Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. Due to competitive markets we ended up with a pretty good term sheet until we needed to raise money in April 2001 and then we got completely screwed. Investors own 25%, the founders own 75%.

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founder VC venture capital entrepreneurs 405

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 3, 2012

When Chantel at chloe+isabel was getting offers from VCs, one of the things I said to her was to try and get as experienced a VC as possible--because she already had the younger product focused/community networked guy on her board. Of course, you don't always need that experience from a VC.

VC 274

VC board venture capital ventures 274

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2015

I spoke at Michael Kim’s excellent annual Cendana VC/LP conference today. One of the points I tried to make is that as venture capital investors as an industry we seem to have a healthy disdain for public market investors. This will be seen as a watershed moment in the wake-up call and rationalization of our industry.

VC 392

VC capital culture venture capital 392

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. You lose the dream.

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founder VC advice pitching 329

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

It quickly became impossible to raise venture capital. I lived through this again September 2001. Many deals – VC or otherwise – didn’t close. It isn’t even a story about raising venture capital or M&A. VC, sales, biz dev, M&A or otherwise. Especially in VC. Any deal. Things change.

venture capital 301

venture capital advice VC real estate 301

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

When I first started in venture capital, back in 2001, I used to fund funds. I worked for an institutional investor that invested in both venture capital funds and later stage growth deals. My job was to figure out why certain firms were winning and why they might continue to win.

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sustainability angel investing venture capital VC 328

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 2, 2014

Henry told me that I should start a fund--me, a 27 year old former VC analyst turned product manager with no MBA at a startup that wasn''t really headed in any particular direction. I got my first job in venture--at GM--in February 2001. Venture Capital & Technology' Yeah, so, somewhere in there.

venture capital 293

venture capital VC ventures technology 293

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

And that was evident on today’s Angel vs. VC panel. There are real changes in the venture capital industry and it would have been fun to talk about them. The VC industry is segmenting – I have spoken about this many times before. So in the past we needed VC to really get a startup going.

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disruption VC entrepreneurs financing 308

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened? Until we weren’t.

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VC culture sustainability capital 466

Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

Me: So, you raised venture capital? Me: Raising convertible notes as a seed round is one of the biggest disservices our industry has done to entrepreneurs since 2001-2003 when there were “full ratchets” and “multiple liquidation preferences” – the most hostile terms anybody found in term sheets 10 years ago. On the phone ….

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VC finance financing entrepreneurs 153

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

AUGUST 24, 2015

I’ve seen friends (and family members) lose much of their savings that way over the years because “Black Swans” happen and in 1987, 2001, 2003 & 2008 (just to name a few from my memory) huge market gyrations caused much financial distress to people seeking short-term gains. At least later stage investors.

financing 344

financing finance ventures real estate 344

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. We found a way to make our venture capital last when it shouldn’t have, at around the same time one of my all time favorite New Yorker cartoons was published on this topic.

entrepreneurs 308

entrepreneurs advice real estate venture capital 308

Dream It

APRIL 12, 2020

Paul Martino, General Partner at Bullpen Capital. During our recent Dreamit Kickoff week, Bullpen Capital Founder and General Partner Paul Martino ( @ahpah ) spoke with our Spring 2020 cohort about the state of the VC ecosystem in the current economic crisis. I think this is the area that will fall first during this crisis.”

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ventures startup capital board 334

TechCrunch

APRIL 11, 2022

At the same time, he added, “high interest rates may also increase the demand for venture capital when bank lending is less attractive to entrepreneurs.” Whether we will see as dramatic a correction in the next few years as we did in 2001 to 2003, however, is anyone’s guess.”. “If

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venture capital investing investment ventures 97

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 27, 2022

Jennifer Queen is the founder of Pina , a PR firm focused on startups and venture capital firms. Latin American venture capital and growth investments through 2018 had averaged less than $2 billion per year. With quality growth companies starved for capital, the few investors active in the region were making a killing.

venture capital 95

venture capital capital VC opportunity 95

Tomasz Tunguz

JULY 22, 2014

Through the first six months of 2014, VCs have raised about as much as all of 2013. If this pace of fund raising continues, 2014 would mark the biggest year for VCs since 2001, when the industry raised about $38B. Which startup sectors should expect to benefit from this surfeit of capital?

