View from Seed

APRIL 14, 2020

VCs are always founder focused no matter the market environment. But in a FOMO world, more investors are willing to take a chance on a founder that they don’t know, but seems to match some of the heuristics of other high quality founders. This gets really challenging if it remains difficult to meet in person or to travel.

Early Stage 374

Early Stage Software Review Technical Review Due Diligence 374

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 26, 2021

As an entrepreneur mentor, my mission is to foster the attributes in you as a startup founder that I believe will lead to success. Idea people must surround themselves with people who build momentum and get things done, including production, marketing, finance, and sales. You set goals and targets, and build a plan from these.

Entrepreneur 341

Entrepreneur Angel Investor Partner Software Development 341

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. It consists of a highly intelligent and opinionated founder – Nick Halstead. What Rob wrote in his post is right. It is really working.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

I first met Andrew Stalbow , the founder & CEO of Seriously in August of 2013. and Petri was co-founder and head of creative at Remedy Entertainment that launched the hit PC games Max Payne and Alan Wake. By September 26th we had submitted a term sheet which was signed on October 4th and financing was closed in less than 30 days.

Technical Review 373

Technical Review North America Los Angeles Cofounder 373

Hunter Walker

OCTOBER 14, 2024

The order is important because I fell in love with the product before I even knew about the company, and the hustle of its founder/CEO Sandro Roco. I would go into specialty and natural food stores in New York City and look at the other independently owned and smaller brands and just cold-Instagram DM or cold-LinkedIn message the founders.

New York City 116

New York City Hockey Stick Distribution Angel Investor 116

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2019

As an advisor to business owners, and an occasional angel investor, my job is to separate the actual challenges from the common misconceptions that distract many promising entrepreneurs while building the leadership team required for your solution, marketing, and finance success. Partner with experts who share the risk.

Bandwidth 246

Bandwidth Software Review Salary Angel Investor 246

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 11, 2020

by Shaun Djie, Co-Founder & COO of Digix. Amidst the outbreak, governments across the region, such as Singapore have been promoting the use of digital finance as a means to minimise physical contact and stamp the spread of the virus, channelling more monetary support for the growth of e-payments and digital financial solutions.

Asia 290

Asia Technical Review Technology Singapore 290

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 1, 2021

As part of The Startup Magazine Founder Interview Series , we interviewed Maha and David Harper, wife and husband co-founders of Atlas Group London, a construction-tech startup that has digitized the building of healthcare facilities. Our customer engagement has been solid, as has our engagement with partners.

Technical Review 128

Technical Review Founder Saudi Arabia Cofounder 128

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

Helping companies get to next financing round successfully: I was just beginning this phase in Sept 2010 and said so. I’ve now been involved with many other successful foll0w-on financings. Sourcing high-quality leads : 9/10. Working with early-stage teams : coaching, mentoring, setting strategy, rolling up sleeves: 9/10.

Los Angeles 387

Los Angeles Intellectual Property LP Venture Capital 387

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

Every potential early-stage Venture Capitalist should take a year and do it before he or she makes partner. Over time Venture firms realized that the partners in the firms needs a variety of skills: People skills (ability to recognize patterns of success in individuals and teams). we have a partner-track associates program.

Venture Capital 334

Venture Capital Early Stage Technical Review Startup 334

View from Seed

MAY 11, 2016

Investors love the idea of backing second-time founders, especially if they have had success in their last company. etc… In addition, first-time founders I speak to often talk about how much they have learned and how they resolve to do things differently and better the next time. Is there a sophomore slump to avoid?

Founder 159

Founder Cofounder CTO Hire Early Stage 159

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 24, 2020

Remember that investors will not appreciate a business plan that features exorbitant salaries of the founders. Rustam Gilfanov is an IT company co-founder, IT businessman and international investor. In 2006, Rustam Gilfanov, together with his partners, opened an international outsourcing IT company in Kyiv.

