Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2011

But last week I noticed a blog post by a woman, Tara Tiger Brown, that asked the question, “ Why Aren’t More Women Commenting on VC Blog Posts? She has a quote from literally every major VC from whom you’d want to hear. ” [it's short, you should read it]. Please watch this. Every single one.

entrepreneurs 341

entrepreneurs entrepreneurship VC pitching 341

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

I’m enjoying being a VC. I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. VC meetings going well. 2 million in VC. I swore never to do that as a VC. What do VC’s Experience?

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entrepreneurs startup VC real estate 384

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

As many of you know I run a weekly webcast called This Week in VC that’s getting between 25-35,000 weekly views across ThisWeekIn.com, YouTube & mostly iTunes. They never did any PR or marketing to get their videos to first get shown on the news during the 2000 election. Advice, coaching, intros?

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mix-use VC advice creativity 303

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 9, 2013

Raise a big VC round – yeah! VCs even offered me to cash out seven figures personally not to sell. But I had been down this road in 2000 and I saw how punishing markets could be when you didn’t sell and had an offer. Startup Advice' How can you wake up every day and process that decision. Five million?

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advice VC creativity opportunity 405

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 11, 2012

16k+ Twitter followers, 5500+ e-mail subs a week, 6th most read VC blog, appearences on Bloomberg and CNBC and I can't use any of it to market any kind of financial product--but if I wanted to sell you a watch or build a video game, I'd be set. Want to know why there aren't more female partners at VC funds? scratches bald head].

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ventures incubation VC venture capital 290

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

People assume that I’m biased because I’m a VC and think you should always get the highest valuation possible. The A round was done in February 2000 (end of the bull market) and my B round was done in April 2001 (bear market). But if you do this early (pre VC) then the price points are pretty low. This is wrong.

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venture capital capital ventures angel investing 282

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

We raised a seed round of capital in 1999 and our first venture capital round was the first week of March 2000 (e.g. But this was early 2000 and our US competitors had already closed rounds North of $45 million. We had a $40 million round lined up to close in the Autumn of 2000. Our first big institutional round was $16.5

entrepreneurs 308

entrepreneurs advice real estate venture capital 308

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

I recently read a blog post by Beezer Clarkson, Managing Director of Sapphire Ventures about why entrepreneurs should care about from whom their VC funds raise their capital. There are a lot of things I think entrepreneurs should care about when raising from a VC: How big or small their fund is? Beezer did.

entrepreneurs 237

entrepreneurs VC mentorship strategy 237

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

They have totally changed the way you run a VC firm, investing heavily in systems & events for their founders that are pushing the boundaries of the way our industry works. It is clear that he is simply passionate about being a VC and participating in this industry. Howard is successful enough that he doesn't need to work.

capital 284

capital board VC pitching 284

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

It’s the one bit of advice I find myself giving most frequently these days, “raise money at the top end of normal.&#. I’m a VC so I have an obvious bias. It was early 2000. I saw this kind of pricing when I first entered the VC market in 2007. I thought I’d post on one of the topics before hand.

startup 336

startup advice pitching investment 336

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

Still, as a VC I value proprietary dealflow & long term relationships. I know it was over heated when a deal where I wrote one of the first checks on (as an angel, not VC) went out on AngelList. Mostly, I don’t believe that a VC not being on AngelList is “anti entrepreneur&# – it is not. My personal use.

angel investing 267

angel investing VC mix-use entrepreneurs 267

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I spoke about how Amazon Web Services deserves far more credit for the last 5 years of innovation than it gets credit for and how I believe they spawned the micro-VC category. I said that I felt that Micro-VCs were the most important change in our industry. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs. I believe that.

real estate 309

real estate entrepreneurs financing finance 309

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 13, 2010

Within a year, by late 2000 / early 2001 consulting firms were firing people en masse. I was reminded of all this this when I read a blog post by one of my favorite thinkers on the VC market, Bryce Roberts, who talked about “ unfundable companies.&#. Most of the Internet startup consulting firms went bankrupt.

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consulting leadership entrepreneurs advice 302

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2011

I’m enjoying being a VC. I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. VC meetings going well. 2 million in VC. I swore never to do that as a VC. What do VC’s Experience?

entrepreneurs 176

entrepreneurs startup VC real estate 176

Onevest

MARCH 19, 2015

Even the more realistic projection, $300 billion , is 10 times the current VC investment market. Typically limited to giving advice or consuming, Title III will give non-accredited investors far more influence over products, services, and planning. Onevest does not give investment, legal or tax advice. will increase from 3.5

advice 189

advice investing investment startup 189

TechCrunch

MARCH 7, 2023

However, it appears that even though VCs are proceeding more cautiously than before and taking their time with due diligence, they are still investing. CB Insights recently found that two of the largest global VC firms, Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, actually backed more fintech companies in 2022 than any other category.

