Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. The following was available: “I kept hearing about startups that raised VC funding, but which hadn’t filed Form Ds (nor issued a press release).

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VC finance financing capital 285

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.&#. He’s been at it since 2005. We could do more in 2010 with more VC investment; the doubling assumes only ratable increase in marketing spend to achieve profitability. It’s that simple.

founder 329

founder VC advice pitching 329

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 5, 2015

Ten years ago, in 2005, I started working for Union Square Ventures as their first analyst. You can''t rise up as fast taking a job at a VC firm in NYC the same way you could 10 years ago--and you can''t get that USV job as easily as you could. Who''s the VC that everyone *isn''t* trying to network with.

VC 342

VC startup ecosystem networking venture capital 342

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2015

I spoke at Michael Kim’s excellent annual Cendana VC/LP conference today. You can read it in VCs discussions about hedge fund managers, activist investors or the need to have dual-share voting structures. Today I called it, “our own little VC led, portfolio-by-portfolio company version of RIP Good Times from 7 years ago.”

VC 392

VC capital culture venture capital 392

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

I can’t help feel a bit of rear-view mirror analysis in all of “VC model is broken” bears in our industry. To really assess what opportunities the VC industry has over the next decade, one needs to first look at some of the root causes of poor returns in the past decade. The number of venture capital funds has shrunk by two-thirds.

venture capital 347

venture capital capital ventures VC 347

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

I built a 3,000 person tech networking organization in NYC back in 2006 and was one of the first 100 members of the NY Tech Meetup back in 2005 so I’ve participated in a lot of these conversations. In 2005, it was a risky bet to join Union Square Ventures and plant my VC career here in NYC.

communities 434

communities startup real estate mentorship 434

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

I saw Dan Primack assert that the venture capitalist’s customer is their limited partners in this tweet about the Citizen app, the recap, and their VCs: Regular reminder that, ultimately, VC funds works for their limited partners, not for their portfolio companies. link] I encourage everyone to read that post. USV TEAM POSTS:

VC 235

VC venture capital ventures capital 235

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

This is where VC comes in and why it’s needed in the industry no matter how much populist sentiment exists against the VC industry. Let’s call these cards 1996-99, 2005-08 and 2010+. got picked up early without raising a lot of VC. But VC is also a very important part of the technology ecosystem – like it or not.

angel investing 284

angel investing investment investing VC 284

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2013

We built our product at Koral in 2005 with this design philosophy in mind. Don’t build for yourself or your friends who use your product and say, “wouldn’t it be nice if you could just …” And certainly don’t build for your VC. They often have little or no design experience.

advice 408

advice education VC technology 408

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

by Michael Woolf that is worth any startup founder reading to get a sense of perspective on the reality warp that is startup world during a frothy market such as 1997-1999, 2005-2007 or 2012-2014. The reason is that no VC wants to see the venture debt provider get burned if you become bankrupt.

startup 383

startup VC frameworks capital 383

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 25, 2012

Back in 2005, I was a lowly analyst at Union Square Ventures with a million product ideas that I'd blog about all the time. When you're on the VC side, you come up with a lot of ideas, because every company you see inspires three new things you wish someone would build across a wide variety of sectors.

strategy 300

strategy VC ventures opportunity 300

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. In 2005 they realized that this business was going to evaporate over night with the introduction of YouTube. Yesterday’s show floored me. It changed everything.

mix-use 303

mix-use VC advice creativity 303

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 11, 2011

Back in 2005, when I was with Union Square Ventures, we changed our brochureware homepage into a blog. A few other VCs had been blogging before, but no one had gone as far as to make the whole front facing effort of their firm into something so interactive. It changed the way we worked with entrepreneurs.

innovation 279

innovation media development technology 279

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 11, 2014

I''m super proud of Rob, Ben and the whole Backupify team--and this is particularly special for me because Backupify was the first investment I ever made as a VC, and the first board I ever sat on. In fact, my history with Rob and Backupify goes back almost ten years, well before the idea of cloud backup was ever a glimmer in anyone''s eye.

board 274

board venture capital creativity entrepreneurship 274

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

JULY 24, 2012

He knows every startup & VC in town.” This was 2005 when I had no exits under my belt, no blogs … nobody was looking. When I first arrived in LA my good friend Matt Pillar (a long-term veteran of tech, media & VC) who had been in LA for some time told me, “in LA there’s none better than David.”

VC 299

VC communities investing investment 299

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 15, 2012

So what would have happened had Sean met Joshua Schachter in 2005--would Josh have still sold out early to Yahoo! That's the kind of thinking that Union Square Ventures has--it's not an accident that the three companies I've mentioned were all funded by USV, but we can't rely on just one VC to think about funding the billion dollar company.

startup 278

startup finance financing venture capital 278

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

This is where VC comes in and why it’s needed in the industry no matter how much populist sentiment exists agains the industry. Let’s call these cards 1996-99 and 2005-08. got picked up early without raising a lot of VC. Yes, the VC industry was over funded and too many non value-add people entered the industry.

angel investing 152

angel investing investment investing VC 152

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I need to take some VC meetings. But it did take Brad as a public spokesman, consummate networker and successful VC to help create legitimacy to let David’s ideas flourish. Not to mention they have the highest profile VC / blogger Fred Wilson of AVC. A few key people really can make a huge difference.&#. No Dave S. =

communities 317

communities VC innovation entrepreneurs 317

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2009

Bill Gurley , a well known VC from Benchmark Capital, seemed to have a 2-year hiatus from blogging and has now picked up the pace. My LA VC colleague Peter Lee of Baroda Ventures has started a blog about VC. I’m enjoying reading all the new content created in the tech / VC industries. Thank you, Twitter.

