A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JULY 27, 2021

Our 2008 vintage early-stage fund has generated about 5x cash on cash but only generated a 22.5% That explains why our 2010 Opportunity Fund has a lower cash on cash return but a much higher IRR than our 2008 early-stage fund. Three of our most mature funds showcase how these numbers can behave differently.

opportunity 279

opportunity venture capital strategy investing 279

Dream It

APRIL 2, 2019

Since 2008, Dreamit has worked with over 320 companies. Dreamit incorporates the intelligence, data, and new relationships gained during acceleration into its venture investment process to build a high-potential, diversified portfolio.

ventures 284

ventures startup accelerator innovation 284

Dream It

APRIL 7, 2020

Since 2008, Dreamit has worked with over 350 companies. Dreamit works with top healthcare, cybersecurity, and urban technology startups, providing access to extensive customer, industry, and investor networks during its 14-week program.

ventures 369

ventures accelerator enablement communities 369

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

He first came to see me in 2008 when we was raising money for his 1st startup – NextMedium. At every entrepreneur event I through between 2008-2012 I invite Hamet because he was a great mentor for entrepreneurs. I’ve known Hamet for 5 years. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the problems in this structure.

ventures 340

ventures investing investment board 340

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2015

We have an entire generation of startup founders who don’t have muscle memory from getting their burn rates back into shape from 2008/09 or 2001-2005. Some companies have to go first. Others will follow. But many of us have been there. It’s not fun. But it’s necessary.

VC 392

VC capital culture venture capital 392

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). I am super excited to announce that today is a day of lots of new things for my partners & me: A new fund, a new office and a new brand. Let’s start with the fund. This month we closed our 4th fund of $200 million.

ventures 343

ventures venture capital advice VC 343

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

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

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. Watch the market closely.

financing 344

financing finance ventures real estate 344

Tomasz Tunguz

JULY 4, 2020

We reviewed the data in May and compared it to the effects of the financial crisis in 2008 on startup fundraising. As a reminder, 2008 saw a 40% reduction in venture dollars invested in startups. These corrections match 2008. It took about six to eight quarters to return to normalcy. But the patterns this time are different.

collaboration 145

collaboration accelerator capital investing 145

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

In fact, much of the groundwork of the NYC tech community''s growth came before the late 2008 economic crash--when the city started paying attention to the tech community as the economic savior poster child. The multifold growth we''ve had in the startup engineering base of NYC happened before we even decided to build these companies.

education 303

education venture capital communities ventures 303

Entrepreneurs' Organization

DECEMBER 1, 2021

Working in wine during the financial crisis of 2008, I quickly noticed the opportunity to innovate within the alcohol logistics industry alongside my business colleague, Tim Elenteny. These experiences taught me that I possessed excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated talent in sales and marketing.

hospitality 268

hospitality leadership collaboration entrepreneurship 268

Dream It

APRIL 12, 2020

LPs failed to make capital calls in the late 90s during the dot-com bubble burst, after September 11, and during the financial crisis in 2008. In 2008-2009, the financial markets seized up, and there were quarters of complete uncertainty, but ultimately VCs started investing again and things normalized. This is not without precedent.

ventures 334

ventures startup capital board 334

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 8, 2014

Even the old Pfizer headquarters, active as recently as 2008, is now home to the production of everything from microchips to pickles. Refactory is trying to create an end to end process from design to manufacturing for hardware on Sackett Street.

mix-use 316

mix-use communities venture capital creativity 316

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 17, 2014

In 2008, I went to breakfast with Hilary Mason while I was down there. We just hung out in a small group of nobodies, having chatted a bit through our respective blogs before. In fact, as I look through the photos from back then, I realize that I funded two nobodies from that group--the other being Michael Galpert at Super.cc.

