This is going to be BIG.
MARCH 21, 2012
The other day I want to go see Jiro Dreams of Sushi --a documentary about an 86 year old sushi chef working out of a 10 seat restaurant in a Ginza subway station. Oh, did I mention that the restaurant is rated 3 stars by the Michelin folks? This guy is like a throwback to another era. He doesn't feel as if he's gotten to the pinnacle of his craft yet.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 3, 2012
I had this ethical dilemma pop up on one of the first deals I even did as a VC. I had been looking around at several deals in late 2008 as the markets were tanking. I had gotten close on a couple of deals but nothing rose to the level of “must do.” I was learning which VCs I wanted to work with, what stage & check size I wanted to commit do and what teams would be a good fit for me.
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Berkonomics
MARCH 25, 2012
For those of us who’ve invested in early stage companies, especially technology startups, we have confronted a universal problem. There are many ways to project the value of a company for purposes of pricing an investment, but all rely upon the revenue and profit projections of the entrepreneur as a starting point. Many formulas then discount those projections according to some set percentage or by assigning weight to elements of the enterprise.
abovethecrowd.com
MARCH 26, 2012
[Follow Me on Twitter] A few relevant scenes from the recent blockbuster Moneyball: Peter Brand: Billy, Pena is an All Star. Okay? And if you dump him and this Hatteberg thing doesn’t work out the way that we want it to, you know, this is…this is the kind of decision that gets you fired. It is! Billy Beane: Yes, you’re right. I [.].
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This is going to be BIG.
MARCH 19, 2012
Since I launched Brooklyn Bridge Ventures , a lot of people have asked me why I put the fund in Brooklyn. Even to those who said it was "obvious", all of them seem to have different reasons why they believe that was a good idea. To me, there are a couple of basic reasons: 1) If nothing else, it's geographically closer to more startups than midtown firms like RRE, Greycroft, and Firstmark.so, *why not* put my office here?
Startup Catalyst Brief brings together the best content for the entrepreneurial ecosystem from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
This is going to be BIG.
MARCH 6, 2012
I didn't write most of the following and the original text had nothing to do with entrepreneurship. "All entrepreneurs are unsuited to the job, and therefore all entrepreneurs fail in certain crucial aspects of the job. And all are mis-assessed while in their job, for reasons that typically depend more on luck and historical accident than on factors within their control.
This is going to be BIG.
MARCH 15, 2012
I have never met Sean Parker. I don't know if the movie portrayal of him is accurate and I don't particularly care. What I do care about is that a person who is long on vision and has a knack for being around big companies early on is now living in New York City. Parker made a huge dent in the web as co-founder of Napster, then built Plaxo up to 20 million users.
Berkonomics
MARCH 15, 2012
In the creation of a new enterprise, there are five principal risks to be addressed by the entrepreneur. Professional investors will probe these five risk areas and make the decision to invest based upon comfort with each. So it is important for the entrepreneur to identify, address and mitigate each of these in order to increase valuation and decrease the risk of ultimate loss of the business.
Berkonomics
MARCH 30, 2012
Guest post by Sara Mackey. Dave’s Note: This is the first time we’ve had a guest author on the BERKONOMICS site. Sara focuses upon another side of small business financing not typically considered in the angel and venture world, financing from sources for companies that will probably never be attractive to those niches. . So, you’ve been thinking about starting your own firm for the past ten years.
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Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 22, 2012
Intros.They’re the lifeblood of networking – the currency of mavens. They are your route to angel money. Your entrée to sales meetings. We couldn’t live without them. But when misused, overused or abused they can diminish your personal brand, consume your valuable time and waste that of the relationships you value the most. I would like to make the case for being judicious with your introductions.
Berkonomics
MARCH 8, 2012
When you seek professional investors, whether organized angels or venture capitalists, one of the early questions you are asked is “How have you financed the business so far?” Investors love to see entrepreneurs who have used their own money to ignite their businesses. But often, entrepreneurs turn to others for initial capital. Describing that capital using the phrase “friends, family and fools,” or “FFF,” has become as common as to be trite.
Berkonomics
MARCH 1, 2012
Starting and running a small or growing business can be a challenge to the most confident and optimistic entrepreneur. And the process of borrowing money or financing asset purchases can be an eye-opener for those who are not used to today’s lender and seller aversion to granting easy credit. Most any entrepreneur with a clean credit record can obtain a bank card with a $50,000 limit, if s/he is willing to give a personal guarantee and has enough assets to back the promise it contains.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 10, 2012
When I started my first tech company in 1999 I had pretty good tech chops and had led teams but had very little exposure to many other things that matter in a startup including sales, marketing & business development. Like most first-timers, I learned the hard way. Negotiating was a subset of every activity in a startup – it really was a way of life.
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Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 17, 2012
I’ve started a series on negotiations in startups. In it I list some books and also link to some of my previous posts. It’s the first functional series I’ve done since sales & marketing. The very first time I ever negotiated a term sheet (and then legal docs for closing the round) I found the experience very frustrating. I was desperate to get my funding finalized to derisk my business as well as to get capital in the bank to meet our growing cash needs.
This is going to be BIG.
MARCH 10, 2012
Got this note from an entrepreneur I know the other day: "The single biggest lesson I have learned in 2 years as a venture backed CEO is the importance of having the right people in place, particularly at the executive level. The reason you've seen [this company] start to turn the corner in the last 3-4 months really boils down to 4 people. all [of these people] joined the company in Q4 last year.
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