The Investor Edition: Featuring Allison Goldberg and David S. Rose
We did things a little differently this week on "Secrets of Successful Startups." My co-host, legal expert Jennifer Hill, and I sat down with two seasoned investors and asked them for their take on the startup world, on entrepreneurs, on the types of pitches they like - and they held nothing back.
Allison Goldberg, managing director and vice president at Time Warner Investments, focuses on companies seeking $2 million to $10 million in capital. Her goal: To find startups that might be good strategic investments for Time Warner. "For example, we are interested in adtech, music, gaming, social, anything that fits nicely into one of four divisions: Time, Inc., Warner Brothers, HBO or Turner." Some past investments Time Warner has made include GetGlue, Adify, Admeld and MediaVast (acquired by Getty Images).
What's hot now for Goldberg? "Social marketing companies, data analysis, television-related technologies."
As a "super angel," investor and serial entrepreneur, David S. Rose regards startup investing quite differently from Goldberg. Angels typically invest much smaller amounts of cash into startups, from $25,000 to $100,000. Rose has made 80 such investments over the years, and his portfolio ranges from nanotech (BioScale) to web-based TV search (CriticalMention) to travel recommendations (Trazzler).
Watch the video in the player above to learn firsthand what Goldberg and Rose look for when analyzing which companies to invest in.
We asked Goldberg and Rose what one thing entrepreneurs need to do to impress an investor. Their answers were surprisingly similar, with one exception: Goldberg wants to know "why Time Warner?" Why is the entrepreneur going to Time Warner versus any old venture capitalist to raise money. "There has to be a good fit with our company, or it has to be a technology or market we are interested in learning more about," explains Goldberg.
Watch here for more insights From Goldberg:
I attended the ITP Women Entrepreneurs Festival in New York City recently and took some videos of female entrepreneurs and investors at the event. I asked our investor panel to comment on the questions raised at the festival. The main question is "How do female entrepreneurs differ from males?" Watch the video to find out what investors said: