Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

Since I answer this all the time anyway I thought it might make an interesting blog post. For those companies that I don’t find that interesting I don’t have to spending any more time on. But let’s face it, as a VC you spend time with whichever companies you want. That’s true. Here’s why: 1.

VC 312

VC consulting entrepreneurs creativity 312

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

In writing anything positive about any of the companies I’m not suggesting that it means that I prefer them to any of their competitors. I just cover the companies that were funded that week. Finally, a lot of people asking me about typos on my blog. But the honeypot of information in companies is still in email.

venture capital 265

venture capital peer-to-peer capital ventures 265

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 25, 2010

Chris Dixon wrote a blog post last week titled, “ Techies and Normals &# in which he defined “Techies&# as people who are not just “early adopters&# but also have more of a geeky, technical, product bent. Anyway, Chris’s blog got me thinking about Techies and Normals. He is both. Kind of the obvious next step.

advice 348

advice entrepreneurs sustainability pitching 348

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2010

The framework of his book has profoundly altered how I think about the technology market and affects how I thought about building my businesses and how I think about investing in venture capital. About how dismissive traditional print was about blogs or the airlines views the “peanut serving&# Southwest Airlines.

incumbents 376

incumbents disruption frameworks innovation 376

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. It was interesting for me to read Fred Wilson’s email bankruptcy blog post this morning. Blog comments. Why don’t you just blog less or not respond to everyone’s comments?

advice 265

advice VC entrepreneurs creativity 265

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 1, 2010

It’s really difficult for me not to get into the thick of discussions about whether or not you can and/or should build a company in New York City. I grew up here, went to school here, and have worked hard over the last 5+ years to help build up the NYC innovation community. I was there, too.

startup 286

startup media ecology VC 286

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2009

I wanted to also post the series here to have it as a resource on my blog for future entrepreneurs who stop by. I’ve watched people who went to the top schools, got the best grades and worked for all the right companies flame out. When I launched my second company I was new to Silicon Valley. Yeah, right. An example.

entrepreneurs 338

entrepreneurs peer-to-peer advice VC 338

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

My firm GRP Partners recently funded a young LA based company named Ad.Ly that is an “in-stream advertising&# company currently focused on monetizing Twitter. Traditional media companies published their stories on the web. Then came blogs. We have it to filter blog comments. was the “static&# web.

peer-to-peer 286

peer-to-peer real estate media networking 286

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

It affects even B2B companies because ultimately most must sell to companies who sell to consumers and if they suffer they cut back on suppliers. To understand this in great detail see this very important blog post by Henry Blodget on the unemployment rate in the US and its impact on the recovery. million – take it.

VC 269

VC startup advice innovation 269

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 9, 2009

I recently wrote a blog post here in which I argued that the best VC meetings are discussions and not sales pitches. A few weeks ago I sat through two very contrasting presentations and wrote this blog post right afterward. We talked about online video and the need to build & track audiences online. is important.

pitching 288

pitching VC advice strategy 288

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 5, 2010

Jason & Tyler brought forward 5 high quality companies and super high quality ones rose to the top and quickly got funded. There wasn’t a bad company tonight but I had a clear favorite. I suppose I should keep it to myself but I guess Jason will be helping to hype up all the companies anyways. Watch this space.

education 254

education pitching VC media 254

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

I recently read a post over on VentureHacks titled, “ Top Ten Reasons Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers &# written by Scott Walker (who blogs on legal issues for entrepreneurs ). Many people start companies arse backwards. This is one of the biggest source of future problems for the company. the link is here.

startup 318

startup advice entrepreneurs VC 318

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

I asked some of the participating VCs, and they told me their attorneys had figured out a way to keep their stealth-mode companies stealthy.Yes, this strategy is not for every company. Often times when companies raise “bridge” financing (this is money from internal investors. Tags: Start-up Advice. Short answer: no.

VC 285

VC financing finance capital 285

Entrepreneurs' Organization

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

When a would-be seller never takes the time to learn the specifics of how a prospective buyer actually views the company, they don’t know how to move the sale forward. Is the company financially healthy enough to yield a suitable valuation? The value of your business will be at least partially determined by company cash flow.

health 252

health strategy entrepreneurs investing 252

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

Keeping a blog has been great because so many entrepreneurs have written me with questions about their companies and I’ve gotten to know many of you personally through the process. Either you’re not a good leader and he shouldn’t be investing at all, or he has no clue what it takes to build a startup.&#.

VC 297

VC board consulting advice 297

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2009

People had been steadily blogging for 2-3 years and this crowd seemed to bifurcate. On the one hand were the blogs that “blew up&# and became real businesses like TechCrunch, GigaOm or TalkingPointsMemo. So Twitter was initially billed at a “micro-blogging&# platform. started blogging again outlined here.

VC 219

VC creativity networking media 219

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. If you take 2,000 of the world’s top performing companies, only 29 (1.5%) are run by women. So it is with entrepreneurship.

entrepreneurship 289

entrepreneurship entrepreneurs advice VC 289

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 18, 2009

Yesterday I wrote a blog post ( here ) in which I urged people to not have too many founders. Let me give you some scenarios that do happen in real life: You start a company 50/50 with a good friend. 99.99% of companies do not become the next YouTube. I have even invested in companies like this. That’s great.

founder 251

founder advice entrepreneurs VC 251

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2010

If you want to understand what the company believes about Twitter’s positioning please read the linked article. Our success as businesses that hope to build a strong ecosystem and prosper as 3rd-party apps depends on Twitter’s success. Tags: Start-up Advice. Why should any of us expect a free ride? While Ad.ly

advice 276

advice energy support media 276

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 1, 2010

Paul has been able to create (and transfer to the companies in YC) a valuable, and unmatched brand. Seed investors trip over themselves to get a look at the latest YCombinator deals and the entreprenuers in the hottest companies are in the drivers seat on terms. Tags: Venture Capital & Technology. Not at all.

