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.

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This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 16, 2014

How long does it take from first meeting a VC to getting cash in the bank? I went back across the 21 investments I''ve made both at First Round and at Brooklyn Bridge Ventures --a period that dates back to January 28, 2010, when I closed on Backupify. That''s an interesting question.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2011

If you want a very quick primer on all the stuff nobody ever tells you about raising venture capital check out this video where Mark Jeffrey & I break it down on This Week in VC. All of this is covered in more detail on the TWiVC video above (and much of it is covered in text on this blog on the “ Raising VC &# tab).

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

They have marked-up paper gains propped up by an over excited venture capital market that has validated their investments. Logic tells me the following: It is hard to make money angel investing. Too many angel deals just means more to watch and invest in for the ones that do succeed (if the VCs can get in at reasonable prices).

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This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 5, 2012

Are you blogging really insightful takes on your industry? He realized that rushed in person pitches don't do your company justice at all--especially when VCs are running to another meeting or trying to mingle and meet as many people as possible. 7) When being introduced to a VC, you follow up first, not them. Getting quoted?

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A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

OCTOBER 15, 2020

I wrote yesterday , about the quarterly numbers for VC investing activity: If this was a student coming home with a report card, it would be straight As. Firms invested a total of $434 million in Q3—the lowest figure since the second quarter of 2017, according to PitchBook data. I will give myself an F for that.

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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

MAY 13, 2018

If you truly believe that you, your company and your products are exceptional and your company will be valuable then you’re actually doing them a FAVOR by helping them invest in your startup. If you don’t believe in your bones that you’re amazing then it’s no wonder you don’t want to sell them on making the investment.” Same with VC.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2015

I wanted to spend the rest of the blog post telling you why we decided to fund the company, how we settled on the final product design and our unique way of launching the app. So Why Did We Invest? As a VC (especially based in LA), I see hundreds of video apps. Yes, we’ve only launched on iOS for now. Building for Android.

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investing investment media collaboration 323

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. I eventually stumbled on to the best source of high-quality deal flow imaginable – blogging. There is one source that was always problematic for me – intros from investment bankers. They are venture bankers not investment bankers.

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This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 6, 2015

He found me through my blog and I didn''t think he was real. Hunter Walk can''t be any blog commenters real name, can it? I wasn''t sure whether his answers would wind up here or vice versa, but when I thought about it, it turned out I was pretty adamant that my blog is for my voice. I''ve known Hunter Walk for almost a decade.

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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

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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This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 4, 2018

For the last two years, I’ve been pretty vocal about politics on social media , in my weekly tech community newsletter and on this blog. When you get an investment from Brooklyn Bridge Ventures—you get me. My investment thesis is shaped by the sum of my personal experience and so are my values. We get judged all the time.

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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. We hear things that weren't actually said and argue points that weren't made. We box shadows--especially on the internet.

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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

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

I only say that because after years as a VC I can always tell when my peer group invested in something because “it seemed like it would make money” versus when they invested out of passion. On reflection of the role that I want to play as a VC it is clearly in the camp of passion. I’m a VC.

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

The major battle for press is a battle for “mindshare” and it’s exactly the reason I blog. I am a VC. They are an investment bank that targets the technology & media sectors. Their website proclaims, “LUMA Partners is a different kind of investment bank. I hand out money.

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mix-use advice VC technology 389

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 We strive to invest in companies that are consciously working to create a diverse leadership team?—?one Ours is: upfront.com/inclusion.

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This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 23, 2012

I've only recently started leading investments a little over two years ago. My track record of leading deals consists of only seven investments, luckily no zeros (knock on wood) and one exit. Conferences, startup blogs, meetups--they're all filled with people telling you how to build your company. I mean, what do I know?

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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. Well, it turns out that is not right.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

The frantic pace of technology cycles, the amount of tech news, the blogs, the conferences, the demo days, the announcements, the fundings, the IPOs. It got me thinking about the advice that I often give to new VCs. And when I’m asked – as I invariably am every time – “What are you looking to invest in?”

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

When I described to people why I initially invested my calls went something like this, “He’s taken kicks to the face for nearly 2 years and is still standing. Because my wife is a superstar she published them all on a blog here along with much other wonderful type-A mom advice. But it’s not cutting VCs out.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

It’s the first EIR that we’ve had in the years that I’ve been with the firm and I hope will be the start of our investment in this program. We’re excited to continue to grow our investment professional staff and will continue to do so over the course of 2013 & 2014 with our new fund.

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pitching advice VC entrepreneurs 372

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

Let me start by saying that Clayton is one of the most influential people on my thoughts about markets that led to both the concept behind my first startup and my main theses in investing. ” But I pointed out a professor at HBS ( Tom Eisenmann ) who teaches a course where blogs are a part of the classroom reading material.

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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

MAY 6, 2015

If you’re an investor considering putting dollars in the ground in LA, you can see that there is a tremendous opportunity both because of the growth of our markets and there are fewer VC funds here relative to the opportunity than anywhere else in the country.

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VC opportunity media innovation 307

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2011

Chris Dixon is one of my favorite people in tech and writes one of the few blogs I read religiously. He and I once took different sides of an debate about whether “VC signaling&# in early-stage deals is a serious problem or not. Prior to starting FC, he was co-investing with David Frankel and Eric Paley as individuals.

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Hunter Walk

FEBRUARY 22, 2025

Ok, back to the VC content marketing. As a result I’ve seen hundreds of VC decks, all certain they will be among the top performers. Most strategies are some combination of innovation and best practices along the classic five steps of venture investing: See, Pick, Win, Service, Exit. This post is about ‘seeing.’

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

I told him only 2 weeks ago when we were in London together that I wanted to write a blog post that has been in my head for 2 years. I knew him well before he became a VC. I knew his as he considered becoming a VC and we talked a lot about how it was going for me in my early years. I’ve been told so. I’m one of them.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

But less as a complaint and more as advice to younger networkers, the more you invest in relationships the more you will get when you need. Brunson’s short and to-the-point blog post, “ It’s Called Networking, Not Using.” It’s why I wrote the blog post on 50 Coffee Meetings. ” Be authentic.

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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. That is for another post.

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This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 22, 2014

How many more investments could I do? 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. Was the fund enough to keep me going? How where things going?

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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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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Your goal should be to turn your VCs into extended members of your team to get real value from them. Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. What Rob wrote in his post is right.

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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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