Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

I am VERY careful in board meetings and in startup pitches to tell entrepreneurs, “I feel very strongly about my opinion on this topic. I’m pretty sure I’m right based on my own experiences as a startup founder for reasons A, B, C. I caution people all the time from overly following my advice.

advice 407

advice frameworks startup mix-use 407

TechCrunch

AUGUST 2, 2022

Small Business Administration (SBA) to find funding for a food truck, a bakery and a clothing store, but I don’t know of any startup founders who’ve used this federal program to grow their companies. Build a solid deck for your quarterly board meetings. Build a solid deck for your quarterly board meetings.

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board startup micromobility finance 83

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

When we get involved in Seed investments we usually represent 60–80% in one of the first institutional rounds of capital, we almost always take board seats and then we serve these founders over the course of a decade or longer. In fact, I am still active on two boards where I first invested in 2009.

ventures 408

ventures startup peer-to-peer venture capital 408

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.” Being the CEO of a fixer-upper gives you board exposure and VC relationships that will benefit you later.

advice 334

advice peer-to-peer VC board 334

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

So the startup work moves to where the startup founders live and not vice versa. Fly out to CA, NY, BOS and tell investors that you’ll willing to do the majority of board meetings there. You only want them to commit to attending 1-2 board meetings a year in your home town. Mavens & Marketing.

startup 390

startup communities venture capital angel capital 390

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

I had a 3-hour board meeting with another. I sent an email to another about what I thought we should cover at his next board meeting and what was missing from the deck he sent. I try to take time out of my week to occasionally meet with startup founders – even those that haven’t been introduced.

advice 314

advice culture board VC 314

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

Tracy DiNunzio isn’t your typical Silicon Valley startup founder. She did her first tech startup after the age of 30. Now working safely inside the confine’s of Launchpad LA’s offices in Santa Monica and surrounded by the tech community, Tracy has been out interviewing technical co-founders.

peer-to-peer 363

peer-to-peer entrepreneurs startup entrepreneurship 363

Gust

JUNE 8, 2014

Experts on this subject, including Yael Zofi, in her book, “ A Manager’s Guide to Virtual Teams ,” has identified eight key characteristics of high-performing virtual teams that I have observed, and every startup founder should understand and enable: Members exhibit a global mindset – they look outward, not inward.

enablement 187

enablement energy entrepreneurs culture 187

TechCrunch

JULY 5, 2022

Investors also know that negotiations don’t stop at the agreed upon term sheet — valuation caps, discount rates, matching rights and board control all need to be reviewed and discussed. I’ve outlined below a few legal areas I recommend founders focus on, as well as some tips to finesse negotiation skills.

startup founder 96

startup founder founder startup venture capital 96

TechCrunch

AUGUST 4, 2021

What’s the board’s role in an early-stage startup? Startup founders frequently ask me about the role of a board of directors. A board can be a crucial asset in an early-stage startup. What is a board of directors, anyway? What is a board of directors, anyway?

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board startup strategy frameworks 100

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

I advocated LOUDLY at the board that we needed to cut our burn rate. And I asked to leave the board. When your board is eating in the company dining room with silver spoons you certainly don’t want awkward old me at the party asking the tough questions. We were SMOKING cash. The company incinerated cash.

entrepreneurs 306

entrepreneurs board advice consulting 306

Gust

DECEMBER 31, 2012

In addition to being startup founders, like Richard Branson , founder of more than 400 companies and still going strong, there are several other key roles that I see Boomers taking more often these days to drive successful startups: Advisory Board.

startup 177

startup energy construction consulting 177

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2011

I turned around and there was StockTwits founder (and my favorite Tweeter) Howard Lindzon. Nobody has family duties, board meetings, full schedules. And we’re here with Dan Martell , who like any great startup founder is wearing his company t-shirt for Flowtown. Wendy Tan White, the founder of Moonfruit.

mix-use 294

mix-use accelerator opportunity startup accelerator 294

NZ Entrepreneur

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

It is our startup sector which will drive this innovative progress. Startup founders are our ambitious problem solvers. To generate growth in a startup, it is almost always necessary to raise external capital to run the necessary. In order to understand startup governance, you need to understand risk and reward.

startup 102

startup board culture strategy 102

Gust

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Most startup founders already do this, rather than take a salary, to improve their offering. When you let them on board, you lose control of your destiny. Invested Interests bootstrapping entrepreneur startup' Don’t justify over-spending initially with “long-run” thinking. Reinvest gross profit.

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startup creativity entrepreneurs advice 176

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

This isn't exactly the kind of thing that most startup founders get really excited about doing. I'm excited to work with them and I want to thank all of the investors that came on board with us. It wasn't the world's easiest fundraise, as many investors have to avoid this space entirely.

investment 191

investment investing innovation board 191

Gust

DECEMBER 8, 2013

If you really want to impress a startup founder as a potential employee, or you want to be a smart investor, you need to know the right questions to ask. These are the questions that get past the hype of a founder “vision to change the world,” and into the realm of real business strengths, weaknesses, and current health.

board 174

board investing investment advice 174

Onevest

MAY 21, 2015

By Michael Whitehouse Whether you are an investor browsing through 1000 Angels looking to put money into a startup, or an entrepreneur attempting to bring finances into your project, it is critical that you understand the terms and conditions of any investment. For this reason investors often make the entire amount available immediately.

investment 116

investment investing startup board 116

Revolution

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

Startup founders can start positioning themselves now to be acquired in that wave. As an active board member across several companies, I often advise against acquisitions that require additional investments to actualize value. A second non-traditional way to enter the M&A stream is through strategic board enhancements.

startup 130

startup board VC venture capital 130

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

Jonathan Strauss took this issue head on in a blog post that I believe every startup founder should read on “ Replacing Oneself as CEO.” ” “After 3 and a half years of fusing my self-worth with the success of the company in the crucible of startup survival, it was impossible to tear them apart without pain.

