A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

MAY 5, 2021

There has been this narrative about investing in VC funds that you have to get into the top quartile (25%) or possibly the top decile (10%) in order to generate good returns. I have heard that for as long as I have been in VC and probably have written it here a few times. As you can see, investing in VC funds can be very profitable.

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

Gogii came in my office in 2009 with three of the most talented founders I had seen. When I started blogging as a VC I had zero idea it would lead to my current audience level of 350,000 page views / month. By the next Monday we had lost the deal to a NorCal VC. I have to love both – but it’s in that proportion.

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SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

Now that he’s become a VC he’s promising me he’ll provide way more public information and discourse so please welcome him by following him on Twitter and better yet welcoming him with a Tweet of your own linking to his Twitter handle or this post. The idea immediately resonated. And he followed through.

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 27, 2010

Geolocation is so 2009. I can be frustrating for entrepreneurs who can’t seem to get a VCs interest until someone else is interested as well, but there’s actually a logic behind it, believe it or not. Undaunted, he went back to work, got some great partners on board, and kept plugging away. Haven’t you heard?

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JULY 26, 2022

2021 saw phenomenal returns for our industry and it topped off more than a decade of unprecedented VC growth. When we get involved in Seed investments we usually represent 60–80% in one of the first institutional rounds of capital, we almost always take board seats and then we serve these founders over the course of a decade or longer.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 25, 2015

The reason I’m thinking about the topic this morning is that several months ago Jason Spievak , the Founder & CEO of Invoca , the very first company I backed when I became a VC, started talking with me about whether he was the right guy to take the company to the next level. So we as a board kicked off a search for the next CEO.

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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. So Nick drove strategy & tech from the UK and remained an active board member and CTO of the company.

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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.

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 27, 2010

Geolocation is so 2009. I can be frustrating for entrepreneurs who can’t seem to get a VCs interest until someone else is interested as well, but there’s actually a logic behind it, believe it or not. Undaunted, he went back to work, got some great partners on board, and kept plugging away. Ok, so we’re all doing social TV now.

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This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 14, 2019

The Fantasy Cash Flow Model When I was an analyst at the General Motors pension fund, investing in VC funds, I had to build a model of how I thought they would perform. Taking board seats? Want to only invest in diverse boards? I think the results will surprise you how hard it is to be successful. For how long?

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 9, 2012

Oh, did you think I meant something else? :) I just thought today was Salacious Headline Day in the VC blogging world so I thought I'd chime in. Sometimes Principals can lead deals and sit on boards, sometimes they can't. When I first sat down with Josh back in September of 2009 to talk about joining First Round.

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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. Now for every dollar a VC raises $2.50

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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.

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MARCH 30, 2016

Invoca had grown steadily and consistently since 2009 and by 2015 SaaS companies with scale had become hot – trading at a median of 7.3x We knew better than to start funding raising in August, when larger VC firms have a harder time assembling full decision teams – so in August we would plan and September we would commence.

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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.”

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Revolution

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

According to PitchBook , VC investments were down 30% in Q2 2022 compared with 2021, and IPOs hit a 50-year low. When deal-making slows, VC dollars typically favor the perceived market leader, starving other venture-backed businesses in the same space of capital. The more straightforward value actualization is, the lighter the lift.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

If you want to be the marketing person or you want to be perceived as a businessperson or a VC or technical person or whatever you want to be perceived, people will always define you. I came from a board meeting to here. I want to build a great company, and I want to get you on my board for my new ridesharing service.

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NOVEMBER 7, 2009

I’m sure I’ll spark the ire of some VC’s for saying so, but there is certainly such a thing as black-out days in venture capital. It is also very hard to raise VC from July 15 – September 7th. (you The VC process is almost universal in how it works across firms. Many VC partners take 2-3 (4?)

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TechCrunch

MAY 11, 2021

I distinctly remember being impressed by the possibilities of D&D on an original Microsoft Surface… back in 2009. “They see the digital crossover is going to happen — people are playing online board games now. If the pitch sounds familiar… it’s been attempted once or twice before.

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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.

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TechCrunch

MAY 17, 2022

The judges for this pitch-off will be Yoon Choi (Muirwoods Ventures), Mar Hershenson (Pear VC) and Gabriel Scheer (Elemental Excelerator) on day one; and Sven Strohband (Khosla Ventures), Victoria Beasley (Prelude Ventures) and John Du (GM Ventures) on day two. ” Mar Hershenson — Pear VC. Gabriel Scheer — Elemental Excelerator.

