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GRP Announces $200 Million Fund. Rebrands as Upfront Ventures

Both Sides of the Table

We have previously raised funds in 1996 ($200 million), 2000 ($400 million) and 2008/9 ($200 million). At any moment in time one of Upfront’s associates are likely to be working on: a pricing strategy, a market-expansion strategy, an M&A review, or helping build a company’s first board deck template.

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Want to Know How First Round Capital was Started?

Both Sides of the Table

I have sat on a board with Howard and have known him a few years. Infonautics went public in 1996 and Half.com was sold to eBay in 2000. What is ideal board structure? For a company that raises a seed round of capital a three person board that includes the CEO, Investor, and an Independent member is fine. and Half.com.

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Understanding Changes in the Software & Venture Capital Industries

Both Sides of the Table

These two trends had a major impact on the computing industry from 2000-2005 but the effects weren’t yet felt by the VC industry. We had to learn how to be better at “load balancing & replication&# – meaning how we managed data across all the boxes since they weren’t centralized on one box.

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The Screwy Logic of Crowdfunding and Venture Fund Regulation

This is going to be BIG.

Personally, I think it would be pretty awesome if all of the people who subscribe to my weekly newsletter could put $2000 towards supporting the early stage tech ecosystem in NYC. I'm a believer that someone needs to lead a round, sit on a board, and go to sleep at night thinking about how they can help the companies they're invested in.

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The Yo-Yo Life of a Tech Entrepreneur – A Cautionary Tale

Both Sides of the Table

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

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The Great VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) – Part 1 of 3

Both Sides of the Table

Just ask anybody who was trying to close funding the fateful week of September 11, 2001 or even March 2000. As a personal story, I sat on the board of one company with a very unhealthy burn rate relative to revenue or expected growth. disclosure: I am thankfully no longer on this board). I only had one board with this problem.

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Should Founders Be Allowed to Take Money off the Table?

Both Sides of the Table

Coupled with my participating preferred from 1999 and 2000 I had more than $55 million of liquidation preferences. By then I was still on the board of my first company but it hadn’t yet sold (it ended up selling in 2007 to a publicly traded French company). In my first company I had to raise money in April 2001 or die.

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