Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Every so often I find myself caught up in a really hectic 3-4 week schedule where it seems like I float endlessly betweens meetings. Pitches. Intros. Board Meetings. Conferences. And I get flooded with legal docs, end-of-quarter financial administration, recruiting, whatever. I get sucked up in “Do” mode. Startups Are for Doers. Now, I’m pretty on the record that being an entrepreneur is about being great at The Do.

creativity 400

creativity venture capital entrepreneurs board 400

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 19, 2012

As we prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I think a lot about the future of the physical retail landscape. As I walk around my neighborhood in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, I count every storefront whose products or services could be better delivered over the internet. The count is unfortunately high. Pretty much anywhere you buy items that aren't food, you could probably get them cheaper on the web, with a wider selection.

real estate 352

real estate coworking spaces coworking communities 352

Gust

NOVEMBER 11, 2012

Google's Larry Page image via Coolspotters.com. A while back, when a startup founder mentioned to me that he wasn’t sure he had the personality to be an entrepreneur, I realized how important that insight was. My first thought is that if you are more annoyed than energized by expert advice, team suggestions, and customer input, then you should probably avoid this line of work.

entrepreneurs 189

entrepreneurs entrepreneurship creativity advice 189

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

Dictators are not great leaders in the long run. People follow such leaders by fear, rarely by devotion. Employees want to have a stake in their own destiny, and above all want to understand why actions are taken which affect them, even if the outcome is not in the employee’s favor. The best leaders are those who share problems and alternative solutions with their direct reports, then seek consensus in decisions as a result.

creativity 71

creativity culture education communities 71

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 The tech market offers a wealth of technologies tailored for management, planning, and forecasting, replacing outdated pen-and-paper methods.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

abovethecrowd.com

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

Since Benchmark’s investment in Ebay 15 years ago, we have been fascinated by online marketplaces. Entrepreneurs accurately recognize that the connective tissue of the Internet provides an opportunity to link the players in a particular market, reducing friction in both the buying and selling experience. The arrival of the smartphone amplifies these opportunities, as the Internet’s connective tissue now extends deeper and deeper into an industry with the participants connected to the marketplace

networking 101

networking opportunity enablement incumbents 101

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2012

I recently wrote about the 12 tips to building successful startup communities. After a recent discussion I had with Steve Blank it made me remember that I had left off one of the most critical factors – a culture of failure. I remember this lesson well. I lived in London from 1997-2005 and for 6 of those years ran my startup based out of London.

culture 350

culture communities startup education 350

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

I can't take credit for this meme, even though I've already invested in it.twice. (Once with Docracy, once with a super cool company launching in the first quarter of 2013.). I was chatting with Thor Muller a couple of weeks ago about web trends--and he made a very insightful point as I talked about how I see more and more models around getting people to work together in different ways.

collaboration 319

collaboration media SaaS VC 319

Gust

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

As I write this, days after the 2012 presidential election, I’m probably not alone in feeling relieved that the political jeering and soapboxing that reached a feverish pitch during the seemingly endless campaign season has finally subsided. Yet amidst all the partisan cheerleading and name-calling, there has been some discussion of substance.

economic growth 187

economic growth entrepreneurship creativity innovation 187

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 15, 2012

Most of us are driven by the competitive spirit, the desire or need to win. It reinforces self-worth, provides closure at the end of a good effort, and energizes us during the effort to achieve. Many of us as managers – and our employees as workers – are driven by process, actions required to achieve a result. And many of these actions are repetitive to a fault, contributing to boredom and ultimately to restlessness and desire for something new, in or out of the company.

creativity 70

creativity 70

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

abovethecrowd.com

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

Earlier today, DogVacay, an exciting new startup in Los Angeles, announced that Benchmark Capital has led its most recent round of financing. DogVacay is an online marketplace that links dog owners with passionate dog care providers who open up there own home as an alternative to the traditional cage-oriented kennel. At first blush, a web site that allows owners to book a “Dog Vacation” for their esteemed pet may seem like an unusual choice for a venture investment.

investing 53

investing investment financing finance 53

Tomasz Tunguz

NOVEMBER 27, 2012

Yesterday, I showed the increasing share of venture capital investments consumer companies represent. But examining the trends at a category level may mask patterns by consumer category and also by stage. So, I’ve created two charts: the first is a bar chart of consumer investment by segment and the second is a heatmap of of sector and stage. I categorized the consumer investments by 10 leading firms over the past 18 months into six buckets of my choosing.

investing 40

investing investment VC transportation 40

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

For the past three years I have been pounding the table as loud as I can about the future opportunities in digital video. The concise guide is here. My narrative has stayed pretty simple: People in the US watch 5.3 hours of TV per day. People read for less than 30 minutes. You will not fundamentally change consumers media consumption habits. So you tell me what the future of the Internet will be?

