Mark Suster

Mark Suster Contributor Mark Suster is the managing partner at Upfront Ventures, the leading Los Angeles-based venture firm. More posts by this contributor Why was the winter for venture capital funding so short? Should You Be A Startup CEO? Chang Xu Contributor Chang Xu is an investor at Upfront Ventures.

Mark Suster is the managing partner at Upfront Ventures, the leading Los Angeles-based venture firm.

The Latest from Mark Suster

Why was the winter for venture capital funding so short?

It was only a year ago that many in the Venture Capital industry were predicting that “winter was coming” and to be fair the author of this post was chief amongst them. Yet as we enter February 20

Should You Be A Startup CEO?

This is the narrative that isn't talked about - but I promise you it's the more common narrative amongst even those that went to top-tier schools, got the right jobs, worked hard in their 20s but didn

Be Honest About Whether Your Product Really Makes A Difference

Startups in a world of massive markets can be confusing. The law of large numbers; platforms that can make your company blow up unexpectedly and the trendy nature of tech markets are deceiving. Suc

There’s Something Going On In L.A.

It's the new refrain I hear from investors and even entrepreneurs these days. I hear it right after people decide to come by for a few days to "check out what all the fuss is about." I hear it when I

Why You Shouldn’t Decide Anything Important At Your Board Meeting

There is an old saying in poker that if you don't know who the sucker at the table is - it's you. The same can be said of critical decisions in a board meeting or frankly any other meeting where ma

My Favorite Entrepreneur Story In A Long Time

The tech industry has a certain narrative on how startups are created. Given the immense wealth generated in a short period of time, entrepreneurial lessons are often lost in the measure of dollars an

How to Sell Your Roadmap Without Selling Your Soul

It's hard to land large customers when you're a tiny enterprise software startup and when you do you have to be careful that you don't become their internal R&D department. This post offers a s

7 Tips For Layering Professional Services Revenue Into Your Startup

Many investors and advisors will tell you that you shouldn't have professional services revenue at your enterprise startup. This is wrong. PS helps secure customer success and brings in quick revenue

One of the Biggest Mistakes Enterprise Startups Make

The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation peop

Why Your Marketing Campaign Sucks

Creating awareness for your brand is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. This post provi

Participation: The Trend That Is Bigger Than The Harlem Shake

Global audiences of prosumer video producers will create content that is viewed by global audiences in numbers far in excess of traditional TV. TV will enter the era of "participation" and when the me

Why Startup Entrepreneurs Need to Communicate More Like George Bush Than Al Gore

<em><strong>Editor’s Note: </strong>This is a guest post by Mark Suster (<a target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/#!/msuster">@msuster</a>), a 2x entrepreneur, now VC at <a target="_blank" href=

12 Tips To Building A Successful Startup Community Where You Live

<em><strong>Editor’s Note: </strong>This is a guest post by Mark Suster (<a target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/#!/msuster">@msuster</a>), a 2x entrepreneur, now VC at <a target="_blank" href=

Why Convertible Notes Are Sometimes Terrible For Startups

<em><strong>Editor’s Note: </strong>This is a guest post by Mark Suster (<a target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/#!/msuster">@msuster</a>), a 2x entrepreneur, now VC at <a target="_blank" href

The Power of Torso TV (Why Media is Racing to the Middle)

<a href="https://techcrunch.com/?attachment_id=566769" rel="attachment wp-att-566769"><img src="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/torso-tv.jpg" title="torso tv" width="448" height="315

Launchpad LA Receives VC Funding: $50,000 Per Startup

Launchpad LA today announces it will accept applications for its third class of Los Angeles-based tech startups. There are significant VC commitments and every entering company will get $50,000 in fun

Why You Should Ban Laptops at Board Meetings

<em><strong>Editor’s Note: </strong>This is a guest post by (<a href="http://twitter.com/#!/msuster">@msuster</a>) Mark Suster, a 2x entrepreneur, now VC at <a href="http://www.grppartners.com">GRP

The State of Venture Capital and the Internet

<img src="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/vc-market-on-docstoc.jpg" /> <em><strong>Editor’s Note: </strong>This is a guest post by (<a href="http://twitter.com/#!/msuster">@msu

Understanding How Dilution Affects You At A Startup

Everybody knows that when you raise money at a startup your ownership percentage of the company goes down. The goal is to have the value of the startup go up by enough that you own a smaller percentag

Netflix Redux: Is It Ever OK to Fire Your Customers?

A month ago <a href="http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/09/19/why-reed-hastings-should-be-applauded-for-netflix-split/" target="_blank">I applauded Reed Hasting's bold decision to split his busi
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