Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

This was an audience of mostly first-time entrepreneurs. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs. So here is what I have been telling entrepreneurs privately for the past 6 months. I guess that makes USV, Spark Capital, Foundry Group, Accel, Benchmark, Revolution (along with several others) pretty happy right now.

real estate 309

real estate entrepreneurs financing finance 309

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

TechCrunch Europe ran an article in November of last year that European startups need to work as hard as those in Silicon Valley and I echoed the sentiment in my post about the need for entrepreneurs to be maniacal about their businesses if one wants to work in the hyper competitive tech world. We were based in London.

entrepreneurs 308

entrepreneurs advice real estate venture capital 308

Entrepreneurs' Organization

AUGUST 16, 2023

million from 84 investors in under 45 days during arguably one of the worst times to raise money since 2008. Over the years, I have learned a lot of important lessons as a member of Entrepreneurs’ Organization , Million Dollar Sellers and eCommerceFuel. Between my own capital and debt, I didn’t need to raise money.

entrepreneurs 180

entrepreneurs entrepreneurship health support 180

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 21, 2011

But I am also someone who is very colored by my past experience of seeing the venture implosion after the first bubble and walking through the fundraising tumbleweed of late 2008. I'm all for people putting $25k to work to try something out--and if it works, having the momentum to raise more capital. Angels: Focus and pace.

communities 308

communities innovation incubation angel investing 308

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He didn’t tell it in the video but, ever the entrepreneur, Scott started a business to take couples up on a “mile high club&# flight on airplanes as a way of getting all of his miles logged to get his next class of airplane license that required a certain number of hours logged. Incubated by Clearstone Ventures in 2008.

VC 248

VC incubation ventures capital 248

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? They were a way to gather cheap capital.

VC 466

VC culture sustainability capital 466

Gust

DECEMBER 13, 2011

Here are the trends in venture capital financings from 2006 through 2010 – the number of seed stage deals funded and total investment by region in millions of dollars. . For VCs, I chose to look at all seed stage VC deals (from MoneyTree©) as well as those in five of the most active regions in the country. All Seed-VC. Silicon Valley.

entrepreneurs 162

entrepreneurs angel investing VC venture capital 162

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). I should say that I agree that naive optimism in entrepreneurs can produce higher beta (upside or flops) and that’s good from an investment standpoint if you’re looking for big returns.

angel investing 284

angel investing investment investing VC 284

Gust

NOVEMBER 29, 2011

Crowd funding enables entrepreneurs to raise money in relatively small amounts from large numbers of interested investors. Recently, entrepreneurs in many countries have been soliciting investment through “crowd funding” websites designed specifically for fundraising purposes. We will circle back on these two “lessons learned” below.

entrepreneurs 154

entrepreneurs angel investing venture capital investing 154

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 11, 2014

Rob messed around with some local video thing in 2008, which everyone but Rob thought was a pretty terrible idea. " — Charlie O'Donnell (@ceonyc) December 29, 2008. I''m proud of the whole team at Backupify and have been really impressed with Rob''s ability to grow and learn as an entrepreneur over time.

board 262

board venture capital creativity entrepreneurship 262

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

So as of 2008 total LP commitments were still at nearly $250 billion. Our current fund was raised in 2008/09.] After all, most people don’t understand that “venture capital is a get rich slowly&# scheme. So companies are running for the first 1-2 years on significantly less capital than they did 10 years ago.

VC 311

VC startup real estate finance 311

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

Tech entrepreneur mayor presides over NYC tech during an explosion in company creation, job growth and venture funding. 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.

education 303

education venture capital communities ventures 303

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. Hamet started his career in Venture Capital working for the first post-apartheid VC fund in South Africa.

ventures 340

ventures investing investment board 340

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

And so it happened that between 2000-2008 I was the biggest buzz kill at dinner parties. They have marked-up paper gains propped up by an over excited venture capital market that has validated their investments. Remember it was only 2008 where Microsoft and even Google were laying off employees. Many may simply hit the wall.

angel investing 299

angel investing investing investment real estate 299

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

A reminder that it is important for all entrepreneurs is to remember to be careful about “deal drift.” It quickly became impossible to raise venture capital. History repeated itself in September 2008 with that market crash. It isn’t even a story about raising venture capital or M&A. Any deal. Things change.

venture capital 301

venture capital advice VC real estate 301

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

There has been much discussion in the past few years of the changing structure of the venture capital industry. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). 15 years ago we were at the peak of Internet hype with the launch of many over-capitalized businesses with a market size & opportunity was limited.

