The following is a guest post by Mark Wiranowski, CU law student and member of the CUNVC executive committee:
Jason Mendelson, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Foundry Group, a Boulder venture capital firm, kicked off the New Venture Challenge Crash Course series to a packed house last night. His wealth of experience – software engineer, then deal attorney, then venture capitalist – came through in lively style. He’s not afraid to call a spade a spade, either. Take his advice on very early stage financing:
“Do you really need financing yet? Early stage financing is very risky, and therefore, expensive. I’m going to act more like a loan shark than a VC. An angel investor will give you a better deal. Create value and the money will follow.”
This was the first in an every-Wednesday “Crash Course” series put on by the New Venture Challenge. Each workshop is presented by a seasoned entrepreneur or business leaders. Mendelson’s talk, titled “How to Build a Company,” dished out advice and highlighted common mistakes:
“You need a partner who complements your skills. The biggest red flag for me as a VC is someone starting a company solo.”
“Most people fall down on estimating the competition. Lots of entrepreneurs say, “We are different.” Are you really? Take social networking sites; your competition might just be your customers’ time.”
“Marketing and advertising will not save you: Every marketing guy knows that half of his budget is wasted; he just doesn’t know which half.”
Mendelson also praised Boulder as a place to build a company. Successful entrepreneurs are happy to mentor those starting out, and the city is one of the most socially-networked that he’s worked in. Mendelson illustrated with a parting shot.
“What should you say to a Sand Hill Road venture capitalist? Compliment him on his Ferrari.”
Below are the slides from Jason’s presentation. Thanks Jason! Here is the video of the crash course.
2 Comments
I will suggest a question/topic that I have yet to find an answer too:
How do you go about raising a mezzanine size round ($50M-$100M), while a startup, and still retain a stake large enough to remain in control of the operation the first two years?
The relevant space is capital intensive businesses like data centers.
Thanks for your comment Mark! I assume this question is for Jason. He is better reached at the two blogs he maintains, Ask the VC: http://www.askthevc.com and Mendelson’s Musings: http://www.jasonmendelson.com. Both are great resources I encourage you to check out. You can also email him directly with your question at jason@foundrygroup.com.