Erik Rannala
More Funding Won’t Magically Fix Your Startup
by Erik Rannala Some entrepreneurs think that (more) money will solve all their company’s problems. It won’t. Like a teenager with a million dollar allowance and an identity crisis, a...
Venture Capital Is Dead. Long Live Venture Capital.
(Guest post by my partner, Erik Rannala) There have been rumblings recently that the traditional VC model could be in danger of extinction, threatened by more contemporary investment sources such...
What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From the 5 Craziest Investor Meetings
As a startup founder, a huge amount is staked on your ability to fundraise. Investment means you have something to live on while you turn your idea into a reality....
Is Uber Really Worth $40 ($50?) Billion?
This is the second part of my last post. . . Uber’s stratospheric valuation has joined “the weather” as the conversation topic of last resort at awkward dinner and lunch...
Reconstructing Uber’s Uber Financials
Like many of people in the tech community, I’ve been following Uber with a mix of awe, horror, and admittedly, jealousy. How exactly is it doing? How is it worth...
The secret of great product managers: Balancing the worlds of ‘techie’ and ‘fuzzy’
Microsoft created the “modern” role of product manager 25 years ago, and the job holds an aura of myth even today. Two-and-a-half decades later, the role of product manager is...
Tale of Two Valleys: LA and the Bay Area from an Investor’s Perspective
Almost 30 years ago, my father decided to uproot the entire family from Taiwan to the United States so that his academically “inconsistent” son could have an education tolerant and...
When Partnering With Giants, the Warning Signs of a Sour Deal
When building a company, acquiring a user or closing a customer one at a time can seem like competing in a marathon while knee deep in mud — making progress...
The Term Sheet Mating Dance
There is no word more sacred and yet over-used than “term sheet” in the entrepreneurial circle. The pursuit of the mythical VC term sheet has blinded entrepreneurs from the real...
The Seed Valley of Death: Caught Between $19B and Series A Crunch
Even before Sequoia Capital made $3.5 billion on a $60 million investment in WhatsApp, the seed- and early-stage funding landscape had already changed significantly. Most major VC firms have significantly...