Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

I’d rather be Roger Ehrenberg with a thesis around data-centric companies and base my investment decisions on my background. 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 152

angel investing investing investment VC 152

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

million pre-money valuation is now raising $1 million at a $12 million valuation the next investor has nowhere to go but up (or sit out the investment). Just because the valuation in absolute terms isn’t a big difference does not mean that people aren’t paying higher than intrinsic value for these investments.

real estate 309

real estate entrepreneurs finance financing 309

Dream It

APRIL 2, 2019

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

ventures 284

ventures startup accelerator innovation 284

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 1, 2011

Investments in innovation can often have unforeseen positive ripple effects. Back at the end of 2008, when the economy was in the tank, and funding was tough to come by, NYC Seed, a small local fund with some government and local academic backing supported my startup, Path 101.

pitching 267

pitching support financing finance 267

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

The last closed market we had was from about September 2008 until June 2009--10 months. We're seeing, for the first time, investment and some disruption in huge areas like education, food, healthcare, government and even hardware based startups. In 2008, people weren't sure if we were heading into a complete financial collapse.

ventures 301

ventures venture capital disruption pitching 301

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 262

board venture capital creativity entrepreneurship 262

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% Our Opportunity Funds invest in the later stage rounds of our top-performing portfolio companies plus a few later-stage investments in companies that are new to USV. cash on cash but generated a 58.6% cash on cash but only 46.7%

opportunity 279

opportunity venture capital strategy investment 279

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. So as of 2008 total LP commitments were still at nearly $250 billion.

VC 311

VC startup real estate finance 311

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've heard that most new angels make 70% of their lifetime investments within the first year of starting to invest--i.e. Angels: Focus and pace.

communities 308

communities innovation incubation angel investing 308

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

I can't take credit for this meme, even though I've already invested in it.twice. The seminal application of the collaborative web--Github--was launched in April 2008. Once with Docracy, once with a super cool company launching in the first quarter of 2013.). It's a web where 1+1 really does equal more than 2.

collaboration 351

collaboration media SaaS VC 351

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). Like many modern VCs, we’re committed to investing in the community and in our portfolio companies. Let’s start with the fund. This month we closed our 4th fund of $200 million. See what we did there?

ventures 343

ventures venture capital advice VC 343

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. City money didn''t spur on the massive venture capital investments that have been made by the private sector.

education 303

education venture capital communities ventures 303

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. So, too, investments.

financing 344

financing finance ventures real estate 344

Dream It

APRIL 12, 2020

Martino founded Bullpen in 2010 with a focus on post-seed, pre-Series A startups, and he led the fund’s investments in companies like FanDuel, Namely, Ipsy, SpotHero, Classy, and Airmap. This geographic distinction is now less about actual geography and more about mentality and style of investing of these types of firms.

ventures 334

ventures startup capital board 334

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. At the time I pointed out: “If I had realized exits almost certainly it would be because I invested in a company that failed. years ago. ” Still. None have exited.

VC 387

VC venture capital financing finance 387

Tomasz Tunguz

AUGUST 6, 2023

In 2008, I had just become a venture capitalist. With 15 years’ perspective, I plotted the QQQ (Nasdaq) value against venture Investing activity & venture Exits activity (all log normalized). for QQQ/Investing & 0.93 What will a venture capital turnaround feel like? Will it be gradual or sudden? for QQQ/Exits.

venture capital 92

venture capital ventures capital support 92

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

The speaks to the continued confidence in the venture capital markets and as I had predicted some time ago the VC markets right now are a great place to invest – especially relative to other places to put one’s money. Our last fund we raised was in 2012 and we began investing it in April of 2012. But that’s it.

ventures 396

ventures VC venture capital real estate 396

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. The amount of available dollars to invest is high. The fundraising market is contracting.

collaboration 145

collaboration accelerator capital investment 145

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

” I found myself nodding through all of it with quotes like, “Seed investing is the status symbol of Silicon Valley,” said Sam Altman. I save room in literally every deal to invite angels (or seed funds) to co-invest with me. By March, a month after Mr. D’Angelo agreed to invest, CodeFights had raised $2.5 ” Uhhuh.

startup 323

startup advice pitching VC 323

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. It requires investing energy and attention into crafting exactly the right roles. Invest in customer service. Expand your team.

strategy 220

strategy creativity energy investment 220

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

Founded in 2008 in Santa Monica by Ron Goldman (former CRO of shopping.com) and Rahul Sonnad. Incubated by Clearstone Ventures in 2008. Investing much of new cash to build presence in Android platform. Current round: $4. led by Altos Ventures and Maverick Capital, with Larry Braitman. Total raised: $6.0mm. See: TechCrunch.

