Tag Archives: Venture Capital

The entrepreneur’s dilemma

“The entrepreneurs dilemma” is a term that @azeem came up with in reference to a post on how to raise money without lying to investors on VentureHacks. The point I wanted to make was that entrepreneurs often have to chose … Continue reading

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Personality test for entrepreneurs

I’ve had several interesting conversation following the article on negotiating a better series A deal. Entrepreneurs write and ask for advice on a specific situation. Unfortunately, it’s really hard to give specific advice in these cases without a fair amount … Continue reading

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Which type of investor makes the best board member?

A few days ago, WSJ’s startup & VC blog referred to an NVCA study where entrepreneurs complained about the lack of operational experience in some VC board members. I’ve been an entrepreneur as well as a VC. The biggest travesty … Continue reading

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A new spin on pitching and fundraising

Every conference having anything to do with entrepreneurship and venture capital has the obligatory “pitching & fundraising” panel. I’ve been on enough of them to have a sense of how disappointing they can be for the audience. Experienced folks hear … Continue reading

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Startups VCs are dying to invest in

VCs have a big problem. Many entrepreneurs just don’t want to solve big problems anymore. After hearing the fifth socially-responsible-Twitter-client-running-on-fuel-cell-powered-unlocked-iPhones pitch this week, it’s understandable how VCs want to take August off. So, in the interest of helping everyone, I’m … Continue reading

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Comparing term sheets

Jeff Bussgang did a guest post on PEHub on the topic of how entrepreneurs should look at and compare competing term sheets. Jeff correctly points out that the pre-money valuation of the company is not what entrepreneurs should focus on … Continue reading

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Beyond Bootstrapping Redux

Got hit by the SlideShare April Fool’s joke today that I’ve become a RockStar because one of my presentations has been getting a ton of views in the past 24 hours. I went into my account and, indeed, the Beyond … Continue reading

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The responsibility of an entrepreneur: when to shut down early?

Jason Calacanis has written a lengthy post with a lot of good advice for entrepreneurs who are facing the potential failure of their business. It has good tips for extending the runway and making do with less. It also has … Continue reading

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Founder Dilution

Founders often ask me, “If I own X% after my first investment round, how much will I be diluted through financings until exit?”. There are rules of thumb but there is no good data about what happens to common stock. … Continue reading

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For the MIT 100K Participants: Executive Summaries

I was invited to speak tonight at the MIT 100K Web/IT track mixer but, unfortunately, I’m sick (which wouldn’t have necessarily prevented me from going) and have lost my voice (which would have made going to the event pointless). So, … Continue reading

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