Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2015

So here’s advice I give people all the time when they’re raising money. Or they’ll remind me of my common advice to take “ 50 coffee meetings.” It’s just dealing with a market where certain investors are temporarily willing to invest at prices that exceed the underlying value of the assets.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

For some aspiring to be tech entrepreneurs, I often suggest a two-step process, as I argued in this post that “ The First Startup Founder You Need to Invest in Is You.” But I also have advice for the 15% that really do want to be a startup CEO. At Upfront we invested in such a company. ” (Warren Buffett).

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). But they are also a tax on your time with portfolio companies, looking for new investments, running your shop and honestly they are a tax on your family life.

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This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

I can't tell you how many times even insiders--people already invested in some of these companies--are telling diverse founders to go for incremental fundraises and not for bigger rounds. Venture investing is hard. When Chantel asked investors for $3mm for her seed round back in 2010, people stood up and took notice.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

Most associates need some entrepreneurial experience before actually making investments. Jordan joined us a couple of years ago from Fox Filmed Entertainment where he worked in corporate strategy and he previously had worked for GCA Savvian in investment banking. Startup Advice' I think there are two reasons for this: 1.

investment 365

investment investing VC board 365

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2023

Sometime in the next few weeks, I’ll complete my next investment. Last August, I passed the point at which I had spent literally half my entire life working in this asset class, having started at the General Motors pension fund doing institutional investments in venture funds and late-stage directs back in February of 2001.

ventures 545

ventures investment investing VC 545

The Seraf Compass

JUNE 19, 2024

We sent out a survey to our Seraf Compass subscribers to ask for tips and advice for first-time entrepreneurs. We asked the question: "What advice do you have for entrepreneurs seeking angel investment and how can they best prepare for pitching investors?” Here are some answers we found to be helpful!

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angel investing entrepreneurs investment investing 279

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

the most counter-intuitive fund-raising advice you’ll ever get I’m about to offer you some fund-raising advice that flies directly in the face of what most conventional wisdom will tell you. These collective sets of documents form the basis of what somebody looking at investing would call “financial due diligence.” It doesn’t.

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advice VC entrepreneurs investing 336

Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative

JULY 27, 2021

Does it require investment? Some advice to start with would include: Answer these questions: What is your mission? The post Create community: Advice on branding from YLAI Fellow Luisfer Pelayo appeared first on Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative. In my experience, generating a community implies giving something extra.

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Paul G. Silva

NOVEMBER 7, 2024

Instead, it asked: Your revenue-sharing model is somewhat unconventional in the startup investment space. Entrepreneurs can use this tool to refine their pitches independently, allowing mentors to focus on higher-value advice. and “What are your management team’s qualifications?”

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pitching advice sustainability entrepreneurs 246

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

People often ask me for advice on fundraising, generating deal flow, hiring, increasing visibility , triathlons, babies, etc.--a As the person giving the advice, doing a half-assed job of getting someone all the information they need is pretty unsatisfying—so that becomes a barrier to wanting to do it at all.

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advice ventures investing investment 243

Entrepreneurs' Organization

OCTOBER 8, 2020

Invest in Yourself. We all invest our time and money in people and things. The best investment for entrepreneurs is always going to be in themselves. Invest in yourself in both small and big ways. Giving yourself set times to think and focus is a valuable investment. Invest in Your Business.

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real estate entrepreneurs investment investing 235

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

the most counter-intuitive fund-raising advice you’ll get 8. How to go for the close Some Advice Before You Hit the Fund Raising Trail was originally published in Both Sides of the Table on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story. Just send me your dog damn deck 7.

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advice VC entrepreneurs SaaS 236

The Seraf Compass

APRIL 1, 2020

As a follow-up to our message on Angel Investing in Challenging Times, Christopher and I tasked Raza with putting together an update and perspective piece for the CEOs of our portfolio companies. The letter outlines our thoughts on some of the challenges they will face in the near term.

advice 227

advice angel investing communities investing 227

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

My goal in the interview overall was to capture more of the personal side of Fred since so much of his investment thesis and portfolio work already comes out in his blog. Not to mention USV’s investments in MongoDB (10Gen), Lending Club and a host of others. You need to invest in good markets and bad.

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advice board VC investing 327

The Seraf Compass

JUNE 9, 2021

However, truly engaged and knowledgeable directors can add significant additional value by providing strategic input and advice. Legally, directors are required to provide governance and oversight. As members of the board, they occupy leadership positions. While that leadership is not always explicit, it can manifest itself in many ways.

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capital investment investing leadership 246

Dream It

DECEMBER 10, 2020

In this guest Dreamit Dose, Jason Calacanis (@jason), a technology entrepreneur, angel investor, and the host of the popular podcasts This Week in Startups and Angel, answers the top 5 questions he gets about angel investing. Jason says, “Investing is about the long game.” We hope we could answer your questions about angel investing.

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angel investing investment investing networking 221

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

” I found myself nodding through all of it with quotes like, “Seed investing is the status symbol of Silicon Valley,” said Sam Altman. 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.

startup 323

startup advice pitching VC 323

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

But less as a complaint and more as advice to younger networkers, the more you invest in relationships the more you will get when you need. ” In it he talked about how he gets daily emails asking for intros to Oprah (he does a lot of work with her) and his advice. Startup Advice' ” So true.

advice 407

advice VC networking entrepreneurs 407

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 3, 2016

We're "kingmakers" whose investment has the "Midas Touch." Generally speaking, women are more inclined to listen well, work with others and to offer help--so when the job gets seen as just a lone, final yes/no, where you bark out advice after listening to a founder for five minutes, that might seem less interesting. 3) Access to money.

