Both Sides of the Table
MAY 11, 2010
I haven’t written a blog post in a week. I travelled for a couple of days for work and decided to get some sleep on those days rather than staying up into the wee hours as I often do when I travel. I closed one deal (I’ll talk about that soon) and issued one term sheet (I hope to talk about that soon, we’ll see!). It has also coincided with the kickoff of our Launchpad LA educational series which has taken some of my time.
This is going to be BIG.
MAY 13, 2010
By the time of this post is done, Diaspora, the web decentralization play from four NYU/Courant students in New York , will undoubtedly have $100,000 raised on Kickstarter. Over and above that, it seems like they’re on a clear path towards a million dollars. Think I’m poking the bear? I’m dead serious. You watch. A week from now, they get to seven digits.
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Berkonomics
MAY 12, 2010
Equity is the currency of early stage businesses. The truth of this statement may be obvious, but the execution of a good incentive program using equity is often mismanaged, damaging the corporate capitalization structure and even affecting the outcome of subsequent investment into the company. First, a brand new enterprise is often formed from the efforts of several “partners”, each with an expertise valued by the others.
A Smart Bear: Longform
MAY 30, 2010
You worry about competition from the big, brand-name, deep-pocketed company. But there are better things to worry about and ways to avoid running into gorillas in the first place.
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Both Sides of the Table
MAY 15, 2010
We just had our sixth episode of #TWiVC and I felt this one was the best. This week was had Jason Calacanis as our guest. It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. We’re staring to get the hang of how to divide the show up into talking about deals but also talking about issues for entrepreneurs during funding.
Startup Catalyst Brief brings together the best content for the entrepreneurial ecosystem from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 13, 2010
I’ve been thinking a lot about what it takes to be a great leader and seem to be having this conversation a lot lately about Facebook, Yahoo!, Zynga and others. I wrote several of the characteristics when I did the Top 10 (11) Attributes of an Entrepreneur. One thing that I’ve realized over the years is that to be an effective leader you can’t aspire to be loved by everybody.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 28, 2010
I’ve had this conversation so many times it’s painful. A friend calls me up from “you name it&# city: Boston, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and says, “I’m thinking about moving to Los Angeles (or SF, NY, etc) and I’d love to start interviewing. Let me know if you hear of anything interesting.&#. I guess when I hear things like this I revert back to my shock jock instincts and say, “Don’t bother.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 15, 2010
I recently wrote a piece about how Entrepreneurs Should be Respected, Not Loved. The premise was that some leaders are too enamored with the approbation of their peers than making the tough decisions in the business that are bound to upset some people. The corollary to this rule is “decision by indecision.&# This is one of my favorite lines to remind entrepreneurs because it is the sort of garden variety mistake that is so common in everyday life.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 23, 2010
Often when startups who have raised venture capital need another round of financing they will turn to their existing investors to give them money before raising from outsiders. This happens when the company has been making steady progress but hasn’t built enough “ proof &# to raise its next round of financing from external investors. The traditional way that this type of financing is offered is what is known as “convertible debt.&# This means that the investment does not have
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This is going to be BIG.
MAY 2, 2010
I just resigned my Foursquare mayorship of the Ace Hotel New York. I’ve been spending nearly every working day there since October, when I first joined First Round. We never had an official office on our own in New York, despite having over a dozen investments here. Howard Morgan held the fort down from his own personal office up on Park, and Chris, Josh, and Phin burned the rails from here to Philly on a regular basis.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 25, 2010
I have read much commentary on my Twitter stream (ironically) and in the press about how investors are going to abandon investments in the Twitter ecosystem because they seem to appear hostile to ecosystem partners. Let me be the first to say that I don’t agree with this notion. Let me explain. 1. Regarding protecting the quality of the stream from an influx of low quality advertising, I emphatically agree with (what I perceive to be**) Twitter’s positioning.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 12, 2010
I recently wrote an article on how to respond to board members between meetings. I basically took some time on a weekend and just hacked out what was on my mind. Two people whom I respect (Babak Nivi and Brad Feld) added commentary that made me want to come back and clarify my thoughts. If I were to re-write the original post I would have taken out the section on “how to get better intro’s from VC’s&# and made it it’s own post.
This is going to be BIG.
MAY 7, 2010
I’ve been organizing Product Management School for nextNY and I realized something today… A lot of new entrepreneurs and startup people think product management is something akin to cooking. Some people have a knack for it—and “real” cooks don’t follow recipes. They wing it, making adjustments as they go along to taste. If something is bland, they can spice it up midway.
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This is going to be BIG.
