One of the key themes you hear covering the venture capital and startup industry here, is the importance of matching your startup venture with the goals and interests of the sources of capital you talk with. In addition to matching the industry interests of a VC with what your firm does, another important aspect is [...]
Marc Averitt of Okapi Venture Capital recently reposted an article about some considerations in choosing an attorney, which is worth (re)reading. Marc also recently reposted an article on due diligence which is worth browsing, if you haven’t read it already. Interestingly enough, I find when speaking to with entrepeneurs that pointing them to material like [...]
I often run into entrepreneurs looking to raise their very first round of capital (whether that is angel funding or venture capital), and I find there’s a common mistake new entrepreneurs make: they don’t ask for enough money. Wait a second–you say they’re not asking too much, they’re asking too little? Yes, lots of entrepreneurs [...]
With the economy in shambles, people scared for their jobs, and layoffs to the left and right, I was struck by a story that Scott Painter (currently CEO of Zag and TrueCar, and prior CEO of CarsDirect) made in a recent private gathering I was at of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and service providers. He explained [...]
John Greathouse, who is a venture partner at Rincon Venture Partners and has had great success with his involvement at Citrix Online/Expertcity, Computer Motion, Callwave, etc.–has been regularly providing us great articles giving advice to startups and entrepreneurs. His latest is a very in-depth, helpful article on how to compensate business advisors. Properly setting up [...]
Looking for an upside to all the doom and gloom out there? I’ve been hearing from commercial real estate brokers that there’s at least one upside to the downturn: negotiating for cheaper rent. Jacob Bobek and Scott Steuber at Cushman & Wakefield recently sent us this article giving entrepreneurs some tips on how to save [...]
There’s been lots of fear and anxiety out there given the state of the markets, with not much an entrepreneur can do (except to avoid looking at your stock portfolio). However, Jared Reitzen, who is CEO of Los Angeles-based mobileStorm, posted some practical tips and hints on how best to survive through challenging times Tuesday [...]
I’ve recently been pondering the myth of “the Big Idea” — the belief that if you come up with an earth-shattering idea, you can rule the world. It’s the idea of a better mousetrap, an idea for a widget, the idea for a better startup. Unfortunately, it’s just that, a myth. I used to have [...]
John Greathouse, a partner at Rincon Venture Partners, and also an experienced executive with lots of experience dealing with corporate investors, shares his tips on dealing with corporate investors in a piece in our Insights and Opinions section today. In How Entrepreneurs Can Get The Love Without A Bear Hug, John goes into great detail [...]
Omid Rahmat, former publisher of Tom’s Guide Publishing, has just added a new article to our Insights & Opinions section, entitle Don’t look for first mover advantage. Rahmat takes a slightly contrarian view of “innovation” and gives some business advice to entrepreneurs. Microsoft didn’t invent the OS, Google didn’t invent search, Facebook didn’t make social [...]
Thoughts and commentary from Benjamin F. Kuo, publisher of socalTECH.com.
