Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

There has been a lot of public debate over the past several weeks about whether it’s a good thing to be “gross margin positive” or not and commentary always reminds me that some people at startups don’t quite understand financial metrics or even how to think about which ones are healthy. When I publicly Tweeted that all companies should be gross margin positive many people pointed out that Amazon wasn’t profitable for many years.

startup 280

startup SaaS financing finance 280

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 25, 2016

I spoke to a new seed fund investor the other day and they told me they don't lead. I told them that was b t and they should, because founders need decisive investors who can be helpful, not ones that sit on the sidelines and outsource their decisions to other investors. They told me their fund wasn't big enough. B t. I led the $1.8mm seed investment in goTenna with $250k.

investing 281

investing investment support entrepreneurs 281

Entrepreneurs' Organization

APRIL 28, 2016

By Lauren King, Director of the EO Accelerator Program. As someone who’s dedicated her career to helping small-scale entrepreneurs grow their businesses, I’ve heard many skeptics say a business accelerator program is just a cover for startups looking to increase capital. I disagree – after working with thousands of entrepreneurs from around the world who are putting in the hard work and time to reach the US$1 million mark, I see the importance of accelerator programs enabling businesspeople to r

accelerator 130

accelerator peer-to-peer incubation education 130

Tomasz Tunguz

APRIL 21, 2016

Pricing. Is there any word that confers some whisper of dark arts than pricing? Or any question that instills less confidence than, “How did you derive your pricing strategy?” Many times, startups replicate and tune competitors’ pricing strategies. If everyone else prices per seat, then so should we… Is this the right thought process?

strategy 86

strategy startup consulting innovation 86

Advertisement

Lack of digitalization decreases business competitiveness. To thrive, embracing modern solutions becomes essential. The approach to digitalization often aligns with a company's business model. This shift not only boosts productivity but also automates processes and improves security. The tech market offers a wealth of technologies tailored for management, planning, and forecasting, replacing outdated pen-and-paper methods.

technology

Berkonomics

APRIL 28, 2016

Several years ago, I wrote an extensive article on the ten most important tests of a company in classifying a person as an independent contractor. See [link] for that important insight. But things have gotten much more complicated lately, partly because of the Uber, Lyft and other new generation of workers and the best description of their class as “semi–independent.”.

mix-use 59

mix-use opportunity investing investment 59

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2016

I was watching my favorite show on TV this morning – GPS (Global Public Square) with Fareed Zakaria. It is a hugely compelling show because Zakaria covers world issues that will affect all of us in ways that are accessible and with frameworks for processing disparate information. He brings knowledgable experts from varying points of view but never books anybody that engages in yelling matches.

frameworks 233

frameworks board creativity SaaS 233

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 3, 2016

The other day, I sat in on a pitch practice with a company who, by all accounts, is the leader in its category. They are doing things no other company like it has been able to do, on relatively little capital compared to their peers. When they focus on sales, they crush it. When they focus on making product improvements, they make great strides. Consumer buzz in their market has been off the charts.

peer-to-peer 202

peer-to-peer pitching entrepreneurs opportunity 202

Entrepreneurs' Organization

APRIL 12, 2016

By Graham Marsden, Marketing Director at the Entrepreneurs’ Organization. Author’s note: EO has a partnership with Inc. Magazine, and we were grateful to have been generously extended access to their Iconic series of events this year. I attended this week’s event in Seattle as a Marketing Director from a non-profit organization helping entrepreneurs become their best selves.

peer-to-peer 130

peer-to-peer health entrepreneurs founder 130

Tomasz Tunguz

APRIL 7, 2016

Daniel Kahneman wrote about his experiences with the inside/outside bias. Kahneman, a team of graduate students, and the Dean of the Hebrew University School of Education collaborated on curriculum for judgment and decision-making for high schools. At one point, Kahneman surveyed his team to estimate the amount of time remaining to complete project.

startup 40

startup disruption education collaboration 40

Advertisement

Outdated or absent analytics won’t cut it in today’s data-driven applications – not for your end users, your development team, or your business. That’s what drove the five companies in this e-book to change their approach to analytics. Download this e-book to learn about the unique problems each company faced and how they achieved huge returns beyond expectation by embedding analytics into applications.

