Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

This is part of my Startup Advice series. Most of them are completely mundane such as choosing which: bank, office space, 1-year lease vs. 2-year lease, logo, URL, pricing structure or which VC. This person was educated at the best US schools and had worked for a top-tier strategy consulting firm – one of the big 3.

entrepreneurs 414

entrepreneurs board advice consulting 414

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

I only say that because after years as a VC I can always tell when my peer group invested in something because “it seemed like it would make money” versus when they invested out of passion. On reflection of the role that I want to play as a VC it is clearly in the camp of passion. I’m a VC. Startup Advice'

peer-to-peer 373

peer-to-peer VC pitching entrepreneurs 373

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

By spending more time educating your board on your business you get more valuable advice from them. Your goal should be to turn your VCs into extended members of your team to get real value from them. He did it yesterday, “Mark, I’m going to write a blog post following on from your VC’s aren’t dumb.

board 365

board VC advice pitching 365

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 25, 2014

But you have to admit that we live in a skewed system in which the elite educated population gains disproportionally from our change from an industrial to an information economy. I had a public education all the way through college and my under grad – UCSD – actually cost less than $2,000 per year to attend between 1986-1991.

education 417

education real estate economic growth VC 417

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

When this first ran on TechCrunch I got the greatest comment in the world that I had to repeat here, “VC’s are like martinis: the first is good, the second one great, and the third is a headache.&# I understand the appeal of having many VC firms on your cap table. In my second company I had only 1 investor. I love that.

VC 314

VC advice pitching investing 314

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

I spotted my fellow VC Leo Spiegel (from Mission Ventures) who had spoken previously to the same group and asked about his experiences. Don’t confuse this with a tour-de-force education on the finer details of how your company operations. You’re there to leave an impression – not to educate.

advice 362

advice VC entrepreneurs education 362

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2015

So I asked a few founders that I've worked with and they mentioned a word that struck me--because I've never heard any of the hordes of people in my inbox asking for internships, VC job recommendations and advice, etc. mention about themselves. Generosity. No one ever tells me how generous they are, or shows it.

venture capital 376

venture capital capital pitching ventures 376

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2013

When computers moved from “green screens” to Windows we – the educated, young, technophiles – easily grasped the concept. Don’t build for yourself or your friends who use your product and say, “wouldn’t it be nice if you could just …” And certainly don’t build for your VC.

advice 408

advice education VC technology 408

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 11, 2010

It has also coincided with the kickoff of our Launchpad LA educational series which has taken some of my time. I’ve written about the topic before when I wrote the post “ I emailed a VC but never heard back.&# As in, what do you do now that you’ve written them. Are all VC’s just a-hole’s?

advice 265

advice VC entrepreneurs creativity 265

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

They now have a strong VC lead from Foundry Group and from experience when you get advice from Foundry it comes with authority, experience, empathy and the right amount of straight talk. I know because I have been the beneficiary of their advice for years and have appreciated it. If all else fails, angel-load away!

startup 323

startup advice pitching VC 323

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 11, 2010

The other day, I unlocked the "I'm no racist" badge in the VC game. If you want to work on broadening access to science and engineering education for women and minorities, that's awesome. In fact, I’m all about widening access to that kind of education in general. I'm all for that. It’s more like playing the lottery.

peer-to-peer 271

peer-to-peer VC entrepreneurship education 271

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

This has become the foundational element of Jesuit education worldwide. To be a good VC, you're going to offer up a lot of time to companies that may never pay back a dime--or even to deals you never wind up doing. Share advice. There's no magic flow of great deal flow. That means speaking, judging, mentoring, blogging.ie

venture capital 268

venture capital advice education ventures 268

Startup Grind

AUGUST 15, 2018

He has worked with several startups, invested in companies like Mayvenn, Gimlet Media, Blavity, Airspace Technologies, Codeverse, and many others Pitch your startup for a chance to meet with Cross Culture VC Q&A: What is your / your fund's mission? What is one piece of advice you’d give every founder? BUILD and EXECUTE!

culture 111

culture VC pitching investing 111

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 13, 2023

Being a VC means not only honing your skills as a judge of character, assessor of business models, and calculator of risk, but it’s also a lot of difficult interpersonal communications, narrative creation, and long-term goal setting and positioning. To navigate this tightrope, I sought out the advice of a coach—Jerry Colonna.

education 195

education advice VC startup ecosystem 195

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2011

But last week I noticed a blog post by a woman, Tara Tiger Brown, that asked the question, “ Why Aren’t More Women Commenting on VC Blog Posts? She has a quote from literally every major VC from whom you’d want to hear. ” [it's short, you should read it]. Please watch this. Every single one.

entrepreneurs 341

entrepreneurs entrepreneurship VC pitching 341

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

File this under both Startup Adivce and Sales & Marketing Advice. Use the fact that you were on an anointed list to build credibility when you eventually approach journalists (and VC’s, customers, employees). But more broadly it got me thinking to one of the biggest mistakes tech executives get into in the first place.

advice 307

advice media startup SaaS 307

TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 17, 2020

However, while many startups exist in cities like Turin, Bologna, Naples and Rome, Milan is generally seen as a bigger ecosystem because of its mercantile culture and a significant share of VC funds. The good news: VC funding in Italy has grown. It has an estimated 67 VC funds, with 18 of them started since 2015. More than 50%?

VC 122

VC venture capital mix-use accelerator 122

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. I then really quickly race through looking for some minimum qualifications such as companies for which they worked, education, grades, etc. And good VC’s feel the same way.

advice 392

advice peer-to-peer consulting startup founder 392

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2015

This is only an educated hypothesis but I’ll bet it’s pretty close to grounded in reality: Everybody saw “The Social Network” and everybody has a belief that suing will net them millions whether they’re in the right or the wrong. I would like to just offer some very simple advice: 1.

startup 352

startup advice board founder 352

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

I remember a discussion with an older VC who told me that in the early 90′s they wondered whether the VC industry had a future. That’s why I say, “ It’s Morning in VC & the Startup World. As per my video, think about the data in the following slide. “ And my fear?