networking 374

networking entrepreneurs investing investment 374

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

Yesterday, I sat in a conversation with a potential investor in Brooklyn Bridge Ventures and he asked me "How do you get dealflow?". I know I've gotten asked this question a million times over during this process, but for some reason, it just sounded different this time. I usually talk about being visable, knowing a lot of folks, etc. but in a moment of clarity, I realized that everything I get--dealflow, fund investors, opportunities to hire people, etc.

venture capital 268

venture capital advice education ventures 268

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

Gust

NOVEMBER 22, 2012

In very general terms, roughly 1,500 startups get funded by venture capitalists in the US, and 50,000 by angel investors. VCs look at around 400 companies for every one in which they invest; angels look at 40. There are several million “startups” that are formed each year, so one way of looking at it is that there are several million “great people with a good idea who give up because they just cannot get initial funding” On the other hand, those VCs and angel investors sp

VC 178

VC entrepreneurship investing investment 178

For Entrepreneurs

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

The Bridge Group have recently published a report titled: Inside Sales for SaaS Metrics and Compensation Report for B2B technology companies The report is based on a survey of 197 B2B technology companies, and covers topics such as: Ramp and Retention Compensation and Quota Activity and Infrastructure Inside Sales Management Management’s top challenges They [.].

SaaS 153

SaaS technology 153

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

You may have been a Girl Scout or a Boy Scout in your youth. Certainly you are aware of the top rank in each – the Gold Award for girls and the Eagle badge for boys. Scouting teaches leadership and even if we were not members in our youth, there are lessons for us all. For example, the Boy Scouts of America motto is “Be prepared.” And from that comes training in first aid, disaster preparation, and outdoor skills, planning for events and outings, and any number of simulations or practice runs

leadership 106

leadership 106

Tomasz Tunguz

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

Yesterday’s post on distribution partnerships for startups elicited a few comments and questions about other important elements startups should consider when contemplating partnerships. I’ve listed a few other major partnership elements below. Qualifying the Partnership. Quality of inbound traffic - As part of measuring the cost/benefit of a partnership, it’s critical to understand quality of traffic/customers from a distribution partnership, as @jamesreinhart pointed out.

startup 40

startup board financing finance 40

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

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. It is election season. So it’s tempting to think this is going to be a partisan post – it is not. I use George Bush vs. Al Gore as allegory and I’ve been using it with entrepreneurs for years to sink in a simple point about how to communicate with the market. I use it because I believe in the power of visual and memorable stories to sink into the consciousness.

entrepreneurs 370

entrepreneurs pitching startup education 370

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 27, 2012

Yesterday, I posted about the Collaborative Web --which I suppose you could call Web 3.0, even though we all agreed that versioning for web software is stupid. But wasn't Web 3.0 supposed to be the "Internet of Things"? Sensors, objects, all sorts of non-desktop computer-like stuff that collected info and connected us to our physical world in a more interactive way was supposed to be the next big thing.

collaboration 256

collaboration venture capital technology capital 256

Gust

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

Image via eHow.com. Once you have a potential investor excited about your team, your product, and your company, the investor will inevitably ask “What is your company’s valuation?” Many entrepreneurs stumble at this point, losing the deal or most of their ownership, by having no answer, saying “make me an offer,” or quoting an exorbitant number. I’ve written about this before, but it’s a mysterious subject, and I’m always learning more.

investing 187

investing investment startup real estate 187

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2012

Later today I’m presenting at the annual Rincon Ventures Summit in Santa Barbara. Startup Exits: A Primer from msuster. I thought you might like to see an advance copy of what I’m going to cover. I speak privately a lot about getting an exit at a startup. I haven’t spoken publicly about it much but since Rincon asked – I agreed.

technology 323

technology startup VC ventures 323

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

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

It is statistically possible for a manager to pinch hit for his best player in Game 7 of the World Series and have the scrub off the bench win the game with a hit. That doesn't mean it was a good move. Good outcome, bad decision. In the entrepreneurial world, there are lots of examples of great teams being funded for good ideas that still don't make it.

strategy 247

strategy entrepreneurs investing investment 247

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 12, 2012

When I was in high school, I got pretty intimidated right off the bat. I went to a scholarship school and I felt like I was the last guy they let in. As early as freshman year, everyone seemed to know what they were good at and had already found lots of interests. The best and brightest rose to the top quickly and I didn't believe I would ever break into that crowd.

leadership 236

leadership communities opportunity innovation 236

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2012

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates image via Facebook.com. Every entrepreneur should spend plenty of time thinking about competitors, and how they relate to your business, but you need to be very careful what you say out loud about them to your team, your investors, and your customers. What you say speaks volumes about how you think about your startup, how smart you are, and your personal integrity.

pitching 152

pitching investing investment entrepreneurs 152

Gust

NOVEMBER 1, 2012

One reason is that because of rapidly changing nature of business, today’s competitive advantage can easily become tomorrow’s disadvantage…or at least irrelevancy. Think about how useful the name Tote.com would be for a shopping site developing a social-sharing universal shopping bag/cart. Pretty cool, huh? But what happens when that doesn’t work particularly well so they pivot to socially-sharing images?

collaboration 138

collaboration development strategy startup 138

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