entrepreneurs 262

entrepreneurs venture capital SaaS support 262

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2010

I wrote a blog post about being hands on where I argued that startup founders need to be hands-on or in my words, “you can’t run a burger chain if you’ve never flipped burgers.&#. I once had a startup team pitch me for an investment where the President of the company led the first call with me on his own.

entrepreneurs 286

entrepreneurs advice pitching VC 286

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

But all of this increased company creation has to go somewhere. It costs less money to start companies so the world should have way more startups.&# I’ve heard the “world is different&# argument in every bubble I’ve ever seen. Great businesses take 7-10 years to build. Tags: Tech Market Analysis.

angel investing 299

angel investing investing investment real estate 299

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 18, 2010

I know that would be surprising to many readers since keeping a blog somehow convinces people that I’m a time management or productivity ninja. Yet in LA we have hugely successful entrepreneurs who have built big companies like Overture, CitySearch, MySpace, TicketMaster.com, LowerMyBills, Commission Junction, eHarmony and on and on.

mentorship 374

mentorship creativity energy entrepreneurs 374

Entrepreneurs' Organization

DECEMBER 8, 2021

In a popular episode of the EO 360° podcast , Dave spoke with Kevin Stoller, EO Arizona member and co-founder and president of Key-Twelve , a company that builds furniture for innovative learning environments that foster collaboration and engagement between students and teachers. But this typically comes with a hefty price tag.

mix-use 185

mix-use collaboration construction investment 185

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 27, 2010

Building a successful company is super hard. Want to build a version of Facebook that protects your privacy privileges? Sometimes, when smart, influential people start to focus on a theme or specifically a company, it pays to start watching it. That’s an unfair advantage.

VC 186

VC venture capital media board 186

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

I explain in the video what happened in my first company (e.g. Down rounds are psychologically really difficult on companies and can make it harder to do later rounds. In the video I also covered why you shouldn’t raise too much money too early in your company’s existence. I eventually needed more money.

venture capital 282

venture capital capital ventures angel investing 282

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2009

This is part of my blog series “ Pitching a VC.&#. Most worryingly, many times it means that they have decided that they are not interested in your product (or investing in your company) so why bother having a debate / discussion with you. Having a discussion is a great way to build rapport with the person asking the question.

VC 275

VC peer-to-peer pitching advice 275

Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative

MAY 20, 2019

Now, you have the power to build a brand following and recruit loyal customers. Build your social media smarts and sell your brand with these five great tips. Build your social media smarts and sell your brand with these five great tips. If your company doesn’t have a physical location, that’s OK too. Promote your brand.

media 189

media collaboration entrepreneurs board 189

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 17, 2010

Many applications use APIs as the solution to this problem—letting others build mobile apps, plugins to other services, mashups, etc. Imagine trying to build a single phone that encompasses all of the potential features of the iPhone if you had to develop all of those features on your own.

transportation 236

transportation venture capital enablement development 236

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 27, 2010

Building a successful company is super hard. Want to build a version of Facebook that protects your privacy privileges? Sometimes, when smart, influential people start to focus on a theme or specifically a company, it pays to start watching it. That’s an unfair advantage.

VC 150

VC venture capital media board 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

It’s about building long-term relationships and showing traction over time. If you haven’t read how to build VC relationships and demonstrate traction make sure to read it. The partner you saw is probably sitting on 5-6 boards which means he or she will be busy helping existing portfolio companies.

VC 277

VC pitching advice strategy 277

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

TechCrunch ran my article yesterday as a guest post but I wanted to have a copy here for anybody who missed it and for future readers of this blog. Mine started this way … I started my first company in the “go-go years&# of the Internet: 1999. 8-miler in Munich with the CEO of a company we were trying to buy.

entrepreneurs 308

entrepreneurs advice real estate venture capital 308

David Teten VC

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

If you keep all your relationships in one place, then you’ll need to use tags or another identifier to isolate the folks that really matter to you. Any sales process involves a lot of repetition, so we needed to be able to build a library of template emails , shared across all team members. Not all CRM systems enable this.

venture capital 123

venture capital capital ventures VC 123

TechCrunch

MAY 26, 2021

If Instagram’s photo tagging feature was spun out into its own app, you’d have the viral sensation Poparazzi , now the No. The company positions Poparazzi as a sort of anti-Instagram, rebelling against today’s social feeds filled with edited photos, too many selfies, and “seemingly effortless perfection.”

media 104

media networking strategy innovation 104

David Teten VC

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

I’m an investor in many companies which sell to these types of clients. 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. How VCs source winning companies. How do you sell to them? See Where are the deals?

venture capital 126

venture capital capital ventures VC 126

StartupNation

JANUARY 6, 2021

Build a content website or add a blog. Build your email list. Big data is a hugely valuable asset these days, and not just to your company’s overall valuation. I recall listening to a podcast years ago with the founders of a company called Eye Love. Increase organic traffic using Pinterest.

peer-to-peer 143

peer-to-peer creativity mix-use collaboration 143

TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 7, 2022

Travel booking startup Hopper today announced that it closed a $96 million follow-on investment from Capital One, bringing the company’s total raised to $740 million. Evidently, the downturn hasn’t soured investors on the travel industry. It’s a safe bet that similar experiences along that vein are forthcoming.

capital 107

capital leadership disruption ventures 107