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. The alternative and more predictable corporate role may suddenly seem more satisfying and financially stable to you and your family. Adopt the Silicon Valley entrepreneur family model.

Silicon Valley 315

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Stock Options Flash 315

Steve Blank

APRIL 26, 2022

For existing investors, sometimes it was a “pay-to-play” i.e. if you don’t participate in the new financing you lose. They offered desperate founders more cash but insisted on new terms, rewriting all the old stock agreements that previous investors and employees had.

Cram Down 417

Cram Down Founder Venture Capital Recapitalization 417

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 5, 2010

Jason Calacanis started this initiative in response to the pay-to-play network of angel events that he despised. I attended the inaugural Open Angel Forum in Los Angeles back in January and wrote about it here. I’m a huge supporter of his initiative to help end this practice.

San Francisco 254

San Francisco Technical Review Los Angeles Software Review 254

Feld Thoughts

JULY 11, 2010

It got the name “pay to play&# , but was just another form of bribery. So, if I contribute $1,000 to the campaign of the Colorado state treasurer, I violate this SEC rule and become someone who is “paying to play.&# Now, don’t misunderstand me – I think pay to play is grotesque.

SEC 133

SEC Pay to Play Colorado Campaign 133

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Final point worth noting … While reading one of David Lerner’s comments on my last blog post it made me realize that sometimes it’s OK to play poker just for the sake of playing & enjoying and knowing that you might lose some money. Pay to play. Just be clear on why you’re playing.

Cap Table 283

Cap Table Angel Investor Liquidation Preference Deal Flow 283

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 9, 2021

To get quick wins, the likelihood is you’re going to have to pay to play. However, it’s important to pay and play wisely. In a utopian landscape, we’d all be able to develop and run people-first social media marketing campaigns based solely on organic content. image source ).

Social Media 142

Social Media Media Developer Marketing 142

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

What role does proximity play in search results? At what point does this all become pay to play? What role does proximity play in search results? * At what point does this all become pay to play? Questions I ask Neil Crist: What are the most important ranking factors for small businesses today?

SEO 77

SEO Pay to Play Portfolio Search 77

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 8, 2023

Restructures, Down Rounds, and Pay to Plays. Whatever gets reported is just the tip of the iceberg. The reality is lots of companies – many of them quite promising – have already undergone, or will be facing, next financings which “clean up” old cap tables.

Portfolio 103

Portfolio Cap Table LP Valuation 103

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 20, 2021

Additionally, I have a lot of conviction that influencer marketing is going to play a huge role for consumer brands, but that it won’t look or feel quite like what you think of when you think of influencer marketing today. Thanks to Eric Wu, Gainful !

Entrepreneur 149

Entrepreneur United States Software Review Technical Review 149

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 13, 2018

Pay to play” — the path to more exposure. Video gives businesses an opportunity to show not only what they do but also “who” they are. Also, keep in mind that social media algorithms might give video posts better organic reach than other types of posts. Fast forward to today and that reach has plummeted even more.

Social Media 232

Social Media Media SEO Channel 232

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

Well, remember the dust up a while back with the backlash against “pay to play” pitch events where startups had to pay to meet angels? And if that doesn’t do it, then this is certainly the cherry on top. I’m excited to announce that the Open Angel Forum is coming to NYC. So what is the Open Angel Forum?

New York City 76

New York City New York Angel Investor Early Stage 76

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

Michelle Obama, the greatest advocate of kids playing sports in her role for Aspen Project Play, would be a huge inspiration to meet. To talk about the outdated pay-to-play system in sports in the U.S. Who do you invite and why? for example. I would also invite the Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot.

Netherlands 54

Netherlands Startup Philadelphia Cofounder 54

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

If they wanted to fund a company but other investors didn’t then they got involved in protracted negotiations over issues such as “pay-to-play” provisions. No doubt they spent countless hours arguing for reduced burn rates sometimes with founders, sometimes with investors. It is no wonder why they had less time for new deals.

Burn Rate 263

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Private Equity 263

Brandanew

NOVEMBER 22, 2016

In terms of the best ROI for your startup, here are some of the options to consider: Pay-to-play on Facebook : A social platform that was once synonymous with friendship entertainment has now (almost) turned into a pay-to-play platform. Small investments will add up. It helps you gain a wide audience.

Affiliate 100

Affiliate Startup Social Media Pay to Play 100

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. They have no more money.

Cram Down 60

Cram Down Pay to Play Angel Investor Warrant 60

Haystack

OCTOBER 7, 2018

In order to play the Series A game, take a board seat, and credibly lead those rounds from Series A to Series B, these new firms will have to build a strong roster of GPs who are qualified to sit on these boards — this would have to be done in a time when many of the very top tier VC brands are struggling to recruit the types of folks they would (..)

Cap Table 147

Cap Table Venture Capital Portfolio Pay to Play 147

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 8, 2024

At what point do those tools start making money off of that control and basically everything becomes pay to play. Alan (06:25): Yeah, I think probably the logical step for a lot of those tools will be to do some sort of pay per click or some sort of advertising. Ultimately open AI and tools like Claude will somewhat control.

Lean 85

Lean Technical Review ChatGPT Search 85

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

With the two major platforms becoming largely pay-to-play for local businesses, email offers one of the best remaining opportunities for organic visibility — and actually makes paid visibility cheaper and more effective. Both of which help your client’s ROI and your bottom line as an agency.