development

Berkonomics

APRIL 14, 2016

As a leader, you set the goals, establish the strategies and tactics to get there (with help from others of course) and sell the dream to all of your stakeholders. And that includes potential customers as well as executives and employees. Sometimes growth happens without a leader envisioning it, living it daily, evangelizing it to anyone who will listen.

leadership 59

leadership education board strategy 59

For Entrepreneurs

APRIL 6, 2016

This is part of our series “Pitching to Investors” that shares real examples and practical advice from the Matrix General Partners on creating your pitch deck. See intro to the series here: Five Ways to Nail Your Pitch and Win Over Investors. Our goal in this series is to help entrepreneurs nail their pitch so.

pitching 138

pitching advice entrepreneurs VC 138

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2016

My partner Greg Bettinelli (worth following on Twitter) was recently named by The LA Business Journal as the “ Top deal maker in Los Angeles in Venture Capital.” Numero uno. I was nowhere to be found. And that’s a true reflection of just how successful and prolific Greg has been in LA. In a world that is hyper competitive – even amongst VCs – I can honestly say that not only is the media recognition accurate but it is amongst the proudest days I’ve had in dev

disruption 226

disruption VC communities ventures 226

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 11, 2016

Over the weekend, Rent the Runway held an event for its Project Entrepreneur initiative, which brought together over 100 female entrepreneurs looking to get education and advice on how to take their businesses to the next step. Unfortunately, one of the panelists, Skinny Girl vodka's Bethenny Frankel, told an African American founder in the audience that if she wanted to raise funding, that she should go out and hire a white guy to be the face of her business.

pitching 285

pitching financing finance entrepreneurship 285

Advertisement

CAPTARGET presents a masterclass in M&A deal sourcing. Learn to cast a wide net, embracing seller self-identification. Consistency is the linchpin: keep the origination process steady for a reliable flow of opportunities. Diversify your tactics, employing various tools and vendors. Tech matters! Understand DNS settings, domain authority, and brand presence for optimal outreach.

opportunity

Entrepreneurs' Organization

APRIL 12, 2016

Jacob Radloff is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Munich-based oekom research AG , a leading rating agency that has established environmental sustainability reporting in the global financial markets. Ashoka’s Felix Oldenburg caught up with Jacob recently to hear more about starting early, the challenges of growth and what it takes to keep innovating.

innovation 130

innovation sustainability culture entrepreneurs 130

Tomasz Tunguz

APRIL 9, 2016

“All new ideas are combinations of old ideas, but not all idea combinations are created equal,” wrote Frans Johannsen. Mick Pearson designed the Eastgate office building in Harare, Zimbabwe based on techniques he observed termites employ to stabilize the internal temperature of their nests. Remarkably, the Eastgate maintains an ambient temperature between 73-78°F despite variances in external temperatures from 58° to 88°.

innovation 40

innovation consulting SaaS collaboration 40

Berkonomics

APRIL 21, 2016

Dave’s note: This week we again welcome my co-author of “Get Scrappy” to give us some of her sage advice in only a way she could express it. You’ll enjoy her style and message… By Kim Shepherd. It’s great to get good reviews and hear positive feedback. positive is good. But negative is powerful. Don’t get me wrong: the glass is half full.

advice 54

advice innovation 54

Derek Sivers

APRIL 20, 2016

My advice and opinions may sound strange on their own. Do you know what musical counterpoint is? Underneath the main melody, you have a counter-melody that goes against it, and together they make harmony. This is different from harmonizing, where someone sings along with the melody at an interval. The counter-melody is a separate melody that could stand on its own, but is mainly there to complement the main melody.

advice 54

advice 54

Advertiser: ZoomInfo

Marketing technology is essential for B2B marketers to stay competitive in a rapidly changing digital landscape — and with 53% of marketers experiencing legacy technology issues and limitations, they’re researching innovations to expand and refine their technology stacks. To help practitioners keep up with the rapidly evolving martech landscape, this special report will discuss: How practitioners are integrating technologies and systems to encourage information-sharing between departments and pr