MAY 19, 2010
Imagine if the biggest companies in the world had to increase their workforce by 25% month over month. It would be a monumental task that could spell the death of them if extreme care wasn't taken to maintain the highest level of quality in their talent pool. Even if that was done, it would still be no small feat to onboard that much new blood without completely rocking the boat.
This is going to be BIG.
MAY 21, 2010
One of the top reasons why I personally turn a deal down is when there seems to be a disproportionate amount of risk left on the table. Don’t get me wrong. Venture is extremely risky, but the reason why it works is because of the risk/return tradeoff. You can’t make return unless you take risk—as a finance guy, I understand that. But sometimes, the finance guy in me sees opportunities that seem to present way more risk—potentially unnecessary risk—than it would seem the investment has relative t
This is going to be BIG.
MAY 27, 2010
Ok, so we’re all doing social TV now. Geolocation is so 2009. Haven’t you heard? Kinda seems like that sometimes, right—that the venture capital community seems to chase after the bright shiny object of the moment in droves and then just as quickly moves on to the next new new thing. I can be frustrating for entrepreneurs who can’t seem to get a VCs interest until someone else is interested as well, but there’s actually a logic behind it, believe it or not.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 4, 2010
Had a great chat with Jim Armstrong who is a General Partner at Clearstone Venture Partners today on TWiVC. You can watch the TWiVC episode with Jim Armstrong here. It was especially fun for me because we got the chance to talk about the VC industry and how entrepreneurs should think about the VC industry in addition to discussing deals. Clearstone currently invests out of a $200 million fund based in LA with offices in Menlo Park and in India.
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This is going to be BIG.
MAY 27, 2010
Ok, so we’re all doing social TV now. Geolocation is so 2009. Haven’t you heard? Kinda seems like that sometimes, right—that the venture capital community seems to chase after the bright shiny object of the moment in droves and then just as quickly moves on to the next new new thing. I can be frustrating for entrepreneurs who can’t seem to get a VCs interest until someone else is interested as well, but there’s actually a logic behind it, believe it or not.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 16, 2010
Canceling meetings is part of modern day life. I seem to get so over programmed that if I ever want to have a “break-out&# unplanned trip somewhere I seem to have to reschedule meetings. Not fun, but a reality. And people reschedule meetings with me on a regular basis, too. If done correctly I never have any problem with it at all. Done poorly and it really puts a bad taste in my mouth.
This is going to be BIG.
MAY 17, 2010
“Thousands of years ago, the first man discovered how to make fire. He was probably burned at the stake he had taught his brothers to light. He was considered an evildoer who had dealt with a demon mankind dreaded. But thereafter men had fire to keep them warm, to cook their food, to light their caves. He had left them a gift they had not conceived and he had lifted dardness off the earth.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 18, 2010
As a startup entrepreneur you’ll have many demands for your time. Especially if you start to have a degree of success or build a high public profile. Everyone will want you to speak at conferences. Service providers will want to get to know you. Potential employees want to “get together.&# VC’s will want to learn about what you’re up to and later stage VCs will have their 23-year-old analysts call you to tell you how interested they are in your company.
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Both Sides of the Table
MAY 1, 2010
Running the “Agile&# Board. Most early stage startups having monthly board meetings. I normally recommend 8 meetings per year. It makes no sense to meet in August or December due to travel schedules of most investors. You can do calls if need be. And I often recommend that board meetings be every 5 or 6 weeks rather than 4 to give enough elapsed time for stuff to actually happen between meetings.
This is going to be BIG.
MAY 28, 2010
Are you a business co-founder who just suddenly realized that just setting up a company Twitter account isn’t driving as much traffic as you had hoped? Feel like you need some meat on the bones the customer acquisition strategy investors have been asking about? Maybe you’re a newly hired entry-level marketer who wants to learn the soup to nuts of everything you need to master to one day become the top VP of Marketing or CMO of a huge venture backed startup.
Berkonomics
MAY 26, 2010
In 1981, Herb Cohen published “ You Can Negotiate Anything ”, an excellent guide to great negotiating. I’ve read and reread the book a number of times and find myself using the techniques often in many areas of my life. One of his lessons remains clearly on my mind and is a variant of the old “You name the price and I’ll name the terms” challenge that works so well in negotiation. .
This is going to be BIG.
MAY 23, 2010
So the New York City government has decided it needs a little social media savvy—you now, since that newfangled Twitter thing came out, they feel like they need to be jumping on board with technology as an early adopter. So, they’ve posted an open position for a Chief Digital Officer ( PDF posting ). The position will: “help develop forward-thinking policies on social media, digital communications, web 2.0 initiatives and other tools to better serve the public” and it’s responsible a host of stu
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