Business Plan 263

Business Plan Ukraine Cofounder Startup 263

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

They had been introduced by my friend Brian Garrett, a partner at Crosscut Ventures and the ambition outlined in their deck seemed almost unbelievable, “to make wireless charging of phones (and other devices) as easy as WiFi” that I had to see it for myself. . Meredith came to see me along with the CTO Marc Berte.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review Due Diligence CTO Hire 418

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. Most experienced VCs won’t push you to give up founder control at this stage of the business nor should they. Offering a sparring-partner function on strategic decisions. Mentorship. Experience.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 4, 2023

Today we present Olga Camargo as part of The Startup Magazine’s Female Founder Interview series. Olga has a great story as CEO and Founder of SHENIX , a Chicago-based fintech app company focused on financial education and advisory services for Latinas. How has the Pandemic changed the way one should approach their finances?

Founder 158

Founder Chicago Illinois Community 158

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I recently spoke at the Founder Showcase at the request of Adeo Ressi. I said that at the Founder Showcase, too. And for many of these they were (over) funded 7-10 years ago and don’t necessarily all represent great returns for investors or founders. Or worse yet they may never get financed. Have a cushion.

Saudi Arabia 309

Saudi Arabia Valuation IPO Technical Review 309

View from Seed

JANUARY 13, 2021

The objection goes something like this: “yes, I can see rookie founders turning to you for a seed round. But won’t all good founders go to established firms that raise series A’s out of the gate?”. Our response was that this might happen. This is because the market actually has changed.

Dilution 399

Dilution Later Stage Portfolio Technical Review 399

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 26, 2023

The path to success is far from easy, which is a lesson Quattro Development’s founders, Rob Walters and Mike Liyeos, know all too well. The duo recall their most profound failures as co-founders, as well as the steps they took to overcome misfortune and become a premier national developer. The equity partner] ended up going bankrupt.

Cofounder 148

Cofounder Developer United States Founder 148

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

why the hell has seed financing declined so much in the past 3 years?? You might like to think that a bunch of savvy venture capitalists saw a market niche for raising smaller funds or perhaps there was a generational shift where disgruntled junior partners spun out of bigger firms to start their own gigs.

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage IPO 328

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 20, 2015

As an advisor to startups, I often get asked what to look for in an ideal co-founder or business partner. After some reflection, I now realize these attributes are necessary but not sufficient to be an ideal business partner. This means every entrepreneur needs partners who are smarter than they are in complementary domains.

Partner 120

Partner Technical Review Due Diligence Startup 120

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

You have two founders and it was agreed that one would get the CEO role so the other needs to call themselves president or COO. They will often run all of the daily reports into them covering off for finance, sales, marketing, biz dev & HR. I was the CEO of my startup and my co-founder was the president.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Due Diligence 325

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

One of the things that founders have the most angst about is whom they should have on their board and at what stage of the business. Why you should set up a board at the seed round of funding I know these days with SAFE documents and rolling convertible notes many founders prefer not to set up a board early on.

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Startup Angel Investor Silicon Valley 236

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2017

I’ve never met a founder who wasn’t acutely aware of his or her ticking time bomb and the sense that failure and humiliation is a real possibility. Very, very few founders have an easy time despite what you read in the press. Strangely, most founders I know don’t have this conversation with the inside investors early.

Burn Rate 238

Burn Rate Term Sheet CTO Hire Fractional CTO 238

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

” From the hyperbolic Jason Calacanis weighing in that “The petty VC’s did everything to deride [Naval, the co-founder of AngelList]” as though the industry was collectively s g its pants that AngelList was going to put us out of business. founder fighting. strategic direction. and much more.

Syndication 356

Syndication Syndicate Cofounder Early Stage 356

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2016

Some people pretend to have answers for everything, and are only looking for followers, rather than partners. Results-oriented entrepreneurs limit status titles to traditional business results roles, including finance, operations, customer satisfaction, and business development. Founder and key partners are role models for results.

