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. Joel met his co-founder for Fog Creek software and learned a valuable management lesson. Lesson: Joel had been building a community of readers since 2001. What did you learn at Juno?

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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. They should heed the age old advice that raising slightly more money while you can is always better than trying to optimize future valuations.

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TechCrunch

MARCH 21, 2023

Importantly, the founders’ time could also be focused on more productive endeavors, greatly improving their mental and emotional well-being. Still, we’re not sure many founders would give up on their companies right now for a long list of reasons. After all, the money could be invested in something more impactful.

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TechCrunch

APRIL 6, 2022

TechCrunch Live is a free weekly event featuring investors, founders, and startups with the goal of helping entrepreneurs build better venture-backed businesses. But most of all, he will go out of his way to help newcomers (as well as veterans) of the Austin tech scene whenever they need help or advice or counsel,” Forrest said. “We

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TechCrunch

APRIL 4, 2023

In his latest column, Sales Kiwi co-founder and TC+ contributor Jonathan Martinez shared five essential takeaways that he learned along the way to reaching $1M ARR. Drawing from the early chapters of her book, this post includes a target prospect list for new investors, along with relationship-building advice from experienced VCs.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

I sat next to Irwin Jacobs (founder of Qualcomm) on a bus ride. 2001-2004 were very humbling but we built a real company. Tags: Start-up Advice startup technology. I had champagne in the private wine cellar of Bernard Arnault (the owner of LVMH, which in turn owns Dom Perignon). I was on CNN, who taped live from the event.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Start Up Advice &# but I’d really like to call this post, “VC Advice.&#. On a panel that I sat on with Ron in LA in 2008 he stated that there were no circumstances in which the founder should take money off of the table. It’s that simple. I believe this is wrong.

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2023

Last August, I passed the point at which I had spent literally half my entire life working in this asset class, having started at the General Motors pension fund doing institutional investments in venture funds and late-stage directs back in February of 2001. No more founder pitch meetings. No new investments.

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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. Actually not.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

So my first advice is not to rush in the fund raising process. when you missed your targets, when your co-founder quit, when the competition chose your competitor or when the other investors around the table lost confidence? Don’t take my advice, take Eric Clapton’s. My chips were down in late 2000 / early 2001.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

My co-founder and other management team members wanted us to hold off and see whether we could get the deal done at a higher price. I lived through this again September 2001. This is part of my ongoing series with Startup Advice (although this also applies tightly with Raising Venture Capital ). I was resolute. I was resolute.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

2001–2007: THE BUILDING YEARS The dot com bubble had burst. During this era, from 2009–2015, most founders I knew were in it for building great & sustainable companies. How’s that advice holding up? I find comfort in founders in love with their markets and products and visions — whatever the economic consequences.

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Tomasz Tunguz

DECEMBER 13, 2015

The fundraising markets have infused more cash into startups in 2015 than in any year since 2001. And should that impact when founders start companies? The financial markets will rise and fall, and shouldn’t factor heavily into when a founder decides to start a business. What’s really going on?

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TechCrunch

JANUARY 29, 2021

Edtech needs to reach beyond underfunded public school systems to become more sustainable, which is why more investors and founders are focusing on lifelong learning. Jan Lynn-Matern , founder and partner, Emerge Education (a leading edtech seed fund in Europe with portfolio companies like Aula, Unibuddy and BibliU). citizenship!

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. Another called Parker Harris, the co-founder and CTO. Tags: Pitching VCs Raising Venture Capital Start-up Advice VC Industry startup technology vc venture capital. I am very grateful to my friend Zoli Erdos for finding this retro posting for me at web.archive.org.

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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. Isn’t that conflicting advice? At an accelerator ….

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Unvalidated Learnings

OCTOBER 5, 2016

And yet, this is the story Phil Knight, Nike’s founder and long time CEO recounts in his brilliant autobiography Shoe dog. In similar fashion to many Silicon Valley startups, the founders simply scratched their own itch: they loved track running and single-mindedly dedicated their life to designing the best shoes to do so.

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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. So they go out of their way to offer advice and introductions.

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