VC 398

VC venture capital peer-to-peer ventures 398

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

We’ve been dying to tell you all for a while that we had raised a new venture capital fund and of course given SEC filing requirements the story was somewhat already scooped by the always-in-the-know Dan Primack a few weeks ago. Will our strategy change now that we have 40% more capital? . Why do they invest in venture capital?

ventures 396

ventures VC venture capital real estate 396

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

There are real changes in the venture capital industry and it would have been fun to talk about them. These days that’s not the case and it’s a great outcome for entrepreneurs and for innovation. A: Only because it’s a nicer branding for entrepreneurs. Answer: Not much. It’s a shame. That’s all.

disruption 308

disruption VC entrepreneurs financing 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. Will a financial crisis affect how venture funds deploy capital?

ventures 334

ventures startup capital board 334

Entrepreneurs' Organization

SEPTEMBER 18, 2018

And while there’s a long way to go in terms of workplace equality, women entrepreneurs are making their mark on their industries and communities now more than ever. These 20 women entrepreneurs are the ones who are leading the charge—and we think you’ll be inspired by their tremendous impact: Reshma Saujani / Girls Who Code.

entrepreneurs 130

entrepreneurs consulting culture finance 130

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 3, 2010

This was really a fun week at TWiVC because we decided to have an entrepreneur come and talk about raising capital rather than having a VC come on. It’s always such a pleasure for me to spend time with Farb because he has all of the enthusiasm and energy you love to see in entrepreneurs. Brought in new CEO, Russ Reeder in 2008.

VC 214

VC founder advice ventures 214

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. As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. I become a venture capitalist in September 2007 – exactly 6.5

VC 387

VC venture capital financing finance 387

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 8, 2014

Brooklyn is attracting a generation of entrepreneurs who never saw Brooklyn in its industrial heyday, but feel like the borough is uniquely positioned and a historically fitting place to produce their products and serve creative communities. Politics Venture Capital & Technology'

mix-use 316

mix-use communities venture capital creativity 316

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. We’re staring to get the hang of how to divide the show up into talking about deals but also talking about issues for entrepreneurs during funding.

VC 285

VC finance financing capital 285

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

On a panel that I sat on with Ron in LA in 2008 he stated that there were no circumstances in which the founder should take money off of the table. A friend of mine is a serial entrepreneur and is running a high-profile, early stage company in NorCal. This made me think hard about the relationship between VCs and entrepreneurs.

founder 329

founder VC advice pitching 329

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.

finance 344

finance financing ventures real estate 344

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

After all, I am no stranger to the publicly expressing the frustrations of dealing with the downside of this industry as I wrote about in 2006 when I was an entrepreneur. “I don’t know the exact math, but I hear it again and again: the top 2% of firms generate 98% of the returns in venture capital.” But VC is like congress.

VC 374

VC peer-to-peer entrepreneurs investing 374

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2010

One of the most difficult things to do as a first time entrepreneur is to get to know the investors you might be working with if you accept money. He got into the industry through the same traits required for entrepreneurs – persistence & resiliency. Spun off from Freewebs in 2008, based in Palo Alto.

VC 230

VC ventures venture capital capital 230

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

I’d like to explain as best I can my opinion on what is going on because most of what I hear from entrepreneurs is not only wrong but is reminiscent of what I heard in 1997-2000. ” “This will be great for VCs and bad for entrepreneurs.” What is the True Sentiment of VCs? ” “Sure, prices are dropping.

startup 285

startup VC entrepreneurs investing 285

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In my previous post, The VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) I wrote about the reasons why the VC market came to a screeching halt in September 2008 and remained largely shut until at least April 2009. This post highlights some of the reasons why the market is moving again and what entrepreneurs should do about this. Seems an obvious fit.

VC 255

VC venture capital networking innovation 255

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

But any entrepreneurs raising capital should keep in mind that this opening of the markets could possibly be temporary. Bu when you start to worry that the world is ending (as it seemed it was in late 2008 / early 2009) you tend to get worried about large burn rates. So we have almost no triage problem.

VC 263

VC board investing investment 263

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

What a pleasure that I got to spend an hour talking with both Om Malik (whom I’ve always respected his views) and Paul Jozefak , a venture capital partner at Neuhaus Partners in Germany (and formerly the head of Europe for SAP Ventures). industry investors rather than VCs) a good idea for entrepreneurs.

VC 225

VC social gaming venture capital networking 225

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 2, 2014

Think about it – most of us accept the world of free-market capitalism in which of us acts as greedy individuals but the well-being is guided by an “ invisible hand ‘ the ends up maximizing benefits for society. But the book is a must read for entrepreneurs.

startup 385

startup coworking advice leadership 385

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2010

It was especially fun for me because we got the chance to talk about the VC industry and how entrepreneurs should think about the VC industry in addition to discussing deals. Segment Four, “VC Discussion – How Should Entrepreneurs Think about ‘Strategic’ Investors?”. million loss in 2008. Read more: TechCrunch.

VC 236

VC venture capital ventures support 236

American Entrepreneurship

MARCH 12, 2025

Highly successful entrepreneurs share their thinking about undertaking great entrepreneurial challenges and achieving breakthrough success. Steve Jobs An entrepreneur is someone who jumps off a cliff and builds a plane on the way down. Creates resilience Helps entrepreneurs navigate uncertainty and failures.

strategy 56

strategy startup creativity mentorship 56

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In the first post in this three part series I described why I believe the VC market froze between September 2008 – April 2009. It’s my job to invest wisely in entrepreneurs who are capital efficient, who innovate in ways that pay off economically in good markets or bad and who plan for worst-case scenarios.

VC 269

VC startup advice innovation 269

Dream It

JANUARY 23, 2019

It’s exciting to watch ambitious entrepreneurs take an idea and turn it into the dominant company that reshapes an industry. Dreamit invests in startups with demonstrable traction that are looking to rapidly gain customers, initiate new partnerships and raise capital.

real estate 210

real estate media accelerator pitching 210