Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

At an accelerator … Me: Raising convertible notes as a seed round is one of the biggest disservices our industry has done to entrepreneurs since 2001-2003 when there were “full ratchets” and “multiple liquidation preferences” – the most hostile terms anybody found in term sheets 10 years ago.

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This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 3, 2012

I think Fred was trying to offer some friendly advice to young investors that you're going to "take lumps" and that it's worth learning from those who are more experienced. What I would offer to entrepreneurs is that you should know what you're getting from each investor you let into the round. Doesn't take much.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 13, 2010

Within a year, by late 2000 / early 2001 consulting firms were firing people en masse. On July 27th, 2001 Accenture IPO’s and many of the partners grew fabulously wealthy. I’m certain that if you look at every single one of the entrepreneurs who’ve gone on to build big, enduring businesses they were unfundable once too.&#.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2009

This is part of my ongoing posts on Startup Advice. My advice: don’t. This was a reasonable achievement when you consider that it was 2001-02, one of the worst years to be selling enterprise software and we were selling it SaaS style, which was still evangelical back then. I had always been a scrappy entrepreneur.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

2001–2007: THE BUILDING YEARS The dot com bubble had burst. I was in it for the love of working with entrepreneurs on business problems and marveling at technology they had built. How’s that advice holding up? Until we weren’t. Nobody cared about our valuations any more. Hey, we got to raise again next year. Let’s deploy faster!

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. on the entrepreneur side of the table) when I raised at too high of a price. This is wrong.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

This was an audience of mostly first-time entrepreneurs. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs. So here is what I have been telling entrepreneurs privately for the past 6 months. What a bubble means for each entrepreneur. Still, market amnesia by ordinarily rational actors always surprises me. I believe that.

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Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2015

I’ve seen friends (and family members) lose much of their savings that way over the years because “Black Swans” happen and in 1987, 2001, 2003 & 2008 (just to name a few from my memory) huge market gyrations caused much financial distress to people seeking short-term gains. p.s. my normal health warning.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

Just ask anybody who was trying to close funding the fateful week of September 11, 2001 or even March 2000. But any entrepreneurs raising capital should keep in mind that this opening of the markets could possibly be temporary.

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Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

Me: Raising convertible notes as a seed round is one of the biggest disservices our industry has done to entrepreneurs since 2001-2003 when there were “full ratchets” and “multiple liquidation preferences” – the most hostile terms anybody found in term sheets 10 years ago. It’s like we need a finance 101 course for entrepreneurs.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2010

I’ve seen too many entrepreneurs try to do things on the cheap. But there are also problems / risks: - the funding environment might change dramatically – there may never be a next round (see: March 2000, September 11, 2001 and September 2008). - But the lower end also has risks. Don’t let that be you.

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startup advice venture capital VC 319

TechCrunch

MARCH 21, 2023

I do believe you win your investors’ trust because investors are more confident that the entrepreneur is able to clearly think through whether they are multiplying value with the time they are spending. Time is the ultimate currency for an entrepreneur. It’s not a scarlet letter on the entrepreneur in any way. Not at all.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

If you want that advice please click on the link. Most of what I learned about operating startups I learned from the really tough years at my first company from 2001-2003. My company had raised venture capital in April 2001 but we were told that there may never be any more coming.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

This conversation seems to come up very frequently these days both with portfolio companies and with entrepreneurs just looking for mentorship. I like to tell entrepreneurs that the “fairway&# of fund raising is 25-33% per round. Again, this is highly individualized so no generic advice can be offered.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

I know you’re thinking that you have your head on straight but I promise you the experience of finding yourself in this maelstrom will leave any first time entrepreneur spinning. 2001-2004 were very humbling but we built a real company. Tags: Start-up Advice startup technology. Don’t drink it.

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media advice VC energy 310

The Entrepreneurs Library

JUNE 30, 2015

So we uncovered some interesting data that between 2001 and 2011 there were more non-profit organizations added to the U.S. Related books: Relevant advice and tips: What did you like and not like about this episode? economy than there were for profit businesses. Listen on iTunes , Stitcher , and SoundCloud.

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Unvalidated Learnings

OCTOBER 5, 2016

and yet so familiar to every contemporary entrepreneur. Johnson, the company’s first employee, built an epistolary community of fellow runners (a forum of sorts), who, in exchange for his expert advice, would provide him with invaluable product feedback: “ Unlike me, however, most customers came to depend on Johnson’s letters.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

There is all sorts of advice on the Internet about how to raise capital. I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. I’ve tried to make this advice as well-rounded and biased free as I can. I never suggest that entrepreneurs just randomly pitch VCs.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. Experienced and serial entrepreneurs in the content management space. I met a lot of really bright people that were passionate about and experienced in helping entrepreneurs build successful businesses. Page 2: What’s unique about Koral. Folksonomy. Free product.

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TechCrunch

JANUARY 29, 2021

In other news: Extra Crunch Live, a series of interviews with leading investors and entrepreneurs, returns next month with a full slate of guests. In the United Kingdom and Europe, government innovation programs have helped entrepreneurs close higher numbers of Series A and B rounds. Image Credits: Acquia.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2011

Blogs weren’t popularized yet so it was an oddity for me to read the founder of a software company spewing out advice. This was the moment where Zuckerberg (20 something entrepreneur) schooled Rupert Murdoch. Lesson: Joel had been building a community of readers since 2001. But I loved reading them and so did my team.

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TechCrunch

APRIL 6, 2022

In Austin’s tech world, there’s an entrepreneur everyone knows by one name: Whurley. “Whurley” is the Unix username for serial tech entrepreneur Will Hurley, and it’s his brand. Whurley can identify with scrappy entrepreneurs in Austin just starting out and trying to find a foothold here. Register here.

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