This is going to be BIG.

JULY 8, 2013

That''s kind of like what it''s like being on board with these companies after you make an early stage investment. You can try and alert them to other traffic, slow it down, ease pain by being calm and present, but ultimately, it''s up to them to get stronger and stronger with every step and continue on down the road.

venture capital 419

venture capital VC advice capital 419

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2012

I recently read Brad Feld’s thought provoking piece encouraging founders to sit on the board of another startup company. You’ll be on the other side of the financing discussions (a board member, rather than the CEO). . But I also agree with his warning, “I usually recommend only one outside board.

board 294

board startup founder peer-to-peer founder 294

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

Bijan Sabet – investor & board member in some small companies you might have heard of like Twitter, Tumblr, Boxee & OMGPOP – took issue with the whole notion that you even need a Powerpoint deck anymore. The “Triple Play&# of VC Presentations. Be ready to map your presentation to their preferred method.

VC 299

VC board pitching venture capital 299

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

I have been writing a series on how startup boards get selected, who sits on them and what to avoid. I started this series in part to help entrepreneurs but also to help newer investors because I’ve know with so many new companies you have so many new board members and many people are trying to figure out there respective roles.

board 251

board advice founder construction 251

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

This is part of my Startup Advice series. Getting suppliers to accept terms that they said they never normally agree, getting accepted to speak on a panel when the conference organizer initially said “no,&# getting people to moonlight for you until you have the cash to bring them on board. A couple of quick stories / examples: 1.

entrepreneurs 414

entrepreneurs board advice consulting 414

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

He listened intently through every presentation, asked questions and did a great summary of what he felt he had learned over the two days. With all the external presenters, the ones I enjoyed the most were Dan Senor who wrote the book Startup Nation (an examination of the Israeli technology scene). He says this is a mistake.

peer-to-peer 279

peer-to-peer advice VC board 279

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. When we were thinking of raising, he was the first I called, and after talking to Benchmark, Accel, August, and a few other tier 1 firms, it came down for me the person who was going to join the board. I think the best VCs act as a sounding board for management.

VC 297

VC board consulting advice 297

Entrepreneurs' Organization

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

In a standard Forum meeting, a member makes a presentation about an opportunity or challenge they are facing and asks for the group’s input. After the topic at hand is presented, each Forum-mate is given a set amount of time to share their perspective. However, most Forum organizations train members to specifically avoid giving advice.

peer-to-peer 278

peer-to-peer advice frameworks accelerator 278

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2010

This is a related post that will not only help you get the results you want more effectively but will also help earn the respect of your senior people (whether management or your board). It surprising how few people actually follow through this this advice. Tags: Startup Advice. I know you think you know this already.

advice 342

advice board consulting development 342

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 15, 2023

Miranda is Board Director of CRDB Bank Plc and Board Chair of the African Women Entrepreneurship Cooperative that empowers hundreds of women from across the continent. She is Board Vice Chair of CCBRT Hospital and an active member-leader of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization where she serves as Chair of Global Learning.

entrepreneurs 264

entrepreneurs energy board entrepreneurship 264

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

And the folks at Startup Grind have been kind enough to invite me to present this morning in Mountain View on the topic. Be careful about board construction. Can always appoint other startup CEOs to the board to take founder seats (which you control) and/or bring in industry experts as independents. figure out roles.

startup 388

startup consulting construction board 388

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 19, 2009

And what you need to know is that for every chart you put up with the people who are going to join you when you’re funded I see companies that have actually gotten the team on board with no more cash in the bank than you have. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. And in life.

entrepreneurs 288

entrepreneurs advice leadership angel investing 288

Berkonomics

MARCH 28, 2024

All other board functions are secondary. Even venture capitalists who sit on boards where they have significant investments often forget this point. Actually, there are two legal duties of board members. Sometimes, there will be a conflict of interest between the people representing the various shareholder classes on a board.

board 112

board advice education VC 112

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

I can’t tell you how many people have thanked me for this advice and say their productivity increased exponentially. One area I’ve had much discussion with the companies in which I’ve invested in is bringing on board an operationally focused CFO. And board confidence matters in growing companies.

board 338

board energy finance financing 338

TechCrunch

MARCH 6, 2023

Serial entrepreneur and seasoned investor Vinod Khosla has some strong, contrarian advice for the venture capital industry: don’t sit on your founders’ boards. Other VCs accuse us of being very active and very engaged — but the flip side of it is they vote on boards. We don’t — no matter how important an issue.”

board 100

board advice founder VC 100

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2014

We feel pressure to hit milestones for a variety of reasons: Investor presentations, conference demos, customer sales meetings, competitive pressures, a need to drive revenue, business development commitments – whatever. Obviously you can’t always present at conferences to hit delivery dates or this would happen.

creativity 344

creativity leadership board energy 344

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2023

To put that timeframe in perspective, here’s a picture of analyst me taken at USV’s first office in 2005, dressed in khakis and a button-down shirt versus a picture of me, a GP at my own firm, over 100 deals later, now on my latest Zoom board call from my couch at home with my junior analyst of about a year and a half.

ventures 545

ventures investing investment VC 545

Entrepreneurs' Organization

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Be more present. As female entrepreneurs, we are independent-minded and innovative, and this advice is critical for securing our future and the future of our families. She provided me with so much advice on business strategy, business channels and HR. Stop multitasking and instead, do one thing. Enjoy each activity.

founder 262

founder advice entrepreneurship entrepreneurs 262

David Teten VC

JUNE 9, 2021

You can work as a consultant, an interim executive, a board member, a deal executive partnering to buy a company, an executive in residence, or as an entrepreneur in residence. . Typically you’ll share your expertise in 5 main ways: phone calls, presentations/in-person meetings, surveys, white papers, and in-depth consulting projects.