Email 58

Email Technical Review Marketing SEO 58

Up and Running

AUGUST 11, 2020

These “pay to play” donors can be tempting, but they might take you away from working toward your nonprofit’s vision. While your donors likely have some valuable insights that can help your organization grow on a larger scale, some donors have other goals in mind.

Pay to Play 82

Pay to Play Partner Operations Community 82

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

TikTok Ads are TikTok’s pay-to-play offering for businesses. What are TikTok Ads? TikTok Ads give you the chance to put your products in front of the platform’s highly engaged user base to raise brand awareness , build relationships and increase sales.

Customer 102

Customer Viral Audience Campaign 102

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.

Pay to Play 91

Pay to Play eCommerce Framework Partner 91

ithacaVC

JUNE 28, 2011

Pay to play provisions: simply stated, pay to play provisions provide that unless existing shareholders participate in the subsequent financing unfavorable things happen to their existing stock. There are many (many many) ways to slice pay to play provisions. Here are few: 1.

Warrant 53

Warrant Common Stock Liquidation Preference Institutional Investors 53

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 look forward to Cosmoprof every year!

Los Angeles 48

Los Angeles Las Vegas Entrepreneur Phoenix 48

Start Up Blog

OCTOBER 19, 2010

I’ve never been a fan of the so called ‘Free’ business mode l, and often a bigger fan of the so called ‘pay to play’ business model. While catching up with Mick Liubinskas of Pollenizer fame I heard a much better way to describe what all business models on the web should do. First: Create Value.

Pay to Play 76

Pay to Play Business Model Advertising Web 76

Berkonomics

APRIL 28, 2012

These include forcing early investors to “pay to play,” or invest their pre-rata amounts to keep their original percentages, or suffer the consequences of being diluted to the extreme and losing preferences in a liquidation.

Angel Investor 69

Angel Investor Dilution Early Stage Pay to Play 69

Duct Tape Marketing

DECEMBER 23, 2019

So, pay to play is definitely here. And the first real result, meaning an actual business that wasn’t either an ad or an aggregator like Angie’s List or Home Advisor, showed up on page two. Making paid search a real, significant part of your overall marketing plan is no longer optional.

Small Business 77

Small Business Marketing Audio Technical Review 77

Up and Running

APRIL 3, 2017

Pay to play: Set a daily budget of $20 for two to three weeks to start. Keep it short: Know that the majority of all content is consumed on mobile , so keep it short and sweet. Determine your target audience: Dig into details such as location, age range, gender, interests, and so on of the audience you want to reach.

Social Media 96

Social Media Employee Media Hiring 96

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 2, 2019

Consumers rely on search engines and pay-to-play rating sites to find legal counsel. (Share with us what problem you’re solving). With more lawyers in the US than ever before, marketing legal services has become increasingly difficult.

Founder 90

Founder New York City Cofounder Bankruptcy 90

Eric Friedman

JUNE 18, 2014

Slingshot makes you “pay-to-play” by requiring you to “sling” (slingshot?) Slingshot does this by showing you the benefits, and hoping you will concede to the system level permissions (at least on iOS). Forced participation. a photo or video to a friend to get started, and subsequently sling another to see someones response.

Social Media 103

Social Media Pay to Play Video Mobile 103

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. Meanwhile, you may have felt like your form—the things you were doing to throw a pitch—was the same as it was before—and perhaps even better. But I thought I was good!?”

Non-Compete 97

Non-Compete Cofounder Cap Table Reputation 97

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

In these scenarios angels made great returns precisely because they didn’t need to dip their hands into their pockets a second or third time, their companies didn’t go bankrupt and they didn’t get buried in the cap tables by large VCs who put in “pay to play” provisions in tough times. So where are we now? It’s hard to say.

Angel Investor 284

Angel Investor Early Stage Cap Table Deal Flow 284

Feld Thoughts

JULY 14, 2015

It usually happens in a later round, when the company is in fact worth much less than the liquidation preference overhang and insiders use a pay-to-play and a low valuation to reset the preferences and the cap table. and the investors, who put up $1m in a convertible note, get 0.1%. Sure – it happens.

Recapitalization 70

Recapitalization Pre-Money Valuation Post-Money Valuation Angel Investor 70

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.

Entrepreneur 133

Entrepreneur Angel Investor Early Stage Pay to Play 133

OnlyOnce

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

Recruiting and retaining top talent are pay-to-play…but you have to go well beyond the standards and basics here. Actively work industry associations. Walk the floor at conferences. Understand what the substitute products are (not just direct competition).

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Pay to Play Salary Leadership Metrics 134

crowdSPRING Blog

MARCH 2, 2015

The new rules were designed to guarantee that no content would be blocked and to assure that the Internet can not be divided into “pay-to-play” fast lanes for the richest of companies and slow lanes for companies and organizations unable to afford the fees.

.Net 48

.Net Small Business Startup Washington 48

Scott Edward Walker

JUNE 9, 2011

Conversion Rights What Are Conversion Rights? As many of you know, VC investors are typically issued shares of preferred stock, not common stock. Are There Other Instances When Conversion Rights Arise?

Term Sheet 60

Term Sheet Conversion Rights Venture Capital Liquidation Preference 60

OnlyOnce

AUGUST 4, 2011

The prior two parts of this value statement are, in my mind, pay to play. Communicating when commitments can’t be met: Nobody is perfect. Sometimes circumstances change, and sometimes external dependencies prevent meeting a goal.

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Pay to Play Audience Leadership Management 59