Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. We’re staring to get the hang of how to divide the show up into talking about deals but also talking about issues for entrepreneurs during funding.

VC 285

VC financing finance capital 285

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

I’m writing this series because if you better understand how VC firms work you can better target which firms make sense for you to speak with. It in not uncommon to see a VC talk about “total assets under management&# as in “We have $1.5 What is a VC fund? VC’s don’t invest 100% of their own money.

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VC venture capital investing investment 269

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). 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 284

angel investing investing investment VC 284

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AUGUST 9, 2011

I spent my days meeting companies, figuring out what areas of the market interested me and trying to get a sense for how VCs thought about fair valuations. I thought about things I never had to as an entrepreneur: check size, ownership percentage, deal stage, portfolio construction and risk. But I guess you could say the same about VC.

VC 305

VC disruption entrepreneurs venture capital 305

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 21, 2012

I met him in April of 2010--almost two years before he got a venture round. I try to involve lots of people in my circle to be accessable, but I can honestly say that I don't do as good of a job with that when it comes to entrepreneurs I've passed on. Devrim Yasar just raised an additional $7.25 million for Koding.com.

VC 250

VC education entrepreneurs development 250

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

And that was evident on today’s Angel vs. VC panel. The VC industry is segmenting – I have spoken about this many times before. The VC industry has different segments in it that have different fund sizes, different investment amounts and different risk / return expectations. Answer: Not much. It’s a shame.

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disruption VC entrepreneurs finance 308

Gust

DECEMBER 13, 2011

For VCs, I chose to look at all seed stage VC deals (from MoneyTree©) as well as those in five of the most active regions in the country. 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. . All Seed-VC.

entrepreneurs 162

entrepreneurs angel investing VC venture capital 162

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. It’s always such a pleasure for me to spend time with Farb because he has all of the enthusiasm and energy you love to see in entrepreneurs. He’s also candid, humble and helpful.

VC 214

VC founder advice ventures 214

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2010

It was especially fun for me because we got the chance to talk about the VC industry and how entrepreneurs should think about the VC industry in addition to discussing deals. Segment Three: “VC Deals Funded this Week”. 14mm in Series C; $25mm in Series B raised in March 2010; $44mm raised in total. LivingSocial.

VC 236

VC venture capital ventures support 236

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

TechCrunch Europe ran an article in November of last year that European startups need to work as hard as those in Silicon Valley and I echoed the sentiment in my post about the need for entrepreneurs to be maniacal about their businesses if one wants to work in the hyper competitive tech world. We were based in London.

entrepreneurs 308

entrepreneurs advice real estate venture capital 308

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

In 2010 somebody posed the question on Quora, “Is Mark Suster a Successful Venture Capitalist?” Helping companies get to next financing round successfully: I was just beginning this phase in Sept 2010 and said so. This is what I wrote on that Quora answer from Sept 2010. Lemons ripen early, great companies take time.”

VC 387

VC venture capital ventures financing 387

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

I recently read a blog post by Beezer Clarkson, Managing Director of Sapphire Ventures about why entrepreneurs should care about from whom their VC funds raise their capital. There are a lot of things I think entrepreneurs should care about when raising from a VC: How big or small their fund is? I’m still not sure.

entrepreneurs 237

entrepreneurs VC mentorship strategy 237

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

I can’t help feel a bit of rear-view mirror analysis in all of “VC model is broken” bears in our industry. The movie, “The Social Network” might have had more of an impact on creating future entrepreneurs than any other event of the past 5 years. In 1998 there were around 850 VC funds and by 2000 there were 2,300.

venture capital 347

venture capital capital ventures VC 347

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 28, 2013

The biggest question I think VC''s face right now is whether or not, in the future, the best founders will look and act like the best founders of the past. If you are a venture capital investor and you''re not preparing yourself to succeed in a more diverse ecosystem of entrepreneurs, you''re just going to get left behind.

venture capital 398

venture capital VC ventures capital 398

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

MARCH 28, 2022

So I saw this tweet by Semil Shah yesterday: A friend who works in an industry far from tech startups & VC asked what would be the single article I’d share to read on each topic. So I clicked on the link to my Competing To Win Deals post, which I wrote in 2010, and read it. Don’t make the entrepreneur do all the work.

VC 261

VC entrepreneurs venture capital strategy 261

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

I’m often asked about the differences between being at a VC and being an entrepreneur and whether I prefer one or the other. As I’m fond of saying, “It’s pretty hard to call yourself ‘Upfront’ and then seem like you’re playing games with entrepreneurs.” Authenticity.

culture 339

culture VC communities venture capital 339

Haystack

JANUARY 18, 2020

Having spent time around and then in the world of VC in the Bay Area during the last decade, I’ve been reflecting on how different norms in the industry have changed. At the start of 2010, there was some unwritten VC industry conventions that have been tested, challenged, and upended in the last decade.

