This is part of my series on  what makes an entrepreneur successful .  I originally posted it on  VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur :  Tenacity .  I So we as VCs search for entrepreneurs/founders I I then covered  Street Smarts ,  Ability to Pivot ,  Resiliency ,  Inspiration and Perspiration .

This is part of my new series on  what makes an entrepreneur successful .  I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute:  Tenacity .  I Resiliency – I like to say that “being an entrepreneur is really If you haven’t spent time over there you should. I

Recently I’ve been debating with a number of young startup companies that are raising money in the next few months, “what is the right about of capital to raise at a startup?” I’ve seen too many entrepreneurs try to do things on the cheap.  I the funding environment might change dramatically – there may never be a next round (see: March 2000, This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital . 8221;

This is part of my ongoing series “ Start Up Advice ” but I’d really like to call this post, “VC Advice.” On a panel that I sat on with Ron in LA in 2008 he stated that there were no circumstances in which the founder should take money off of the table.  I Let me start with a couple of stories. A friend of mine is a serial entrepreneur and is running a high-profile, early stage company in NorCal. 8221; If a company has reached a level of success, has been around for a few years and you believe the company has potential to

On the flip side, as a person who regularly advises early stage start-ups, I often have a hard time finding interesting start-ups. Like Christian Gammil (who I recommend as an advisor) working with entrepreneurs is something I really enjoy. Actually, the friction is even higher trying to find a partner for a start-up. Andrew Warner from Mixergy posted - Before Looking for Funding, Get an Advisor . He recommends that early stage companies get input from people who know the funding process, know the vertical, etc.

This is the story of an idea that started out as a series of conversations on message boards and quickly became a marketplace that facilitated $5 million in design work. So, on a Friday evening, someone would come up with a fictional project and over the weekend, 20 or 30 designers would compete to create the best design work and on Monday morning, they would vote and annoint one of them as the top designer, if you will. What I’m most eager for you to see are the steps the founders took to ensure that their new business proved itself and earned money right from inception.

In the first post in this three part series I described why I believe the VC market froze between September 2008 – April 2009 .  In It is also a result of pent-up demand. I believe that consumer spending over the past 15 years has been fueled by a great run up in the equity value of property that gave consumers what economists call “ the wealth effect ” and even though the Wikipedia cites some economists who believe it’s only theory In the second post I argued that as of September 2009 the pace of VC investments has increased rapidly (at least for software / Internet investments – the only sector on which I’m competent to comment), but only for those remaining VCs who have new enough funds and aren’t plagued by “the triage problem.”

A reminder that it is important for all entrepreneurs is to remember to be careful about “deal drift.”  I Let me start with a story.  When We ended up agreeing a term sheet for $16.5 We had people hearing through the grapevine that we were about to raise money and new investors started calling us to get in on the I think the perfect saying to have as a reminder is “time is the enemy of all deals,” or as my wife is all too tired of hearing me say, “Don’t pop the champagne until the ink is dry on the contract and the money is in the bank.” So, where does this all come

So, on a Friday evening, someone would come up with a fictional project and over the weekend, 20 or 30 designers would compete to create the best design work and on Monday morning, they would vote and annoint one of them as the top designer, if you will. So we started charging people $20 flat fee to post a project in our forums. This is a story of an overnight success that was a few years in the making. 16 months ago, 99designs launched and quickly became a marketplace that facilitated $5 million in design work.

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