VC 248

VC incubation ventures capital 248

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Limited Partners or LPs (the people who invest into VC funds) have taken notice as 2014 is by all accounts the busiest year for LPs since the Great Recession began. pre-money valuation you certainly would want to exercise your right to continue investing if you had prorata rights. and the bigger funds can’t get in directly.

VC 398

VC venture capital peer-to-peer ventures 398

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. But there are many zombie VC’s with no more investments left in their portfolios so it’s hard to know which trend has more impact.

VC 255

VC venture capital networking innovation 255

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. . VCs in NYC invested, on average, only $2.4 US Angel Investment – All Regions. Investment. All Seed-VC. Silicon Valley. New England. Deals. $$$$.

entrepreneurs 162

entrepreneurs angel investing VC venture capital 162

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

When venture capitalists scale back investing activities it can be very swift and leave many companies that are in the process of fund raising hung out to dry. Should VC’s really be impacted by public market valuations when the money that they’re investing today should be for returns in 7-10 years?

VC 263

VC board investment investing 263

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 6, 2020

Like the downturns in 2008 and 2001, this has been a very trying time for entrepreneurs running startups. At the same time, many investors are being more cautious with making new investments, preferring to focus on their existing portfolio before investing in new companies. A startup is not a lone adventure.

peer-to-peer 321

peer-to-peer startup advice entrepreneurs 321

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. In the early 80’s he left academia to work on venture capital investing with Jim Simons, Renaissance Technologies. In 2008 they raised a much larger fund $132.5

capital 284

capital board VC pitching 284

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. This has a tangible impact on the valuation of start-ups and the pace of investment. If Stanford has to cut back on VC investing, you can imagine how bad it is getting.

VC 269

VC startup advice innovation 269

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 3, 2010

And the broader question of whether VC’s will continue to invest in the Twitter ecosystem. Current round: $3.35mm in Series A by TomorrowVentures (Eric Schmidt’s personal investment vehicle), Saban Ventures, Founder Collective, SK Telecom Ventures. Brought in new CEO, Russ Reeder in 2008. Estimated 15mm downloads to date.

VC 214

VC founder advice ventures 214

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2016

In 2008 I started VC blogging. But how can you invest in technology unless you’re going to use the tools and understand them? 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.

networking 230

networking advice VC financing 230

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Spark Capital is relatively new to VC (founded in 2005) yet has become one of the hottest new VCs having invested in Twitter, Tumblr, AdMeld, Boxee, KickApps and many more companies. Founded in 2008 by Mehdi Maghsoodnia. Our guest was Mo Koyfman of Spark Capital. Content, of course, is the same!].

VC 217

VC capital venture capital networking 217

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

The VC industry has different segments in it that have different fund sizes, different investment amounts and different risk / return expectations. If you’re an angel you invest your own money and you have nobody to answer to except your spouse. If you invest it in startups you’re a VC professional money manager.

disruption 308

disruption VC entrepreneurs finance 308

Dream It

JANUARY 23, 2019

According to a recent report , B2B brands’ investments in marketing communications and earned media is now on par with their paid media spend. 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

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2010

Clearstone currently invests out of a $200 million fund based in LA with offices in Menlo Park and in India. Segment One: Jim’s background and Clearstone’s investment strategy. We also talked about Elevation Partners who invested in Palm and how this deal really salvaged their investment, which was a VERY big bet on Palm.

VC 236

VC venture capital ventures support 236

TechCrunch

JANUARY 25, 2022

Tribevest founder Travis Smith went on a fishing trip with his brothers in 2008 that he says they couldn’t afford. The brothers had dreams of finding their own financial freedom through investing in real estate, but didn’t have enough individual capital to go into business alone.

collaboration 98

collaboration real estate investing investment 98

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. In 2006, VCs invested about $3.5B That grew to about $5B per quarter in 2007 and early 2008. Then the investing velocity fell by half to $2.9B, $2.7B, and $2.3B

ventures 143

ventures VC investment investing 143

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 24, 2012

I told him that our market was absolutely booming and was worthy of a commensurate investment. Not that I’ll take credit for what I’m about to announce, but I knew that if somebody could commit to building out LA and making the investments required to kick ass in this market it would be Cooley. Invest they have.

VC 299

VC communities investment investing 299