Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

Back to Mr. Christensen, “We subsidize their education in fields for which there are no jobs” he said in referring to the fact that many courses at universities are still taught with skills that aren’t relevant to the 21st century needs of the US workforce. We had a brief chat on his views of “Freemium.”

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Revolution

OCTOBER 9, 2024

We gathered 50 founders from across the country for 36 hours of connection and candor in Alexandria, VA, and no surprise: We left inspired. We believe place matters, and that there’s no substitute for meeting founders where they are, in the ecosystems they’re building within.

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peer-to-peer founder collaboration communities 130

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

When you look at a deal so much of what you’re trying to understand are the skills, resiliency , work ethic, motivation and team dynamics of the founders. Nothing blows up great opportunities faster than founders who are constantly fighting. The best way – of course – is to reference check. Startups are hard.

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Dream It

MARCH 6, 2020

Dreamit Urbantech Managing Director Andrew Ackerman recently sat down with Jeff for a wide-ranging conversation on real estate tech, and a large part of that conversation focused on what founders can do to successfully raise venture capital from real estate tech investors. Does the founder know how to sell into real estate?

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real estate pitching VC opportunity 406

Entrepreneur's Handbook

MAY 2, 2023

Partnering with the right co-founder is the biggest determinant of your future success. Having founded multiple startups across various industries, I firmly believe having the right co-founder(s) is the most significant determinant of startup success. A co-founder is someone you’ll practically be married to (time commitment-wise).

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founder mix-use communities networking 110

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JUNE 18, 2021

Natasha Miller is an EO member in Los Angeles, and founder and Chief Experience Designer of Entire Productions , which designs, plans and produces incredible event experiences both virtually and in person. But as a founder and CEO, where can you learn such skills while simultaneously hustling to grow your company?

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education peer-to-peer leadership entrepreneurs 244

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Co-founder discontent. You can’t reference check your way into a “yes.” Reference checking is to confirm or disprove a strong, positive intuition you already have about founders that could lead to an investment or a pass. What would this founder do if he got an offer to be acquihired quickly by Facebook?

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

JANUARY 14, 2022

Contributed by Kym Huynh, an EO Melbourne member, EO Global Communications Committee member, and co-founder of WeTeachMe. However, I find myself referring to and using them when I conduct staff interviews as they encapsulate the qualities we look for in team members. Ai-Ling Wong, EO Malaysia and founder of The Decorateur.

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leadership entrepreneurs frameworks creativity 281

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2015

I often speak about co-founder fighting and how this ends in lawsuits but this has become much more prevalent. I’d encourage you to watch this quick 3-minute video with some views on what I call “ The Co-Founder Mythology ” that is perpetuated in Silicon Valley. Lawsuits are particularly common amongst co-founders.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

and of course a relentless pursuit of helping founders succeed. So mostly we just had to listen to customer feedback from founders, VCs and LPs. She made the right decisions not joining back then because that founder empathy is the “++” that makes a difference in this business. So why now?

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ventures leadership mentorship venture capital 361

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 27, 2017

Founders don't start companies so they can spend half their time asking people for money and VCs don't love the dance either. It's fine if you want to learn about blockchain or you never do pre-product and maybe the founder will oblige your curiosity at some point, but right now, they need cash, so don't waste their time if chances are 0%.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

Specifically what is often not in the DNA of founders are sales skills. Founders think in options. They like a solid product, well defined pricing, good references to sell against, a clear quota and well defined competitors. Customer also buy social proof because others are acting as strong references. Here are mine.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

When you’re hiring most reference checkers focus on the person’s former bosses. Just literally this week I had breakfast with a guy giving a reference who said, “He’s brilliant. Our founder, Yves Sisteron, was my mentor and board member at my first startup. In many ways that can be way more telling.

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board VC construction opportunity 320

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

APRIL 10, 2020

The 1K project was built by Alex from NYC, Minda from Seattle, and a group of over 20 volunteers consisting mostly of tech founders. If you decide to participate, you will be asked who referred you. Today, I would like to highlight The 1k project. The support is standardized at $1k per month for three months. I joined here.

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StartupNation

JANUARY 18, 2022

If you’re a company’s founder in an early market, you know how hard it can be to cross the chasm between early adopters and mainstream customers. Early markets are by no means easy to tackle, so in this post, I’ll discuss seven tips that will help founders navigate these difficult waters. The bottom line.

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Andreessen Horowitz

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Given the shifting landscape, it’s helpful for you as a CEO and/or founder—or for your finance and capital markets teams, if you have those hires to help you through this process—to know who the key players are at each stage so you can spend your time and energy speaking to the right firms. small business loans for their customers).

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founder real estate capital financing 129

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 7, 2013

Because I''m in my market and in the flow of top teams and networked with the right folks, I''m never more than a character reference away through someone I trust and know well to just about all of the people I''ve backed. They''re not well networked and all of the founders they meet essentially start out as strangers out of the blue.

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TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

Founders should think of three primary documents as their “holy trinity”: the deck, the strategy memo and the forecast model. I have also heard it referred to as a “narrative deck” — basically a detailed, written version of your pitch. I see the deck almost as a derivative of the strategy memo.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

MAY 26, 2021

Contributed by Michael Roderick, a recent EO 360° podcast guest and the founder and CEO of Small Pond Enterprises , which helps coaches and consultants make their brands referable, their messaging memorable, and their ideas unforgettable. I like to refer (ha ha) to these people as “referability partners”.