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peer-to-peer energy founder advice 303

TechCrunch

OCTOBER 4, 2022

Hershenson also serves on the board of trustees of Harvey Mudd College and on the Advisory Council of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Carnegie Mellon University. Tisch is the chairman of Good Dog, a marketplace to find pets online, and is the co-founder of Techstars NY. Rich Wong joined Accel as a partner in 2006.

disruption 91

disruption VC ventures startup 91

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2009

I worked with the board who encouraged me to bring in heavy weights. The advice to not hire too senior should come as no surprise to anybody who read my views that “ Startup Founders Should Flip Burgers &# or in other words should do many of the detailed jobs themselves. In our second year of sales we did $5.9

startup 327

startup advice SaaS consulting 327

Ecosystem Builder Hub

MAY 21, 2021

What does it say when we tell them their ideas and dreams are unworthy because they don’t fit into some narrow model of a startup founder? Develop program-specific advisory boards from under-represented backgrounds. Board commitments to DEI. It’s not an afterthought. Team communication.

peer-to-peer 105

peer-to-peer entrepreneurial ecosystem entrepreneurship board 105

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

I came from a board meeting to here. I was saying to this CEO at the board meeting, I said, “I don’t know, I just have this blind belief that you guys are going to create an enormous success. I want to build a great company, and I want to get you on my board for my new ridesharing service. Which is just amazing.

startup 337

startup entrepreneurs consulting board 337

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2011

And that has had me thinking about the tech sector and how dismissive both startup teams & VCs can be about both their competition and the “hot” companies in any sector. I was at a dinner about a year ago with a few VCs and startup founders. The topic of FourSquare came up.

startup 313

startup board communities startup founder 313

StartupNation

OCTOBER 11, 2020

Ninety percent of startup founders will not implement a diversity program. Research shows that while 70 percent of startup founders think diversity is important, only 10 percent will actually follow through and implement a diversity program.Nothing will happen unless you set goals. Instead, you need to act.

entrepreneurs 121

entrepreneurs startup board culture 121

Entrepreneur's Handbook

MARCH 3, 2023

Am I being duped by Twitter-speak and startup mentor nonsense spouted by people with no skin in my game? It’s well intentioned on the part of the second or third time founder turned angel, VC, or accelerator mentor. Yet, it’s almost universally not helpful to tell a startup founder to just ship it. Easy for you to say.

entrepreneurship 93

entrepreneurship startup founder board founder 93

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 25, 2021

DataJoy , an early stage startup, wants to solve that issue. Like many startup founders, CEO Jon Lee has experienced the frustration first hand of trying to gather this financial data, and he decided to start a company to deal with it once and for all. “I spend my life in the board meetings.

SaaS 89

SaaS board creativity advice 89

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 24, 2023

He’s a board director at multiple security companies, including Oort, KSOC, ThreatX, Tausight and Sevco Security. He’s also on the advisory board for the Advanced Cyber Security Center, where he previously served on the board of directors. Greg Dracon has been with Boston’s.406

ventures 86

ventures board communities pitching 86

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

And trust me when I tell you that 90%+ of the people can’t wake up every day with the uncertainties and insecurities that startup founders face. Most employees want cruising altitude, most founders live in take off mode. ” The details is the sausage factory that nobody really wants. They want the end product.

startup 417

startup peer-to-peer VC culture 417

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

Paul Graham’s assertion that “any startup founder can tell you the most common question they hear from investors is not about the founders or the product, but “who else is investing?&# When I’m in, I’m in. rings true to me. Investors who commit early deserve to have a lower price.

financing 286

financing finance advice VC 286

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

The battle to win Startup Battlefield began long before TechCrunch Disrupt kicked off Tuesday. Startup founders from all over the world applied to what has been described as the most competitive batch in TechCrunch history. Jim Lanzone was named earlier this month as the next CEO of Yahoo Inc.

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startup board venture capital VC 74

StartupNation

NOVEMBER 22, 2021

After completing a $10-million Series A round in March 2021, the startup expanded into Greenville, South Carolina, its fourth market so far. CEO Jonathan Kite said a new automated turn board feature was a significant factor accelerating the company’s success. Most startup founders understandably think they have great ideas.

strategy 130

strategy startup collaboration communities 130

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I gave him the same advice I give nearly all over-worked, control-freak, do-everything-yourself startup founders: “Your number one priority isn’t any of these things. He listed all of the product releases that were up coming, the customers that were in the pipeline and where he saw his competition moving.

communities 317

communities VC innovation entrepreneurs 317

TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 23, 2021

.” That might work inside mature companies, but early-stage founders who are presenting themselves to investors must be more specific. In an interview with Natasha Mascarenhas, B2B stealth startup founder Akshaya Dinesh recounted the time her team was rejected by an accelerator because they hadn’t yet picked a CEO.

data collection 89

data collection SaaS board frameworks 89

TechCrunch

MAY 25, 2021

Herman is not your typical startup founder, having dropped out of high school and starting his own recruitment agency at the age of 21. His tenacity is one of the things that attracted Sequoia partner and Canvas board member Mike Vernal to back the company.

board 98

board SaaS capital collaboration 98

Founders Coop

JANUARY 11, 2023

Aviel and I are both self-taught VCs: the parts of the job we learned as founders and operators of our own companies covered just a fraction of what it means to be effective money managers, fundraisers, board members and trusted partners within the tight-knit community of professional investors.

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founder peer-to-peer VC sustainability 154