. Were their consultants? We assumed they would take our advice and upgrade. They hired a consultant to help them with the review.

consulting 328

consulting advice collaboration VC 328

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

This is part of my Startup Advice series. Most of them are completely mundane such as choosing which: bank, office space, 1-year lease vs. 2-year lease, logo, URL, pricing structure or which VC. This person was educated at the best US schools and had worked for a top-tier strategy consulting firm – one of the big 3.

entrepreneurs 414

entrepreneurs board advice consulting 414

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. Were their consultants? We assumed they would take our advice and upgrade. They hired a consultant to help them with the review.

consulting 333

consulting advice collaboration VC 333

TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 5, 2021

Boston-based VC firm OpenView interviewed nearly 600 SaaS companies for its annual pricing survey and the results are in: Automation is taking usage-based pricing (USP) mainstream. To gather advice and insights, she interviewed: Julio Lopez, director of client strategy, retail practice lead, Movable Ink. Walter Thompson.

SaaS 99

SaaS health ventures venture capital 99

Feedough

MARCH 22, 2021

Consultant : They provide business advice and differ in their area/s of expertise. IT Consultants, Business Consultants, Travel Consultants are a few examples. Entrepreneurs may bootstrap their business or seek financial support from external sources like VC firms, Angel Investors, etc.

consulting 75

consulting mix-use entrepreneurship financing 75

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 9, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series, “ Pitching a VC.&#. I recently wrote a blog post here in which I argued that the best VC meetings are discussions and not sales pitches. I hope that when you’re presenting to a VC this will give you some sense of what might be going on in our minds. ’s strategy and missteps.

pitching 288

pitching VC advice strategy 288

StartupNation

DECEMBER 1, 2021

Michigan is now the state with the highest growth in VC investment. Software can be licensed to corporations to benefit employees and uses behavioral science to understand the reasoning behind financial decisions people make and to help democratize financial advice for the masses. Next year is looking even better. Apply now to Rivet.

startup 108

startup real estate health energy 108

David Teten VC

MAY 16, 2017

Matthew Craig-Greene of consultancy MJ Hudson points out, “Most public plans publish meeting minutes, and these can be a very interesting place to find information on manager selection. Limited partner due diligence on VC and private equity funds. I’ve collected several lists of limited partners focused on VC.

ventures 74

ventures investing investment VC 74

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 20, 2018

Maybe this is reverse “hanging around the rim” where if you keep you VC process going long enough you’ll eventually get to “yes?” When I was young in my career I did some consulting for the European arm of Lucent. I had learned that this is a standard line every LP uses to have an “easy no” for VCs. I’d give it a bigger shot.

peer-to-peer 189

peer-to-peer entrepreneurs VC investing 189

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

It represents the great majority of entrepreneurship and eschews the fairytale rags-to-VC-riches stories we so often read about in the press. She not only became an expert in SEO, she began consulting in SEO to continue to make ends meet and she became a speaker on the topic. That may soon change. How’s that for an ex painter?

peer-to-peer 363

peer-to-peer entrepreneurs startup entrepreneurship 363

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

I’m enjoying being a VC. I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. VC meetings going well. 2 million in VC. I swore never to do that as a VC. What do VC’s Experience?

entrepreneurs 384

entrepreneurs startup VC real estate 384

Angel Capital Association

OCTOBER 26, 2021

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“ SEC ”) defines an investment adviser as any person who is engaged in the business of providing investment advice for compensation. Investment advice includes advising on the securities of private companies. This exemption is generally reflected in state law.

venture capital 40

venture capital angel investing advice VC 40

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As an early-stage VC I love this phase. This financial leader could well have come through the finance org at another startup or at a larger company but they often also can come from strategy consulting (Bain, BCG or McKinsey) or through investment banking (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, etc.).

innovation 286

innovation startup board leadership 286

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

We assumed they would take our advice and upgrade. They hired a consultant to help them with the review. It just so happened that the consultant they hired to chose a software vendor worked for a company that had owned one of our competitors. In the corporate world this strategy is flawed. Were their consultants?

consulting 151

consulting advice collaboration support 151

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

Most experienced VCs won’t push you to give up founder control at this stage of the business nor should they. With small amounts of money invested (sub $3 million) the risks are reasonably low for most VCs and the consequences of bad decisions or decisions a VC has limited say in is tolerable. Startup Advice'

board 325

board mentorship media advice 325

TechCrunch

APRIL 9, 2021

TechCrunch reporter Natasha Mascarenhas interviewed Kleiner Perkins partner Bucky Moore to get sector-agnostic advice for founders who are ready to raise a Series A. Four strategies for getting attention from investors. Four strategies for getting attention from investors. When should I hire a sales team?

board 91

board pitching venture capital mix-use 91

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

My first job after graduation was with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). The World Wide Web was now being rolled out everywhere and every project was considering its Intranet strategy. That increasingly strategy projects needed geeks. I was a strategy consultant. My starting salary was $27,000. Not operational.

consulting 385

consulting VC networking strategy 385