Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

2001–2007: THE BUILDING YEARS The dot com bubble had burst. Between 2006–2008 I sold both companies that I had started and became a VC. SEEING THINGS FROM THE VC SIDE OF THE TABLE While I was a VC in 2007 & 2008 those were dead years because the market again evaporated due the the Global Financial Crisis (GFC).

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VC culture sustainability capital 466

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 22, 2010

This is part of my startup advice series. It’s still important advice for startup founders and something that I’m passionate about. And good VC’s feel the same way. When my company hit the fan in 2001 I could have easily walked and gotten a better paying job. Tags: Start-up Advice. Not at all.

advice 392

advice peer-to-peer consulting startup founder 392

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. Could be a VC seed lead, a VC lead an angel lead.

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VC finance financing entrepreneurs 153

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 18, 2009

You’ve got to be able to come out of unsuccessful VC meetings, pull your socks up, and go into the next pitch. As a VC if I can tell that you’ve survived tough times and you don’t appear beaten down that’s a huge plus. This was soon after the bursting of the dot com bubble – in early 2001.

entrepreneurs 298

entrepreneurs advice VC SaaS 298

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

People assume that I’m biased because I’m a VC and think you should always get the highest valuation possible. The A round was done in February 2000 (end of the bull market) and my B round was done in April 2001 (bear market). But if you do this early (pre VC) then the price points are pretty low. This is wrong.

venture capital 282

venture capital capital ventures angel investing 282

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2009

This is part of my ongoing posts on Startup Advice. Please don’t also confuse this with whether a VC should invest in a CEO who’s done it before – that’s a given. My advice: don’t. Tags: Start-up Advice startup technology. Only Hire A+ People Who Punch Above Their Weight Class. million.

startup 327

startup advice SaaS consulting 327

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. My advice to entrepreneurs is to have a sense of purpose and stick to that regardless of what you’re reading in TechCrunch or Business Insider.

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consulting leadership entrepreneurs advice 302

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

Our first big institutional round of VC was $16.5 We went “nuclear&# and slimmed down to 33 people (yes, I know, still large by today’s standards but this was 2001), raised $10 million and we built a real company. I learned everything I know about startups in these lean years: 2001-2004.

culture 333

culture construction startup advice 333

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.

finance 344

finance financing ventures real estate 344

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I spoke about how Amazon Web Services deserves far more credit for the last 5 years of innovation than it gets credit for and how I believe they spawned the micro-VC category. I said that I felt that Micro-VCs were the most important change in our industry. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs. I believe that.

real estate 309

real estate entrepreneurs financing finance 309

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

I had finally appeared on the front cover of a magazine (TornadoInsider – then the top European VC magazine) but I felt so fat in the picture I never sent it to anybody. Then I got engaged to be married in late 2001 and had the motivation to get really serious. Tags: Start-up Advice Startup Advice. You can do it.

entrepreneurs 308

entrepreneurs advice real estate venture capital 308

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2010

It also takes options off the table if you eventually find out that this isn’t a VC backable business. I’ve spoken about this in a post entitled, “ Do you even need VC ?&# Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Raising Venture Capital Start-up Advice Startup Advice. Don’t let that be you.

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startup advice venture capital VC 319

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. He’s family and he knows it.

advice 285

advice venture capital VC construction 285

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

We then had a piece in Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Europe, we ran front cover of Tornado Insider (the top VC magazine in Europe at the time). 2001-2004 were very humbling but we built a real company. If you need VC, no better time than the present. Tags: Start-up Advice startup technology.

media 310

media advice VC capital 310

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

Again, this is highly individualized so no generic advice can be offered. It’s hard for many VCs to get excited about funding a company who is going to compete with somebody who just raised $10 million from an A-list VC (although this can go the other way, also). they make it incrementally harder to fund raise.

advice 303

advice frameworks capital mentorship 303

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. My blog linked to Brad Feld’s blog because I was so grateful for his series on term sheets and he was one of the biggest reasons that as a VC I felt compelled to blog.

VC 274

VC venture capital pitching capital 274

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. And of course I’ve sat on the other side of the table: As a VC. I’ve tried to make this advice as well-rounded and biased free as I can.

strategy 366

strategy development VC advice 366

Unvalidated Learnings

OCTOBER 5, 2016

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. Most wrote him back. He didn’t finish the sentence.

startup 40

startup entrepreneurship culture communities 40

TechCrunch

JANUARY 29, 2021

Also, we’re adding a new feature to Extra Crunch Live — our guests will offer advice and feedback on pitch decks submitted by Extra Crunch members in the audience! 10 VCs say interactivity, regulation and independent creators will reshape digital media in 2021. February 17: Steve Loughlin (Accel) + Jason Boehmig (Ironclad).

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VC founder media education 107

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. I asked him if he’d be willing to allow me to interview him for This Week in VC and we filmed it in the offices of Stack Overflow – his new company. But I loved reading them and so did my team.

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peer-to-peer communities development innovation 285