Paul G. Silva

FEBRUARY 4, 2025

This post is part of my ongoing series exploring lessons from Jim Collinss book, BE 2.0 Culture is Strategy This post is part of my ongoing series exploring lessons from Jim Collins’s book, BE 2.0 It seemed logicalbetter matching would help entrepreneurs succeed, right? Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0). ” In BE 2.0,

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culture strategy entrepreneurship mentorship 130

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 2, 2014

Many startups these days are started by young, technical or product founders who are in the idealistic phase of their lives and careers. I can assure you that move wasn’t a walk in the park for the board. I call it “ the Co-Founder mythology ” and it’s persistent in our startup mythology. Foursquare?

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startup coworking advice leadership 385

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

But a couple of people replied with responses of such lack of comprehension that I thought it was worth expanding on for first-time entrepreneurs. Successful entrepreneurs achieve much through their personal leadership traits that inspire others to do great things with them – sure. Not possible. ” Or there was this one.

startup 363

startup real estate VC venture capital 363

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

bang on the windows of a board meeting recently and stick his tongue out at all of us. She was everything I was looking for in an entrepreneur to back. Didn’t I make myself clear about celebrities & startups ? Turns out she’s done this startup thing before. So, Mark, enough entrepreneur love.

startup 398

startup creativity advice entrepreneurs 398

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. Well obviously that’s meaningless if your startup idea sucks. Thinking out loud – I’m sure that’s important for entrepreneurs as well.

entrepreneurs 306

entrepreneurs board advice consulting 306

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

Launchpad LA today announces it will accept applications for its third class of Los Angeles-based tech startups. We have significant VC commitments (listed below) – every entering company will get $50,000 in funding, mentorship from top VCs and successful entrepreneurs plus free office space. ” And we agree with that.

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VC mentorship incubation startup 287

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Board Meetings. Startups Are for Doers. Now, I’m pretty on the record that being an entrepreneur is about being great at The Do. But trust me when I say that my observations across many startups (and other companies, frankly) is that not enough time goes into thinking. Conferences. And What About the Opposite?

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creativity venture capital entrepreneurs board 400

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

I’m a very big proponent of the “lean startup movement&# as espoused by Steve Blank & Eric Ries. This benefits you, the entrepreneur. It’s the whole basis of my investment philosophy, which I call “ The Entrepreneur Thesis.&#. Nascent startup markets are like fine wine, they take time to develop.

entrepreneurs 374

entrepreneurs incubation board VC 374

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

Let me start by saying two things: Events like this are invaluable to startups because the significant value comes from building the network across portfolio companies and the discussion one can have with your peer group. Entrepreneurs always walk away with new relationships, knowledge, deal discussions and enthusiasm.

peer-to-peer 279

peer-to-peer advice VC board 279

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 ). I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. I know that people have an allergy to lawyers out of fear of being screwed.

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startup advice entrepreneurs VC 318

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

Yet after a seed round of $2 million many are still doing Quickbooks entries, booking hotels & airplane tickets, negotiating offices leases and digging through employment benefits, legal contracts and such. At board meetings Ophir could focus on strategic questions because he knew that Phil could answer to every number in our board pack.

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board energy financing finance 338

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

I’d like to explain as best I can my opinion on what is going on because most of what I hear from entrepreneurs is not only wrong but is reminiscent of what I heard in 1997-2000. ” “This will be great for VCs and bad for entrepreneurs.” What is the True Sentiment of VCs? ” “Sure, prices are dropping.

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startup VC entrepreneurs investing 285

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize. If you publish a book, how do you get on the NY Times best seller list? Simply write a great book?

peer-to-peer 379

peer-to-peer mix-use consulting advice 379

Gust

OCTOBER 26, 2014

When someone asks me for the best way to fund a startup, I always say bootstrap it, meaning fund it yourself and grow organically. Despite all the focus you hear on external investors, over 90% of startups today are self-funded. Despite all the focus you hear on external investors, over 90% of startups today are self-funded.

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startup creativity entrepreneurs advice 176

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2011

Experiences way beyond any hack-a-thon, startup blog or your current company engagement can enrich your thinking and challenge you to think more broadly about the solutions you offer in the market. Esther was talking about problems and entrepreneurs as far away as Russia. It was an “enterprise 2.0” I have talked about this before.

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entrepreneurship entrepreneurs culture education 334

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2011

When you hire somebody too early who has already “done it” you often find somebody that is less motivated in tough times, less willing to be scrappy (as many startups need to be), more “needy” and less mentally flexible / willing to change their way of thinking. This post originally ran on TechCrunch. We know the mantra: Team matters.

startup 399

startup culture innovation advice 399

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

It’s true that we also fund more mundane stuff like B2B software aimed at productivity improvements but we want some big bets in every fund where we feel we can contribute to “making our own little dent in the universe” as the saying goes – by backing ambitious entrepreneurs with that same goal. ” Enter Grove.

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founder ecology sustainability culture 363

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Most VCs are book smart. In fact, book smart can be a negative. I’ve sat on ad tech boards with board members who clearly knew little about impressions, fill rates, CTRs, RTB, eCPMs or the difficulties & opportunities of embedded mobile SDKs vs. HTML5. Startups are hard. Startup Advice VC Industry'

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VC advice board leadership 364

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, This is all explicit decision making.

