A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

MAY 12, 2020

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

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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. Our last fund we raised was in 2012 and we began investing it in April of 2012.

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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. So what did I get wrong in my attempt to solve the venture capital math problem?

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This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

The only people who should be disappointed where the regular folks invested in these T. Unlike venture capital funds, they don't make money directly off the multiples of their return. They did quite well on their angel investment in Square. Congrats on your huge disappointment.

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David Teten VC

MARCH 31, 2025

Orange Collective exclusively invests in Y Combinator companies before Demo Day. The team has founded 5 companies which participated in 5 graduating batches spanning from 2009 to 2017. They invest in the fund, evaluate each Y Combinator batch, perform due diligence, and help us gain access to hard-to-access opportunities.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

We believe this consistency in leadership and intuition for where the markets were going in the heady days of 2019–2021 helped us to stay sane in a world that momentarily seemed to have lost its mind and since we have new capital to deploy in the years ahead perhaps I can offer some insights into where we think value will be derived.

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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. Unemployment continues to rise – Unemployment as of September 2009 is 9.7% This has a tangible impact on the valuation of start-ups and the pace of investment.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

They take fewer bets, they don’t mind being counter-conventional and investing in things that make others scratch their heads. And with the crash of Sept 2009 – March 2009 the market cleared out created an open field in which to invest, go slowly, learn and let companies mature before they felt the need to be “hyped.”

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Our guest this week on #TWiVC was Dana Settle , partner at Greycroft Partners , a venture capital firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Closing a VC fund in 2009/10 is a major achievement in and of itself. Total raised: $83mm; Series B round (July 2009 for $43mm) valued company at $400mm. Greycroft is an early-stage VC.

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A Smart Bear

JANUARY 4, 2018

Of course a nice chunk is primary capital, i.e. for the company balance sheet, to invest in growth initiatives, security and quality, and advancing our existing strategic priorities through acceleration and de-risking. This week we closed $250M in financing from Silver Lake , the premier technology private equity firm.

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 9, 2012

With the ascension of Kent Goldman and Phin Barnes to Partner, Christine Herron leaving to join Intel Capital and me starting Brooklyn Bridge Ventures , there are no longer any people at the Principal level. 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

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.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

JUNE 19, 2024

Instead, it began with 15 years of hands-on learning in capital markets, working closely with entrepreneurs, investors, and bankers. This experience allowed me to identify a critical void in financing companies: building healthy capital stacks and navigating the public offering process.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

He also nails the reason why venture capital is still necessary to grow large businesses quickly in a world where the costs of running startups have fallen dramatically. After all, growth equals high valuations and loads of venture capital! In a pool of 25-30 investments in a VC fund the goal is to have 2-3 huge outliers.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

Next Wednesday we’ll have Dana Settle of Greycroft Partners, a New York / LA early-stage venture capital fund. We spoke about the changes to an “accredited investor&# proposed by Chris Dodd – This would be bad for angel investing. Swipely – Blippy competitor founded by TellMe founder, Angus Davis, in Fall 2009.

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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.

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 16, 2016

There aren't many people who get the chance to analyze venture capital fund return data. The midway point of this dataset is 2009. The average company of a 2009 fund was funded in 2011, just five years ago, and half the companies in that fund are less than five years old. Companies take a long time to exit--often 5-9 years.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2015

As an active investor in the Los Angeles technology market we’re always seeking to better understand the data and trends of why our market has grown so rapidly since 2009. There are so many great, young funds in the market and many of them are attracting LP capital.

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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. At the time I pointed out: “If I had realized exits almost certainly it would be because I invested in a company that failed. I have done 6 VC investments – all within the past 20 months.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

I had witnessed a number of early-stage tech startups in LA raise seed capital from the Bay Area and relocate. It was 2009 and it was terribly difficult to get any financing (if you can remember a time like that!) And Jim & I went on to raise several more venture capital funds in our day jobs. We decided on the latter.

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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?

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Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

We love capital efficiency until we love land grabs until we abhor over funding until we get huge payouts and ring the bell for more funding until we attract every non-VC on the planet to invest in startups until it crashes and we start the cycle all over again none the wiser. VC funding. I see it in many young pups. Same as I felt.

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This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

Well, they did ask David Chao of Doll Capital, who said that the " frothy bubble is over ". 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.

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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. Raised angel money from Rob Lord, Reid Hoffman, Benchmark Capital and others. And the broader question of whether VC’s will continue to invest in the Twitter ecosystem. MetaMarkets.

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

There are many times when being overly capitalized before you’re ready is a negative. otherwise I prefer to invest less and risk less). Plus, most early-stage M&A fails so this isn’t likely a good use of capital for a young company). Availability of Capital. We want a strong balance sheet (um, ok.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

At our mid-year offsite our partnership at Upfront Ventures was discussing what the future of venture capital and the startup ecosystem looked like. Even then private market investors can paper over valuation changes by investing at the same price but with more structure so it’s hard to understand the “headline valuation.”

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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. The funding was anchored by a major commitment from Two Sigma Ventures, the private venture investment affiliate of Two Sigma Investments. It would be months before Foursquare's first round touched off a NYC venture frenzy.

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2015

So why invest in that period of uncertainty unless it’s early-stage and thus valuation matters less. If the next 30 days stays calm then investment will pick up. So, too, investments. It will also mean a certain amount of triage and also some mortality rates amongst investments. So plan your start date accordingly.

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This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 21, 2012

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. It was even earlier when I talked to Jason at Shopkeep--December of 2009 by my records. It would be over two years until he took his first round of capital earlier in 2012.

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This is going to be BIG.

JULY 14, 2013

There was no strategic goal to build venture backed startup companies, but yet at least three companies in her community got VC investment last year. 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.

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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. Manager selection remains an important part of VC investing because the lower half of VC funds do not outperform the stock market.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

“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.” According to FLAG Capital there are 100 active VCs (as defined by making at least $1 million in VC per quarter for 4 consecutive quarters). The industry is dying, except for the top 2%.

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Dream It

APRIL 3, 2020

In this episode, the two discussed how you can effectively sell in an environment where budgets are being cut, executive decision-makers are distracted with other priorities, and companies are less inclined to invest in innovation. His strategy for selling in 2009 is relevant to any economic downturn.

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This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 2, 2014

My godfather got me IBM stock right after that, so that''s how I knew that a stock market and investing existed. I started a company, failed at it, and joined First Round in 2009 to help them open up their NYC office. Venture Capital & Technology' So when did I really start Brooklyn Bridge Ventures? Well, I was born in 1979.

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This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 3, 2014

If nothing else, it serves as a good reminder that every thing you do now is an investment in the future. In 2009, I was introduced to Havi Hoffman. Techcrunch Disrupt is where I met Steve and Jared from GroupMe and what led to me backing the company when I was with First Round Capital.

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