B2B marketing

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2016

Lead — It’s hard to be a real leader. Decisions are never black or white, so most people fudge. The straddle middle grounds to keep everybody happy. They make compromises to try and hold together constituencies. On business decisions they want to hedge their bets so they do a little bit of everything but nothing extremely well. As highlighted by Brad Garlinghouse years ago in the famous “ peanut butter manifesto ”— it’s like spreading peanut butter evenly over a piece of bread.

leadership 303

leadership investing investment 303

For Entrepreneurs

APRIL 19, 2016

I’m excited to announce I’ll be participating in a ProductHunt LIVE Chat on Friday 4/29 at 11am PT.

venture capital 67

venture capital SaaS capital ventures 67

Entrepreneurs' Organization

APRIL 8, 2016

When you began formulating the idea of creating a business, what did you think of first? The business model? Your “why” statement? Ideal employees? Every entrepreneur knows that the success of their company can be made – or crushed – by the quality of their core working team. CEOs and business owners want their company to be well-run, and oftentimes, that means formulating a rockstar group of people who will give their best to help you succeed in realizing your dream.

creativity 130

creativity education construction media 130

Tomasz Tunguz

APRIL 10, 2016

There many ways of measuring a SaaS company’s efficiency: magic number, payback period on cost of customer acquisition, lifetime value to cost customer acquisition ratio, quick ratio. These metrics primarily focus on measuring efficiency in customer acquisition. But, a software company’s true efficiency also have to include the cost to service contracts.

SaaS 58

SaaS sustainability investing investment 58

Speaker: Wayne Spivak - President and Chief Financial Officer of SBA * Consulting LTD, Industry Writer, and Public Speaker

The old adages that "cash is king" and "you can’t spend profits" still hold true today. But however well-known these sayings might be, it requires a change in mindset to properly implement a cash flow management system that predicts your business's runaway as accurately as possible. Key to this new mindset is understanding the difference between the Statement of Cash Flows, a historical look at the source and uses of cash, and the Cash Flow Statement, which uses transaction history and forward-l

financing

Berkonomics

APRIL 7, 2016

Here’s a formula for success… Let’s say you have been told by your board, by your chairman, CEO, or direct leader to solve three problems you identify and report back within a month showing progress – or that you have solved these three. First, you’d worry that this is an artificial way to focus management. Why three? Why now? After a short moment, you’d turn into action mode, perhaps calling in senior staff for a brainstorming session.

board 54

board 54

Derek Sivers

APRIL 17, 2016

(part of the “do this” directives ). 1. Prioritize lifestyle design. You’ve made it, so it’s all about you, now. Make your dreams come true. Shape your surroundings to please your every desire. Make your immediate gratification the most important thing. 2. Chase that comparison moment. You have the old thing. You want the new thing. Yes! Do it! Be happy for a week.

54

54

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2016

Why you do me like that? Over the year’s I’ve tried to offer some tangible, practical advice to help people communicate more effectively. I’ve weighed in on: Email 1 —  How to Get Busy People to Take Action Email 2 —  Etiquette to Email Introductions Email 3 —  Make it Easy for Me to Forward Your Email ! Phone Calls 1 —  Pick up the Damn Phone ! Phone Calls 2 —  How to Make Better Calls Presenting at Meetings —  Without Going Down a Rat Hole Presentations —  Where Should You Sit ??

SaaS 199

SaaS networking advice VC 199

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

Why the Unicorn Financing Market Just Became Dangerous…For All Involved. In February of last year, Fortune magazine writers Erin Griffith and Dan Primack declared 2015 “ The Age of the Unicorns ” noting — “Fortune counts more than 80 startups that have been valued at $1 billion or more by venture capitalists.” By January of 2016, that number had ballooned to 229.

VC 98

VC financing finance capital 98

Speaker: P. Andrew Sjogren, Sr. Product Marketing Manager at Very Good Security, Matt Doka, Co-Founder and CTO of Fivestars, and Steve Andrews, President & CEO of the Western Bankers Association 

PCI compliance can feel challenging and sometimes the result feels like you are optimizing more for security and compliance than you are for business outcomes. The key is to take the right strategy to PCI compliance that gets you both. In this webinar, we have a great set of panelists who will take you through how Zero Data strategies can be used as part of a well-rounded compliance and security approach, and get you to market much sooner by also allowing for payment optimization.

strategy