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strategy venture capital SaaS investing 293

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

Startups are hard. We tell startup stories. ” 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. Our founder, Yves Sisteron, was my mentor and board member at my first startup.

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board VC construction opportunity 320

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

This is the second article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). I like to invest where I have a personally strong connection with the entrepreneur and/or a strong intuition on the market from prior experience. Part 1 – Access to Great Deal Flow – is here.

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angel investing investing investment advice 288

Revolution

MAY 4, 2022

Pandemic-induced office closures led to nearly impossible circumstances for a startup focused on events and coworking spaces. Many times, optimism would be dashed by another Covid-19 variant that would wipe out bookings for the quarter. As board members, there were many hard conversations and no easy answers.

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real estate coworking spaces coworking hospitality 264

Revolution

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

Their jam-packed agenda culminated with a gathering of local entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders for happy hour at Siena Tavern. What we did: Rise of the Rest Managing Partner, David Hall , joined Cofounders Capital Managing Partner, Tim McLoughlin, onstage at the Network for Entrepreneurs, Wilmington’s community event.

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venture capital pitching board ventures 246

David Teten VC

JUNE 9, 2021

You can work as a consultant, an interim executive, a board member, a deal executive partnering to buy a company, an executive in residence, or as an entrepreneur in residence. . connects startups to experts in building new businesses. Board of Directors. At Versatile VC , we’ve used all these models.

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consulting venture capital board capital 128

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. Get some seasoned entrepreneurs to come. So I always performed.

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mentorship creativity energy entrepreneurs 374

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

APRIL 21, 2021

A well-known entrepreneur turned VC, who will go unnamed because I am not sure he would want me to share this conversation publicly, once told me “if you remove a founder, you must sell the company within a couple of years or it will start to decline in value.” Some founders are this rare breed of visionaries who can operate too.

leadership 279

leadership VC advice sustainability 279

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

We all know that funding markets have changed for startups. I’d keep your financial performance to your board members who are anyways directed by law to represent the interests of all shareholders. We led an investment round in a company a while ago in which we wrote a seven-figure check and have taken a board seat.

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venture capital VC board financing 352

Entrepreneurs' Organization

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Get involved with non-profits where CEOs serve on the board, attend their galas and events, and get to know the leadership. CEOs may resonate with a higher-end content strategy such as white papers, books, or even a branded podcast. For more insights and inspiration from today’s leading entrepreneurs, check out EO on Inc.

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culture incubation entrepreneurs media 260

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). I do what I wish all entrepreneurs would do. The same kind of tasks that a startup team has. I had a 3-hour board meeting with another. Is that OK? I think so. [I Operations.

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advice culture board VC 314

Gust

JUNE 8, 2014

Almost every startup is a virtual team these days, since most don’t start out with dedicated office space, and some or all members of the team work part-time or out of their own home. How do entrepreneurs establish and maintain rapport with people they rarely see, and team members who have never met? A conflict management mechanism.

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enablement energy entrepreneurs culture 187

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

You’re not lecturing to a college class, you’re not at a cocktail party and you’re not chatting with a small group in a board meeting. She wrote the book that inspired the way that people at McKinsey and Accenture do presentations. But seriously her book is spot on. You’re on stage!

advice 362

advice VC entrepreneurs education 362

Gust

JUNE 19, 2012

Thoughts on startups by investors that fund them & entrepreneurs that run them. Investment and startups problem : we all want disruptive and game-changing businesses. Money to build the business is the number one challenge for most startups. A large percentage of startups never apply to either.

startup 180

startup pitching disruption mix-use 180

Entrepreneurs' Organization

SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

He’s also a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, sits on the boards of several startups, is a many-time entrepreneur himself, and was previously an exec at GE and Intel. Contributed to EO by Robert Siegel, who teaches two of the most popular courses at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Can you tell us more?

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incumbents culture leadership innovation 233

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

I spend a lot of time with startups and thus hear many companies talk about their approach to sales and their interactions with customers. Who else is going to tell a VC if he got a bad reference from an entrepreneur or fellow VC? Similarly I see entrepreneurs on Twitter who constantly take pot shots at VC as an industry.

peer-to-peer 341

peer-to-peer VC entrepreneurs support 341

Entrepreneurs' Organization

DECEMBER 8, 2023

However, despite the marked increase in women’s engagement in entrepreneurial activity, there are still far more male than female entrepreneurs in most countries, and there is also a need for greater support and funding for women looking to start and scale their businesses.

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entrepreneurship education entrepreneurial ecosystem culture 166

TechCrunch

MARCH 21, 2022

Marjorie Radlo-Zandi is an entrepreneur, board member, mentor to startups and angel investor who shows early-stage businesses how to build and successfully scale their businesses. How to calculate your startup’s TAM, SAM and SOM. We quickly discovered the second set of books after digging into the data.

entrepreneurs 91

entrepreneurs angel investing board founder 91

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2010

I personally had three separate data points from entrepreneurs who took money from the firm that said “never again.&# I really try to stay out of the middle of these things so I softly said to the team, “maybe you should contact these companies and see how their experience went? I play open book. I’m the same.

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