“Brews and Views” With Authors Jason Mendelson & Brad Feld

Jason Mendelson and Brad Feld were the guest speakers at today’s “Brews and Views” out in Silicon Valley at law firm Dorsey & Whitney. Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson are the co-founders of the Foundry Group as well as co-authors of the book Venture Deals.

The event was a panel of sorts with Jason and Brad sitting in the front of a group of about 70 technology enthusiasts with lawyer Ted Hollifield asking them pre set questions as well as coordinating the ones coming in from the crowd.  Here is the event details:

In a time of volatile market forces, a shifting venture capital landscape and game-changing new technologies, entrepreneurs are reassessing and adapting their goals and strategies for raising money in today’s dynamic business environment.  Beyond negotiating tips and tricks, what forces and incentives do startup entrepreneurs really need to understand once they’ve landed and are assessing the sought-after term sheet?  Entrepreneurs will gain invaluable insights into the finely-nuanced forces and incentives rarely disclosed openly so they can expertly navigate getting the most from investors.

Please join Dorsey & Whitney in welcoming special guests Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson, co-founders and managing directors of early stage VC firm Foundry Group, and co-authors of the new book “Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist.”

Join us for an afternoon of lively point/counterpoint banter moderated by Dorsey’s lead business and technology practice partner Ted Hollifield, a VC lawyer and legal expert on term sheets, who will discuss with Brad and Jason What Really Matters section of their new “VC Deals” book.  These experts will offer invaluable insights that entrepreneurs need to know for negotiating and working with startup investors.  An open Q&A will also give attendees opportunity to ask their own questions from all three experts.

This late afternoon event includes tasty grub and arguably the valley’s best European-style microbrews provided by Devil’s Canyon Brewery Company in Belmont, as well as a chance to mix and mingle with other entrepreneurs, VC’s and professionals from around SF/Silicon Valley.

This was a solid event with lots of great information being shared by Jason and Brad.  Many of the “tips” shared by them were about how to deal with their VC colleagues at other firms and what to expect if your trying to raise money.

Jason Mendelson and Brad Feld taking questions from the group

50 Coffees: Pat Gallagher of CrunchFund

As part of our effort to meet with as many of the talented and experienced people in Silicon Valley as possible, we figured we might as well start with one of the most recognized names in the tech startup space, Michael Arrington and his new team with the CrunchFund.  Mike Stephenson and I have met Mike Arrington before, about 4 years ago at the TechCrunch40 event in San Francisco.  I connected with Mike a few days ago on Facebook chat and asked if he was going to be back in San Francisco anytime soon.  (He was in Mexico at the time).  He said he was going back to Seattle but that we should connect with his business partner Pat Gallagher.  Mike connected Pat and I via email and suggested that we meet up.  Michael Stephenson and I drove to San Carlos (about 40 minutes from San Francisco city) to meet with Pat at Peets Coffee.

It was a fantastic meeting.  We explained what we were up to, a little bit about our experience over the past 10 years and where we wanted to take PayrollHero.com.  Pat had some great feedback for us and explained what the CrunchFund was all about and what they were looking to do with their resources.  All in all it was a great meeting and Pat encouraged us to reach out to meet up again to go through the product with him and MG Siegler.

(50 Coffees)