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mix-use consulting opportunity networking 285

Y Combinator

MAY 10, 2023

Curtis Fonger and Matthew Busel met on YC’s Co-Founder Matching (CFM) Platform, a tool we built to help co-founders find each other. Even in early conversations, their fit as co-founders was clear to each of them. What brought you to YC’s Co-Founder Matching Platform?

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

I wonder sometimes if founders even know about the hours their lawyers or advisers put in on evenings, weekends, vacations. I had dinner with my friend Brooke Hammerling , founder of Brew PR recently. Coincidentally my good friend Roger Ehrenberg wrote a post this past week on founders having trust in their VCs. VENTURE CAPITAL.

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startup real estate VC venture capital 363

Hunter Walk

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

What To Look For When Reference Checking Polarizing Entrepreneurs There are certain words I don’t want to hear when doing backchannel references on a startup CEO. Or those special little bombs of a phrase like “enjoys playing founder more than being one” and “tells a good story but no follow-through.” Sketchy would be one.

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founder energy investment investing 105

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 14, 2013

We used Dumbo as a reference and talked about how the critical mass of Two Trees buildings created a neighborhood with multiple destinations. It was a happy accident when I got back into NYC VC in 2009 that I just happened to find the Ace Hotel--a space that was really conducive to meetings and founders working on projects.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2014

We live in interesting times where working at a startup is glamorized to the point that many founders even refer to their team members as “rock stars,” which to my ears is cringe worthy. Great programmers are artists, for sure, but rock stars is about the last definition I’d choose.

startup 419

startup peer-to-peer entrepreneurs education 419

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2015

We refer to people as "great entrepreneurs" in the startup community all the time--but are they? How many founders have made hires, especially consultants, who were supposed to be great that didn't turn out to be? That brought up the question of what makes someone truly great at something.

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pitching consulting entrepreneurs communities 413

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

Smart founders use this extra resource to their advantage. Great networking skills, which are critical when you want to be about to reference entrepreneurs & concepts and bounce your ideas off of other people in the industry. Just ask Rob Bailey.

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investment investing VC board 365

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 12, 2016

When I did my customer reference calls with some of the largest corporate buyers in the country who have adopted Tact I heard the same narrative repeatedly “We use CRM tools but our mobile workforce always struggled with adoption. I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that our other investor is Subrah Iyer , the founder of WebEx.

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real estate leadership board investment 244

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

MARCH 28, 2022

Don’t even bother to try to win a deal where you don’t have good personal chemistry with the founder/CEO. Instead of references, I like to give a list of every entrepreneur I’ve ever worked with and an email address. If you don’t have a great personal connection, you won’t win the deal.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2020

In marketing materials founders often refer to their customer base as a “community”, but there’s a huge gap between having customers and creating a community. they could invest in entrepreneurial communities and the best founders would then bring in new founders. It’s no wonder they’ve both performed so well.

communities 234

communities peer-to-peer venture capital enablement 234

Entrepreneurs' Organization

AUGUST 25, 2021

Contributed to EO by Saul Simon, a certified financial planner, a registered representative of Lincoln Financial Advisors and founder of Simon Financial Group. We are often referred to as the Sandwich Generation—caught in the middle between aging parents and children.

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hospitality advice education opportunity 286

Entrepreneurs' Organization

NOVEMBER 22, 2019

Ahuja is a serial entrepreneur, co-founder at X10 and founder of Byond Travel. The term 2nd City Office refers to a team in another city that mirrors the culture, setup, processes and governance of the home office. For reference, Uber now has a 1,000-member engineering team in Bangalore. Written for EO by Vikram Ahuja.

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culture entrepreneurs technology founder 181

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JANUARY 6, 2021

As the founder and CEO of AmberMedia —a media company based in Berlin, Germany—Karsten has been working toward carbon neutrality for a decade. Carbon neutrality , often referred to as “CO2-neutrality” or “net-zero carbon,” is the balance between emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere. .

peer-to-peer 203

peer-to-peer energy sustainability media 203

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2016

During this period Kobie worked closely with many SaaS companies including ExactTarget from its early days and the Founder & CEO, Scott Dorsey, served as a strong reference for Kobie. With one single arc he had the chance to experience two great firms with distinct cultures and working practices and did all of this in his 20s.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2013

This obviously doesn’t scale once the founder can’t be in every sales meeting. In the first half of your meeting you get the customer talking about his or her pain points (which I covered in the first post) by showing them references and then asking whether they find they have similar issues as your other clients in their sector.

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advice opportunity development investment 336

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JANUARY 3, 2024

Local SEO refers to an optimization strategy focused on getting your business to appear in the top three results on Google Maps when people search for solutions on the web. Contributed to EO by Victor Blasco, an audiovisual designer, video marketing expert, and founder/CEO of the explainer video production company Yum Yum Videos.

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strategy media creativity education 242

Entrepreneurs' Organization

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

A Forum, which is also often referred to as a Mastermind, is a group of peers who meet regularly, with the goal of helping each member improve personally and professionally. Almost 10 years ago, I had my first experience with a professional Forum when I joined Entrepreneurs’ Organization. It can often create a better outcome for everyone.

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peer-to-peer advice frameworks accelerator 278

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 29, 2024

After all, it’s something they recommend founders do. I’d often refer to this as figuring out what the “eleven out of ten” was for any given situation. It wasn’t until recently that I realized the reference was lost on most of my younger clients. In fact, why wasn’t he just putting a term sheet on the table now?

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