Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2015

If you want to understand the software trend that drove the creation of the seed-stage VC phenomenon I wrote about it that linked blog post but in short: cloud computing drove down the cost to create startups enabling a new category of investor. Some quick highlights include: The Role of a Seed Stage VC. Startup Lessons'

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. I wrote the summary notes in this blog post. The “Triple Play&# of VC Presentations.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2010

They had received a term sheet from a VC and were wondering whether to work with this firm. You’re tied at the hip to your VC. Get to know VCs over a long period of time so that when you’re ready to get engaged you feel you know their character. But what was the VC like when the chips were down?

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

We also spoke about what it takes to be an effective board member. On the one hand I often find that some board members are seemingly reading the board materials on the fly and don’t have a firm grasp of the business fundamentals while on the other hand some board members like to tinker in the running of the business.

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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. The following was available: “I kept hearing about startups that raised VC funding, but which hadn’t filed Form Ds (nor issued a press release). Rumored to be appox.

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This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 3, 2012

Instead of just e-mailing people and dealing with them directly, as we do in person, we're a blog post away from a flamewar. Of course, you don't always need that experience from a VC. An experienced entrepreneur who has raised money multiple times can be a great board member as well. We box shadows--especially on the internet.

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VC board venture capital ventures 261

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 29, 2011

No matter how much I or any of the team here at First Round made themselves accessable through Office Hours, LinkedIn, Twitter, speaking, blogging, etc., Then I realized that it's probably not obvious what the dynamics are around how VCs tend to get introduced to companies and what works best for people, so I figured I'd blog about it.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

In the VC insider baseball world a discussion has gone on about “VC platforms” over the past 5 or so years. While firms define platforms differently, let’s just say they are the services that a VC offers outside of investment capital and partner time on boards or providing intros.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

I just want to figure out what a fair valuation is.&# I figured all the VC’s talked so we should. How VC’s Calculate Valuation : We walked through a standard deal where you raise $1 million at a $3 million pre-money valuation leading to a $4 million post money valuation. The VC assumes you’ll have an option pool.

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founder VC venture capital entrepreneurs 405

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 22, 2014

These are things that other VCs think about, but founders who come to pitch don''t think about too much. When you blog, tweet , Instagram , etc., as a VC, sometimes your own website becomes an afterthought. That''s also why I''m finally launching a real website at brooklynbridge.vc. So there ya go.

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pitching board VC opportunity 413

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

You can watch the video above for a very brief overview of why we rebranded and where we see our place in the VC ecosystem along with what has changed in our industry. Relaunching our brand is part of our larger initiative to build a VC firm of the future. When he starts his blog I’ll let you know. First task for Kyle?

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ventures VC strategy advice 324

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

It represents the great majority of entrepreneurship and eschews the fairytale rags-to-VC-riches stories we so often read about in the press. So Tracy began keeping a blog about … (what else?) If you haven’t read my blog posts on why Tracy chose the right strategy it’s worth a read. That may soon change.

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peer-to-peer entrepreneurs startup entrepreneurship 363

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2018

If you’re an entrepreneur who would like to see this clause in more startups please ask your VC to include it in future term sheets and link to it from their home page. “We Ours is: upfront.com/inclusion. We strive to invest in companies that are consciously working to create a diverse leadership team?—?

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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. 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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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

And if you are – what on earth are you reading such a boring blog as this?!? OK, that sounds like an interesting business, but nothing to write a freakin’ blog post about? Gogii spent way more effort marketing to what I call “The USA Today market&# rather than the tech blog market. But I never gave up.

investing 310

investing investment VC board 310

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 23, 2012

Conferences, startup blogs, meetups--they're all filled with people telling you how to build your company. Try and figure out exactly what a startup had to show at the moment a VC chose to invest in them. Why ever read another tech blog? They don't look cautiously at the advice given to them by their favorite VC blogger.

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advice startup VC strategy 416

Both Sides of the Table

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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VC peer-to-peer entrepreneurs investing 374

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. This month we closed our 4th fund of $200 million.

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ventures venture capital advice VC 343

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

I’m going to save that for a future blog post. And awesome to get to spend time with Ian Sigalow “comparing notes” (VC speak ). He said that ineffectual leaders seek consensus or want direction or approval from the board. Nail it before you scale it” – I missed who said this but I love this quote. He says this is a mistake.

peer-to-peer 279

peer-to-peer advice VC board 279

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

If you read this blog often you'll know that I'm a huge fan of First Round Capital. They have totally changed the way you run a VC firm, investing heavily in systems & events for their founders that are pushing the boundaries of the way our industry works. I have sat on a board with Howard and have known him a few years.

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capital board VC pitching 284

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? And having too much money certainly raises board expectations that you will do big things quickly.

