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? Similarly, I got introduced to Chantel Waterbury from chloe + isabel by Bo Yaghmie from Cooley, who was my lawyer when I had a startup--so I had to trace back when I first got introduced to Bo by Fred Wilson. That''s an interesting question.

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This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 23, 2012

I have one failed attempt at a startup under my belt as a founder and I don't have any particularly usable skills that anyone would pay for like selling, designing, building, etc. Conferences, startup blogs, meetups--they're all filled with people telling you how to build your company. Most startups fail.

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advice startup VC strategy 416

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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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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AUGUST 30, 2014

Everybody has a blog these days and there is much advice to be had. Many startups now go through accelerators and have mentors passing through each day with advice – usually it’s conflicting. There are bootcamps, startup classes, video interviews – the sources are now endless. Improving startup productivity ?

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advice frameworks startup mix-use 407

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FEBRUARY 26, 2014

And what’s up with this crazy new blog design? But for now … Every year we run a big VC, LP & Tech Summit in Los Angeles (this year downtown) to showcase the best of our community and invite others from around the country. I look forward to being back to blogging next week. You disappeared? I will tell more.

energy 290

energy startup creativity VC 290

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 22, 2018

This will be the post where I dangerously attempt to walk the minefield of a white male VC opining on the topic. Besides, how effective of a filter is it that someone can get coffee with a non-VC and convince them that you'd want to see the deal? That pitch has never excited any VC in the history of VC funding.

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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? Turns out that not only is he real, but he''s one of the most genuine, thoughtful, and egoless people I''ve met in the startup world--a real breath of fresh air. I''ve known Hunter Walk for almost a decade.

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JUNE 8, 2014

I have never been more optimistic about the impact that the tech startup community is having on cities in America or about the role that cities outside of San Francisco / Silicon Valley can play in our future. Changes in the Startup Ecosystem. So the startup work moves to where the startup founders live and not vice versa.

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startup communities venture capital angel capital 390

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APRIL 17, 2012

In his blog he says, “I responded that I thought it was stupid. Oblong, led by Kwin Kramer, which houses more MIT grads per startup than probably any other in LA. IA Ventures – Roger Ehrenberg was doing angel investing before he became a VC. My views are pretty well known. I hate Silicon Whatever. LA should be LA.”

communities 304

communities startup creativity VC 304

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. But it is possible that there is and I missed that in my blog yesterday. I have not seen the data to back that up but if it is true, that is also a failing grade for the VC sector.

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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. The typical VC process is as follows: They say there are three rules in property: Location, location, location. Same with VC.

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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. But I think there is a down side that I see in startups that raise artificially at prices above what a normal market might value. I hustled.

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FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Final startup grind from msuster. And the folks at Startup Grind have been kind enough to invite me to present this morning in Mountain View on the topic. PMs are a vital part of a tech startup. Hire admin / office management after you raise a reasonable size VC round. Limit the number of VCs. figure out roles.

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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. There is not a single case I’ve been involved with in any of the startups I’ve backed that has even a small bit of merit. It is insanely common.

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startup advice board founder 352

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

For some reason, everyone wants to be a VC. Since the best entrepreneurs are busy running their business and get pinged by VCs all the time, you're not going to wind up getting a deal if all you do is e-mail once, give up, and walk away. I remember this one time when I was working at my startup near the Shake Shack.

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creativity VC pitching communities 336

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JUNE 4, 2013

I recommend you read Fred Wilson’s recent blog post about the need for a well articulated business strategy before pushing a particular business model. I found myself in violent agreement with Fred’s blog post(s). LEAN STARTUP MOVEMENT. ” is Eric Ries who wrote the must own, “ The Lean Startup ” *.

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DECEMBER 17, 2012

But honestly there are times when being a VC can feel like that, too. And that person has almost certainly chosen specifically to be a startup lawyer over serving other types of customers because he or she enjoys working with entrepreneurs. When everything went up-and-to-the-right of course they loved their VCs.

