“I don’t think we should raise $11 million,” my co-founder, “John”, said to me. “We will give up control of the company! We should only raise $6 million.” “John, we’re going to have to raise the $11 million and probably more. Getting the $11 million gives us more runway,” I said. “Let’s get the money…
“It’s too early to hire a VP of Sales!” The VC said to me. “You should be doing the selling!” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “I hear where you’re coming from,” I said. “And believe me, I will be selling.” “‘Ken’s’ been part of the company since…
By Brett Fox at www.brettjfox.com “See that property over there? Steve Jobs owns it. That’s going to stay in his family for a long time,” Bill, Venture Capitalist, said to me. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. I was being interviewed by Bill at his home in Woodside.…
I’ll never forget how nervous I was before my presenting to a VC for the first time. I was an EIR (Entrepreneur in Residence) at a VC fund based in San Francisco, and we were going to give a dry-run presentation to Dave and Alain, the two VC partners I was working with. [Do you…
I curled up on my bed in a fetal ball, sobbing. I kept repeating to myself: “What have I done?” “What have I done?” “What have I done?” Why was I crying? [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] We had been raising money for over eighteen months at…
“I hate high margin businesses,” “Donald”, the billionaire VC head of Donald Ventures, said to me. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. I ignored him, and continued on with my pitch knowing he would never fund us. I mean, after all, how do you respond to an idiotic…
“I’ve founded three startups, and I’ve never had one that was profitable,” a friend of mine was telling me. You’d think he was a failure based on that statement. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] Not exactly. He sold his last company for $300 million. But my friend…
My daughter Avery had an assignment in her first grade class. She was supposed to see if she could send a paper turtle to every continent in the world. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] The first challenge what was Avery going to name her nomadic turtle? Avery…
Many entrepreneurs don’t understand the cruel reality of fundraising. Just because you want to raise venture capital doesn’t mean you will raise venture capital. Consider this ratio: 100:1. That’s one investment for every one hundred face to face meetings a typical VC will take. Raising money is unbelievably hard. [Do you want to grow your…
A couple of years ago I was advising a CEO. “Mark” had bootstrapped his company to profitability. Mark’s company began by providing consulting services. Then Mark’s company provided IP to its customers along with consulting services. Mark’s company had grown to become a multi-million dollar revenue company. But Mark had become increasingly worried lately. [Do…