consulting 128

consulting venture capital board capital 128

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

One of the first boards that I ever got involved with where I wasn’t the CEO was with a company in which I hadn’t invested but was brought on board to look deeper into operational issues. Information flowed up within the organization and the CEO always packaged things nicely for the board and investors.

startup 308

startup board advice VC 308

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 18, 2010

As the CEO you have a team that is counting on you and a board that is measuring your performance. It also applies to other parts of my life such as presentations. I’m a pretty natural public speaker so I can write my presentation the day before and do just fine. I left that presentation and sat down in a coffee shop.

mentorship 374

mentorship creativity energy entrepreneurs 374

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

In 1999 I was in Japan doing a strategy project for the board of directors of Sony. There are so many ways to present data to tell the story you want that I can’t even list every way data is skewed. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. How is it skewed?

consulting 415

consulting data analysis advice construction 415

Berkonomics

AUGUST 22, 2024

And because you need their money, the temptation is to listen a bit too well, and take all of the advice thrown at you during your presentations and during due diligence and finally from the vantage point of a board seat. Some board members may show dismay. After several months on the board, he spoke up. “I

board 116

board VC advice support 116

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2010

It is about structuring your thoughts, presentations and communications. And few people in my experience do this well so many board meetings wander. Tags: Startup Advice. I later took a course with Barbara Minto (who taught McKinsey people) and bought her book “ The Pyramid Principle.&# This was a breakthrough for me.

entrepreneurs 372

entrepreneurs consulting frameworks advice 372

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

It’s why I always work hard to find images for my blog posts & why all of my keynote presentations are visual rather than bullet points with words. In order to visualize how an audience will receive my presentation I have to be able to imagine the whole situation. These are all creative processes. I had my model in hand.

creativity 356

creativity frameworks media innovation 356

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 30, 2011

A lot of times I think that's because there's way more advice out there about how to climb than there is about to succeed--and we confuse the two. Having a mentor is like having a board member for the company that is you. We spend our whole careers moving up so fast, that we're unable to hone any specific skills. Get a mentor.

peer-to-peer 344

peer-to-peer innovation advice board 344

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

The “Triple Play&# of VC Presentations. A large part of my series has been outlining what the typical VC PowerPoint presentation should look like. Some readers have commented that in today’s world you shouldn’t even need a PowerPoint presentation – in this era you should always just demo your product.

VC 238

VC advice pitching venture capital 238

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

And when they walk in my office and present you can tell that they know what they’re talking about. You can practically hear the “voice of the customer&# when they’re presenting their concept. I advocated LOUDLY at the board that we needed to cut our burn rate. And I asked to leave the board.

entrepreneurs 306

entrepreneurs board advice consulting 306

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2010

I had written a blog post on exactly this – how to not suck at group presentations – and what he said reminded me a lot of this post. I often tell teams that you need to create product deadlines that are semi-public (or maybe board commitments) that help you focus on shipping product.

entrepreneurs 356

entrepreneurs media VC creativity 356

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

And I hope the output is that you get a glimpse into the people shaping our tech present and a sense of the kinds of conversations we have when the cameras aren’t around. What is the communication rhythm and dynamics with the board and in other meetings? Seth likes to get together with board members every 30 days.

board 286

board culture VC education 286

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

We realized that operating a business in distributed markets presented multi-city coordination efforts that we weren’t prepared for. presented pricing challenges when compared to a whole new set of offline competitors we didn’t know well. If I could close with some advice for startups and boards …. were more distributed.

innovation 286

innovation startup board leadership 286

Entrepreneur's Handbook

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

(Any views expressed in the below are the personal views of the author and should not form the basis for making investment decisions, nor be construed as a recommendation or advice to engage in investment transactions.) There are many activities we modern humans engage in so that we can be more present.

hospitality 104

hospitality investing investment advice 104

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

But if you’re a concentrated investor who takes board seats then you know the hard bit starts the day after. And why my advice to newer VCs would be not to feel bad if you’re missing out on what is perceived as a few hot deals. You need to be very present in these periods of time.

VC 374

VC investing investment entrepreneurs 374

Gust

NOVEMBER 23, 2014

If you are a new entrepreneur, or entering a new business area, it’s always worth your time to assemble an Advisory Board of two or three executives who have travelled that road before. Here are some tips on finding and using your advisory board effectively: Select people who complement your experience. Set a fixed term, like one year.

board 185

board startup consulting entrepreneurs 185

Y Combinator

JULY 15, 2019

One of the most common questions we hear from founders is “How do I manage my board?” It’s something that provokes anxiety, because this is the first time the founder/CEO is subject to external supervision, and the board has powers that include the firing of the CEO and the senior management. But first, what’s the purpose of a board?

board 99

board frameworks advice peer-to-peer 99

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

They should heed the age old advice that raising slightly more money while you can is always better than trying to optimize future valuations. As we all know the VC industry is now set to contract dramatically as profiled in this seminal Paul Kedrosky presentation predicting a 50% contraction. I only had one board with this problem.

VC 263

VC board investment investing 263

TechCrunch

AUGUST 31, 2022

Two weeks ago, longtime venture capitalist Chris Olsen, a general partner and cofounder of Drive Capital in Columbus, Ohio, settled into his seat for a portfolio company’s board meeting. ” He also says that it isn’t the first time a board meeting hasn’t happened as planned lately. They stopped having them.”

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board ventures hospitality VC 83