VC 299

VC media entrepreneurs energy 299

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2010

Many of us in the technology, media and VC world sit on panels at lot. Educate – Your primary role on stage is to educate the audience. And, yes, I probably take a little bit too much license with this particular advice. Obviously you don’t have to pass an IQ test to become a VC.&#.

advice 284

advice media education VC 284

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2013

And a few teams of super talented, educated and bright entrepreneurs make a few mill. I’m a VC. Startup Advice' And who cares, right? A couple of tech giants throw millions around in either cash (for which they have hoards) or part with some publicly traded stock. in their 20′s. Acquihires and Venture Capital.

strategy 357

strategy venture capital advice entrepreneurs 357

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

Cincinnati, like many startup communities in the US over the past 5 years, has revitalized important regions in its urban core, created accelerators, built co-working facilities, pooled together angel capital, attracted VCs, involved educational institutions and solicited the help of important corporations in a more cohesive ecosystem.

startup 390

startup communities venture capital angel capital 390

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

World-class education including Caltech, USC and UCLA. IA Ventures – Roger Ehrenberg was doing angel investing before he became a VC. True Ventures – When I was raising capital for my second company back in 2006 I had talked to many brand-name VCs and had several term sheets. I was a former entrepreneur.

communities 304

communities startup creativity VC 304

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2011

Will you get the TechCrunch bump, the tier-1 VC anointment, followed by great PR firm support and then the NY Times or WSJ story that follows? Not every problem has to be a huge VC-fundable business. But what about education? The challenge that many startups face today is: Are you really providing enough value?

transportation 309

transportation VC networking energy 309

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

In a VC pitch this type of messaging will do just fine. Even the VC who invested in your deal struggles to properly position why you’re going to be huge when they’re calling big tech companies or other VCs on your behalf. You give them an education in whatever topic it was that they asked about.

entrepreneurs 370

entrepreneurs pitching startup education 370

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

” Your VC friends have been egging you on. The don’t understand VC liquidation preferences or multiple return expectations. They weren’t with you when you did the VC pitch where you looked them in the eyes 9 months ago and said, “I see only one outcome, we want to build something really big. .”

startup 417

startup peer-to-peer VC culture 417

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

All of that are in this week’s episode of This Week in VC. Bill had previously created a packaged software company called Knowledge Adventure the produced children’s educational software. To say he has had an impact on the web would be an understatement. Summary notes, as always, provide below. Overture (Goto.com).

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incubation entrepreneurs hospitality VC 350

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 16, 2021

I’ve sat at both sides of the table as a founder and a VC, and I understand how difficult it is to get them on the same page. I’ve participated in a number of accelerators, including Disney and Techstars, and these programs gave me a noticeable advantage when I stepped into VC. Reconnect with impact investing.

accelerator 86

accelerator VC mentorship pitching 86

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 1, 2020

You’re now in the financial education business for the next few months. Recently, I tried to think of the two very best people I could imagine would have great advice for startups facing a potential venture downturn. A lot of top people you might not have access to otherwise might have some time on their hands.

peer-to-peer 320

peer-to-peer advice leadership education 320

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

One of the great joys of doing the web series This Week in VC every week is that I get to spend time with great people debating the issues of our day including how our industry is evolving as well as insights into how companies got started, got their initial traction and dealt with adversities. Oh, yeah.

board 286

board culture VC strategy 286

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 17, 2011

By the end of my sophomore year I had taken on the role of education for our new freshman pledges and by the first quarter of my junior year I led the pledge class entirely. I talked specifically about it in the context of raising VC / establishing credibility over on the Sales School blog where there’s a video & a transcript.

peer-to-peer 365

peer-to-peer leadership support construction 365

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2016

Defy Ventures is a program that aims to educate people in prison to become better humans upon graduation. Defy Ventures runs business plan competitions and has people like us who attend and give business advice and feedback. I wasn’t raised badly — I was well educated. And they didn’t want pity. They wanted opportunity.

ventures 392

ventures education hospitality opportunity 392

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2018

This post has some basic advice on how to plan your raise before you hit the road. Many points will seem obvious but since I observe many fund-raising processes as a VC I can tell you that most people get even the basics wrong. In 2010 I didn’t know a single thing about LPs (the people who invest in VC funds).

board 215

board VC entrepreneurs education 215

TechCrunch

JULY 6, 2022

What do early-stage founders need to know to capture VC interest, and dollars, in a challenging market? It’s a vital question, and it’s why we’ve invited three investors — who we think know their stuff — to share their insight and advice on the TechCrunch+ stage at TechCrunch Disrupt on October 18-20 in San Francisco.

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ventures education venture capital disruption 95

David Teten VC

JULY 27, 2021

We have collected a wide range of freebies, contests, accelerators, online communities, and VCs designed for student tech founders. I have been researching this both to support Versatile VC ’s portfolio companies and also as part of research for my new book, To University and Beyond: Launch Your Career in High Gear. 1) Your school.

founder 144

founder mentorship peer-to-peer pitching 144

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 24, 2021

This week, Bill Taranto, president of Merck’s Global Health Innovation Fund, wrote a TechCrunch+ article that explored six digital health trends his corporate VC fund is tracking as we enter 2022. billion in VC, “dwarfing the previous record of $14.6 Demand Curve: How Ahrefs’ homepage educates prospects to purchase.

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health VC leadership education 111