Tag: Silicon Valley
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You love the founder and the company is crushing it. Time to write a check, right? Think again. There’s one other little matter that needs to be ironed out before I invest in a startup: finding a lead investor. A lead investor sets the price and terms of the round.…
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+ Entrepreneur, Finance, Founders, Investing, Money, Silicon Valley, Startups, Tech, VC, Venture Capital+
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When I e-mail my friends in VC during the summer, they often take 1-4 weeks to get back to me. Are you sure you want to raise right now? Every year, venture fundraising hits two troughs: one in the summer, and another between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. And yet, some…
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Investors love to argue whether startups should be in person or remote. Wiz is remote-first and just got a $23 billion acquisition offer. Can we end this debate? The Game of Outliers Time and time again, I hear investors trying to sound all hard core, saying you’ve got to be…
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+ Finance, Investing, Money, Remote, Remote work, Silicon Valley, Startups, VC, Venture Capital, Wiz+
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“What’s the best way to help founders you’ve invested in?” Last fall, I posed this question to one of the top early stage investors. His answer surprised me. “Share their posts on social media,” he said. “That’s it?” I thought. “Anyone can do that!” Yes, anyone can. But hardly anyone…
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+ Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Money, Silicon Valley, Small Business, Startups, Tech, VC, Venture Capital+
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Here are some questions I asked founders at actual meetings this week. Draft some answers to these, and you’ll be better prepared for your investor meetings! 1) “What’s your vision for [Startup]?” This is the first question I ask every founder. I put it first because it’s the most important.…
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+ Angel Investing, Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Money, Silicon Valley, Small Business, Startups, VC, Venture Capital+
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$3.2 billion. That’s the valuation Retool hit in just 5 years. Today, I watched their YC Demo Day pitch. Even on Demo Day, Retool was a clear winner. What Retool Does Retool makes it easy to build internal software tools using no-code. That lets companies build the tools they need…
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They were raising $2 million at a $9 million post-money SAFE. This startup had some awesome growth, but I passed. Here’s why… “CEOCoach” is a service that provides a coach for top executives. ”CEOCoach” is a composite, not a real startup, and the name is made up. But it shows…
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+ Angel Investing, Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Money, Silicon Valley, Small Business, Startups, Tech, VC, Venture Capital+
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“It was the biggest mistake I made as an investor.” I was chatting with a fellow angel a while back. He shared with me something he learned the hard way: keep the checks small. But year after year, angels keep getting this wrong. Here’s why… How Angels Fail Take a…
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+ Angel, Angel Investing, Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Money, Silicon Valle, Silicon Valley, Startups, Tech, VC+
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I saw an incredible startup at a demo day yesterday. When I contacted the founder after, she offered to add me to the investor update. This is genius. But very few founders do it. Got Dat Drip Startups use drip marketing to get customers all the time. This involves e-mail…
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+ Angel Investing, Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Silicon Valley, Startups, Tech, VC, Venture Capital+
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Ten years. 100 investments. Three years in, I’m at 30, and I’m finalizing a new one right now. Why 10 years? Why 100 companies? Story time… Walking Away In 2019, I walked away from a great job. I worked in medical software for many years. The field had been good…
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Tremendous 