Posts Tagged ‘investors’

Walker Twitter Highlights: May 6th – 19th

by Scott Edward Walker on May 20th, 2013

I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting blog posts, articles and podcasts relating to entrepreneurship and startups, M&A and legal issues.  Below are my five most popular tweets (via bit.ly) for the past two weeks and a couple of blog-related tweets.  If you’d like to see all of my tweets (or an RSS feed of them), you can do so here.  Cheers, Scott

 

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Words of Wisdom From Fred Wilson

by Scott Edward Walker on May 3rd, 2013

fred wilson

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we post a short video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.

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Words of Wisdom from Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman

by Scott Edward Walker on April 25th, 2013

Peter Thiel

Reid Hoffman v3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Walker Twitter Highlights: February 12th – 24th

by Scott Edward Walker on February 25th, 2013

I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting blog posts, articles and podcasts relating to entrepreneurship and startups, M&A and legal issues.  Below are my five most popular tweets (via bit.ly) for the past two weeks and a few blog-related tweets.  If you’d like to see all of my tweets (or an RSS feed of them), you can do so here.  Cheers, Scott

 

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Walker Twitter Highlights: January 28th – February 11th

by Scott Edward Walker on February 12th, 2013

I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting blog posts, articles and podcasts relating to entrepreneurship and startups, M&A and legal issues.  Below are my five most popular tweets (via bit.ly) for the past two weeks and a blog-related tweet.  If you’d like to see all of my tweets (or an RSS feed of them), you can do so here.  Cheers, Scott

 

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Venture Capitalists at Work – Part 2

by Scott Edward Walker on July 31st, 2012

INTRODUCTION

This is part 2 of my series on Venture Capitalists at Work, which is a solid collection of interviews by Tarang Shah of certain highly-successful investors.  Below are some more nuggets for entrepreneurs; and, in case you missed it, you can check out part 1 here.  Cheers, Scott

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Walker Twitter Highlights: July 2nd – 15th

by Scott Edward Walker on July 16th, 2012

I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting blog posts, articles and podcasts relating to entrepreneurship and startups, M&A and legal issues.  Below are my five most popular tweets (via bit.ly) for the past two weeks and a few blog-related tweets.  If you’d like to see all of my tweets (or an RSS feed of them), you can do so here.  Cheers, Scott

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Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed: Randy Komisar of Kleiner Perkins

by Scott Edward Walker on June 20th, 2012

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we post a video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.

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Fundraising 101: Checklist for Entrepreneurs

by Scott Edward Walker on May 9th, 2012

I’ve been a corporate lawyer for 18+ years, and there are certain fundamental mistakes that I’ve seen entrepreneurs repeatedly make in connection with fundraising.  Accordingly, I thought it would be helpful to provide a simple checklist tailored to first-time entrepreneurs.  I’ve also included links to prior posts for a detailed discussion.

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Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed: Jeff Clavier

by Scott Edward Walker on March 21st, 2012

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we again present Jeff Clavier, the Founder and Managing Partner of SoftTech VC, and a smart, savvy investor.

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Walker Twitter Highlights: February 6th – 19th

by Scott Edward Walker on February 19th, 2012

I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting blog posts, articles and podcasts relating to entrepreneurship and startups, M&A and legal issues.  Below are my five most popular tweets (via bit.ly) for the past two weeks and a few blog-related tweets.  If you’d like to see all of my tweets (or an RSS feed of them), you can do so here.  Cheers, Scott

 

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How To Pitch Investors (via David Cohen of TechStars)

by Scott Edward Walker on February 9th, 2012

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we present David Cohen, the founder and CEO of TechStars.

In this extraordinary 30-minute clip (starting at the 8:45 mark and courtesy of This Week in TechStars), David discusses how to pitch investors by dissecting the actual pitch done by Alex White of  Next Big Sound in 2009.  Indeed, David specifically highlights the importance of:

  • focusing on the first minute (especially in a group setting);
  • describing the big problem in the marketplace – the pain proposition;
  • demonstrating the product and how it addresses that problem;
  • telling a story;
  • “painting [your] vision” and not just focusing on what you’ve done to date;
  • going after something “big and audacious” (a “big, hairy goal”);
  • making sure that every slide has a point (“it exists for a reason”);
  • not talking about your competitors – instead, talking about your differentiation;
  • convincing investors that you don’t need a lot of capital (“we are cheap to keep alive”);
  • demonstrating traction and your ability to execute;
  • strategizing about the amount of capital you are trying to raise (“ask for less”); and
  • “beating [investors] over their head with a couple of things that matter.”

I hope you enjoy it.  Many thanks, Scott

Walker Twitter Highlights: January 16th – 22nd

by Scott Edward Walker on January 23rd, 2012

I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting blog posts, articles and podcasts relating to entrepreneurship and startups, M&A and legal issues.  Below are my five most popular tweets (via bit.ly) for the past week and a couple of blog-related tweets.  If you’d like to see all of my tweets (or an RSS feed of them), you can do so here.  Cheers, Scott

 

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Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed: Elon Musk

by Scott Edward Walker on January 20th, 2012

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we present Elon Musk, a brilliant entrepreneur and the co-founder of PayPal, Tesla Motors and Space Exploration Technologies.

