Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Spark Capital is relatively new to VC (founded in 2005) yet has become one of the hottest new VCs having invested in Twitter, Tumblr, AdMeld, Boxee, KickApps and many more companies. Topics we discussed in the first 45 minutes of the video include: What is VC like in NY? Our guest was Mo Koyfman of Spark Capital.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2014

Scott and I agree on nearly everything: The VC structure is changing and there appears to be a bifurcation into small & large VCs with an impact on “traditionally sized” VCs. The only point we didn’t seem totally aligned on was what we happening to the “middle of the VC market.”

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

Just ask anybody who was trying to close funding the fateful week of September 11, 2001 or even March 2000. I would argue that the shut-down of September 2009 was equally severe yet there are signs that this “VC Ice Age” has begun to thaw. Why did the VC markets freeze so quickly? Short answer – yes.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

million which closed the first week of March 2000 – a week before the market crashed. 2 weeks later and we may never have raised any more VC. Quick aside: how can VC’s invest in online businesses, digital media, social networks or mobile applications if they don’t actually use the products actively themselves?

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A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

OCTOBER 12, 2020

My partner Albert told me that when you factor in the financing costs of this swap, the average home in the Northeast United States could save $1000 to $2000 a year by doing this swap. It has gotten less expensive to do this swap out as solar and heat pump costs have come down.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2011

I will argue that LPs who invest in VC funds will also need to adjust a bit as well. 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. I have called the creation of Micro VC as the most important change in our industry and I believe it.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Start Up Advice &# but I’d really like to call this post, “VC Advice.&#. We exchanged ideas when I was an entrepreneur along side him in NorCal in 05-07 and my point-of-view on founder / VC relationships hasn’t shifted even 1% since I went to the dark side.

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

We have previously raised funds in 1996 ($200 million), 2000 ($400 million) and 2008/9 ($200 million). If you’ve been following the press about VC funds you’ll know this is no small feat. Let’s start with the fund. This month we closed our 4th fund of $200 million.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

We moved into the legal process and final due diligence in January and February of 2000. Our final closure was the first week of March 2000. Many deals – VC or otherwise – didn’t close. VC, sales, biz dev, M&A or otherwise. Especially in VC. Let’s take the deal on the table and go build a huge business.”

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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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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2011

He and I once took different sides of an debate about whether “VC signaling&# in early-stage deals is a serious problem or not. So it was fun to turn the cameras on him for 45 minutes for a special “NY edition of This Week in VC&# and hearing his views. I’ve also found him to not be dogmatic either.

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This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 6, 2019

Ask any VC how excited on a scale of one to ten they are about their latest deal, and they’ll tell you eleven out of ten. Veterans will probably be a little more cautious and tell you they’re at a ten out of ten—but despite knowing all the risks, a VC simply isn’t going to get over the line unless they’re pretty blown away by an idea.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

But VC is like congress. As you can see from the chart their data suggests there are about $25 billion of VC distributions per year in the US. According to FLAG Capital there are 100 active VCs (as defined by making at least $1 million in VC per quarter for 4 consecutive quarters). Their data looks at tech VCs.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 15, 2010

I don’t believe that search is the only answer in 2010 as it was in 2000. I found this investment strange since normally VC’s hate to bet on gaming companies. In my mind, not a typical VC investment. In the interview we also covered: - How are VC funds structured: closed-funds vs. evergreen funds? OTHER STUFF.

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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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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. Yesterday’s show floored me.

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A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

SEPTEMBER 15, 2019

The other interesting thing about that chart is why the hit rates and returns in the venture capital industry have not returned to pre-2000 levels. Before 2000, the venture capital business was a bit of a cottage industry. Before 2000, the venture capital business was a bit of a cottage industry.

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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. I know it’s not what it used to be, but news flash – it’s still a million dollars!

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

And so it happened that between 2000-2008 I was the biggest buzz kill at dinner parties. We haven’t hit that wall yet for three reasons: 1) not enough elapsed time, 2) the VC market is frenzied now, too and 3) we haven’t seen a market downturn since the volume picked up. Great businesses take 7-10 years to build.

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TechCrunch

AUGUST 29, 2022

Andrew Chan is a senior associate at Builders VC , investing in early-stage companies that are transforming pen and paper industries. Gen Z VCs have raised funds, garnered social media followings and profited from the Gen Z mentality. Andrew Chan. Contributor. Share on Twitter. Objectively speaking, and much to my chagrin, I’m a Gen Z.

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This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 7, 2011

In addition, the public offerings of LinkedIn, Groupon, Zynga, and eventually Facebook are going to create a lot of new angel investors--so whatever the VCs don't pickup, I'm sure you'll see individuals continue to fund. Is 2012 going to be 2000 all over again? When the bubble burst in 2000, many of us felt it in our pockets.

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Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 12, 2010

In the VC & Private Equity world there’s a small number, too, with one of the most respected being PEHub. I always wanted to have Dan on This Week in VC with Dan Primack ( to see video click link ) because he’s blunt, honest, opinionated and well informed. Question: Some people are saying traditional VC is dead.

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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.

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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

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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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A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

FEBRUARY 27, 2020

In that post, I argued that the venture capital business could not sustain more than $20bn a year of new capital coming into it and continue to produce good returns to the investors in VC funds. That has not been my nature but I have learned that it works better, particularly in the VC business. All public.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

I’d like to explain as best I can my opinion on what is going on because most of what I hear from entrepreneurs is not only wrong but is reminiscent of what I heard in 1997-2000. What is the True Sentiment of VCs? Brad was openly writing about this and it felt like he was giving the VC playbook away for free!

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Tomasz Tunguz

JANUARY 26, 2020

2018 and 2019 exceeded the heady days of 2000 in terms of dollars deployed. Second, as competition has intensified, VC funds have invested in platforms (we call it founder experience at Redpoint). First, venture capital has become much bigger.

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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.

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A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JULY 23, 2020

Ad-buying opportunities within podcasts have historically been manual and limited, not unlike the process of purchasing web ads pre-2000. Gumball is a marketplace where advertisers post live read ads and podcasters pick them up and read them on their shows.

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A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

DECEMBER 31, 2022

The carnage has been massive and reminds me of what happened to the web sector in 2000/2001. Many large centralized entities; lenders, exchanges, crypto funds, etc, blew up when the value of web3 assets declined 70-90% over the course of 2022. Some of this has been markets doing their thing, but not all of it was.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2017

link] There’s no doubt in my mind that “LA is having a moment” and both VCs and LPs realize it. LPs (the people who invest in VC firms) have clearly voted in favor of LA with the creation of 15+ new early-stage venture firms and the continued growth is size and team of the great larger firms that are well established.

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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.

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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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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

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 saw this kind of pricing when I first entered the VC market in 2007. What I caution entrepreneurs from doing is raising money at significantly ABOVE market valuations. That was market.

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