VC 130

VC construction strategy investing 130

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2015

” And yet we entrepreneurs who will sign up for the journey accept that failure is a possibility and the true entrepreneurs know that they must stick with the ship even if it’s sinking. First time entrepreneurs can fall prey to hubris. But markets don’t generally love failure. Why or why not?”

creativity 378

creativity culture entrepreneurs energy 378

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

So why are so many diverse entrepreneurs shortchanging themselves? Right this very minute, I'm also working hard to secure my spot in an oversubscribed round for a pre-product company led by a female entrepreneur, while simultaneously wrapping up a seed round in a founder of color who didn't have a problem raising at all.

advice 418

advice founder pitching VC 418

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2011

Will you get the TechCrunch bump, the tier-1 VC anointment, followed by great PR firm support and then the NY Times or WSJ story that follows? So as I get around the country speaking at college campus in 2010 & 2011 I have been preaching the same theme. Not every problem has to be a huge VC-fundable business.

transportation 309

transportation VC networking energy 309

Both Sides of the Table

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. I only wanted one thing in the deal – Hamet. I stayed close.

ventures 340

ventures investing investment board 340

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

We haven’t hit that wall yet for three reasons: 1) not enough elapsed time, 2) the VC market is frenzied now, too and 3) we haven’t seen a market downturn since the volume picked up. But I’ll judge the angel class of 2009/2010 on a 7-10 year time horizon. I was very active in 2009 / early 2010.

angel investing 299

angel investing investing investment real estate 299

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 18, 2010

Applications are due April 6th, 2010, the form is on the website and the Twitter address is @launchpadlad. When I kicked off Launchpad LA a year ago I had a few objectives: Create an ecosystem where all Southern California VC’s had the chance to work together more actively outside of the boards on which we mutually sit.

mentorship 259

mentorship VC education entrepreneurs 259

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

This is the second article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). I like to invest where I have a personally strong connection with the entrepreneur and/or a strong intuition on the market from prior experience. Part 1 – Access to Great Deal Flow – is here.

angel investing 288

angel investing investing investment advice 288

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). And if I were an entrepreneur I’d rather find investors who understood “my space&# so that in tough times they felt comfortable about “doubling down.&#. Not everybody agreed.

angel investing 152

angel investing investing investment VC 152

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). After that it’s domain experience, access to VCs and deep pockets. I wonder what this company would look like in 2010 as an independent? This is the fifth & final (I promise!) I agreed to help.

angel investing 280

angel investing investing investment VC 280

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

In 2010, Antonio Garcia Martinez, the founder of AdGrok, wrote, “New York will always be a tech backwater, I don’t care what Chris Dixon or Ron Conway or Paul Graham say.” In 2005, it was a risky bet to join Union Square Ventures and plant my VC career here in NYC. They’re less impactful on a year to year basis.

communities 434

communities startup real estate mentorship 434

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2010

We held a 90-minute demo session where 150 of LA’s VC’s and senior technology executives watched the LPLA V2 group present in small groups of 12-15 each. The VC’s & executives were then asked to make “commitments&# (in writing) to 3-5 of the companies that they felt they could make some sort of contribution to.

startup 276

startup VC media networking 276

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

This led Roy Rodenstein (whose company Going.com was sold to AOL ) and others to discuss , what happens when VC’s need to invest across multiple funds. Even more complicated, VCs often invest from multiple funds or sub-funds into a single deal. So as an entrepreneur it’s hard to navigate those waters over time.

investing 226

investing investment VC venture capital 226

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. Entrepreneurs are neurotic about it. On Losing in VC. I decided to put both of those issues to bed in 2010. I know I won’t win every deal I want to in VC. I hate losing.

consulting 333

consulting advice collaboration VC 333

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 13, 2012

I first met Wiley Cerilli on April 23, 2010. A VC once said about him that "I'm not sure about the company, but I sure do want him reading bedtime stories to my kids."). You don't just get the entrepreneur--you get the team he puts in a position to succeed. I biked down Broadway to his temporary office space at SoHo Haven.

pitching 346

pitching culture VC consulting 346

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. Entrepreneurs are neurotic about it. On Losing in VC. I decided to put both of those issues to bed in 2010. I know I won’t win every deal I want to in VC. I hate losing.

consulting 328

consulting advice collaboration VC 328

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2015

If market slumps persist the woes will extend into LPs who will take a wait-and-see approach to investing in VC funds making 2016 an unpleasant year to be raising. The impact hits VCs in an immediate way that most entrepreneurs don’t realize. Watch the market closely. So I’ll come full circle.

finance 344

finance financing ventures real estate 344

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

I’ve written about the topic of convertible debt at length before specifically about how angels & entrepreneurs should think about pricing. Clearly this is is a trend and a topic that is interesting entrepreneurs. In fact, in some ways can be worse for the entrepreneur. a priced/valued preferred stock financing)?

finance 319

finance financing entrepreneurs advice 319

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2012

It all started in 2010 with Klout. From this debate about Klout John and I have had a series of in person meetings and debates about our industry (both VC & tech) and what is changing. 2:00 Why don’t you like the term VC? 7:00 80% of the VC funds last year went to a small handful of funds. SHOW NOTES.

venture capital 303

venture capital VC ventures capital 303

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 14, 2015

How do you have time for all your entrepreneurs? As I’ve said before, “ You’d Have to be a Really Big Baby to Complain About Being a VC.” I called in the Y0 Yo Life of an Entrepreneur but it really applies to me as a VC as well. I wrote this in January 2010. How are you everywhere at once?

VC 347

VC entrepreneurs creativity advice 347

TechCrunch

JUNE 8, 2022

The dynamics that play into this forecast, aside from the impact of COVID, include a youthful population (the youngest globally), rising smartphone adoption and internet penetration that has led to a burgeoning tech ecosystem backed by local and international VC dollars. from 2010 to 2019. and Latin America’s 2.8%.

VC 97

VC investing investment transportation 97