Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2020

In all cases, it pays to play to your strengths, and stick to business domains and skills you already know. When I lived in Silicon Valley where “everyone” was an entrepreneur, I noticed that smart couples followed the strategy that both partners would never be in startups at the same time.

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Hearpreneur

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

Also, I had the opportunity to present my “Organic Reach is Dead: Learn to Pay to Play Like a Pro” Masterclass to a standing room only (or sold out) crowd on the main stage at the Social Media Week Los Angeles conference. We even had one partner come and start working inside our office. Image Credit: Desmond Lim.

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Duct Tape Marketing

DECEMBER 23, 2019

Those are all things that I think you should have an internal resource to do, but the secret ingredient is to marry that with a strategic marketing partner. Remember how back in the day, every deal was done with a handshake with a trusted partner you could look in the eye? So, pay to play is definitely here.

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ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

TikTok Ads are TikTok’s pay-to-play offering for businesses. For example, to drive awareness and increase engagement around its sustainability efforts, HP partnered with creators to run a branded hashtag challenge where users were invited to create and share content. What are TikTok Ads?

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Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

One of the things I do in this might sound a little, uh, craft, but I, I think it does help if somebody refers business to me, whether it be a client or good joint venture partner or something, I sounds bad. I'll pay them. I'll pay for the referral. So you could do it any number of ways. So a true story.

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OnlyOnce

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

Spend time with customers and channel partners. Recruiting and retaining top talent are pay-to-play…but you have to go well beyond the standards and basics here. Get to know competitors well. Actively work industry associations. Walk the floor at conferences.

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Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

In many cases, the consequences for not participating are significant and you can get a taste for this from the post on the term Pay-to-Play that my partner Jason and I wrote in 2005.

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The Equity Kicker

MARCH 18, 2014

The free-to-play model is far more effective for monetization than a pay-to-play model. The macro way of building looks at characteristics and trends in the broader market. The private messaging space is blowing up. Anonymous and/or ephemeral content is huge.

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Berkonomics

APRIL 28, 2012

Something like a marriage (and often lasting just as long statistically), your investment partner can be a great cheerleader, coach and resource. But the moment things turn sour, including missed plans, some investors on company boards go into a predictable mode of dictating terms for emergency loans or additional investment.

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Angel Investor Dilution Early Stage Pay to Play 69

A Crowded Space

MAY 31, 2016

We expect there to be an increase in down rounds, flat rounds, inside rounds and various pay-to-play scenarios. However, if the portion of insiders who are willing to write additional checks are less optimistic, they may push for a pay-to-play scenario. 2) Some insiders are supportive. They have no more money.

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Up and Running

AUGUST 11, 2020

Nonprofits have to make tough decisions regarding demon donors, and they can face public backlash if they partner with the wrong people. Figure out whether donors view you as a vendor or a partner. These “pay to play” donors can be tempting, but they might take you away from working toward your nonprofit’s vision.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Many experienced partners are funds have 7-10 boards and most of these will need more capital. So inside rounds get delayed and when there are non-participants you often find “recaps” or “structure” or “pay-to-play” provisions. This is how VCs feel. Call it high-stakes chicken.

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This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

That’s how it feels when your hot deal from two years ago winds up running low on cash and gets into a pay-to-play round that wipes out the cap table. Chetan Puttangunta from Benchmark responded by highlighting the sheer effort of one of one of his colleagues: “My partner Peter Fenton is the best board director I’ve ever worked with.

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Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 8, 2020

Now it’s wrapped around the pay-to-play side of it. I think for agencies that want, especially today, the way people find their agency or their marketing partner, the way they find them is they’re finding us. John Jantsch: Yeah, I think you see that in a resurgence of LinkedIn. The agency did not find them.

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Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 30, 2025

Once you come to Franzy, we also start to help you get pre-qualified with lenders that we've partnered with. And so we do, we have tools for kind of each one of those buckets, but let's follow that person through the journey of, don't know what I'm doing, know, what the hell I'm doing. And so it helps refine your search immediately.

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Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

This transcript is sponsored by our transcript partner – Rev – Get $10 off your first order. John Jantsch: At what point does this all become pay to play? Do I ever think it will be a pure pay to play scenario? Back to Podcast. Transcript. John Jantsch: It’s networking, it is all it is, right?

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blog.simeonov.com

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Most partners, be they lawyers or VCs, tend to tweak the standard with their own language. In this case you have to consider whether they are common or preferred holders and, in the latter case, their anti-dilution protection, pay-to-play provisions and willingness to participate in the recap financing.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

We spent time talking about why “pay-to-play” deals are back on the table and why these deals happen. How Do I Encourage Dissent Between Amongst the Partners? We are willing to underwrite deals where a partner has conviction (usually with at least a second supporting it) even if some others disagree.

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Marketing Valuation Churn Rate Balance Sheet 263

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 26, 2024

Something like a marriage (and often lasting just as long statistically), your investment partner can be a great cheerleader, coach and resource. But the moment things turn sour, including missed plans, some investors on company boards go into a predictable mode of dictating terms for emergency loans or additional investment.

Angel Investor 62

Angel Investor Dilution Early Stage Pay to Play 62