Tag: Entrepreneur
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As people come back to offices, the Bay Area vs. The Rest argument is back. So today, I thought I’d show you where I’m actually investing right now. I’ve invested in 26 startups in the last 28 months. Here’s where they’re located: SF: 5NYC: 4LA: 3Silicon Valley: 2Phoenix: 2Austin: 1Chattanooga,…
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+ Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Money, NYC, Silicon Valley, Startups, Stock Market, Tech, Venture Capital+
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“What’s your ratio of good investments to bad investments?” a friend asked me recently. It was a darn good question — so I dug into my secret spreadsheet to find out. Most startup investments don’t work out. But how many losses does it take to find a winner? Let’s dig…
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“…in the bacon-and-egg breakfast of a startup, we were the chicken and the entrepreneur was the pig: We were involved, but she was committed.” Ben Horowitz, The Hard Thing About Hard Things Founders Lay It All on the Line We investors have the easy job. Write a check, shake the…
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+ Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Management, Money, Reading, Silicon Valley, Small Business, Startups, Venture Capital+
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“We have $20 million worth of LOI’s with major companies in the space.” Whenever I see a phrase like that, I roll my eyes. Letters of Intent (LOI’s) are one of a series of what I call “meaningless metrics.” They’re supposed to show that a startup is doing well, but…
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Why do I love down markets? What do venture capitalists and Hasidic diamond merchants have in common? I dug into that and more at a great Q&A session recently with interns at Starta VC in NYC. Here are some of my favorite moments: 10:13: How pro rata rights work. 12:16:…
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+ Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Money, Silicon Valley, Small Business, Startups, VC, Venture Capital+
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Jim* had an interesting product, but I was having trouble following his pitch. He skipped from idea to idea and feature to feature, leaving me confused. Jim: “SaaSy is a sales tool for teams. Here’s the messages screen. This is where you go to book a meeting. We’re planning on…
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In 2009, a small startup called Square was raising its Series A. Andreessen Horowitz saw the deal and passed. That mistake cost them $4.8 billion. The Pitch Square (now Block) had a big idea: make it easy for small merchants to take credit cards. It had an awesome product: a…
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Venture-backed startups have created virtually all of the net new jobs since 1977. Of the top 5 US companies by market cap, every single one raised venture capital. Venture capital has a huge impact on the US economy, but few people understand how it works. In The Secrets of Sand…
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+ Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Money, Reading, Silicon Valley, Startup, Startups, VC, Venture Capital+
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From AI chatbots to venture funding to rockets, the US isn’t just ahead of competitors. Increasingly, it has no competition at all. I met with a great entrepreneur from Japan this week who recently moved to New York. I told him how much I loved Japan when I visited. His…
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+ Aerpspace, Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Space, Startups, Tech, United States, US, Venture Capital+
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I read the deal memo and ran the numbers. Everything looked great. But was this company really legit? There was only one way to find out. The Mystery Shopper Method This afternoon, I dug into a promising telehealth startup. I liked it from the investor perspective — now I wanted…
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+ Entrepreneur, Finance, Health, Investing, Medicine, Money, Silicon Valley, Small Business, Startups, Tech, Venture Capital+
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Tremendous 