VC 219

VC creativity networking media 219

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

He turned me down for a job in 2005. Can you please intro me to XYZ VC? I know it’s different as a VC than as a startup company providing a product or service. It’s an entrepreneur with whom I’ve been wanting to work for 6 years. Actually, longer than anybody else in the US I’ve hoped to work with.

advice 314

advice culture board VC 314

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2010

Many companies that are raising B or C venture capital rounds right now raised their initial money in 2005-2008. Not so VC. Reputation – Equally, the investor might not be worried about squeezing out your existing VC, per se, but doesn’t want to develop a reputation as a VC with an edge. It is 2010.

venture capital 289

venture capital capital ventures advice 289

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I first met Ethan in 2005. And I certainly didn’t want him having to trapse up-and-down Sand Hill Road informing every VC of his next idea. I was preparing to move back to the US from London after 11 years abroad. BuildOnline (the company I founded) has just announcement plans to be more aggressive in growing in the US.

disruption 359

disruption VC entrepreneurs strategy 359

AsiaTechDaily

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

East Ventures Korea has appointed Sang Han as its first partner for the South Korea fund, which was launched in October in collaboration with SV Investment, a Seoul-based VC firm. Sang Han has extensive experience in venture capital, having started in 2005 as an assistant vice president at Walden International for Singapore and Beijing.

ventures 104

ventures venture capital collaboration VC 104

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

” Your VC friends have been egging you on. We funded one in 2005 and lost a lot of money. The don’t understand VC liquidation preferences or multiple return expectations. I’ve finally cracked it.” They told you, “Yeah, man, I’ll gladly write the first $250,000.

startup 417

startup peer-to-peer VC culture 417

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

The first three skills I espoused were: access to the highest-quality deal-flow, domain knowledge of the topic area in which you’re investing and access to VCs to help fund the next stages of development. Tags: Startup Advice Tech Market Analysis VC Industry. I tell my wife to assume that money is lost.&#.

angel investing 283

angel investing investing investment disruption 283

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

Back in 2005 Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book called Blink that was about how our subconscious allows us to make fast decisions that are often as good or better than slow considered decisions.

venture capital 191

venture capital ventures investing investment 191

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

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

One of the great joys of doing the web series This Week in VC every week is that I get to spend time with great people debating the issues of our day including how our industry is evolving as well as insights into how companies got started, got their initial traction and dealt with adversities. Oh, yeah.

board 286

board culture VC education 286

TechCrunch

AUGUST 15, 2023

Brett Calhoun Contributor Share on Twitter Brett Calhoun is the managing director and general partner at Redbud VC. Amid these turbulent times, the VC accelerator industry has emerged as a stalwart player. At the dawn of 2022, there were 2,900 active VC firms, marking a 225% increase since 2008.

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accelerator peer-to-peer startup VC 96

Y Combinator

AUGUST 5, 2019

How tech startup fundraising changed from 2005 to now. In 2005, when Y Combinator started, there was already a well developed ecosystem of venture capital firms in Silicon Valley and Boston. Because these companies wouldn’t raise VC until they were much further along and had leverage, the balance of power shifted.

incubation 22

incubation startup VC business incubator 22

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

In 2004 / 2005 I was starting to get intrigued with user-generated content. This time frame – 2005/2006 – web 2.0 Deal evaluations the Foundry way, which continues into a great discussion about VC decision-making processes. “So RSS was something that had appeared.” “….I Is that when it became big? was starting.

venture capital 288

venture capital pitching communities entrepreneurs 288

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

Let me give you another simple example from my experience as a VC at Upfront Ventures. When we went to raise funds we faced lots of competition as there are of course many other VC funds in the country. I think that’s where many startups and even VC funds go wrong.

SaaS 315

SaaS VC strategy entrepreneurs 315

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I would point readers to Martin Kleppmann’s useful blog post with graphs illustrating the effects of a valuation cap on entrepreneurs, seed investors and later-round (typically VC) investors. The spin-out took a few months to negotiate and didn’t actually close until February 2005. of MySpace, Inc.

incubation 98

incubation finance financing mix-use 98

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

The questions that a VC mulls before writing a check are precisely the questions you should be asking yourself. But that’s harder to build in 2016 than it was in say 2005. Market Size. It’s ok to target a small market and you can probably build a niche business that is extremely valuable to you as an individual.

incumbents 277

incumbents startup peer-to-peer incubation 277

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2011

tl;dr version: If you’re an entrepreneur or VC or will be working in this industry - buy this. 2) how seldom lawyers walk you through the “how can this term be used against you&# scenarios or the “pragmatic guide to VC terms&# overview. I was significantly wiser by 2005 when I started my second company.

VC 304

VC entrepreneurs advice venture capital 304

Venture Hacks

APRIL 17, 2019

Valuations for pre-traction companies between 2005-2010 were $1-5M pre-money for the first non-friends-and-family round. In the old days, you had to work at a VC firm to see dealflow. Despite high valuations, it’s still possible to make money in angel investing. If you can’t make money in tech, you can’t make money anywhere.

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angel investing investment investing incubation 181