venture capital 40

venture capital capital ventures startup 40

Gust

OCTOBER 20, 2011

We also have data points for VC investments in seed/startup companies (but not necessarily pre-revenue companies). The following chart from Dow Jones VentureSource shows very little variation in pre-money valuation of VC seed stage deals over the past decade. – Need venture capital. million to a high of $3.4

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angel investing investing investment opportunity 146

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 12, 2020

While several marketplace unicorns prepare IPOs, a VC digs into the data (EC). Here’s more: Now north of $200 million in revenue, [ Nextiva ] is a quiet giant and, notably, has not taken venture capital funding along its path to scale. Wish wants to be the Amazon for the rest of us; will retail investors buy it?

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venture capital capital startup SaaS 122

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital. Recently I’ve been debating with a number of young startup companies that are raising money in the next few months, “what is the right about of capital to raise at a startup?&#. It’s a tricky question with no clear answer. There are trade offs.

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startup advice venture capital VC 319

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

Most of what I learned about operating startups I learned from the really tough years at my first company from 2001-2003. My company had raised venture capital in April 2001 but we were told that there may never be any more coming. Hell – we fought against the VC’s together!

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advice venture capital VC construction 285

Tomasz Tunguz

AUGUST 14, 2014

The chart above compares the total number of MegaRounds, those VC investments of $50M or more, from 2001 through 2013. In short, MegaRounds are increasingly common, while the number of VC-backed IPOs is relatively constant. Last year, there was 1 MegaRound for every 2 IPOs. In 2012, there were 3 MegaRounds for every 4 IPOs.

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finance financing VC capital 40

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

I’m not going to cover in this post the obvious post-show marketing tasks such as following up on all those business cards you grabbed, communicating with all those people who registered at your site and leveraging your new found fame to score venture capital. 2001-2004 were very humbling but we built a real company.

media 310

media advice VC energy 310

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. Tempus Fugit.

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VC venture capital pitching capital 274

Unvalidated Learnings

OCTOBER 5, 2016

With venture capital out of the equation, and only two business banks in his town, he couldn’t afford to lose one of them. “I A VC treating an entrepreneur that way today wouldn’t stay in business for long… 7. I recall one day, sitting in Wallace’s office. Both he and White were working me over pretty good.

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startup entrepreneurship culture communities 40

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

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. This is not just the perspective of a VC although I can’t say I have zero VC bias. Neither can any VC. Executive Summary.

strategy 366

strategy development VC advice 366

TechCrunch

JANUARY 29, 2021

Benoit Wirz , partner, Brighteye Ventures (an active edtech-focused venture capital fund in Europe that backs YouSchool, Lightneer and Aula). Charles Birnbaum , partner, Bessemer Venture Partners (a generalist fund with portfolio companies including Guild Education and Brightwheel). Jerry Lu , senior associate, Maveron.

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VC founder media education 107

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 6, 2021

Since BCV’s first fund in 2001, the firm has invested over $4.5 The move to VC felt like a natural transition,” Melas-Kyriazi said. Commerce is a logical area for BCV to invest considering that Bain Capital owns dozens of multibillion dollar retailers, noted Harris. Bain Capital Ventures raised $1.3

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capital ventures angel investing VC 79

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

2001, a Starbucks Odyssey : In August, Starbucks got things percolating with plans for a blockchain-based loyalty program and NFT community. Startups and VC. EDT, we’re talking with M13 partner Anna Barber about what today’s founders can learn from the dot-com bubble bursting. The TechCrunch Top 3. million in new funding.

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micromobility SaaS capital VC 89

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2011

I asked him if he’d be willing to allow me to interview him for This Week in VC and we filmed it in the offices of Stack Overflow – his new company. Lesson: Joel had been building a community of readers since 2001. With StackOverflow, Joel raised money through venture capital. Fog Creek now has 35 people.

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peer-to-peer communities development innovation 285

David Teten VC

OCTOBER 31, 2024

Between 2001 and 2005, I worked on a pioneering mobile banking platform for a young bank, that became the de-facto best-in-class standard among banks in Central and Eastern Europe, well before the iPhone era. I wrote about this in Why Isn’t Sales As Efficient As Online Dating and Fundraising hacks for VC and private equity funds.

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ventures peer-to-peer mix-use VC 52