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entrepreneurs incubation board VC 374

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

I have blogged about some of the downside consequences of the changes and the private information I have says the consequences are much worse than is reported in the press since few people publicly talk about. We led an investment round in a company a while ago in which we wrote a seven-figure check and have taken a board seat.

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venture capital VC board financing 352

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Board Meetings. How do VCs break out of group think when they are shuttling from one board meeting to the next, from one conference to the other and talking with all the same people? I want to make sure that my sixth year as a VC doesn’t just become an automatic continuation of what I’ve done in my first 5 years.

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creativity venture capital entrepreneurs board 400

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 27, 2010

Sometimes it pays to jump on board before a lot of big questions have been answered—simply because you can feel the market starting to notice it and create mindshare momentum. I just had just written about Foursquare on my blog, so I was actually invited to his biz dev meeting, too.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 5, 2014

But as I rose in my career (and post MBA) I moved into a role in which I was to advise board-level executives on topics where I was expected to rapidly become an expert. In my experience many VC’s fall into this “I’m expected to know all the answers” trap. We are their sparring partners, their sounding boards.

peer-to-peer 337

peer-to-peer entrepreneurs consulting VC 337

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Hire admin / office management after you raise a reasonable size VC round. Be careful about board construction. Limit the number of VCs. Limit the number of VCs. Can always appoint other startup CEOs to the board to take founder seats (which you control) and/or bring in industry experts as independents.

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startup consulting construction board 388

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

It’s apropos because there is so much noise these days with email, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, web shows, etc. I was thinking back to a few previous “insider baseball&# blog debates that raged for several weeks: AngelGate (aka Bin38 secret cabal), convertible debt vs. equity, bubble vs. not, and now the AngelList discussion.

peer-to-peer 287

peer-to-peer VC entrepreneurs board 287

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2015

Even when I’m not the one being sued I find myself being dragged into deposition after deposition and my blog (along with all my emails) are being served as evidence. Because no VCs would fund them with a pending lawsuit of this nature. He signed a release and remained on the board. It is insanely common.

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startup advice board founder 352

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

One of the great joys of doing the web series This Week in VC every week is that I get to spend time with great people debating the issues of our day including how our industry is evolving as well as insights into how companies got started, got their initial traction and dealt with adversities. Oh, yeah. I totally agree.

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board culture VC strategy 286

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

Because my wife is a superstar she published them all on a blog here along with much other wonderful type-A mom advice. 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. It is additive.

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VC peer-to-peer investing investment 292

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 11, 2014

I''m super proud of Rob, Ben and the whole Backupify team--and this is particularly special for me because Backupify was the first investment I ever made as a VC, and the first board I ever sat on. I started reading a great blog called Business Pundit in 2004. It was written by a guy about my age down in Louisville, Kentucky.

board 261

board venture capital creativity entrepreneurship 261

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

Everybody has a blog these days and there is much advice to be had. I am VERY careful in board meetings and in startup pitches to tell entrepreneurs, “I feel very strongly about my opinion on this topic. There are bootcamps, startup classes, video interviews – the sources are now endless. What is a founder to do?

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advice frameworks startup mix-use 407

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2011

Advisors, investors and board members come in all shapes and sizes. I'm a strong believer in having a board, even at a seed stage, to report to and set strategy with. The most successful companies have strong boards and so as a good housekeeping practice, why not start acting like a great company as early as possible.

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board advice consulting angel investing 278

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DECEMBER 17, 2012

But honestly there are times when being a VC can feel like that, too. One day if you’re lucky you’ll be big enough to work with recruiters to hire senior members of your team or your board. And in it he profiles the work of Coach Campbell who was once on the boards of both Google & Apple. EXECUTIVE RECRUITERS.

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startup real estate VC venture capital 363

David Teten VC

MARCH 1, 2022

The easiest way to work with and for VC funds is to become a part-time scout, getting paid for sourcing investments. How to win consulting, board, operating, and investment roles with private equity and venture capital funds (video). How to find a job as a VC scout. VC recruiters list and compensation data.

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VC venture capital accelerator ventures 128

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

You’re writing a freaking blog post! I had a 3-hour board meeting with another. I sent an email to another about what I thought we should cover at his next board meeting and what was missing from the deck he sent. Plus, he’s a loyal reader of this blog. Can you please intro me to XYZ VC? Marketing.

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advice culture board VC 314

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

On Losing in VC. By Monday morning after their board meeting in NorCal I didn’t get a return phone call. I know I won’t win every deal I want to in VC. It’s one of my favorite blog posts. I’m talking about the hard fought battle. The one that you thought you had. The one you were counting on.

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consulting advice collaboration VC 333