Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 6, 2014

'Reference calls. We all have to make them. Whether you’re considering hiring a new employee or as an investor whether you’re looking to do a background check on the founders of a company. My friend Jason Hirschhorn Tweeted about this today. Here are some pointers that I’ve learned over the years: 1. Ask for at least 5 references. As your candidate for at least 5 references.

peer-to-peer 302

peer-to-peer real estate mix-use entrepreneurs 302

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 7, 2014

'The other day, I met up with one of my favorite investors. We talked about some deals we had done and this investor brought up how they weren''t really doing true first money in anymore. Instead, they said that entrepreneurs should raise 200-300k on their own and get something up and off the ground first with traction and that they''d rather wait to see where that goes.

venture capital 300

venture capital VC financing finance 300

Gust

APRIL 9, 2014

'Equity dilution works when the same pie is divided among more people. The Founder of a company starts by owning all the shares representing ownership of the company. Over time, other people receive pieces of equity in exchange for work (employee stock options), money (seed, angel and venture investors), services (attorneys, directors, etc.). Because the total percentage of equity will always equal exactly 100%, every time anyone gets another piece, by definition it “dilutes” all o

startup 150

startup founder ventures investing 150

Berkonomics

APRIL 10, 2014

'With help from JJ Richa. The next logical step in our analysis of financing tools is to analyze asset-based lending, in which you pledge or assign your short term assets, such as accounts receivable or inventory, to the lender. Often, the lender then tracks the pledged assets until money is received or inventory sold, expecting repayment from the proceeds of sale.

real estate 66

real estate financing finance capital 66

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 The tech market offers a wealth of technologies tailored for management, planning, and forecasting, replacing outdated pen-and-paper methods.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

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2014

'One of the interesting things about being a VC is that you often see companies in transition. If you’re an early investor like I am that often means writing the first $2-3 million check into a business that previously had either survived on fumes or on a $500,000 angel round. I also see companies as they move from having taken $1-5 million from me to their next round where they raise $8-15 million from Series B investors and sometimes I lead at this round (we’re stage agnostic but 8

startup 381

startup financing finance board 381

Gust

APRIL 6, 2014

'Image via Amazon.com. Most people think that the Peter Principle (employee rises to his level of incompetence) only applies to large organizations. Let me assure you that it is also alive and well within startups. I see startup founders and managers who are stalled transplants from large organizations, as well as highly-capable technologists trying to start and run a business for the first time.

startup 148

startup entrepreneurs startup founder investing 148

Gust

APRIL 11, 2014

'Back from a hiatus, it’s time to venture forward once more. I appreciated hearing from those who asked about upcoming posts. Thanks in particular to the reader who reminded me that Part II of “Bored” of Directors Can Become Clash of Titans is still in the queue. Let’s get right down to business: Dilution of founders’ and other early shareholders’ equity in startups is frequently a subject of intense interest and debate.

real estate 162

real estate startup board advice 162

Gust

APRIL 5, 2014

'When you create a profile on Gust, you immediately get emailed a link for a free download of Bill Payne’s excellent book “The Definitive Guide to Raising Money from Angels”, which is an excellent overview of the whole process. Good luck! *original post can be found on Quora @ [link] *.

startup 140

startup entrepreneurs 140

Tomasz Tunguz

APRIL 7, 2014

I’ve been following Casey Johnston’s journey on Ars Technica to switch keyboard layouts from the ubiquitous Qwerty layout to the Dvorak layout with great interest and empathy. ( part 1 and part2 ). About six years ago, I went through the same process to learn Dvorak. It took me five tries to succeed. Judging by the volume and passion of the comments in that series, keyboard layouts are a topic many people are pretty passionate about.

venture capital 40

venture capital capital ventures 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