Hunter Walk

FEBRUARY 22, 2025

Most strategies are some combination of innovation and best practices along the classic five steps of venture investing: See, Pick, Win, Service, Exit. What’s my needle magnet definition? What are, in my mind, some examples of needle magnet strategies that exist today? This post is about ‘seeing.’

startup 89

startup VC strategy leadership 89

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

This is part of my Startup Advice series of posts. But it’s not my strategy. I definitely don’t rule out first timers – I just invested in one to be announced soon who I am really excited about – but I greatly prefer experience. Most of it is BS) and thought about them much over the years.

advice 333

advice VC entrepreneurs venture capital 333

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

You may feel as I did in 1999 that the more smart people around the table the more intros you’ll have, the more sage advice you’ll receive and the more impressive you’ll seem to outsiders. By definition you can’t have 3 investors each wanting to increase from 5% to 20% ownership or you’re fawked anyways.

VC 314

VC advice pitching investing 314

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

But for my sins I got an MBA and did “strategy&# consulting. In 1999 I was in Japan doing a strategy project for the board of directors of Sony. Being the number one investment bank in a greatly reduced data set shouldn’t stop you from wanting to broaden the definition of “number 1″ next year.

consulting 415

consulting data analysis advice construction 415

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

One strategy I often employ. It definitely is an IQ test thing for me. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. My constituencies were broad and I felt like going deep into one single area would have bored large groups of the people on any topic I picked. People say this all the time.

advice 362

advice VC entrepreneurs education 362

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2010

Post MBA I went into strategy consulting where my job was to problem solve for clients. This is a problem for a strategy consultant because you are, by definition, a generalist that is thrown into new problems again and again. Tags: Startup Advice. .&# It was appropriate for my job and stage of career.

entrepreneurs 372

entrepreneurs consulting frameworks advice 372

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MAY 28, 2021

There’s no need for long-term strategy or a plan for growth because there’s no risk if your venture fails to attract clients. Being a solopreneur, by definition, means going it alone. You can join business groups and share advice with other solopreneurs. Strategy involves long-term planning. Running a business.

entrepreneurs 306

entrepreneurs strategy sustainability financing 306

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2010

We tend to do more $3 million “A&# rounds and we look for companies that have an early monetization strategy. In content creation we definitely have assets other markets don’t have. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Launchpad LA SoCal Stuff Start-up Advice Startup Advice. LA investors are more pragmatic.

technology 290

technology advice entrepreneurs innovation 290

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2010

Otherwise you’re not serious and you’ll never get the right job so don’t bother.&# Definitely gets shock value. Why do I give this blunt advice? That’s a great strategy. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. At least I have their attention. Lots of reasons.

advice 326

advice entrepreneurs networking sustainability 326

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on startup advice but also filed under my sales & marketing posts. No advice I give will ever apply to 100% of companies, 100% of startups or even 100% of tech startups. By all means light up my comments sections with any cases you believe where this advice doesn’t apply.

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startup advice energy strategy 293

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

She debates manufacturing strategies. In the most perfect sense of the definition. Startup Advice' She won me over at first meeting. Soleil returns emails at 1.30am. She flies from LA to NY every two weeks. She helps write press releases. Turns out she’s done this startup thing before. They are yin & yang. Kara as CEO.

startup 398

startup creativity advice entrepreneurs 398

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

Rincon is part of the new breed of Seed Stage VCs and with the leadership of Jim Andelman has charted out the most authentic early-stage investment strategy in Southern California. If you haven’t read it you should definitely buy it – other people just like you did. Tags: Raising Venture Capital Startup Advice.

strategy 293

strategy venture capital SaaS investing 293

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

But if you identify investors with whom you’d like to work here’s my advice: 1. Everyone has their own definition of momentum (user numbers, revenue, channel partners, biz dev deals, whatever). I acknowledge that some investors have as their strategy to make lots of small bets. That’s OK, too.

startup 360

startup VC advice entrepreneurs 360

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 8, 2011

I'm sure each of those guys got questioned by entrepreneurs as to why they should accept advice from them as opposed to the entrepreneurial veterans of the days who worked in VC. As my colleague Phin mentioned the other day, there are two types of bad advice you can give--one is to give bad advice in an area you should know something about.

VC 275

VC peer-to-peer board advice 275

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 31, 2015

I will start from a passage from the Wikipedia definition because I think it does a great job of summarizing. Need to Talk More than Listen – If I attend meetings where I’m not speaking my brain will definitely wander. I’m sure all the doctors are cringing much like I would if I read your fund-raising advice.

creativity 384

creativity consulting entrepreneurship energy 384

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

I highly recommend this strategy for any company who doesn’t care about referenceable customers. By definition you will either get a crappy SI promising you they will move mountains or a great SI that gives you their C-player team. doesn’t care as much about the successful outcomes as I do).

startup 403

startup financing finance strategy 403

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 20, 2013

One strategy I sometimes employ. It definitely is an IQ test thing for me. Startup Advice' Don’t write sentences on them – only key words to help you remember what you’re going to say. If you write sentences you’ll read them and you’ll … suck. People say this all the time.

creativity 399

creativity education advice support 399

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

By definition, you read blogs. I was meeting regularly with entrepreneurs and offering (for better or for worse) advice on how to run a startup and how to raise venture capital from my experience in doing so at two companies. Or “I’m a new entrepreneur, why would I offer advice on how to run a startup?&#.

startup 373

startup advice communities VC 373

Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative

JUNE 7, 2019

As an independent woman with a go-getter attitude, she shared insights with us into her life as an entrepreneur and what it was like getting YHS off the ground, as well as her advice for other young entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean. It was definitely a challenge, but one she has overcome to help her organization grow.