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Venture Capital Term Sheets: Conversion Rights

by Scott Edward Walker on June 9th, 2011

Introduction

This post originally appeared as part of the “Ask the Attorney” column I am writing for VentureBeat; it is another installment of my ongoing series regarding venture capital term sheets.  Here are the issues I have addressed to date:

In today’s post, I examine conversion rights of investors.

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Walker Twitter Highlights: February 14th – 20th

by Scott Edward Walker on February 21st, 2011

I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting blog posts, articles, Quora answers and podcasts relating to entrepreneurship and startups, M&A and legal issues.  If you missed this week’s Twitter updates, below are my five most popular tweets (via bit.ly) and my blog-related tweets.  If you’d like to see all of my tweets (or an RSS feed of them), you can do so here.  Thanks, Scott

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How Do I Raise Seed Capital If I Don’t Know Any Investors? (Part 3) – AngelList

by Scott Edward Walker on November 10th, 2010

Introduction

This post is part 3 of my three-part series: “How do I raise seed capital if I don’t know any investors?”  In part 1, I discussed the importance of hustling and building relationships in order to get warm introductions to investors.  In part 2, I discussed some of the different mentorship and seed capital programs, including Y Combinator and TechStars.  In this post, I will discuss applying directly to a relatively new site called “AngelList.”

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How Do I Raise Seed Capital If I Don’t Know Any Investors? – Part 2

by Scott Edward Walker on October 20th, 2010

Introduction

This post is part 2 of my three-part series: “How do I raise seed capital if I don’t know any investors?”  In part 1, I discussed the importance of hustling and building relationships in order to get warm introductions to investors.  In this post, I will discuss a different approach: applying to one of the mentorship/seed capital programs.

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Walker Twitter Highlights: October 10th – 16th

by Scott Edward Walker on October 17th, 2010

I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting blog posts, articles and podcasts relating to entrepreneurship & startups, mergers & acquisitions, and business & corporate law issues.

For those of you who missed this week’s Twitter updates, below are my five most popular tweets (via bit.ly) and my blog-related tweets.  If you’d like to see all of my tweets (or an RSS feed of them), you can do so here.  Thanks, Scott

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How Do I Raise Seed Capital If I Don’t Know Any Investors? – Part 1

by Scott Edward Walker on October 13th, 2010

Introduction

As a corporate lawyer for entrepreneurs, I am constantly asked by first-time entrepreneurs: “How do I raise seed capital if I don’t know any investors?”  That’s a good question, which I’m going to answer in three parts.  This post is part 1 – hustle and build relationships.

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Walker Twitter Highlights: September 26th – October 2nd

by Scott Edward Walker on October 3rd, 2010

I’m using Twitter as a form of micro-blogging to share interesting articles, blog posts and podcasts relating to entrepreneurship, startup and corporate law issues, and mergers & acquisitions.

For those of you who missed this week’s Twitter updates, below are my five most popular tweets (via bit.ly) and two most popular blog-related tweets.  If you’d like to see all of my tweets (or an RSS feed of them), you can do so here.  Many thanks, Scott

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5 Common Mistakes in Pitch Decks

by Scott Edward Walker on September 29th, 2010

Introduction

Pitch Deck

As a corporate lawyer for entrepreneurs, I am often asked to review “pitch decks” or “decks.”  A deck is a collection of PowerPoint slides created by founders to raise funds from investors.  The deck can be sent to investors as a stand-alone document (e.g., via email) or it can be used in conjunction with an in-person presentation.  I am generally happy to give my input with respect to decks — with the caveat that I’m a lawyer, not an investor.  That being said, here are five common mistakes that I often see:

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Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed: Peter Thiel and Max Levchin

by Scott Edward Walker on September 20th, 2010

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we post a short video clip of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.

This week, we present (i) Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and a brilliant entrepreneur and investor; and (ii) Max Levchin, also a co-founder of PayPal and another brilliant guy.  In this interesting, five-minute clip (courtesy of Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner), Peter and Max briefly discuss PayPal’s exponential growth, how they dealt with their largest competitor and obtaining funding prior to the market collapse.  I hope you enjoy it.  Many thanks, Scott

Dear Entrepreneurs: Choose Your Own Legal Counsel

by Scott Edward Walker on September 8th, 2010

Introduction

The purpose of this post is expand upon my answer to the question on Quora:

“What should you do as a startup when a Bay Area VC insists that you use their expensive legal counsel?”

Mark Suster, a VC at GRP Partners, has also written and spoken about how he likes to “share” his legal counsel with the startup in which he is investing.  My advice to entrepreneurs is clear: push back hard on this issue and choose your own strong, independent legal counsel – i.e., a law firm that’s going to work hard to protect you and watch your back.

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Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed: Ron Conway and Mike Maples

by Scott Edward Walker on September 6th, 2010

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series entitled “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we post a short video clip of successful entrepreneurs, investors or business leaders on a variety of topics to help entrepreneurs succeed.

This week, we present legendary angel investor Ron Conway (commonly referred to as the “Godfather of Silicon Valley”) and super angel Mike Maples (managing partner of Floodgate).  In this interesting, three-minute clip (courtesy of Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship Corner), Ron and Mike provide strong, practical advice to startups, including the importance of (i) a low burn rate, (ii) a “lean, mean” team and (iii) a customer development strategy.  I hope you enjoy it.  Many thanks, Scott