communities 313

communities VC accelerator startup 313

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2016

In 2008 I started VC blogging. They thought it was like MySpace and why did I need a MySpace page? In 2007 I started using Twitter and most of my friends & colleagues wondered why people would care what I ate for lunch. I had blogged when I was an entrepreneur. Ironic to be self-centered while you’re trying to offer advice to others.

networking 230

networking advice VC financing 230

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JUNE 17, 2022

During the 2008 recession, while everyone else was hanging onto the gunwales of tossing ships, offering bargains, and hoping for a quick end to the pain, a restaurant near our office started remodeling. Going into the 2008 recession, we stuck with those values, adding products, and expanding our customer service team.

strategy 220

strategy creativity energy investing 220

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

I spent my first year developing proprietary deal flow and learning the business and then the Sept 2008 / Lehman Bros collapse / financial meltdown happened. I become a venture capitalist in September 2007 – exactly 6.5 years ago. That company was Invoca, which just announced a $20 million fund raise led by Accel.

VC 387

VC venture capital finance financing 387

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MAY 6, 2020

Others recall the 2008 financial crisis. “You’ve probably never felt anything like this,” Rustand says. But we’ve all dealt with things that felt new and terrible at the time. Some of us remember the 2000 dot-com crash. In terms of pandemics, we remember avian flu (1997), SARS (2003) and MERS (2012).

advice 274

advice transportation leadership creativity 274

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2015

I saw this in 2001-2003 and in 2008-2010. You find out those that have the fortitude to work out a new way forward, who can handle recapitalizations or downsizing or shutting down business lines or hiring whole new teams.

creativity 378

creativity culture entrepreneurs energy 378

Tomasz Tunguz

MARCH 11, 2020

The most recent event to use as an analogy is the 2008 financial crisis. In 2008, I had just joined the venture industry, and then Lehman fell. That grew to about $5B per quarter in 2007 and early 2008. Seed investments suffered a 50% fall in Q3 2008, but the market came right back in Q4 and continued to increase in volume.

ventures 143

ventures VC investing investment 143

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 2, 2014

It follows on from the equally compelling “ Game Change ” by the same authers, which I read years ago after the 2008 election. It is politics, relationships, money-grabbing and especially power-grabbing human behavior at it’s peak.

startup 385

startup coworking advice leadership 385

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 6, 2020

Like the downturns in 2008 and 2001, this has been a very trying time for entrepreneurs running startups. Contributed by Rizwan Virk , author of S tartup Myths and Models: What You Won’t Learn in Business School. The pandemic of 2020 has tested most sectors of the economy.

peer-to-peer 321

peer-to-peer startup advice entrepreneurs 321

Dream It

JANUARY 23, 2019

Since its founding in 2008, Dreamit has accelerated nearly 300 startups, including LevelUp (acquired by GrubHub), Trendkite (acquired by Cision), SeatGeek, HouseParty, Adaptly (acquired by Accenture), Wellth, Biomeme, Tissue Analytics, Redox, Eko Devices, Raxar, and Elevate.

real estate 210

real estate media accelerator pitching 210

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 1, 2011

years ago you’d remember RIP Good Times from Sequoia, which still strikes me as having been prudent advice in late 2008. .&# That’s how it felt then and a bit how it feels in May 2011. If you were reading the headlines from only 2.5 So which is it? Feast or famine? Bull or bear? As a market we seem to be incapable of temperance.

advice 391

advice VC financing finance 391

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

It turned out I wasn’t such a great product manager, the technical things we were doing were about two years too early—about to be made orders of magnitude easier by a lot of cloud and big data tools, and, oh, yeah, Lehman went under when I was pitching VCs for money in 2008.

financing 274

financing finance pitching founder 274

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 26, 2011

2004 gave us widespread blogging and Meetups, and 2008 showed how the web could be a community organizing and fundraising tool. (PS.there are various companies in this article I have or have had business involvements with. Reader beware.). Open Government. Election years tend to be good for technology diffusion.

