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. Rob messed around with some local video thing in 2008, which everyone but Rob thought was a pretty terrible idea.

board 261

board venture capital creativity entrepreneurship 261

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. I have sat on a board with Howard and have known him a few years. It is clear that he is simply passionate about being a VC and participating in this industry.

capital 284

capital board VC pitching 284

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2010

The importance of the conference is that it assembles most of the top privately held early-to-mid-stage technology companies in the country (and some globally) as well as most VC’s, growth equity funds and corporate development departments from large industry players looking at technology acquisitions. Revenue of ~$160mm in 2008.

VC 242

VC venture capital ventures capital 242

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

But VC is like congress. “This essay is dedicated to the great VC’s on my board who I am lucky to work with: Sameer Gandhi from Accel, Jeremy Liew from Lightspeed, and Kirsten Green from Forerunner. As you can see from the chart their data suggests there are about $25 billion of VC distributions per year in the US.

VC 374

VC peer-to-peer entrepreneurs investing 374

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

My own firm was involved with the sale of our portfolio company BillMeLater (an online credit company – think PayPal but for credit) to eBay for $1 billion in October 2008. We talked about her desire to sell the company for personal reasons rather than raise a large round of VC. I agreed to help. Ultimately Yahoo!

angel investing 280

angel investing investing investment VC 280

Dream It

APRIL 12, 2020

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. VCs were basically ‘out to lunch’ and not making new investments during this time. This is not without precedent.

ventures 334

ventures startup capital board 334

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

They now have a strong VC lead from Foundry Group and from experience when you get advice from Foundry it comes with authority, experience, empathy and the right amount of straight talk. Another founder … “When I pitched the idea to Adam, he was super on board,” Mr. Sloyan said. All of my partners at Upfront do.

startup 323

startup advice pitching VC 323

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 14, 2016

What is the True Sentiment of VCs? I recently survey more than 150 VC friends from all stages and geographies what they thought about the market by asking “Which of the following statements best describes your mood heading into 2016?” This is how VCs feel. That was written in September 2008.

startup 285

startup VC entrepreneurs investment 285

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I was saying that I was happy it was all out in the open because I felt at least everybody could now understand the issues & opportunities from the perspectives of angels, entrepreneurs and VCs. Let’s be clear: AngelList doesn’t scare a single VC I know. But it’s not cutting VCs out. It is additive.

VC 292

VC peer-to-peer investing investment 292

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

.” I applaud all efforts by people to take on this issue and especially be Adeo who – let’s be honest – was really the first champion of trying to make the VC world more transparent by launching TheFunded, which didn’t exactly endear him to VCs initially. They’ll get priced soon enough by a VC.”

startup 354

startup VC entrepreneurs financing 354

Founders Coop

JANUARY 11, 2023

We started the firm in 2008, on the cusp of the Global Financial Crisis, and it’s somehow fitting to be entering our 15th year as the laws of financial gravity reassert themselves once again. First, the increment of learning in VC is investment decisions managed to maturity. Founders’ Co-op turns fifteen this year.

founder 154

founder peer-to-peer VC sustainability 154

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 started my second company while retaining a board seat at my first company. Exercise hadn’t been enough of a priority in 2008-09.

entrepreneurs 308

entrepreneurs advice real estate venture capital 308

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

Without further ado, here are the five judges who will pick the 2021 Startup Battlefield winner: Kirsten Green is the founder and managing partner of Forerunner Ventures, a San Francisco-based VC firm she formed in 2010. She is also on the board of Nordstrom and previously served on the boards of Dollar Shave Club and Bonobos.

startup 74

startup board venture capital VC 74

TechCrunch

JULY 19, 2022

Everyone loves an underdog, which is why investors and tech journalists are so fond of discussing startups that launched during the Great Recession of 2008, like Airbnb, Uber, WhatsApp, Mailchimp, Square and Venmo. Record VC fundraising isn’t necessarily good news for first-time fund managers. “What’s really going on out there?”

pitching 94

pitching venture capital VC finance 94

Founders Coop

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

It’s a different kind of milestone for me as an investor: 10 years ago I led the company’s Seed round and joined the board, where I served until the Series C. Matt, Josh and Shivaas helped me learn early in my VC career what good really looked like. As a self-taught VC I learned my most important lessons the hard way.

peer-to-peer 118

peer-to-peer VC venture capital startup ecosystem 118

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. Valuation caps can come into play in settings other than seed-stage convertible note financing rounds.

incubation 98

incubation financing finance mix-use 98

David Teten VC

APRIL 30, 2021

These “VCs for investment management companies” are also known as GP Stake investors or fund platforms. According to DocSend , “About half the VC firms in our survey had an anchor LP for their fund, and the average percentage that an anchor LP took in a first-time fund was 25%. Fundraising hacks for VC and private equity funds.

