Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Starting in 2009 I began writing checks consistently, year-in and year-out. During this era, from 2009–2015, most founders I knew were in it for building great & sustainable companies. I was in it for the love of working with entrepreneurs on business problems and marveling at technology they had built.

VC 466

VC culture sustainability capital 466

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2015

These are all normal things but in this big run since 2009 we’ve all gotten used to nearly 100% follow-on financing rates, valuations only moving up, deals clearly the convertible note caps and low mortality rates. But I can tell you from first-hand experience it was a real issue in 2008-2009 and the psychology persisted into 2010-11.

financing 344

financing finance ventures real estate 344

Dream It

APRIL 3, 2020

In addition to his books, Geoffrey Moore assisted in writing “In a Downturn, Provoke Your Customers” for the Harvard Business Review in 2009. His strategy for selling in 2009 is relevant to any economic downturn.

pitching 221

pitching strategy advice board 221

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

SEPTEMBER 12, 2022

Our investment in Kickstarter back in 2009 is an excellent example of that. I’ve always been interested in tapping into the “crowd” to fund things that need to happen and that our current institutions can’t figure out how to support.

financing 226

financing finance creativity innovation 226

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

If I look back to the beginning of the current tech boom which started around 2009, we often wrote a $3–5 million check and this was called an “A round” and 12 years later in an over-capitalized market this became known as a “Seed Round” but in truth what we do hasn’t changed much at all.

ventures 408

ventures startup peer-to-peer venture capital 408

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

FEBRUARY 27, 2020

Back in 2009, I wrote a post called The Venture Capital Math Problem. This 2009 piece from @fredwilson (literally the best in the biz) predicted significant venture industry contraction when in fact the last 10yrs have seen massive expansion. But regardless, I was dead wrong in that post back in 2009 and I have learned from it.

venture capital 199

venture capital capital ventures VC 199

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

It was 2009 and it was terribly difficult to get any financing (if you can remember a time like that!) We have witnessed one hell of a startup boom from 2009-2014 which has coincided with the boom in accelerators. My good friend Adam Lilling and I started Launchpad more than 5 years ago . We had a specific goal in mind.

accelerator 290

accelerator mentorship peer-to-peer VC 290

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JUNE 19, 2024

Prior to founding Equifund, Jordan founded capital markets consulting and investor relations firm Novea Capital Inc in 2009. He is committed to fostering an informed, engaged investment community, aligning business growth with investor education. For more insights and inspiration from today’s leading entrepreneurs, check out EO on Inc.

financing 255

financing finance entrepreneurship mentorship 255

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 2, 2014

I started a company, failed at it, and joined First Round in 2009 to help them open up their NYC office. I tried to write a book for college kids in 2002-2003, couldn''t get it published, so I started blogging in February of 2004. I met Brad and Fred in the Summer of 2004, agreeing to join them later that year--my first job at a fund.

venture capital 281

venture capital VC ventures technology 281

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 21, 2012

It was even earlier when I talked to Jason at Shopkeep--December of 2009 by my records. It took almost two years for the company to raise their first outside capital from RTP and Greycroft--and honestly, my bad for not staying close to the company. Good for him--I'm happy to see him get resourced to built out his vision.

VC 253

VC education entrepreneurs development 253

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

Since 2009 we’ve been in an unequivocal bull market. Venture capitalists have raised increasing amounts of money from their investors (LPs) every year. An impressive number of new VCs have been created – most of them with new seed funds.

incubation 354

incubation board VC innovation 354

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. A small percentage of the time, there's a rush to fund things and about an equal amount of time, the market is closed while it figures out what a mess it made out of itself while it was rushing.

ventures 301

ventures venture capital disruption pitching 301

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2014

We first met five years ago through serendipity as I described in this 2009 blog post and elaborated on again in more detail 2010. This is how Upfront Ventures came to fund Tristan Walker – one of the most talented and passionate entrepreneurs with whom we work whose new company is called Bevel.

startup 419

startup peer-to-peer entrepreneurs education 419

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

MAY 5, 2021

This study was based on a large sample of VC fund level returns from 2009 to 2017 and does not include the last few years which have been particularly strong for the VC sector. Manager selection remains an important part of VC investing because the lower half of VC funds do not outperform the stock market.

VC 279

VC board investing investment 279

A Smart Bear

JANUARY 4, 2018

The Silicon Valley-oriented technology press outlets don’t cover us because we’re not in San Francisco, even though we’re more successful than most of the startups they cover.

investing 175

investing investment leadership culture 175

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. I spent my first year developing proprietary deal flow and learning the business and then the Sept 2008 / Lehman Bros collapse / financial meltdown happened. 5 years ago.