entrepreneurs 214

entrepreneurs advice peer-to-peer sustainability 214

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 6, 2010

There are definitely times where a more narrowly defined question makes sense and where you want to guide the person you’re talking with to a narrow boundary to illicit a certain type of response. I’ll likely write about other question strategies at a later time. You might be surprised how much you learn.

advice 311

advice investing investment strategy 311

The Zapier Blog

APRIL 24, 2023

If you've been wanting to learn a new skill or even strengthen existing ones, here are the seven tried-and-trued strategies I used to boost my expertise—and how you can, too. Now that we're on the same page, let's dive into the seven strategies you can use to learn a new skill or enhance the ones you already have.

strategy 105

strategy mix-use development creativity 105

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I’m no great scholar on bubbles – I have more interesting things to spend my time worrying about than the exact definition , but having been around a few I have at least given them intellectual consideration. Exactly the opposite of what a rational investment strategy would advise. We are definitely still open for business.

real estate 309

real estate entrepreneurs financing finance 309

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

That is the definition of Disruptive Technology. You also need to develop an O&O (your own websites) strategy. But one strategy we’re employed at Maker is to build related types of content into “networks” that are branded and can attract loyal audiences. Startup Advice'

networking 339

networking sustainability mix-use media 339

Entrepreneurs' Organization

OCTOBER 8, 2020

Invest in Tax Strategy. Our most effective tax strategy was to open two businesses in Puerto Rico, where we pay only 4 percent in corporate taxes. My real estate strategy is to buy apartment complexes where we can implement our Infinite Return model. Invest in Life Insurance. Invest in Stocks.

real estate 235

real estate entrepreneurs investment investing 235

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

Rather, we guide founders to build a strategy that helps them understand when to grow, when to pull back, when to spend and when to save. The best founders take as much advice as they can, but they know their business well enough to understand what will work and what won’t. We say: Don’t let the financial markets dictate your strategy.

strategy 98

strategy SaaS advice opportunity 98

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

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. The biggest difference from experience is that in bad markets people without venture capital experience or strategies are the first to the exit. By definition this means others will doubt you.

VC 374

VC investment investing entrepreneurs 374

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

If that isn’t the original definition of “angel” money I don’t know what is. On my trip I also gave my usual advice to entrepreneurs who don’t live in a major tech funding hub: Find VCs who are from your area originally. CincyTech today has $28.5 million under management across three funds.

startup 390

startup communities venture capital angel capital 390

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

was definitely in the bucket of amazingly talented founders with a great product that hadn’t yet proved product/market fit. “ I’d rather be solving intellectual challenges and figuring out key strategies, not debating which employees should get a promotion, or configuring project timelines.” Startup Advice'

peer-to-peer 303

peer-to-peer energy founder advice 303

Hunter Walk

NOVEMBER 11, 2024

HW: The whole ‘get on rocketships without worrying about seats” – you ended up moving through Instacart in a variety of business and strategy roles before assuming the President role. What advice do you have for people in fast-growing companies about being a team-player but also taking advantage of the unique opportunity it provides?

board 96

board collaboration energy advice 96

Smart Hustle Magazine

DECEMBER 30, 2020

You can still take advantage of all the small business advice that was shared throughout the event. You can still listen to the whole thing, but we wanted to share some of our favorite moments and pieces of small business advice. Awesome small business advice! Great small business advice from Jason! Thanks, Steve!

advice 98

advice consulting media networking 98

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

This financial leader could well have come through the finance org at another startup or at a larger company but they often also can come from strategy consulting (Bain, BCG or McKinsey) or through investment banking (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, etc.). I will miss my daily interactions with Sam.

innovation 286

innovation startup board leadership 286

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

I have figured out the ultimate VC fund strategy. That wasn't a bubble bursting issue--that was a poor financing strategy issue of people getting caught with their pants down, hands in the cookie jar, and all the metaphors you can think of at once. I'm not a big fan of strategies that require *more* intelligence on behalf of VCs.

strategy 247

strategy VC ventures financing 247

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2011

It can be a good strategy to bring just the CEO because 1-on-1 rapport is easier to build but if you have equally strong co-founders bring them. Problem definition (with the market … it’s why you exist). Who should attend the meeting? 1 or more can attend first meeting depending on strength of your team.

VC 340

VC venture capital leadership pitching 340

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

And then I got into strategy consulting, and I wanted to go into strategy consulting, and they said, “Yeah, but you’re a tech guy. We don’t take tech guys in the strategy consulting group.” Probably the internet helped because they needed internet skills in their strategy group. Startup Advice'

startup 337

startup entrepreneurs consulting board 337

TechCrunch

AUGUST 4, 2021

Here’s a framework for how it can help drive success at your company: Strategy, People, Image, Finance and Systems for compliance, or “SPIFS.”. By generic definition, the board of directors consists of elected individuals that represent shareholders. Do I have the right go-to-market strategy? What problem am I solving?

board 100

board startup strategy frameworks 100

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

I’m sure everybody has their own definition of the attributes of an entrepreneur. Our advice is what helped them target the right market, hire the right team, build the right products.&# And there are some delusional people who really believe it. High stress. It only looks sexy when you read TechCrunch. And I mean this.

entrepreneurs 384

entrepreneurs startup VC real estate 384

Onevest

APRIL 21, 2015

Exit Strategy: Does a startup have a clear exit strategy in place? In other words, does the business have a definitive timetable or pathway towards returning an investor's money alongside an agreed portion of generated revenue? Sustainability: Some startups by their very nature may be “flash-in-the-pan.”

investment 121

investment investing startup sustainability 121