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JULY 13, 2013

One of my favorite events last year was attending Startup Grind where I got to interview Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator’s Dilemma. And of course we talked about many of my views of building startups. You didn’t join startups then. You joined a startup if you couldn’t get a real job.

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startup entrepreneurs consulting board 337

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FEBRUARY 14, 2016

What is the True Sentiment of VCs? I recently survey more than 150 VC friends from all stages and geographies what they thought about the market by asking “Which of the following statements best describes your mood heading into 2016?” ” “Mark has a vested interest in talking down valuations of startups.”

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startup VC entrepreneurs investing 285

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OCTOBER 3, 2011

On my blog I’ve been hesitant to take the topic head on. But last week I noticed a blog post by a woman, Tara Tiger Brown, that asked the question, “ Why Aren’t More Women Commenting on VC Blog Posts? In it she observes that only 3% of the comments on this blog are from women. Please watch this.

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entrepreneurs entrepreneurship VC pitching 341

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. Some force that pulls exceptional startups to you, directly or via intermediaries, in a privileged and sustainable fashion. What’s my needle magnet definition?

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startup VC strategy leadership 89

Dream It

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

We did a previous dose on 5 things investors wish startups knew. Managing Partner, Steve Barsh , sat down to give us 5 MORE things investors wish startups knew. Keep reading for some more of the most common mistakes startups make when pitching and for Steve’s tips on how to fix them. Go here if you missed it.

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startup founder founder startup pitching 397

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JANUARY 23, 2011

In a startup this is a mistake. And as a result their competitors were able to raise a considerable VC round from well-known firms. In this instance I typically recommend that startups NOT hire a big, well-known PR firm. There are some excellent PR firms that will occasionally take a “strategic view&# on you as a startup.

startup 349

startup pitching advice consulting 349

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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VC peer-to-peer mix-use leadership 198

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. I often advise startup companies not to try and pin all of your brand equity into an announcement. who is talking about putting in up to $30 million in our startup.

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ventures VC strategy advice 324

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AUGUST 20, 2015

VC funding. We love capital efficiency until we love land grabs until we abhor over funding until we get huge payouts and ring the bell for more funding until we attract every non-VC on the planet to invest in startups until it crashes and we start the cycle all over again none the wiser. blog here ). Same as I felt.

ventures 419

ventures VC capital SaaS 419

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MARCH 23, 2015

One of the questions we discussed is, “How much capital should a startup raise?” My goal in the interview overall was to capture more of the personal side of Fred since so much of his investment thesis and portfolio work already comes out in his blog. You can’t time VC investing markets. This is classic Fred.

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advice board VC investment 327

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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. My guess is that many VCs are.

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VC data analysis incubation health 309

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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

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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.

peer-to-peer 373

peer-to-peer VC pitching entrepreneurs 373

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MARCH 31, 2012

I got an email recently from my friend & fellow VC, Jeff Bussgang from Flybridge Capital Partners in Boston. Jeff (also an HBS alum) co-teaches the LTV course with Professor Eisenmann about a student of theirs who had written a blog post about sales taking on some of my previous assertions. And that leads me to today’s post.

startup 319

startup consulting pitching support 319

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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JUNE 12, 2013

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. It’s why I talk about building VC relationships early – Lines, Not Dots. “I’ve never been a VC before. Startup Advice'

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advice VC networking entrepreneurs 407

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MARCH 14, 2013

Creating awareness for your brand and products is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. The major battle for press is a battle for “mindshare” and it’s exactly the reason I blog. I am a VC.

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mix-use advice VC technology 389

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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. Building Startups for Basecamp. VC Industry' It’s exhausting. Perhaps unsustainable. Lines, Not Dots.

peer-to-peer 317

peer-to-peer pitching VC accelerator 317

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2015

If you’re a tech or media startup considering whether LA is now a mature market I think the data will assuage any concerns. If you’re an LP and want to know who these emerging funds are please call me and/or attend our Annual VC Summit. It will also serve as home to our partner blogs and to our company announcements.

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