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advice ventures sustainability investing 110

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 28, 2022

Before problems arise and between regularly scheduled meetings, entrepreneurs should get comfortable with asking for help and advice. What can the 2000 dot-com crash teach us about the 2022 tech downturn? Reaching out to share an update or ask questions sends a strong signal that you’re not waiting for someone to give you direction.

venture capital 82

venture capital innovation energy entrepreneurs 82

TechCrunch

JUNE 9, 2022

Startups and VC. A promise: We won’t run any articles on TechCrunch+ with advice for navigating a downturn unless the author actually knows what they’re talking about. He initially looked at some data and suggested there was a slump, and when some folks suggested it was not the right data, he took another look.

advice 83

advice VC education pitching 83

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2010

It also takes options off the table if you eventually find out that this isn’t a VC backable business. I’ve spoken about this in a post entitled, “ Do you even need VC ?&# Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Raising Venture Capital Start-up Advice Startup Advice. Don’t let that be you.

startup 319

startup advice venture capital VC 319

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2012

But my VC didn’t seem to be in such a rush. They say, “I haven’t been able to reach my client (the VC) yet.” I call the VC to discuss. I talk to the VC. My VC wasn’t that keen either. And it obviously doesn’t just apply to a VC financing. Nor did their lawyer. We move on.

real estate 301

real estate VC financing finance 301

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

My Story: The public coming out for my first company, BuildOnline, was in early 2000. We then had a piece in Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Europe, we ran front cover of Tornado Insider (the top VC magazine in Europe at the time). If you need VC, no better time than the present. Don’t believe their hype either.

media 310

media advice VC capital 310

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

Be careful about this advice. Also be careful about VCs. But once a VC has heard your idea he can’t “un-think&# it. I know because I did this in early 2000. And example is lumping your VC funding announcement into a story about major customers wins, product features or key milestones.

startup 380

startup entrepreneurs advice strategy 380

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

Again, this is highly individualized so no generic advice can be offered. It’s hard for many VCs to get excited about funding a company who is going to compete with somebody who just raised $10 million from an A-list VC (although this can go the other way, also). they make it incrementally harder to fund raise.

advice 303

advice frameworks capital mentorship 303

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

I freely admit this (along with nearly everything between 1999-2000) was a mistake. I wouldn’t be a VC for very long if I did. Tags: Startup Advice. But I thought I should do a quick post on the topic. Options are gravy - I lived through the first dot com era where we used stock options as a recruiting tool.

culture 294

culture advice VC financing 294

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. My blog linked to Brad Feld’s blog because I was so grateful for his series on term sheets and he was one of the biggest reasons that as a VC I felt compelled to blog.

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VC venture capital pitching capital 274

WSJ - The Accelerators

JULY 2, 2015

Between 2000 and 2002, Industry Canada reported that roughly a quarter of the venture funding for Canadian startups came from the United States, while the converse was not true – Canadian venture capitalists maybe accounted for 1% of venture investments into U.S. Because the U.S. companies. (See

ventures 28

ventures incumbents venture capital financing 28

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

There is all sorts of advice on the Internet about how to raise capital. I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. And of course I’ve sat on the other side of the table: As a VC. I’ve tried to make this advice as well-rounded and biased free as I can.

strategy 366

strategy development VC advice 366

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 28, 2022

Startups and VC. What can the 2000 dot-com crash teach us about the 2022 tech downturn? Before problems arise and between regularly scheduled meetings, entrepreneurs should get comfortable with asking for help and advice. What can the 2000 dot-com crash teach us about the 2022 tech downturn? Bon appétit!

startup ecosystem 75

startup ecosystem disruption advice entrepreneurs 75

TechCrunch

JUNE 10, 2022

Building a company is a high-stakes effort, so here’s a promise: I won’t approve articles with advice for navigating this downturn unless the author has direct experience with the matter. ET, Karl Alomar will join me in a Twitter Space to share more strategic advice for fundraising during a downturn. This might take a little time.”.

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VC real estate advice pitching 81

Entrepreneur's Handbook

JUNE 17, 2022

( Any views expressed in the below are the personal views of the author and should not form the basis for making investment decisions, nor be construed as a recommendation or advice to engage in investment transactions. Thank you VC money, keep pumping the market full of that fee-adjusted beta! Do not take this as financial advice.

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