Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

Today Upfront Ventures is announcing that we’ve backed Rebecca Kantar ’s startup Imbellus , a company designed to assess human potential and ultimately change the way we teach children. We led a $4 million investment along with Thrive Capital, GLG and Sound Ventures. The news blogs will cover the what, how and how much but I want to focus on the “why” and try to be instructive of what I think makes for a great A-round startup.

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This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2016

Recently, Josh Kopelman of First Round Capital announced Brett Berson 's promotion to Partner. For the last six years, Brett had been building the platform team at FRC. The firm scaled assistance to startups in a way that for outpaced the resources any investment team could provide as individuals. I got to work with Brett for two years while I was investing at First Round, before I started Brooklyn Bridge Ventures.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

By Michael Alden, President & CEO of Blue Vase Marketing. If you are in business, could 5% more on your bottom line change your world? The answer is yes. As a successful entrepreneur, I have launched several companies that generate millions of dollars year in and year out. The secret to achieving success like this is actually very simple: Just do 5% more each and every day, and you will see significant growth.

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Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016

Think for a minute whether there is any process or person that could be classed as the eye of the needle in your organization. Is there anything, process or person, that stalls the flow of work from start to finish? A CEO once told me that she was ‘the eye of the needle’ in her organization, purposely controlling quality of service and making sure all of her direct reports let her know of each . decision and action they undertook.

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Tomasz Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

In Startups are Risk Bundles , Leo Polovets outlines the risks startups face as they grow. In particular, Leo identifies common mistakes when addressing that parcel of peril. Addressing minor risk by spending time and effort on low priority or low impact risk a common failure mode for companies. The business isn’t focused on the most critical issues.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

Rolf Winkler wrote a piece in the WSJ about A16Z’s returns in which he says they “lag behind Sequoia, Benchmark and Founders Fund.” Scott Kupor of A16Z responded with a comprehensive overview of valuation methodology in a post that while accurate feels more targeted at sophisticated Limited Partners (LPs) who invest in funds. Let me offer you an insider’s take.

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This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

I shared a version of this in my weekly tech newsletter yesterday: Many of you are new to this newsletter--especially those who came out to our event last Thursday. It's mostly about tech, but sometimes it isn't. When it isn't, it's honest and hopefully thought provoking. You're welcome to stick around and I hope that you do. It is difficult to write on mornings like this.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

By Jeff Naeem, owner of Junk-a-Haulics. I learned a tremendous amount in my first three years in business, and I’m happy to share it! Although hauling away people’s junk may seem awfully low-tech and “un-sexy,” Junk-A-Haulics has taught me several key things, among them: Take the unconventional route when marketing. Over-deliver and exceed customers’ expectations.

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Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 22, 2016

Imagine yourself with a calendar requiring you to be in six meetings in a day. Day after day. How long would it take to induce you to rethink your use of time – and that of the others sitting (or standing) beside you? More important, how long would it take to realize that there is something wrong with the enterprise when it takes constant meetings to get the job done?

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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

Tomasz Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

Creating and optimizing a sales plan for an early stage SaaS company is a challenging task. There are lots of different variables to manage and the truth is it’s always a work in progress even for massively successful businesses. But at the very earliest days, where do you start? Quota is a function of number of deals closed, sales cycle, price point and conversion rate.

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Thomas Grota

SEPTEMBER 10, 2016

While the world is discussing the impact of Unicorns and Internet giants on this century and which.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

I recently read a blog post by Beezer Clarkson, Managing Director of Sapphire Ventures about why entrepreneurs should care about from whom their VC funds raise their capital. I spent a bunch of time thinking about this position — especially since Beezer is an investor in Upfront Ventures. There are a lot of things I think entrepreneurs should care about when raising from a VC: How big or small their fund is?

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This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 28, 2016

When hardware maker Quirky went out of business, Ben Einstein at Bolt had this to say : "A good company builds one product, learns from its customers, and iterates to make that product exceptional. Each step in the process is designed to refine a product and find the often elusive “product/market fit” that is the basis for all successful startups. Imagine if Apple built the first app-free iPhone and then moved on to the Apple Watch, or GoPro only sold one version of its camera and then decided t

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

SEPTEMBER 28, 2016

By Brian Scudamore, founder and CEO of O2E Brands. At O2E Brands (the banner company to 1-800-GOT-JUNK?), communication is a cornerstone of our culture. Every day, we strive to create a space defined by transparency and respect, where employees feel comfortable taking risks and speaking up. I’m often asked about the tactics we use to create this kind of culture and maintain it as we grow – with over 400 employees, it can be a challenge to keep lines of communication open.

