Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

If you are a super young, well-connected, Stanford CS or EE, worked at Facebook early, have a bit o’ dosh and have VCs chasing you … you are exempt. After all, if nobody external was willing to fund you now without the accelerated scaling why would they do so in a year? If that’s you, you can ignore my advice.

VC 412

VC advice strategy accelerator 412

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

It got me thinking about the advice that I often give to new VCs. For years I saw myself as the new guy in VC but then you wake up one day and realize that 50% of your peers have been doing it for less time than you and time has moved on. ” And then there are incubators and accelerators. VC Industry'

peer-to-peer 317

peer-to-peer pitching VC accelerator 317

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

No VC will be so naive as not to see straight through it. When I first became a VC, seed rounds were typically $500k – $1.5 There weren’t a lot of seed funds in 2007 so this was often done by angels, funding consortia or sometimes early-stage funds that existed then (First Round Capital, True Ventures, SoftTech VC, etc.).

VC 399

VC advice finance financing 399

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

If you’ve been following the press about VC funds you’ll know this is no small feat. VC has operated as an “old boys club”, with access to capital often requiring entrance through an elite university engineering department in one of two cities. Startup Advice' That seems pretty superficial!”.

ventures 343

ventures venture capital advice VC 343

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

He pinged me that he was thinking about joining a startup based in LA with the CEO in NYC and would I be willing to meet him and give him advice on this process. And he decided he wanted to be part of the 500Startups accelerator. The choice of how much VC work and how much start-your-company work you want to do is up to you.

pitching 372

pitching advice VC entrepreneurs 372

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2009

This is part of my Startup Advice series. Let’s assume that the company raised it at a normal VC valuation, which means it gave up 33% of the company and thus $5 million / 33% = $15 million post-money valuation. You didn’t get acceleration on a change of control? My advice was … run! Wait a second.

advice 418

advice entrepreneurs startup culture 418

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 16, 2021

I’ve sat at both sides of the table as a founder and a VC, and I understand how difficult it is to get them on the same page. However, I believe that accelerators can be the glue bringing the two together. Here’s why I believe every investor should spend time with an accelerator: See diversity in action, and mirror it.

accelerator 86

accelerator VC mentorship pitching 86

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 5, 2015

They''re a career accelerator, which is a pretty neat concept--doing what YC and Techstars do for startups, but for your career. I reiterated the notion of risk taking when giving career advice the other day and how when I joined Union Square Ventures, it wasn''t the USV it was now. I had something VC firms were interested in.

VC 314

VC startup ecosystem networking venture capital 314

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Pitching a VC “ There’s a great meme developing this morning on the need to simplify funding terms and documents. Chris writes that early-stage deals should have: Founder vesting w/ acceleration on change of control. 2006 was the last time I went out to raise venture capital.

founder 252

founder pitching VC advice 252

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2010

It surprising how few people actually follow through this this advice. One of the most practical pieces of early career advice I got was “don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions.&# The message was clear. Heck, even VC’s have bosses (our investors). Tags: Startup Advice. Everybody says that.

advice 342

advice board consulting development 342

Founder Bounty

DECEMBER 19, 2022

Having been in touch with top tier VC's for pre seed and seed these are the best ones. YC Y Combinator is easily one of the most famous accelerators in the world, thanks to its huge profile and excellent reputation among startups.

accelerator 98

accelerator VC mentorship startup 98

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

Because my role as a VC requires me to take and endless stream of meetings I long ago decided I need to learn as much as I can from the meetings I attend so I often just ask tons of questions and assimilate knowledge. When I think about what defines us as a VC I think: Operationally knowledgeable / strong startup competence.

