Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

Like any firm we of course invest in the San Francisco Bay Area where 33% of my personal boards are. I made some reference calls. We both wanted to put energy into GRP’s platform of services that provide more value to our investments than merely capital. So we talked about his joining. They were effusive.

VC 360

VC communities investing investment 360

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 11, 2015

I’ve worked very closely with Matt over the past four years as we share an investment in a company in Los Angeles called NextPlus and we sat on a board together for years. We toughed it out together with other board members and encouraged the company to rebuild the team and the product from ground up. He’s committed.

ventures 291

ventures board VC culture 291

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

When you’re hiring most reference checkers focus on the person’s former bosses. Just literally this week I had breakfast with a guy giving a reference who said, “He’s brilliant. Our founder, Yves Sisteron, was my mentor and board member at my first startup. In many ways that can be way more telling.

board 320

board VC construction opportunity 320

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2015

He signed a release and remained on the board. He regretted the decision and sued the company and the board – it’s still not totally clear to me what he was suing about. I was forced to explain why I say “I switched to the Dark Side” (referring to VC) on my blog. Humor is tone deaf in court.

startup 352

startup advice board founder 352

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 3, 2013

Ming who the hero of so many customers whose primary reference to other customers is, “make sure you get a Ming.” I’d also like to express my gratitude to the great friends, investors and board members on one of the most active boards I’ve been involved with. ” Steve. Roger Ehrenberg. Chris Smart.

board 358

board disruption media SaaS 358

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

My favorite two quotes of the weekend were: “Never trade your cat for somebody else’s dog” (referring to selling your company for stock to another privately held company – quote was from Alan. He said that ineffectual leaders seek consensus or want direction or approval from the board. I’m going to save that for a future blog post.

peer-to-peer 279

peer-to-peer advice VC board 279

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 100

board frameworks advice peer-to-peer 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

The fact that Kara doesn’t have what my wife likes to refer jokingly as my “Y chromosome problem” is beside the fact. The core of the investing job of course is investing dollars into startup companies and helping as a mentor, advisor and board member on the companies in which you’ve invested. So What Does All This Mean?

ventures 361

ventures leadership mentorship venture capital 361

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. You can’t reference check your way into a “yes.” Reference checking is to confirm or disprove a strong, positive intuition you already have about founders that could lead to an investment or a pass.

VC 374

VC investment investing entrepreneurs 374

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 12, 2016

When I did my customer reference calls with some of the largest corporate buyers in the country who have adopted Tact I heard the same narrative repeatedly “We use CRM tools but our mobile workforce always struggled with adoption. To say that the board, investor base and management team of Tact is stacked would be an understatement.

real estate 244

real estate leadership board investing 244

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

One day if you’re lucky you’ll be big enough to work with recruiters to hire senior members of your team or your board. And in it he profiles the work of Coach Campbell who was once on the boards of both Google & Apple. EXECUTIVE RECRUITERS. It’s a great read. And yes, there are some bad actors.

startup 363

startup real estate VC venture capital 363

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

APRIL 3, 2014

They like a solid product, well defined pricing, good references to sell against, a clear quota and well defined competitors. Customer also buy social proof because others are acting as strong references. Please call our references. Management always sets sales budgets that roll up to a number beyond the actual board budget.

culture 382

culture startup support consulting 382

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 7, 2013

Because I''m in my market and in the flow of top teams and networked with the right folks, I''m never more than a character reference away through someone I trust and know well to just about all of the people I''ve backed. The people I''ve backed don''t really come out of nowhere.

investment 338

investment investing construction venture capital 338

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 3, 2009

When people refer to a strategic investor they are usually talking about an investor that comes from the industry you serve as opposed to an independent venture capital investor. One was the hardest working guy on our board and the biggest mensch. Make sure to reference check with other portfolio companies.

advice 279

advice venture capital frameworks entrepreneurs 279

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 29, 2024

I coached investors to promotions, first board seats, internal personnel decisions and even a long overdue resignation. I’d often refer to this as figuring out what the “eleven out of ten” was for any given situation. It wasn’t until recently that I realized the reference was lost on most of my younger clients. Is it any louder?”

VC 195

VC board venture capital communities 195

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 19, 2010

Despite the fact that I'm a blackbelt in Tae Kwan Do (haven't practiced in a few years though), what I'm referring to has nothing to do with kicks or punches. The potential downside is that, as a Principal, you're not really as front and center as you'd like to be on decision making and board participation.

education 225

education incubation innovation communities 225

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2013

The reference to Andy Dunn and me is responding to this post I wrote (in response to Andy’s earlier post). As a founder or CEO over 13 years I raised $35 million, sat on boards with 7 different venture capitalists and I’m in touch with every one of them today. But this one is for Dorrian. And his Tesla Statue project.

VC 315

VC pitching venture capital innovation 315

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. In Bijan’s post he references Bryce Roberts who recommends getting up and white-boarding.

VC 299

VC board pitching venture capital 299

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2016

During this period Kobie worked closely with many SaaS companies including ExactTarget from its early days and the Founder & CEO, Scott Dorsey, served as a strong reference for Kobie. I worked on two boards with Kobie (Invoca & Osmo) where I got to experience his operating insights and work ethic first hand.

ventures 260

ventures culture venture capital SaaS 260

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

These can be called: Operating Partners, Venture Partners, Board Partners or similar. They might sponsor an occasional deal, they might be looking to jump in and run a company or they might take the board seat if the firm invests. We also take input from our board partners and from our non-partner investment staff.