VC 98

VC venture capital capital investing 98

TechCrunch

MARCH 11, 2023

Furthermore — post the 2008 financial crisis — all UK banks were required by law to separate core retail banking services from their investment and international banking activities under what is known as “ring-fencing.” SVB UK was legally and operationally a standalone entity from the US arm.

startup 97

startup board entrepreneurs VC 97

TechCrunch

JANUARY 14, 2021

.” The funding is being led by Sequoia Capital, with Visionaires Club (a B2B-focused VC out of Berlin ) also participating. The deal is notable for being the prolific, high-profile VC’s first investment in Europe since officially opening for business in the region. ERP overall is forecast to become a $49.5

board 89

board VC opportunity startup 89

TechCrunch

MARCH 7, 2023

However, it appears that even though VCs are proceeding more cautiously than before and taking their time with due diligence, they are still investing. CB Insights recently found that two of the largest global VC firms, Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, actually backed more fintech companies in 2022 than any other category.

advice 110

advice ventures sustainability investing 110

TechCrunch

JULY 26, 2021

Soyombo is one of the few founder-cum-investors on the continent, despite his company not being the traditional VC-backed startup the world has become accustomed to. And based on his perception of the startup’s growth prospects, he can choose to bring his friends and acquaintances on board to fill the round.

startup 109

startup angel investing real estate capital 109

Angel Capital Association

JUNE 27, 2024

Exit and IPO activity have dropped precipitously, and funding has declined across the board. During this past upcycle, many micro VCs raised significant funds and pursued earlier stage deals in earnest. Those micro VC funds need to be invested or they will have to return the capital, hence valuations are bid up.

funders 52

funders peer-to-peer mix-use angel capital 52

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 16, 2010

The meeting was set for Wednesday, May 8th 2008 at 11am. I want to be on Paul Graham’s “ Maker’s Schedule &# but as a VC this is quite hard.) I’m not talking about two people from the same company (like co-founders) or two partners at a VC firm. We usually try to re-slot them in quickly.

advice 346

advice entrepreneurs board VC 346

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2010

It’s like adding rocket fuel to space ship before you’re sure that it’s pointing in the right direction for take off (or even if all of the people on board are qualified to take this into outer space). It also takes options off the table if you eventually find out that this isn’t a VC backable business.

startup 319

startup advice venture capital VC 319

Angel Capital Association

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

From an investor’s perspective, 2022 witnessed a sudden market reversal from an extreme equity seller’s market to an equity buyer’s market, causing dislocations throughout angel, VC, and startup ecosystems. It is unclear if VCs will agree to these terms, but LPs believe they now have more leverage. Smaller VC fundraises?

startup 52

startup VC SaaS capital 52

David Teten VC

APRIL 30, 2021

These “VCs for investment management companies” are also known as GP Stake investors or fund platforms. According to DocSend , “About half the VC firms in our survey had an anchor LP for their fund, and the average percentage that an anchor LP took in a first-time fund was 25%. Fundraising hacks for VC and private equity funds.

VC 52

VC venture capital capital investing 52

Andreessen Horowitz

APRIL 9, 2024

In 2008, I started a business called RJMetrics, which was basically the first SaaS analytics platform. If you walk around to a bunch of board rooms, or I’m in a bunch of angel investments, and I think “pipeline” is the word of the year. I’m sure you’ll ask me about AI or you’ll have your VC card revoked, right?

SaaS 118

SaaS strategy disruption energy 118

Y Combinator

MAY 22, 2019

You will see in societies, people will just put a board outside of their house and start selling products. You have to go back to the drawing board and understand, why are people calling me, right? It’s not just us, this is 2008 to 2012. Vidit Aatrey [27:50] – Over time they also came on board.

founder 59

founder communities startup ecosystem startup 59

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

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. 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. Why buy me?

strategy 366

strategy development VC advice 366

Jason Malki

JANUARY 15, 2023

In 2012, the economy was starting to bounce back from the financial collapse of 2008 and 2009. To managers and boards so they’ll believe in your ability to execute. You sell to founders when acquiring them (or to be acquired) and to PE/VC firms to get funded (or fund a company). I was right.

opportunity 52

opportunity leadership SaaS energy 52

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

So the industry formed around a day of the week when all partners could avoid having company board meetings or traveling. I spent my days meeting companies, figuring out what areas of the market interested me and trying to get a sense for how VCs thought about fair valuations. It was September 2008. Why is that?

VC 305

VC disruption entrepreneurs venture capital 305