VC 360

VC communities investing investment 360

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I was meeting with a first-time CEO of a very promising young startup recently and offering my advice on what his priorities should be. I gave him the same advice I give nearly all over-worked, control-freak, do-everything-yourself startup founders: “Your number one priority isn’t any of these things. Me: “Bullshit.

communities 317

communities VC innovation entrepreneurs 317

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

The idea is simple enough: several female VC partners at top funds will hold 1-hour meetings with 40 promising female entrepreneurs looking to get advice on their business and pitch in a friendly, non-judgmental, safe environment. 8% of VC partnerships, for example). Now 33% of Supreme Court Justices are women (vs.

founder 256

founder peer-to-peer VC mentorship 256

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

He believes that one of the financial metrics taught at business schools and reinforced by Wall Street has accelerated offshoring of industries. We spoke about the disruption of VC through crowd funding. VC can’t don’t invest in these kinds of companies because they can’t get out (no liquidity event).

education 403

education disruption entrepreneurship venture capital 403

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2015

I would like to just offer some very simple advice: 1. No acceleration. I was forced to explain why I say “I switched to the Dark Side” (referring to VC) on my blog. If you think you may have to terminate employees always have legal advice. Be formal with every employee contract – even with friends.

startup 352

startup advice board founder 352

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 11, 2012

16k+ Twitter followers, 5500+ e-mail subs a week, 6th most read VC blog, appearences on Bloomberg and CNBC and I can't use any of it to market any kind of financial product--but if I wanted to sell you a watch or build a video game, I'd be set. Want to know why there aren't more female partners at VC funds? scratches bald head].

ventures 288

ventures incubation VC venture capital 288

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

Home to the Internet’s first true “accelerator,” Idealab led by Bill Gross. IA Ventures – Roger Ehrenberg was doing angel investing before he became a VC. True Ventures – When I was raising capital for my second company back in 2006 I had talked to many brand-name VCs and had several term sheets.

communities 304

communities startup creativity VC 304

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 15, 2013

In part two I talked about how to ensure that your professional services practice doesn’t take over your software company although I’m on record that there is nothing wrong with a services company as long as you’re not VC backed. Often 2-3 customers would band together to fund an accelerated plan. Startup Advice'

peer-to-peer 297

peer-to-peer accelerator advice networking 297

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

Cincinnati, like many startup communities in the US over the past 5 years, has revitalized important regions in its urban core, created accelerators, built co-working facilities, pooled together angel capital, attracted VCs, involved educational institutions and solicited the help of important corporations in a more cohesive ecosystem.

startup 390

startup communities venture capital angel capital 390

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

I believe that over capitalizing companies too early often favors the VC. Talking about whether to raise more money or not, their VC allegedly said to them: “If you had more capital, could you get to the future faster? It’s the whole basis of my investment philosophy, which I call “ The Entrepreneur Thesis.&#.

entrepreneurs 374

entrepreneurs incubation board VC 374

TechCrunch

JANUARY 8, 2022

Even to outsiders, the inner workings of startup accelerators has become familiar: pumped up on camaraderie and energy drinks, scrappy founders do product demos onstage before a room full of buzzy journalists and investors. Signaling risk happens when a VC chooses to not do pro rata, or follow-on investing, in an existing portfolio company.

startup accelerator 92

startup accelerator accelerator startup energy 92

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? Not every problem has to be a huge VC-fundable business. Others like Words with Friends solve deeper problems than games, like meeting new people or curing loneliness.

transportation 309

transportation VC networking energy 309

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 4, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. Incidentally, VC’s hate when they hear companies pitching who say, “ I don’t have real competitors &# as I outlined point three in the linked post). You need to qualify VCs the same way you qualify sales leads. So is there nothing you can do to accelerate sales?

startup 319

startup advice entrepreneurs networking 319

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2012

I had a very enjoyable day in Cincinnati meeting many local entrepreneurs, angels and accelerators. I was here to see one of our LPs (limited partners are the people who invest money in VC funds) called Fort Washington. I’m aboard Delta flight 1833 from Cincinnati (actually, Northern Kentucky for what it’s worth) to Los Angeles.

accelerator 364

accelerator entrepreneurs collaboration VC 364

Jason Malki

MARCH 9, 2023

Then, I stumbled upon PE/VC after chatting with a good college buddy of mine. My investments were sector agnostic at first, but now, I solely focus on climate tech as I see the urgent need for accelerating specific solutions to arguably the world’s biggest challenge today. I would break it down into 3 steps. This was very insightful.