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TechCrunch

MAY 5, 2023

We’ve been seeing layoffs and cost-cutting measures across the board as companies look to shore up their balance sheets. The social media company had raised a down round in 2009 before it went public in 2012 at a $104 billion valuation. Unfortunately for startups, it seems these down rounds are here to stay. .

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TechCrunch

JUNE 15, 2021

Mental health startup Ksana Health has received $2 million in seed funding led by re:Mind Capital, the mental health VC arm of Christian Angermayer and Apeiron Investment Group. to 13.1%) between 2009 and 2017. Hardorp will also have a seat on Ksana Health’s board. . “We

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Hunter Walk

AUGUST 26, 2022

Box had just 50 employees and was hitting an inflection point when I joined in 2009, so there was far more work to do than people to do it. Today, my best advice is to be prepared, and when things get tough, for founders, boards and comms teams to take a deep breath and not overreact (I could write a whole blog post on this).

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Angel Capital Association

MAY 25, 2023

Both angel group portfolios offer statistically significant sample sizes, and three previous large studies by Professor Rob Wiltbank also showed IRR’s in a similar range: 27% ( 2007 study ), 22% ( 2009 study ) and 22% ( 2016 study ). John Harbison , Chairman Emeritus of Tech Coast Angels and ACA Board Member.

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OurCrowd

MAY 11, 2020

Historically, venture investing right after major market downturns – such as after the Internet bubble burst in 2000-2002, and after the financial crisis of 2007-2009 — has proved lucrative because you’re buying at a discount. Despite the coronavirus crisis, 40 new jobs in Israel were added in the past month to the OurTalent job board.

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OurCrowd

DECEMBER 10, 2021

Founded in 2009 by top scientists in the fields of aging, genetics and biology from Harvard, MIT and Tufts, InsideTracker is a truly personalized nutrition and performance system, aiming to help people optimize their bodies from the inside out. 14 for VC 101 for US investors. Read my latest LinkedIn column on the limits of ESG.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 10, 2010

I ran a team of 14 people (12 Japanese, 1 German and 1 Turk … both of whom were fluent in Japanese) who produced an Internet strategy for the board of Sony. Next post: two “4-Hour Workweek&# like hacks I started in 2009 to try and take back control of my life that are saving me hours. It was not a touristy experience.

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TechCrunch

APRIL 15, 2022

Startups and VC. The company has been around since 2009 and just launched a new set of tools. Europe startups are having a good year so far : We’ve written about a slowdown in venture-backed deals in different regions, including the U.S., You’ll be forgiven for humming a bit of Aloe Blacc under your breath as you file your expenses.

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 10, 2021

After selling Manhattan GMAT in 2009, he started Venture for America, which aimed to create 100,000 new U.S. According to The City , “In an affidavit filed with the city Campaign Finance Board, Michael Donovan acknowledged he’s discussed whom to raise money from with his son’s campaign finance director. jobs by 2025.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. source: Harris Interactive IM Shopping Poll (August 2009)). The first investment I ever made as a VC was in a company now called Invoca. Much more data in the full post. THE ANNOYING THING.

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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.

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TechCrunch

APRIL 7, 2023

Startups and VC Everyone needs some good competition to get the creativity flowing. Last year, VCs flowed approximately $6 billion to resale platforms, writes Brian Schwarzbach, an investor with Cathay Innovation. In a galaxy far, far away : If you’re a Star Wars fan, Disney+ will debut a new series called “The Acolyte” in 2024.

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This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

Investors let him control the board as long as he continued to make them paper rich, and then actually rich--so they couldn’t technically force him out. When it happens at companies run by women, the media, disgruntled employees, and their investor board members, burn them at the stake. VC David Sacks tweeted “??

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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. Come 2009 we felt really bullish about the future for startups because the froth was gone and so, too, were wantrapreneurs. But I guess you could say the same about VC. Why is that? Yesterday was a Monday.

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abovethecrowd.com

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

I think it started with eBay, but then we got into more vertical specific ones, like Zillow, Grubhub, OpenTable and Uber that I’m on the board of. Our firm has been fortunate enough to be an investor in numerous “marketplaces”. It’s just fascinating, especially from a Silicon Valley perspective.

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