VC 314

VC board investing investment 314

Entrepreneurs' Organization

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

A Forum, which is also often referred to as a Mastermind, is a group of peers who meet regularly, with the goal of helping each member improve personally and professionally. Almost 10 years ago, I had my first experience with a professional Forum when I joined Entrepreneurs’ Organization.

peer-to-peer 278

peer-to-peer advice frameworks accelerator 278

Dream It

APRIL 3, 2020

Identify a problem that resonates with the decision-maker at your target organization Moore recommends that you put yourself in the shoes of the CEO or Board of Directors. This is why provocation-based selling requires the vendor to utilize what Moore refers to as “soft power”, specifically “relationship capital.”

pitching 221

pitching strategy advice board 221

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

They like a solid product, well defined pricing, good references to sell against, a clear quota and well defined competitors. Customer also buy social proof because others are acting as strong references. Please call our references. Management always sets sales budgets that roll up to a number beyond the actual board budget.

support 316

support startup consulting board 316

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

By Monday morning after their board meeting in NorCal I didn’t get a return phone call. We had every reference client we worked with call their senior team members (we had already won a major project at Scottish Water, Anglian Water and another at a large water company in Paris, France). I knew what this meant.

consulting 333

consulting advice collaboration VC 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

By Monday morning after their board meeting in NorCal I didn’t get a return phone call. We had every reference client we worked with call their senior team members (we had already won a major project at Scottish Water, Anglian Water and another at a large water company in Paris, France). I knew what this meant.

consulting 328

consulting advice collaboration VC 328

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2014

EVP of MTV, President of Liberty Digital and on the boards of CNET, Scripps, comScore, Riot Games and Rubicon Project to name a few. So I called in and took the other side of that debate referring to myself solely as “Mark” and I think the host mentioned that I was an investor. Jarl has a legendary history in media.

media 299

media leadership disruption board 299

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

Who else is going to tell a VC if he got a bad reference from an entrepreneur or fellow VC? As a VC if you don’t have that sounding board you’re missing a very important input into your business.

peer-to-peer 341

peer-to-peer VC entrepreneurs support 341

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

You can push for guarantees that the client or partner will appoint a minimum number of staff to rolling out your product, you can ask them to spend hard dollars on co-marketing, you can ask for commitments to case studies or reference calls or PR releases.

innovation 329

innovation creativity development advice 329

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

If you don’t follow the image reference above or the tag line, “ You don’t need double talk; you need Bob Loblaw “ (try saying it out loud) , and if you care! When we invest they are often the company counsel so we see them at board meetings. the link is here. Our lives are intertwined.

startup 318

startup advice entrepreneurs VC 318

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2016

Mark dutifully went to partner meetings, back-channel references began, firms started calling existing VCs to “test prices” and we started debating whom our best partner would be. The Invoca board and Mark gathered and discussed how our process was going.

SaaS 236

SaaS VC board financing 236

Entrepreneurs' Organization

AUGUST 9, 2023

To find a pace that works for you, refer to an internal, financeable rate of growth, based on your cashflow and profit. Contributed to EO by Erick Slabaugh , a long-standing member leader of EO Seattle and former director on the EO Global Board, who is a serial entrepreneur, board member and advisor. Don’t fix what isn’t broken.

entrepreneurship 206

entrepreneurship sustainability board entrepreneurs 206

Revolution

FEBRUARY 3, 2021

I used to joke that the company moves at “the speed of Jonathan,” referring to the founder’s incredible impatience with the status quo. Anna Mason serves on the board of APPH. AppHarvest raised its first round of institutional capital from our Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and others in January 2018. But in reality –and without jest?—?the

venture capital 173

venture capital economic development sustainability capital 173

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2010

Of course I knew that they sat on other boards that kept them busy but somehow it seemed like I had all of their attention to myself during the fund raising process – especially the ones who seemed to like me and spend time with me. Imagine he or she sits on the boards of 5 companies. Imagine your VC as an airport.

VC 275

VC venture capital pitching board 275

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 18, 2024

I’m talking about what someone I know recently referred to as “dentists”. Governance Moreso than a lot of actual VCs, a lot of high-net-worth folks tend to ask for board representation—even in the super early stages of a company where boards tend to be a little less formal. That’s why I normally ask for a Board Observer seat.

investment 221

investment investing startup real estate 221

Entrepreneurs' Organization

OCTOBER 19, 2018

Testdrive and check references with the team. We used the following methods to generate applications: We spread the job description on all the relevant job boards as well as social networks like LinkedIn and XING. Testdrive and check references with the team. Fill the funnel to the maximum.

creativity 130

creativity board networking energy 130

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2009

Yet talk to virtually any FRC company and they’ll tell you that these guys are some of the most active board members and offer some of the best advice in the industry. I sit on a board with Howard Morgan of FRC and I can tell you this guy works harder than most and has a punishing travel schedule.

VC 283

VC real estate advice venture capital 283