VC 387

VC venture capital finance financing 387

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 14, 2013

It was a happy accident when I got back into NYC VC in 2009 that I just happened to find the Ace Hotel--a space that was really conducive to meetings and founders working on projects. What conferences are going to be here that will attach outsiders and give us a national brand? How can they be helped?

communities 314

communities coworking spaces economic development funders 314

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

It wasn’t until I helped Foursquare raise their seed round in 2009 that many outside VCs even took notice of NYC. They’re less impactful on a year to year basis. In 2005, it was a risky bet to join Union Square Ventures and plant my VC career here in NYC. The one thing that is true for any tech community—it takes a long time to build.

communities 434

communities startup real estate mentorship 434

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 3, 2014

In 2009, I was introduced to Havi Hoffman. It''s super interesting to go back and trace connections and relationships that led to new opportunities. If nothing else, it serves as a good reminder that every thing you do now is an investment in the future. She was working as a developer evangelist at Yahoo!

disruption 271

disruption communities innovation enablement 271

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 7, 2020

That’s why Foursquare didn’t quite take off in the same way in 2009. For example, people think that it happened at SXSW with Twitter in 2007—but they forget that a small but dedicated mass of people were already on Twitter ahead of the conference. That conference accelerated adoption, but there was already some adoption in the community.

energy 301

energy accelerator media communities 301

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

FEBRUARY 21, 2023

I have not seen a better articulation of “native” than my partner Albert’s post from 2009 on native mobile applications. What is a “native” AI application? What is a “native” Web3 application? He started out by laying out the new primitives that mobile smartphones made available to developers.

technology 197

technology development capital VC 197

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

MAY 12, 2020

We kicked things off with an event we called Hacking Education back in March 2009. USV has invested in the education sector for a bit more than ten years. We have focused on “direct to learner” businesses and have mostly avoided investing in companies that sell to the established education system.

investing 177

investing investment education strategy 177

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

If one entered between 2009-2015 he or she is no doubt in the “hazard” phase where one need to be careful about thinking he know more about the industry than perhaps he do. It’s kind of a truism for life and certainly our industry. I see it in many young pups. They enter the industry knowing that they know nothing.

ventures 419

ventures VC capital SaaS 419

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 15, 2012

He spotted Facebook in 2004 and Spotify in 2009. Parker made a huge dent in the web as co-founder of Napster, then built Plaxo up to 20 million users. Say what you will about either company, they got up to huge userbases and had audaciously big aspirations.

startup 278

startup financing finance venture capital 278

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2011

The biggest media attention in our industry went to the so-called “super angels&# during the 2009/10 timeframe and while I don’t believe there is such thing as a super angel I believe that much media attention was deserved. Spawning of Micro VCs.

venture capital 334

venture capital capital ventures VC 334

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 7, 2012

I don't think the Valley really took New York seriously until Foursquare rose up in 2009. That's what will attract the best entrepreneurs here--an opportunity to push limits and explore the future of innovation. It can't and won't be market scale or, in the near term, investment capital.

creativity 269

creativity opportunity culture communities 269

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

In the early spring of 2009, the fundraising nuclear winter of the previous year hadn't yet thawed. It would be months before Foursquare's first round touched off a NYC venture frenzy. I was out trying to save my startup by talking to as many investors as I could.

ventures 280

ventures pitching VC startup ecosystem 280

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JANUARY 25, 2021

Example: In 2009, Southwest Airlines decided to go against industry standards that were shifting toward fees for checked luggage. This includes customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, society at large and the environment.

capital 278

capital culture sustainability leadership 278

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

I have come to realize that since the great tech boom started in 2009 and given the massive increase in first-time angels, first-time seed funds, first-time accelerators … there market is just filled with well-intentioned terrible advice.

VC 399

VC advice finance financing 399

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 19, 2012

4/19/2009 – Still an agency. 12/11/2009 – Slight tweak: Now you use our tools to control your social media. Our engaging social app-vertisements —games, quizzes and contests— create social brand loyalty. We help brands to engage their audiences by extending their advertising campaigns into the social world.

media 269

media networking social gaming SaaS 269

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2014

I first met Nick Halstead in 2009 when he was running a company called Tweetmeme (the predecessor to DataSift) who had invented the Retweet button and actually helped Twitter develop its early API. I remain as childishly giddy at Nick’s vision as I did in our conference hangout we had in 2009.

founder 309

founder leadership board innovation 309

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

It’s been high tide since 2009 so an entire batch of entrepreneurs don’t know what low tide even looks like. It encourages a bit too much FOMO (fear of missing out) and over-valuation in companies and a desire to do huge financing rounds to be perceived as the “knock-out winner.”

startup 390

startup VC venture capital entrepreneurs 390

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 1, 2011

But they weren’t there in 2009 when you were up late nights shitting yourself whether you really were smart for pursuing this idea. If you’re a tech startup person I know you know what I mean. You just closed your last $5 million round and everybody around you is thinking they could have done what you did.

advice 391

advice VC financing finance 391

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

As more consumers were skipping commercials the idea of authentically integrating brands into media seemed obvious to me and ended up informing a lot of my investments in 2009 and 2010. The idea immediately resonated.

ventures 340

ventures investing investment board 340

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

NOVEMBER 18, 2019

Back in March 2009, USV hosted an event called Hacking Education. It was the beginning of our effort to invest in the transformation of the education sector. A few weeks ago, USV held its annual meeting, roughly 15 years after we closed our first fund.

education 139

education accelerator enablement technology 139

Dream It

APRIL 12, 2020

In 2008-2009, the financial markets seized up, and there were quarters of complete uncertainty, but ultimately VCs started investing again and things normalized. The crisis began in August 2008, but by March 2009, deal activity in venture had picked up again and economic activity in the venture ecosystem normalized.

ventures 334

ventures startup capital board 334

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

When I joined First Round Capital in October of 2009, I limped in with about $31,000 in credit card debt and no immediate savings. I wasn’t going to sell my apartment and I wasn’t going to sell my car, nor was I going to touch my 401k. I was done when my credit card maxed out and my personal savings were both gone and that was it.

financing 274

financing finance pitching founder 274