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Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 15, 2016

Is your commission structure so complex that even you must have help understanding it – and calculating a commission on a pending bid? Sales people are incentivized by money. They usually are able to calculate what’s in it for them before they make the final presentation and ask for the order. But what if the commission plan is so complex that even the people who should be most excited cannot understand or calculate the winning numbers?

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Tomasz Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 18, 2016

How fast could a SaaS business grow on paid acquisition? If the business decided today to sprint and acquire as many customers as possible? We can model it with some assumptions, some of which are quite aggressive. Let’s take a startup with $1.2M on the balance dedicated to customer acquisition. Assume a $10,000 CAC, an 80% gross margin and a payback period of 12 months.

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Unvalidated Learnings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2016

Very true. Have you ever seen it happened in practice?

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B2B marketing

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2016

There’s an old saying in polite circles in the United States that there are two things one should never talk about a social gatherings: Politics & Religion. I think this is so engrained in the psyche of many Americans that in times of great need many still won’t speak out publicly about what they say privately. With just over 50 days until we elect a new president of the US it’s critical for the interests of yourself and your fellow citizens that more of you speak up.

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This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2016

Colin Kaepernick is going to make almost $12 million this year. He profits from a league that routinely disregards the health and safety of its majority black player base--so, to me, he comes off as a bit hypocritical in his public protest. And yeah, it bugs me when a guy who has never served in the military won't respect our flag and anthem in front of the veterans who project our freedom.

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health 165

Entrepreneurs' Organization

SEPTEMBER 23, 2016

By April Clarke, owner of Xpress Non-Emergency Medical Transportation, Inc. Successful female entrepreneurs who are also moms face an initial struggle when their businesses are transforming from simple ideas to profit-generating new ventures. While you are tackling the everyday desirable obligation of motherhood duties, you are also forced to deal with the engrossing tasks of nurturing yet another being, an entity that is as demanding in its infancy as a newborn.

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Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

This is not necessarily the way we intend to behave as managers, but our headline reflects the reality of most experiences when viewed in retrospect. We carefully vet the potential hire for experience required. Ninety days or longer later, if that person is terminated by management, it often is for actions resulting from the person’s relationship with others in the organization more often than failure to perform the specific task for which the person was hired.

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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

Tomasz Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

Recently, we examined the comparative efficiency of bottoms-up and top-down businesses. Today, we’ll dig into valuation metrics to see if there’s any systematic bias in the investor community for SMB, Mid-Market and Enterprise SaaS companies. Using public data, I categorized the 50 or so public companies by ACV at IPO. SMB is less than $10k, Mid-Market is between $10k and $100k, and Enterprise is greater than $100k in average customer value.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

Successful entrepreneurs know good time management separates mediocre CEOs from amazing ones – and strategies that work for some don’t always work well for others. We asked four EO Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) finalists from the U.S. how they manage a full college course load while running a company. Here’s what they had to say: Work Out. “Time management is absolutely one of my most challenging tasks.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

In a world of fierce competition, the key to success could be an unsuspecting one. How can small businesses beat larger contenders while retaining strategic talent? According to Raúl Cristián Aguirre , it all starts with love. How did you found your business? RCG/ “I founded Tango/04 in my living room 25 years ago, and I only recently sold it. It has become a multinational company with offices in six countries, 100+ employees and enterprise customers in more than 50 countries.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

According to Mark Cheng and Laura Kromminga of Ashoka, one of EO’s partners, a new type of fund allows entrepreneurs to start their own foundations without the hassle of set-up costs and extensive administrative tasks. A Donor Advised Fund (DAF) is a new philanthropic tool that’s ground-breaking because “before granting out the money, a DAF, with donors’ permission, can use the funds for impact investing.” Read more about DAFs in this recent article published on Ashoka

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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