Entrepreneur 266

Entrepreneur Technical Review Metrics Restful 266

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 15, 2020

It is a type of financing that investors can provide to startups and small businesses which are believed to have the potential for success in the long term. A venture capital term sheet is a “non-binding listing of preliminary terms for venture capital financing”. What is Venture Capital Funding? Understand VC Term Sheets.

Venture Capital 179

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Security 179

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

Justyn Howard, founder of Sprout Social has a blog post that he’s written about his experiences of migrating from scrappy tools to more efficient ones (i.e. I had come from a world where I was nearly a partner at Accenture before starting my first company. Another area where founders sometimes spend too much time is accounting.

Warrant 333

Warrant Germany France Cost 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

We are big believers in their long-term vision and potential, have led their first 2 rounds of financings and are excited to have investment partners such as Gary Vaynerchuk, Related Companies, and Tim Ferriss on the journey with us.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Software Review Founder Boston 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 16, 2018

Yet I find that many technical founders don’t feel they need it at all, or at best point to one person on the team who is marketing. Thus you need to understand how quickly anyone on your team can be the key to attracting a new set of customers, or the reason that critical partners, vendors, investors, or customers walk away.

Technical Review 178

Technical Review Marketing Due Diligence Social Media 178

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Last week a company we enthusiastically backed, uBeam , led by a very special entrepreneur, 25-year-old Meredith Perry , announced a $10 million round of financing. Now they are partners. Could you withstand the public scrutiny every day of being a young tech founder and show up every morning filled with enthusiasm?

Technical Review 417

Technical Review South Korea San Francisco Software Review 417

View from Seed

MAY 2, 2019

There may be some twists and turns along the way, like a bridge or seed extension, but I think something like this is plan A for most founders. Unless a founder has angels interested who are not really price sensitive, a founder might find themselves selling a pretty big chunk of their company for not that much money.

Early Stage 214

Early Stage Dilution Valuation .Net 214

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Of partner? Nothing blows up great opportunities faster than founders who are constantly fighting. I’ve watched VCs help with valuation support (spreadsheets, comps) on next round financing, participate in M&A meetings, interview senior job candidates – even help terminate tricky senior hires. Reputation of firm?

Portfolio 364

Portfolio Chicago Incubator Sales 364

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

A founder asked me what makes a $2M round “pre-seed”? While the answers are somewhat semantic, the pre-seed funding round is making a comeback in 2024 startup financing. Not only the bar for seed rounds has gotten higher (as less seed rounds get done) but also the founders prefer to build their company based on milestones.

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

Steve Blank

JULY 24, 2012

A year later my co-founders and I had formed Epiphany. As other startups were quickly automating all the department of large corporations (SAP-manufacturing, Oracle-finance, Siebel and Onyx-Sales) our first thought was that our company was going to automate enterprise-marketing departments. I Know A Great Customer. Lessons Learned.

Seattle 265

Seattle Cofounder Engineer Sales 265

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

In the old days there weren’t many fights about whether angels would take their prorata rights in financing rounds. People all across the value chain have taken notice including Limited Partners who are the people who invest in VC funds in the first place. Thus begins the dance. Why prorata rights are now sought out by LPs.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

View from Seed

OCTOBER 24, 2019

As seed rounds have atomized, it’s not uncommon for founders to raise 3 or even 4 rounds prior to a series A. The reality is that if a founder raised every one of these rounds, and lead investors always got their “target” ownership, the level of dilution would be ridiculous. Founders with limited experience. should be avoided.

Dilution 149

Dilution B2B Burn Rate Early Stage 149

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

I read commentary or Twitter or blogs and realize that there are also strongly held convictions that there are these evil VCs who do terrible things to mostly altruistic founders. Executives run the day-to-day so often the board is more involved as a sparring partner at key intervals. That’s true.

Cofounder 217

Cofounder Stock Options Equity Technical Review 217