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Month: April 2008 Page 1 of 2

Post Funding Advice for VC-backed Entrepreneurs

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On April 30, 2008

In buySAFE, Core Capital, Entrepreneurship, Grotech Capital, Venture Capital, Web/Tech

If you have ever raised venture capital, you know how important the post-funding relationship is with your venture capital investors.  Your pre-money valuation and financing terms are all important needless to say, but to be candid, the post-funding relationship you have (or are likely to have based on a VC’s previous track record) is probably the most important issue for you to consider as an entrepreneur.

An experienced entrepreneur posted a great article on the subject on TheFunded.com, and here is an excerpt of the article…

There are a lot of postings here about getting the initial term sheet and getting the VC on board. However, just like marriages, many of these courting periods can be quite different from the month to month evolving operations and business that we face a year or two down the road. Remember that often these VCs will sit on your board, and direct your business in different ways and depending on your dilution can dictate how operational decisions should be made. Thus, it is important to get an early feel from your VC dialogue, especially how they would respond if the actual business is less than the wonderful picture we sometimes paint in our pitches.

If I can give you piece of advice that you need to follow religiously in your quest for venture capital, it is that you MUST speak to the entrepreneurs and CEOs that have previously taken money from and worked with the VC firm and the VC partner that you are considering.  Do not limit your discussions to the entrepreneurs and CEOs of the successful deals, but rather, you should talk to the entrepreneurs and CEOs of the unsuccessful deals as well.  In my experience, the VCs play a critical role in both outcomes, and you need to make sure you get the full, unedited scoop before you take money from a VC.  This is absolutely critical to your success or failure as a startup.

Speaking of which, I am always happy to share my insights on this subject with folks that are interested, so don’t hesitate to email me with your questions.

You can read more of the original article here >> TheFunded.com: The post funding experience

Grotech Ventures Leads a $6.6 Million Series B Round of Funding for Collective Intellect

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On April 29, 2008

In Grotech Capital, Social Networking, Venture Capital, Web/Tech

TechCrunch reported last week that Grotech Ventures has led another round of financing for Collective Intellect.  The following is an excerpt from TechCrunch.

Collective Intellect, a service that can be used to track what people are saying around the net about certain topics, has raised an additional $6.6M in a Series B round led by Grotech Capital Group with participation by Appian Ventures, Croghan Investments, and Crawley Hatfield Capital.

You can read more about the financing here >> More Money for Collective Intellect to Keep Fingers on Pulse of Internet

What is the Most Cost Effective Marketing Channel for eCommerce Merchants? Email Marketing!

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On April 28, 2008

In eCommerce, Marketing, Online Advertising

According to eMarketer, email marketing is still a very effective means of driving e-commerce.  The following is an excerpt from eMarketer’s article, "E-Mail Marketing Still Works"…

First, the good news: permission-based e-mail is great at getting consumers to buy.

Half of US adult e-mail users surveyed in April 2008 for Merkle‘s "View from the Inbox" study, conducted with Harris Interactive, said they had made an online purchase in the previous year as a result of permission-based marketing.

In addition, e-mail was second only to customer reviews on Web sites for influencing online purchases, according to DoubleClick Performics‘ "Green Marketing Study," conducted by Opinion Research Corporation in February 2008. E-mail was roughly equal to search results in terms of influencing online purchases.

SPAM emails are obviously a huge problem, but when consumers expect to receive an email from a merchant, they obviously open those emails and respond in a material manner.  Our experience suggests that email marketing is here to stay and in fact, is going to grow in importance for online merchants because there are few, if any, more cost effective ways to drive a sale than to market to your current and past customers via email.  Having said that, consumers are increasingly likely to stop doing business with a retailer if the retailer uses poor email practices.  Therefore, there is a huge opportunity here for merchants, but if done incorrectly, it can be costly. 

Make sure you understand email best practices.  EmailLabs has produced nice list of email best practices that might be helpful for you.

Once you have acquired your customers via more expensive channels like Paid Search Advertising, eBay, or CSEs, make sure you keep them buying from you on a consistent basis by offering them interesting offers via email.  This really is a no brainer.

Read more of the eMarketer article here >> E-Mail Marketing Still Works – eMarketer

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What is RSS and Why Do You Need It?

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On April 27, 2008

In Uncategorized

Receive New Articles via Email
To receive new articles in your email inbox, enter your email address below and click the Submit button.

What is that Funny Icon?
Feed_2dicon_2d48x48_small_2 The icon that looks like a volume button is actually a link to the page where you can subscribe to a blog’s ‘feed’ via an RSS Feed Reader or Email.

It was originally designed in orange, but as you will notice, some blogs get creative.

What is an RSS Feed?
Click To Watch The Video Below That Explains RSS Feeds in Plain English.  The video is the masterful work of The Common Craft Show.  Please visit their site for more DIY and Instruction in Plain English.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU&rel=1]

How Do I Subscribe To The Feed?
1. If you have a feed reader (see below if not) and you want to subscribe, just click the icon.

2. If you want to get the feed via email, just type your email address in the text box near the icon designated for email subscriptions.

