This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 23, 2012

Conferences, startup blogs, meetups--they're all filled with people telling you how to build your company. I read this book, " Why We Make Mistake s " and it talks a lot about "recall bias". Try and figure out exactly what a startup had to show at the moment a VC chose to invest in them. Why ever read another tech blog?

advice 412

advice startup VC strategy 412

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 6, 2013

” The local kennels were full as many people had pre-booked for vacations. She sprung into action and called the house I wanted to book directly (they obviously don’t provide phone numbers for you to call directly although a Twilio integration couldn’t hurt!). ” Booked it. “Oh s**t.”

collaboration 344

collaboration VC accelerator consulting 344

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

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 ). With all the external presenters, the ones I enjoyed the most were Dan Senor who wrote the book Startup Nation (an examination of the Israeli technology scene).

peer-to-peer 279

peer-to-peer advice VC board 279

Hunter Walk

FEBRUARY 22, 2025

The phrase needle in a haystack is commonly credited to the book Don Quixote from the early 1600s (“needle is a bottle of hay”) but there’s also a Fujian proverb “To dive into the sea, to feel for a needle” that is thought to be even older and gets to the same point. Ok, back to the VC content marketing.

startup 97

startup VC strategy leadership 97

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

I recently read a book I’d highly recommend to every reader of this blog called “ Yes, 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive &# by Robert B. Cialdini who is also author of a very well received book called “ Influence &# (which I plan to read). You should, too. (no,

strategy 293

strategy venture capital SaaS investing 293

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 5, 2014

She told of the teaching of the Talmud – a book which scholars use to debate doctrine and from which Jewish people are reminded to always learn and to debate. In my experience many VC’s fall into this “I’m expected to know all the answers” trap. It is unknowable. Every situation is different.

peer-to-peer 337

peer-to-peer entrepreneurs consulting VC 337

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 1, 2011

This is a theme that comes up in one the most influential business books for me of the past decade, The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb where he talks about the role that luck plays in business success. That was back when VCs weren’t so quick to respond to emails. I started blogging 2 years ago. I did that? Back to zero.

advice 391

advice VC finance financing 391

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

But honestly there are times when being a VC can feel like that, too. If you hadn’t read the book I’ll bet most of you (like me) had never understood the role that Coach Campbell played with the three execs but according to the book at one point they were having weekly sessions with him. EXECUTIVE COACHES.

startup 363

startup real estate VC venture capital 363

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

I have blogged about some of the downside consequences of the changes and the private information I have says the consequences are much worse than is reported in the press since few people publicly talk about. Does he blog about venture capital and try to advise entrepreneurs? Has written a book on venture capital. You betcha.

venture capital 352

venture capital VC board finance 352

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. One of the books that first made me aware of the “creative brain&# was “ Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain &# by Betty Edwards. For others they swear by music.

creativity 356

creativity frameworks media innovation 356

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2010

Fred Wilson said as much on his blog also. That is true of all my blog posts. It is what I love the most about debates and one of the things I love most about blogging. Notes Wadhwa, “Jason [Calacanis], Fred [Wilson], and Silicon Valley VC’s, I’ve got news for you: you’ve got it all wrong.

entrepreneurship 289

entrepreneurship entrepreneurs advice VC 289

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

AUGUST 18, 2010

The concept comes from a Stephen Covey book called “ First Things First ,&# which is a worthwhile book ( Wikipedia overview here ) but if you haven’t read his seminal book “ 7 Habits of Highly Effective People &# you should start with that. When I first discovered the concept I found it enlightening.

mentorship 374

mentorship creativity energy entrepreneurs 374

Dream It

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

The Dreamit team has said it before, raising money from a VC is a lot like sales. Improve your selling skills by studying the many books and videos available on that very skill. Stay tuned for our upcoming blog posts for more tips. They’re judging your ability to get your audience excited, bought in, and closed. co-founder).

startup founder 397

startup founder founder startup pitching 397

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. I learned about this behavior and how to channel it from my favorite book about ADHD, Delivered from Distraction. My wife and I went down 3 days early and had some chill out time.

creativity 400

creativity venture capital entrepreneurs board 400

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

What is the True Sentiment of VCs? I recently survey more than 150 VC friends from all stages and geographies what they thought about the market by asking “Which of the following statements best describes your mood heading into 2016?” When I started blogging it was because I was inspired by Brad Feld.

startup 285

startup VC entrepreneurs investment 285

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 2, 2014

Henry told me that I should start a fund--me, a 27 year old former VC analyst turned product manager with no MBA at a startup that wasn''t really headed in any particular direction. I tried to write a book for college kids in 2002-2003, couldn''t get it published, so I started blogging in February of 2004.

venture capital 278

venture capital VC ventures technology 278

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

I recommend you read Fred Wilson’s recent blog post about the need for a well articulated business strategy before pushing a particular business model. I found myself in violent agreement with Fred’s blog post(s). I sometimes see VCs debate ad finitum about a company’s strategy. Markets decide.

strategy 401

strategy startup peer-to-peer advice 401

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2015

I ran a VC AMA (ask me anything) last Monday on Meerkat and had > 1,000 simultaneous people asking me questions. For years when I did This Week in VC (now BothSides TV ) and one of the most magic parts was the people who watched the show live and could ask questions in realtime. love Twitter. I’m loving Meerkat so far.