VC 98

VC ventures angel investing venture capital 98

David Teten VC

JULY 27, 2021

We have collected a wide range of freebies, contests, accelerators, online communities, and VCs designed for student tech founders. I have been researching this both to support Versatile VC ’s portfolio companies and also as part of research for my new book, To University and Beyond: Launch Your Career in High Gear. Right here.

founder 144

founder mentorship peer-to-peer pitching 144

TechCrunch

AUGUST 27, 2021

Partners in well-known VC firms spoke, they were accessible, and they shared smart, insightful nuggets. Soon, Together Labs will introduce additional blockchain offerings to accelerate the transition to a complete blockchain economy, setting the economic model for other metaverses to follow. Michael McCarthy, CEO of Repositax.

disruption 100

disruption advice leadership energy 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

Elect 1-2 representatives and even invite a local VC to invest personally and sit on the investment committee or be an advisor. ” And if aspiring investment teams are looking to get together the SBIC has come back with a new VC focused program to help non-Silicon Valley communities fund companies beyond their initial angel money.

communities 378

communities startup venture capital capital 378

TechCrunch

MAY 10, 2023

The investor previously worked as a partner at 500 , previously known as 500 Startups, where he raised and ran a dedicated fintech fund as well as helped build an accelerator. Better Tomorrow Ventures tells TechCrunch that it is launching a fintech accelerator, this time under its own roof, called The Mint. million valuations.

accelerator 77

accelerator ventures VC advice 77

Gust

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Cautionary note: No competent VC is actually fooled when you show up after raising $6M in seed financing and say you’re now raising an A! No VC will be so naive as not to see straight through it. When I first became a VC, seed rounds were typically $500k – $1.5 If you''re newer to VC math here''s a great primer].

VC 136

VC advice finance financing 136

David Teten VC

AUGUST 21, 2019

Most founders who are raising capital look first to traditional equity VCs. Revenue-Based Investing (“RBI”) is a new form of VC financing, distinct from the preferred equity structure most VCs use. Who are the major Revenue-Based Investing VCs? Should your new VC fund use Revenue-Based Investing? Optionality.

VC 69

VC investment investing venture capital 69

StartupNation

MAY 24, 2021

While we’ve been strongly supported by our VC backers during the pandemic, the same can’t be said for every startup. This, naturally, leads to the question of how you find the right VC firms to partner with. Use the following five strategies to find the perfect VC partner for your business: Do your research. Go in warm.

VC 76

VC pitching networking venture capital 76

Founders Coop

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

tl;dr + Techstars was once one of the world’s leading accelerator programs, but has steadily been eclipsed by Y combinator. What did we owe our sponsors, and did that put us in conflict with our commitments to give founders the best possible advice, and to never waste their time?

startup ecosystem 189

startup ecosystem accelerator communities support 189

David Teten VC

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

Versatile VC is hosting a one-hour interactive webinar on Thursday, September 28, at noon EST. We’ll discuss Versatile VC ‘s strategy, how we see the market, and some of the opportunities we think are exciting. We have the flexibility to invest using both traditional and alternative VC structures.

VC 52

VC consulting angel investing venture capital 52

TechCrunch

APRIL 6, 2023

Soon enough, we’ll be coming straight atcha with a host of speakers, workshops, roundtables, and networking opportunities that are sure to accelerate your dream. Cut to Mark Wahlberg speeding down the Big Dig, accelerating toward a dream.* But it’s not just us — our event partners are equally committed to your success.

construction 97

construction accelerator advice education 97

Onevest

APRIL 1, 2015

By Michael "Luni" Libes In the traditional world of early stage, Angel and VC investing, money is local. Studies show that over 80% of funding at Angel groups and Series A VCs goes to businesses in the same city/region as the funders. Onevest does not give investment, legal or tax advice. Register Here.

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angel investing investment investing funders 110