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VC venture capital entrepreneurship advice 401

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2015

What Cham rarely tells people – he’s both private and humble – is that he started making some small co-investments with me in tech firms starting with Maker Studios where he was one of the earliest investors. We started hanging out a bit and discussing technology and entrepreneurship. They make a great pair.

ventures 420

ventures pitching entrepreneurship advice 420

The Seraf Compass

OCTOBER 26, 2022

Since I was new to the early stage investing world, I didn’t understand what the tax implications were with restricted stock. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t get good tax planning advice at the time, because if I had, it would have saved me a significant amount on my tax bill when the company was acquired for a very significant price!

board 347

board advice financing finance 347

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 6, 2020

At the same time, many investors are being more cautious with making new investments, preferring to focus on their existing portfolio before investing in new companies. Here is advice I collected for dealing with the stress of running a startup: 1. It’s important to enlist the ideas of others that are invested in your venture.

peer-to-peer 321

peer-to-peer startup advice entrepreneurs 321

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. I have placed a much bigger emphasis on falling in love as a criterion for my making an investment. Startup Advice'

peer-to-peer 373

peer-to-peer VC pitching entrepreneurs 373

American Entrepreneurship

JUNE 10, 2024

Timely financial advice is critical for a company to sustain operations when revenue growth stalls Whether through the loss of key accounts or business slumps tied to economic downturns, small business owners need to take actions that will keep their businesses going until new customers are found or the economy recovers.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

And if your ultimate strategy is a small sale of the business that recovers investment and puts some cash in your pocket – having more time to make this work makes a lot of sense. If that’s you, you can ignore my advice. Startup Advice' ” Ring the freaking cash register. Your VC is right.

VC 412

VC advice strategy accelerator 412

Revolution

MARCH 1, 2023

for every dollar invested (net of fees and carried interest). While it is difficult to accurately predict how many VC dollars deployed each year were deployed by top quartile funds and how many of those investments were “marked up” in a given year, we can still safely assume that the total value of potential markups at risk is material.

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advice founder financing finance 147

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

There are too many pulls & tugs at our elbows for time, for coffee meetings, for advice or speaking engagements or cocktail parties or dinners. My general advice is to do less. I offer the same advice for many of my friends who are newer VCs. I still plan to keep more normal pace of investment which is 1-2 deals per year.

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advice VC entrepreneurs transportation 398

Paul G. Silva

DECEMBER 21, 2023

If they have, their investors are the people you want to meet – people who have a track record of investing in companies like yours. Contact them and ask for advice. Can I get some of your advice on our next few steps?” Leverage your network if you can, but cold-call if you must.

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advice networking entrepreneurs startup founder 264

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2014

My basic philosophy is that almost anybody can build a network by investing time in it. Maybe 50 if you really invest time and effort. The following post is advice I gave to my good friend Sam Teller when he was just a junior baller, “ Never Ask a Busy Person to Lunch.” In fact, I practice it myself. Roger Ehrenberg.

networking 366

networking peer-to-peer advice mentorship 366

Entrepreneurs' Organization

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

As business owners, we often have a huge amount of wealth tied up within our businesses, but don’t form the habit of creating other income streams and forms of wealth, such as investments outside our businesses. She provided me with so much advice on business strategy, business channels and HR.

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founder advice entrepreneurship entrepreneurs 262

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2013

You’re not a master of what’s on the menu and you don’t want to invest the time to parse through all of its complexities. Startup Advice' The owner thinks they are giving you the ability to have anything you want and you are thinking, “oy, vey, can’t you just give me a few well curated options?

advice 408

advice education VC technology 408

Entrepreneurs' Organization

OCTOBER 27, 2023

We both went on to have successful careers as consultants and entrepreneurs, and had a passion for working with and investing in younger entrepreneurs. We reconnected in 2016 and began angel investing in startups in New York City.  But, even then, we knew that many things could go wrong and that our investments were risky.

entrepreneurs 251

entrepreneurs startup advice angel investing 251

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

I had an enjoyable conversation this morning with a young team straight out of college this morning and they were calling to ask advice on how to approach fund raising (angels vs. VCs, how to select a VC, etc.) Fred Wilson wrote perfectly about sticking with struggling investments. Startup Advice VC Industry' It’s not you.

VC 364

VC advice board leadership 364

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 18, 2024

These are people that didn’t make their money through a tech startup or startup investing. Helpful investors should use their sage advice and support of the founder to make them into better, data-driven decision makers to impact a company, instead of relying on their contractually held voting rights. Perhaps they inherited it.

investment 221

investment investing startup real estate 221

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2015

For me, I'd rather have a very simple, straightforward business model--one where no one has to think to figure out if I'm giving advice on your next round based on some special vehicle or deal I have on the side.

advice 374

advice VC opportunity entrepreneurs 374

Entrepreneurs' Organization

OCTOBER 2, 2020

What is your advice during this time of uncertainty? . Seek professional advice. One of the best pieces of advice I ever received—and that I consistently share with my clients—is that we should never make long-term decisions based on short-term emotions or circumstances, particularly when it comes to our finances.

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