Mark Suster
2x startup Founder & CEO who has gone to the Dark Side of VC. His first company, BuildOnline was sold in 2005, his second, Koral was acquired by Salesforce.com and became known as Salesforce Content, while Mark served as VP Product Management. In 2007 Mark joined GRP Partners in 2007 as a General Partner. He focuses on early-stage technology companies, usually looking at Series A investment, and blogs at the aptly titled Both Sides of the Table.
How Should You Best Launch Your Product at SXSW?
It’s February now. That means a slew of companies will be preparing to launch their new products or announcing their companies at the annual SXSW conference in Austin, Texas. I get asked often how to best launch at SXSW. What strategies to use, how to get attention, how to become “hot.” I get asked many [...]
Goodbye Jody.
Jody. You’re gone too early. We still had so many more times to spend together. I loved this image I saw posted by Andy Rankin. Because this is the one word that was not in your vocabulary. And it was the first word I muttered when I heard the news tonight. I remember when we [...]
Should You Bother Targeting the Tech Blogs for Your PR Campaigns?
I’ve started a recent series on PR at startups since I get asked for advice on this topic so often. I will put the full list of posts here. The start of this series was, Should Your Startup Announce Funding? 6 or 7 years ago when TechCrunch was at its peak market share (they are still [...]
Should Startups Announce Their Funding?
Understanding “The Funding Angle” I sit at enough board meetings to hear conflicting advice given to entrepreneurs about how to handle PR and announcements at startups. I think many board members (including VCs) were trained 10+ years ago when life was very different and their advice often comes from an outdated lens. One of [...]
A Post Startup Execs Should Forward to Your Spouse or Partner. 12 Tips for Making it Work
I recently wrote a post about how to manage relationships when you’re at a startup or are busy executive. It was based on an excellent book I had just read by Brad Feld & Amy Batchelor (his wife). I had images in my brain of all of the stresses I had placed on my wife [...]
One Book Every Entrepreneur Should Own
Brad Feld seems to write books faster than I can read and write about them. This time he has written a book that is far more important than most management books you will read. He teamed up with his wife, Amy Batchelor, to write about about the impact that entrepreneurship has on relationships and what [...]
Sandy Hook Promise and Tech Activism
The tech community has become more politically active over the past 5 years and this is a good thing. We live in a representative democracy and organizing, having a voice and expressing views is critical to our functioning democracy. One of the most visible, active and admirable leaders of this movement is Ron Conway and [...]
I’m Back. Why I Love January
It’s January. Happy New Year! My last post was December 17 – nearly a month ago. I miss blogging because it serves as a great repository for me of my current thinking, as a way of organizing my thoughts and clarifying what I think and as a conversation started with so many of you (as Hunter [...]
The Valuable Unsung Heroes of Startups
I got a call Sunday from a business colleague while I was sitting in the lounge at LAX waiting for yet another delayed flight. This colleague is a lawyer with whom I work on a deal and have done so for a couple of years. By all accounts I now consider him a friend. He [...]
Would the Last Blackberry User Please Turn Out the Lights? I Already Left the Building
My Blackberry died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know. It seems so long ago that we had to start hiding our Blackberry’s in our pockets to avoid always being chastised. If you were caught sending out an email on your Blackberry you had to quickly whip out your iPhone to show that – wait! [...]
Some Quick Sage Advice for Young Employees Early in Their Careers
My wife & I have a close friend who recently entered the workforce for his first-ever job. On his first day of work my wife was kind enough to write down words of wisdom from her years on the job. I don’t write about Tania very often – mostly at her request. Otherwise I’d shout [...]
Some Advice for Celebrities and Startups Seeking Their Endorsements
I live in LA. And I’m a VC. So you can imagine I see my fair share of celebrities looking to get into the technology industry. And equal numbers of startups seeking celebrity endorsements. For the most part my advice is simple, “don’t bother.” But as ever I’ve had to have this debate in numerous [...]
Entrepreneur’s Don’t Think Enough. Here’s What You Can Do About It …
Every so often I find myself caught up in a really hectic 3-4 week schedule where it seems like I float endlessly betweens meetings. Pitches. Intros. Board Meetings. Conferences. And I get flooded with legal docs, end-of-quarter financial administration, recruiting, whatever. I get sucked up in “Do” mode. Startups Are for Doers Now, I’m pretty [...]
Entrepreneurshit. The Blog Post on What It’s Really Like.
It’s 4.50am. Sunday morning. And I couldn’t sleep. I have much on my mind since I just returned from a week on the road. 5 days. 3 cities. Late night Mexican food. Beers. Airports. Delays. I left on a Sunday. I had to miss a full day with my family, camping in the mountains. I [...]
Memories of an Unconnected Era: Searching for Sugar Man
Many people reading this will be digital natives. These are people who don’t remember an era in which we were unconnected. There is no doubt that technology brings benefits to our lives and I have been a heavy user of tech since I was 13 (in 1981). I was connecting to online communities as a [...]
