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.”

advice 398

advice VC entrepreneurs transportation 398

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. The majority of the funds pay back our early investors who believed in us enough to trust us with their money.

investing 175

investing investment leadership culture 175

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.

VC 269

VC startup advice innovation 269

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

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

The only people who should be disappointed where the regular folks invested in these T. They did quite well on their angel investment in Square. I'm proud to say that I was dollars number 476 and 477 to be swiped on the platform after Jack demoed the very first prototype to me on a bench in Washington Square Park in late summer 2009.

angel investing 407

angel investing venture capital VC media 407

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Closing a VC fund in 2009/10 is a major achievement in and of itself. Founded in November 2007 in New York City by Alexis Maybank and Kevin Ryan (co-founder of DoubleClick); CEO is Susan Lyne (ex-CEO Marta Stewart Living Omnimedia) Revenue estimates: $50mm in 2008; $170mm in 2009 (versus budget of $150mm); $450mm forecasted for 2010.

VC 240

VC peer-to-peer advice ventures 240

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

Imagine if, say, Autodesk had purchased it in 2009 for $100 million? Of the first four investments I made as a VC in 2009, two have exited and two (Invoca & GumGum) still are independent and likely to produce $billion++ outcomes . My first ever investment as a VC was Invoca. Maker Studios?—?sold

venture capital 363

venture capital capital ventures VC 363

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

And while over the past few years we have been laser-focused on cash returns, we are equally planting seeds for our next 10–15 years of returns by actively investing in today’s market. We are excited to share the news that we have raised $650 million across three vehicles to allow us to continue making investments for many years ahead.

ventures 408

ventures startup peer-to-peer venture capital 408

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. We intend to put out more research both on our geography but also on the markets we’re interested in investing in.

VC 307

VC opportunity media innovation 307

Entrepreneurs' Organization

AUGUST 23, 2024

With marketing budgets tightening and businesses hurting, it made me want to share some of the most effective marketing strategies that have worked for us, either costing little to no cash or providing an absurd return on investment (ROI). and more articles from the EO blog.

strategy 207

strategy investing investment data analysis 207

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

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JUNE 19, 2024

When you invest in your business with your own money rather than investment dollars, you pay attention to every penny. The so-called J-curve of business growth — a period marked by initial investment losses before the eventual upturn — was a dark and isolating time.

financing 255

financing finance entrepreneurship mentorship 255

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. Recent competitive financings closed by Gilt Groupe ($35mm in 05/2010), OKL (undisclosed value in 12/2009) and Ideeli ($20mm in 12/2009).

VC 217

VC capital venture capital networking 217

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.

financing 344

financing finance ventures real estate 344

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

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2011

I will argue that LPs who invest in VC funds will also need to adjust a bit as well. 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.

venture capital 334

venture capital capital ventures VC 334

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

SEPTEMBER 12, 2022

Our investment in Kickstarter back in 2009 is an excellent example of that. USV is invested in the Toucan Protocol which is building the web3 infrastructure to bring carbon offsets on-chain and to allow them to be traded/invested/etc using DeFi protocols.

financing 226

financing finance creativity innovation 226

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

We spoke about the changes to an “accredited investor&# proposed by Chris Dodd – This would be bad for angel investing. Following Microsoft’s addressable advertising trials with NBC in June 2009, many suspect that Google’s investment may have some defensive motivations, as well. We spoke briefly about why.

VC 285

VC finance financing capital 285

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. 5 years ago.

VC 387

VC venture capital financing finance 387

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

LPs (the people who invest in VC funds) want to know what “hot” deals you’re in. It’s been high tide since 2009 so an entire batch of entrepreneurs don’t know what low tide even looks like. In a pool of 25-30 investments in a VC fund the goal is to have 2-3 huge outliers.

startup 390

startup VC venture capital entrepreneurs 390

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 3, 2010

And the broader question of whether VC’s will continue to invest in the Twitter ecosystem. Founded in 2009 in Los Angeles by Michelle Crames. Current round: $3.35mm in Series A by TomorrowVentures (Eric Schmidt’s personal investment vehicle), Saban Ventures, Founder Collective, SK Telecom Ventures. Company still in beta.

VC 214

VC founder advice ventures 214

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

DECEMBER 14, 2014

It was 2009 and it was terribly difficult to get any financing (if you can remember a time like that!) And since we all knew that Sam’s dealflow and judgment were sound we empowered him to make early-stage, accelerator-like investments in early-stage entrepreneurs under the Upfront brand. We had a specific goal in mind.

accelerator 290

accelerator mentorship peer-to-peer VC 290

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.

VC 279

VC board investment investing 279

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. It''s super interesting to go back and trace connections and relationships that led to new opportunities. She was working as a developer evangelist at Yahoo!

disruption 271

disruption communities innovation enablement 271

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 18, 2014

In my Twitter bio is says that I’m “ looking to invest in passionate entrepreneurs ,” which almost sounds like I was just looking for a cliché soundbite to describe myself. We first met five years ago through serendipity as I described in this 2009 blog post and elaborated on again in more detail 2010.

startup 419

startup peer-to-peer entrepreneurs education 419

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.

ventures 280

ventures pitching VC startup ecosystem 280

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.

pitching 221

pitching strategy advice board 221

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

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

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.” No blog post about how Tiger is crushing everybody because it’s deploying all its capital in 1-year while “suckers” are investing over 3-years can change this reality.

VC 416

VC strategy investment investing 416

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. I would argue that the shut-down of September 2009 was equally severe yet there are signs that this “VC Ice Age” has begun to thaw. Why did the VC markets freeze so quickly?

VC 263

VC board investment investing 263

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

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 7, 2012

It can't and won't be market scale or, in the near term, investment capital. I don't think the Valley really took New York seriously until Foursquare rose up in 2009. Despite a handful of investments from outside firms, I think you need an ecosystem capable of originality before outsiders seriously think about rooting here.

creativity 269

creativity opportunity culture communities 269

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. So when did I really start Brooklyn Bridge Ventures? Well, I was born in 1979.

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. You're going to miss some stuff, and just because others invested doesn't make any of these companies winners quite yet, but I'm all about continuous improvement. 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

JUNE 5, 2015

Pre-money ($8m) + investment ($2m) = Post-money ($10m) and the investors now own 20% of your company $2m / $10m. This was until about 2009 because most the investments in companies came from one, maybe two, sources. How much am I willing to invest in your company? How much do I want to own % wise of your company?

VC 364

VC financing finance board 364

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