What is Feedburner?
“Feedburner is best known for its Atom-to-RSS conversion: you give it an Atom feed URL (e.g. the one you have in a Blogger site), and you get a URL that contains the up-to-date RSS version of it. FeedBurner actually can convert from and to any version of RSS or Atom.” (Wikipedia)

In plain English:  You tell Feedburner your blog’s web address (URL) and it creates a feed for you to advertise on your site.  It also allows people to subscribe to your feed, and helps you manage the way that feed is received by your subscribers.

What RSS Feed Readers Do You Recommend?
iGoogle
MyYahoo
Bloglines
MyAOL
NewsGator
NetVibes
Wizz Reader for Firefox

And many, many more…

What Happens When I Subscribe via Email?
1. You will need to approve the subscription to the feed by responding to the email that was just sent to your inbox.

2. You will begin to receive either headlines, excerpts, or entire posts in the form of a standard email.  Emails will arrive at a rate dependent on frequency of blog posts and frequency of RSS delivery (normally same day).

3. You always have the option to unsubscribe or change the subscription to a RSS News Reader so as to keep the articles out of your already cluttered inbox.

Why Is It On This Blog?
Feed_2dicon_2d48x48_small_2By clicking on the icon and adding this blog as one of your blog feeds, you will be able to browse through our headlines, ensuring you never miss an article.

My del.icio.us Links & Bookmarks

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On April 27, 2008

In Uncategorized

The following is a list of recent articles that I have read or websites that I have found interesting.  I hope this linkroll is helpful for you as well.

From Messes To Successes

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On April 27, 2008

In Venture Capital, Web/Tech

One of my favorite VC bloggers is Fred Wilson, and he wrote another great post this past week.  "From Messes to Successes" is an interesting article about his experiences with "problem" portfolio companies.  As you would hope would be the case with any good venture capitalist, he and his team have helped turn many of these "problems" into fabulous outcomes.

Here is an excerpt from his article…

When I look back at my 20+ year history of venture investing, it’s certainly true that the biggest successes have been big messes at some point in their life. My most successful venture investment at Euclid, Multex, almost went bankrupt before the Internet came along and provided a cheap way to get it’s service to its customers. Geocities, which was our most successful investment at Flatiron, was a total mess in mid/late 1997, about a year after we first invested. And our most successful investment to date at Union Square Ventures, TACODA, was a mess multiple times including when the first build of its software totally failed on them. Delicious also had plenty of messy moments in its brief period in our portfolio.

The core point of Fred’s article is that startups are often messy due to the hyper-focus on the product and the market.  He goes on to argue that this may be what ultimately makes them companies great companies once they finally get their act together on process and operations.

I agree.  Building a great product is a pre-requisite for success.  When you get the product right, you can build a company around it.  Without a great product, you will end up throwing a lot of money at something that won’t ultimately succeed.

Start with the product.  Make it great.  Build the team the processes and operations around that great product.  That is how you build a great, successful business.

You can read more of Fred’s article here >> A VC: From Messes To Successes

buySAFE on TechNow

By

On April 21, 2008

In buySAFE

Here is a quick news story on buySAFE featuring both Jeff Grass, buySAFE’s CEO, and Travis Brown, buySAFE’s GC.  Nice work guys!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkLyxOlHXx0&w=425&h=344]

Daily Roundup for 2008-04-21

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On April 21, 2008

In Bookmarks, Counterfeits, eBay, Online Advertising, Online Fraud, PayPal, Trust and Safety, Web/Tech

Read More

Daily Roundup for 2008-04-17

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On April 17, 2008

In Bookmarks, Online Advertising, Venture Capital, Web/Tech

  • Targeting, Ad Network Spending Increase – eMarketer
    More than nine out of 10 US advertising agencies and advertisers buying online media plan to work with ad networks in 2008, according to Collective Media’s "Ad Network Study 2008."  Nearly three-quarters of respondents said that they planned to spend more with ad networks in 2008 than they did in 2007.

  • ISPs meddled with their customers’ Web traffic by Robert McMillan, IDG News Service
    In a paper, set to be delivered Wednesday, the researchers document some troubling practices. In July and August they tested data sent to about 50,000 computers and discovered that a small number of ISPs were injecting ads into Web pages on their networks. They also found that some Web browsing and ad-blocking software was actually making Web surfing more dangerous by introducing security vulnerabilities into pages.

Read More

Daily Roundup for 2008-04-16

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On April 16, 2008

In Bookmarks, eBay, eCommerce, Facebook, Marketing, Microsoft, Online Advertising, Online Fraud, Social Networking, Venture Capital, Web/Tech, Yahoo!

  • Does Your Company Need a Chief Blogger? – Advertising Age
    It’s a question marketers are still grappling with years after the first waves of corporate blogging flooded the web. But for better or worse, it seems corporate blogging — and the title of chief blogger — is beginning to hit its stride. Companies such as Coca-Cola, Marriott and Kodak all have recently recruited chief bloggers, with or without the actual title, to tell their stories and engage consumers.

  • Brands Partner With Consumers Online – eMarketer
    These days, online consumers and companies are collaborating on a range of activities, including R&D, marketing and after-sales support.  Here are a few examples of how brands and consumers are working together online.

Read More

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