innovation 302

innovation technology peer-to-peer communities 302

Tomasz Tunguz

MAY 2, 2022

In 2008, tightfistedness dominated the market. Today, a story is sufficient to raise a 2008-sized Series B. Given how much investors prefer faster growth rates and the massive surge in venture fund size, I don’t expect the ramen and ping-pong days of 2008 to return anytime soon. In my notebook, I sketched this 2x2.

capital 143

capital real estate enablement development 143

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

Our 3rd fund began investing in March 2009 (raised in 2008) and our 4th fund started in April 2012 so this fund will naturally begin investing around March / April 2015. That’s why the best firms tend to raise every three years. We feel like we’ve gotten ourselves into a really good rhythm.

ventures 396

ventures VC venture capital real estate 396

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

This is the problem that first-time entrepreneurs who have never been through a downturn (we haven’t had one since 2008) couldn’t have the muscle memory for and thus it seems “all good” right now. It won’t be. I’ve seen the movie on the other side of economic shifts.

startup 323

startup advice pitching VC 323

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The seeds of cheap cloud computing, social networking & mobile were planted and then the 2008 financial crisis brought a hurricane that swept much of the old, dead brush from the venture capital industry and ushered in a new phase perhaps best punctuated by Sequoia’s famous and now ironic presentation “ RIP Good Times.”.

VC 398

VC venture capital peer-to-peer ventures 398

Entrepreneurs' Organization

FEBRUARY 14, 2024

Contributed to EO by Dave Galbenski, an EO Detroit member who served as EO Global Chair in 2008-2009. He is a graduate of the inaugural class of EO’s Global Speakers Academy. Dave is co-founder and chairman of the Global School of Entre p reneurship , which provides education for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs.

entrepreneurs 286

entrepreneurs networking education board 286

Entrepreneurs' Organization

NOVEMBER 15, 2023

I heard this in an Entrepreneurs’ Organization Portland chapter monthly learning event with keynote speaker Mark Moses of Make Big Happen in 2008 at the beginning of the Great Recession. “During this recession, a third of your businesses will die, a third will barely survive, and a third will thrive.”

real estate 234

real estate entrepreneurs creativity culture 234

Entrepreneurs' Organization

OCTOBER 4, 2023

My first company, a mortgage bank, succumbed to the 2008 mortgage crisis. On a personal note, I’ve been there. As a Latin American businessman who ventured into the US market, I understand both sides. While external factors played a role, I needed more control and the resources to navigate the crisis effectively.

leadership 38

leadership culture economic growth education 38

American Entrepreneurship

MARCH 12, 2025

Risk-Taking: He reinvested his entire PayPal earnings (~$180M) into Tesla and SpaceX, nearly going bankrupt in 2008. Resilience: SpaceX had multiple rocket failures before successfully launching into orbit in 2008. Problem-Solving: He tackles big problems (e.g., Lesson: Think big, take calculated risks, and persist through setbacks.

strategy 55

strategy startup creativity mentorship 55

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2012

I had been looking around at several deals in late 2008 as the markets were tanking. I had this ethical dilemma pop up on one of the first deals I even did as a VC. I had gotten close on a couple of deals but nothing rose to the level of “must do.”

VC 356

VC financing finance investing 356

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 24, 2012

When I couldn’t talk David into doing early-stage deals back in 2008/09, I hooked up with the guy who seemed to be working with the largest number of high-quality LA startups I had encountered – Dave Young – and started working with him and Nicholas Hobbs of DLA Piper. There’s more!

VC 299

VC communities investing investment 299

Entrepreneurs' Organization

APRIL 3, 2020

During the Great Recession of 2008-10, Kent guided dozens of CEOs and their companies successfully through the crisis and positioned them to capitalize on the economic expansion that followed. We asked Kent how embracing conscious capitalism during the COVID-19 crisis can benefit companies both in the short- and long-term.

peer-to-peer 220

peer-to-peer capital creativity leadership 220