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Tattoos and YCombinator Demo Day

This is going to be BIG.

It was June of 2003. He introduced himself and the name of his company, noted that he was helping his YC friend learn how to talk to investors, and just went off into his pitch. When he finished, I turned to his friend and said, "Want me to critique his pitch?" She had flower sleeves of spectacular color. He said, "Sure!"

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Get to Know Richard de Silva of Highland Capital

Both Sides of the Table

How did the experience of pitching Iron Planet to investors affect you as a VC? (5:00 In 2003 one of their first investments was Qiigo, Mike Yavondite’s company. He then worked in consulting which gave him a broad base of business experience working with the newspaper, cable, and advertising industries. 5:00 – 5:55).

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The Yo-Yo Life of a Tech Entrepreneur – A Cautionary Tale

Both Sides of the Table

So I decided to run the London Marathon in April 2003, just 3 weeks before my son was born. April 29th, 2003 my first son was born. I stopped doing conferences, traveling or pitching to VCs. I planned a half marathon, which I crushed in a personal best 1:42. By the time of my wedding in July 2002 I was super fit.

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Why Startups Should Raise Money at the Top End of Normal

Both Sides of the Table

2007, 2011) and for the hottest of companies and in bad markets for fund raising (2003, 2008) prices test the bottom end of the range. We had companies pitching us that had almost no revenue at all and they were raising $10-15 million in capital at a $40-50 million pre-money valuation. There is no such thing as a uniform price.

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Embrace Losing – It Will Make You Stronger

Both Sides of the Table

In the 2003/04 timefame I was living in the UK and running my first company. You can try to convince them of your “pay no more once you’ve signed up&# model but they fall for the other guy’s pitch every time. I had been competing to win a contract at Thames Water, the largest water company in the UK.

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Embrace Losing – It Will Make You Stronger

Both Sides of the Table

In the 2003/04 timefame I was living in the UK and running my first company. You can try to convince them of your “pay no more once you’ve signed up&# model but they fall for the other guy’s pitch every time. I had been competing to win a contract at Thames Water, the largest water company in the UK.

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Deal with Your Elephant in the Room

Both Sides of the Table

Many businesses that pitch to me have White Elephant issues and I’d like to tell you how to deal with these when you’re raising venture capital. It was 2003 and I was training for a marathon so I was in great shape (yes, I know this was YEARS ago but I did complete it in 3:57). I sometimes call these White Elephants.

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