Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

I only say that because after years as a VC I can always tell when my peer group invested in something because “it seemed like it would make money” versus when they invested out of passion. On reflection of the role that I want to play as a VC it is clearly in the camp of passion. I’m a VC. Startup Advice'

peer-to-peer 373

peer-to-peer VC pitching entrepreneurs 373

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

2001–2007: THE BUILDING YEARS The dot com bubble had burst. Between 2006–2008 I sold both companies that I had started and became a VC. SEEING THINGS FROM THE VC SIDE OF THE TABLE While I was a VC in 2007 & 2008 those were dead years because the market again evaporated due the the Global Financial Crisis (GFC).

VC 466

VC culture sustainability capital 466

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

I became a VC 12 years ago in 2007 when the pace of deals was much slower. As I was trying to figure out the role I wanted to play in the VC world I decided I wanted to focus on businesses that were building deeply technical products to solve problems for business users. What Did I Learn From the First VC Check I Ever Wrote?

VC 223

VC venture capital capital investing 223

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2010

It’s meant to be a bit provocative but the reality is that I give this advice to entrepreneurs all the the time and I usually leave the “e&# off of the end. I normally offer this advice in the capacity of really wanting to help entrepreneurs so please bear with me. Not so VC. It is 2010. So what happens?

venture capital 289

venture capital capital ventures advice 289

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

I rarely talk to any startup entrepreneur or VC who doesn’t feel it and somehow long for simpler times despite the benefits we all enjoy from increased enthusiasm for our sector. There are too many pulls & tugs at our elbows for time, for coffee meetings, for advice or speaking engagements or cocktail parties or dinners.

advice 398

advice VC entrepreneurs transportation 398

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

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 9, 2013

Raise a big VC round – yeah! I had foregone my VC term sheets to accept an offer yet I knew it wasn’t 100% probability to close – it never is. I was also deeply paranoid that a bad recession was coming (this was early 2007). Startup Advice' How can you wake up every day and process that decision.

advice 405

advice VC creativity opportunity 405

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2016

In 2007 I started using Twitter and most of my friends & colleagues wondered why people would care what I ate for lunch. In 2008 I started VC blogging. Ironic to be self-centered while you’re trying to offer advice to others. In 2006 I started using Facebook and most of my friends & colleagues thought I was strange.

networking 230

networking advice VC financing 230

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?

entrepreneurs 384

entrepreneurs startup VC real estate 384

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.&#. 2007, 2011) and for the hottest of companies and in bad markets for fund raising (2003, 2008) prices test the bottom end of the range. I’m a VC so I have an obvious bias. It was early 2000.

startup 336

startup advice pitching investing 336

Gust

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Cautionary note: No competent VC is actually fooled when you show up after raising $6M in seed financing and say you’re now raising an A! No VC will be so naive as not to see straight through it. When I first became a VC, seed rounds were typically $500k – $1.5 If you''re newer to VC math here''s a great primer].

VC 136

VC advice financing finance 136

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. got picked up early without raising a lot of VC. That is why I find it curious when angels start shouting that VC’s are dinosaurs, evil, money-grubbing and non-value-add.

angel investing 152

angel investing investment investing VC 152

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 finance financing 309

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

I had finally appeared on the front cover of a magazine (TornadoInsider – then the top European VC magazine) but I felt so fat in the picture I never sent it to anybody. I stopped doing conferences, traveling or pitching to VCs. Tags: Start-up Advice Startup Advice. I swam every morning and ran every afternoon.

entrepreneurs 308

entrepreneurs advice real estate venture capital 308

TechCrunch

OCTOBER 22, 2020

Venture Kick was launched in 2007 with the vision to double the number of spin-offs from Swiss universities and draws from a jury of more than 150 leading startup experts in Switzerland. Olaf Hannemann, partner, CV VC AG. What is your advice to startups in your portfolio right now? It grants up to CHF 130,000 per company.

startup 144

startup ecology education ventures 144

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

Founders Coop

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

This post is an attempt to unpack the changes we observed both during and after our time with Techstars, to draw out potentially useful lessons about how things might have gone differently. ——— In the Beginning: Champions of the Local Startup Ecosystem Techstars launched its first program in Boulder in 2007.

startup ecosystem 189

startup ecosystem accelerator communities support 189

TechCrunch

JULY 27, 2021

in 2004 before falling sharply due to the economic recession of 2007-2009. Sequoia Capital led the round and was joined by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation venture investment arm Arrive, Will Smith’s Dreamers VC and existing investor Signia Venture Partners. “Our The rate reached its peak of 69.2% The rate reached 63.7%

real estate 98

real estate VC health advice 98

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

Having street smarts with no inspirational ability to build teams can yield a great small business but will be difficult to scale into a large VC-backed business. So we as VCs search for entrepreneurs/founders who have the whole package or as much of it as possible. In the book they profile how VC worked in the early days (60s / 70s).

entrepreneurs 293

entrepreneurs VC advice consulting 293

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 8, 2020

“We did hear that and I think it’s very poor advice,” he says. There is every likelihood that Zennström’s Atomico would have joined Klarna’s cap table in 2010 if it weren’t for a single line of text published on the VC firm’s website, which read something like, “don’t contact us, we’ll contact you.”

investing 143

investing investment media mix-use 143

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2016

For the past few months I’ve been doing nearly daily “Snapstorms” or short videos with startup advice released on Snapchat. Not since the initial popularity of Twitter in 2007 has a product so befuddled people. Why would a VC do that? If you’re not on Snapchat — but still want video advice — Snapstorms.com is for you.

advice 200

advice VC media entrepreneurs 200

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

Their first company was called Traffic.com, which they sold in March 2007 to Navteq for $180 million (not too shabby). Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. I’m not sure why you’d do that unless you had to. I met the CEO Brian Malewicz several times. Another example.

entrepreneurs 267

entrepreneurs advice SaaS networking 267

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 8, 2020

“We did hear that and I think it’s very poor advice,” he says. There is every likelihood that Zennström’s Atomico would have joined Klarna’s cap table in 2010 if it weren’t for a single line of text published on the VC firm’s website, which read something like, “don’t contact us, we’ll contact you.”

investing 82

investing investment media mix-use 82

FundersClub

JUNE 30, 2017

Jerrod Engelberg and Kevin Lee of FundersClub discuss board of directors, why they exist, how they work in public companies vs startups, what founders should be thinking about when dealing with a board of directors, and more in " Transparent VC, Episode 6: It’s All About That Board. Ask Us Anything! " Did You Know?

construction 70

construction SaaS board strategy 70

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My advice to entrepreneurs was and is “ when the hors d’oeuvres tray is being passed take two ” (e.g. So I agreed to offer my current thinking on the economy and what it portends for the VC industry & fund raising for entrepreneurs. raise money now to weather any storms). Historic averages were in the mid-60′s.

entrepreneurs 298

entrepreneurs real estate VC advice 298

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

When I first got into the industry it was 2007. But I guess you could say the same about VC. Stock market declines would bring back dog days of VC. If you want a comprehensive summary of the industry in this era it’s worth a read: VC Ice Age Part 1 – What Happens When a Market Comes to a Standstill?

VC 305

VC disruption entrepreneurs venture capital 305

abovethecrowd.com

JUNE 2, 2021

After all, in the year 2020, investors that had access to VC-backed IPOs, earned $206 million in average one-day gains for each of 165 separate offerings, for a total of $34B in one-day wealth transfers (including over-allotments). of VC-backed companies vs Buyout-backed companies. Are We Too Gullible or Naive? I don’t think so.

peer-to-peer 82

peer-to-peer VC advice capital 82