energy 325

energy networking VC innovation 325

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

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

I shifted my thinking a few years ago after I read Tim Ferris’s book The Four Hour Workweek (link is to a short summary I wrote). You’re writing a freaking blog post! Plus, he’s a loyal reader of this blog. Can you please intro me to XYZ VC? I know many people think I blog all day long.

advice 314

advice culture board VC 314

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

” Strangely, the best I’ve ever heard this exemplified is in Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential - which is really a book about startups as told through kitchen stories. Writing a book will be fun. David is also frequently an inspiration for a story on my blog.

board 320

board VC construction opportunity 320

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 5, 2011

If you want to be in venture capital, ask a bunch of junior VC types what they actually do all day, and ask a bunch of partners what they expect the junior VC types to do all day (I wonder if this would come anywhere close to matching up.) Write down all the tasks done, skills used, etc. and see which ones overlap the most.

venture capital 324

venture capital VC construction consulting 324

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

People assume that I’m biased because I’m a VC and think you should always get the highest valuation possible. But if you do this early (pre VC) then the price points are pretty low. I’ve heard every excuse in the book and you’d be surprised how many people put this off. A: It’s not best.

venture capital 282

venture capital capital ventures angel investing 282

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 28, 2013

For anyone who wants to be a VC, those are the skills I would work on. Obviously, they're not terribly exciting--not like following technology trends, blogging, etc.--but Perhaps this book will help you figure things out (HT to Maria Popova ) This Explains Everything: 150 Deep, Beautiful, and Elegant Theories of How the World Works.

frameworks 309

frameworks startup ecosystem VC accelerator 309

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 3, 2021

In MyEO groups, you can: • Gather a group for a poker night • Sail with EO members in the Caribbean Sea • Learn how to write and publish a book • Enjoy a whiskey-tasting tour • Learn and share industry-specific knowledge. My book, From Bad to Worse to Best in Class: A Refugee’s Success Story , was published two years ago.

education 236

education VC pitching support 236

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2011

tl;dr version: If you’re an entrepreneur or VC or will be working in this industry - buy this. 2) how seldom lawyers walk you through the “how can this term be used against you&# scenarios or the “pragmatic guide to VC terms&# overview. VCs were negotiating with asymmetric information. Drag along rights?

VC 304

VC entrepreneurs advice venture capital 304

Startup Grind

AUGUST 13, 2018

Favorite business book, blog, podcast? Great leaders create spectacular teams by hiring people who are better at what they do than the leaders themselves. They take non-consensus bets, strategically. When evaluating opportunities, great leaders can articulate the risks of a given bet and the reasons why they can be overcome.

VC 111

VC entrepreneurship pitching strategy 111

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 5, 2010

I commented briefly on his blog and made a mental note to write a blog post. Two weeks after Brad’s post I was at the 140 Conference in LA and I held open office hours for any entrepreneur who wanted to spend 15 minutes talking with a VC about their business. In 2007 Salesforce.com wanted to buy Koral.

education 282

education creativity innovation entrepreneurs 282

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 2, 2010

As a VC I’m acutely that a “yes&# decision to support an entrepreneur can do just that, yet I only write 2-4 of them per year and maybe another 3-4 as an angel. I started blogging because Brad Feld blogged. It turned into this blog. I booked non-refundable tickets. He asked for nothing.

consulting 352

consulting peer-to-peer advice entrepreneurs 352

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

If you haven’t read Adam Lashinsky’s awesome new book about Apple , you should. I got an email recently from my friend & fellow VC, Jeff Bussgang from Flybridge Capital Partners in Boston. The idea that the course asks students to write public blog posts is a testament to its more modern teaching style.

startup 319

startup consulting pitching support 319

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

OCTOBER 28, 2019

This past summer I read a proof of Ben Horowitz’s new book, What You Do Is Who You Are , and I even blogged about it here without naming the book. You will come away from this book with a clear understanding of how your actions will set the culture in your company. ”, then go get this book and read it.

culture 155

culture education entrepreneurship 155

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

Justyn Howard, founder of Sprout Social has a blog post that he’s written about his experiences of migrating from scrappy tools to more efficient ones (i.e. Our first big institutional round of VC was $16.5 Hire a part-time accounting clerk to do the data entry and prepare the monthly books.

culture 333

culture construction startup advice 333

David Teten VC

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

It’s hard enough to raise capital from VC, private equity fund, and family offices. The vastly larger universe of B2B companies, many of which have teams focused on pushing VC and private equity funds to evangelize their product to their portfolio. See my list of due diligence questions for VC and private equity funds. .

venture capital 126

venture capital capital ventures VC 126

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JUNE 20, 2019

Jerry Colonna ‘s book, Reboot , came out this week. So I bought the book yesterday and read it again over the last twenty four hours. I’ve been writing about him, citing him, and telling stories about him since the very start of this blog. AVC regulars don’t need any introduction to Jerry.

leadership 198

leadership entrepreneurs investment investing 198

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JUNE 1, 2016

VC-backed deals that normally investors wouldn’t have access to; Lyft and Spotify (which we invested in, as well) are two of them.”. Guiides.com is increasing access to outdoor adventures by making it easy for people to discover and book outdoor adventures led by local guides. InvestX offers access to U.S.

peer-to-peer 130

peer-to-peer investing investment disruption 130