Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

One area I’ve had much discussion with the companies in which I’ve invested in is bringing on board an operationally focused CFO. I think Ophir would agree that the business was transformed after we brought on board Phil Schraeder at the CFO (and later promoted to COO). And board confidence matters in growing companies.

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board energy finance financing 338

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

And the loosening of federal monetary policies, particularly in the US, has pushed more dollars into the venture ecosystems at every stage of financing. What Has Changed in Financing? Pre-seed is just a narrower segment where you might raise $1–3 million on a SAFE note and not give out any board seats. Of course we can’t.

ventures 471

ventures VC venture capital funders 471

The Seraf Compass

OCTOBER 26, 2022

Many years ago I joined the board of a company after my angel group became the lead investor in the company’s seed financing round. As part of my compensation for being a board member, the company issued me restricted stock.

board 347

board advice financing finance 347

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MAY 28, 2020

They also enjoy easier access to finance and face fewer capital restraints. The post 3 Tips for Getting Investors on Board With Your CSR Mission appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. Given these benefits, many investors take great interest in a startup’s social mission.

board 226

board sustainability strategy energy 226

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

I left the meeting and had to attend a 3-hour board meeting where two founders have been fighting and each want the other one fired. After my board meeting I had to do an interview with a CFO candidate that one of my portfolio companies asked me to speak with.

pitching 381

pitching board funders entrepreneurs 381

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 27, 2014

No wonder people are questioning where the boards of these companies were. No one from the firm leading the deal will join the board. Is it really surprising to anyone when we talk about "party rounds" as financing strategies we''ve created companies with unprofessional environments and founders behaving irresponsibly?

founder 392

founder board venture capital finance 392

TechCrunch

AUGUST 4, 2021

As part of the investment, Ravi Adusumalli, founder and managing partner at Elevation Capital, will join Zeni’s board. Zeni’s AI-powered finance concierge platform offers bookkeeping, accounting, tax and CFO services, managing these for a flat monthly fee starting at $299 per month.

financing 138

financing finance startup capital 138

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

We’ve had an explosion of alternate sources of financing from crowd-sourcing, angels, accelerators, incubators, corporates, corporate incubators. Make sure your board challenges you enough about long-term vision & innovation. Your board likely won’t unless you have visionaries who are also egg breakers.

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incubation board VC innovation 354

Andreessen Horowitz

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

But how can biotech teams effectively communicate to investors and partners how they will, with each round of financing, incrementally reduce the risks of discovering and developing successful new drugs? How much of the total financing is allocated towards the lead program? substantial real estate lease agreements).

financing 125

financing finance real estate construction 125

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

Operating experience (Helped run parts of CitySearch & UrbanSpoon, tons of product management experience, Board of Hatch Labs which helped spawn Tinder). Kara has worked in finance in Boston, NYC and Silicon Valley. M&A experience (Morgan Stanley and later co-headed M&A for Barry Diller at IAC).

VC 408

VC networking board ventures 408

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Equally – a great VP Finance can be leveraged well to take on finance, legal, HR and much of the operational tasks. Be careful about board construction. 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

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

They will have to sit on boards. ” That means sitting on boards and helping entrepreneurs to handle the most difficult things that pop up like: lawsuits. lack of traction, lack of downstream financing availability. I sit on less than 10 boards precisely so that I can be deeply involved when I’m most needed.

VC 356

VC peer-to-peer board entrepreneurs 356

American Entrepreneurship

MARCH 30, 2025

Bank accounts are the nucleus of business finance, said Akhund. This deep integration streamlines operations and provides business owners with greater visibility and control over their finances. In conjunction with the funding, Mercury also announced an expansion of its board of directors, including the appointment of four new members.

finance 78

finance financing board entrepreneurship 78

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 4, 2022

I’m a straight white dude who grew up in NYC and worked in finance. What’s that investor going to be like in a board meeting when you as a female founder need their support or worse, actually their vote? Would and should you take money from people who don’t align with your values—values like privacy and bodily autonomy?

finance 417

finance financing board VC 417

Tomasz Tunguz

NOVEMBER 5, 2024

AI radiology, drug discovery, research analysis Finance 1.13 But if a founder wanted a list of jobs to automate, the BLS’ white collar jobs boards is a wonderful place to start. Occupation Employment (in millions) AI Technology Software Developers & IT 2.71 Computer adaptive instruction & testing Engineers 1.73

data analysis 93

data analysis construction education creativity 93

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

They often ask whether they have to move to SF, NY or LA to get financed. ” I’m trying to get a feel for their commitment to local community versus being in a place where financing is easiest. I will commit to traveling to NYC seven times per year for board meetings. This isn’t a complaint.

VC 365

VC board communities pitching 365

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

SEPTEMBER 9, 2019

Because they have financial backers who can and do finance losses, they tend to operate in the red for a long time. If you have positive cashflow, you can buy back your stock if any comes into the market at prices that you and your Board feels is below fair value. In the early days it makes sense to burn cash.

financing 223

financing finance board capital 223

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 6, 2020

Brad says: “Talk to people you trust, whether they’re investors, board members, co-founders, mentors, whatever; make sure you’re open about the stress and the struggle you’re going through both financially in the business and personally.” I can personally attest that it’s very easy for a startup CEO to feel alone and isolated.

peer-to-peer 321

peer-to-peer startup advice entrepreneurs 321

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2015

I am reminded of this problem every time my firm does a financing where a note went before us but more specifically I was reminded by this great post by Brad Feld to talk about the pre-money vs. post-money conversion issue. So how DOES a VC think about financings at early stages? It’s very simple. Those are the big three.

VC 364

VC financing finance board 364

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Generally speaking in venture capital financings the legal documents will specify that only “major investors” (a threshold set in the agreement – which can be $500,000 investor or more). 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.

venture capital 352

venture capital VC board financing 352

TechCrunch

JANUARY 30, 2023

Marqeta has agreed to acquire two-year-old fintech infrastructure startup Power Finance for $223 million in cash, marking the first acquisition in the publicly-traded company’s 13-year history. Founded in early 2021 by Randy Fernando and Andrew Dust, New York-based Power Finance announced last September that it had raised $16.1

finance 111

finance financing sustainability construction 111

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

I’ve sat on ad tech boards with board members who clearly knew little about impressions, fill rates, CTRs, RTB, eCPMs or the difficulties & opportunities of embedded mobile SDKs vs. HTML5. Industry or Operating Experience? Now you’re talking.

VC 364

VC advice board leadership 364

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

This financial leader could well have come through the finance org at another startup or at a larger company but they often also can come from strategy consulting (Bain, BCG or McKinsey) or through investment banking (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, etc.). If I could close with some advice for startups and boards ….

innovation 286

innovation startup board leadership 286

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 3, 2013

I’m super proud to announce that DataSift has just completed a $42 million financing round coming at the end of a year where its revenue grew several hundred percent year-over-year. Now can we please do at least one board meeting in LA?!? Considering our revenue is SaaS revenue this achievement is even more remarkable.

board 358

board disruption media SaaS 358

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

We we backed Team Grove’s mission (Kevin sourced the deal and joined the board) and just encouraged the team not to ramp up costs like many contemporary startups because we’re going to play the long game. eliminating herbicides & pesticides. ” Enter Grove.

founder 363

founder ecology sustainability culture 363

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

why the hell has seed financing declined so much in the past 3 years?? Over the past month a colleague ( Chang Xu ) and I sifted through data on the venture capital industry (as we do every year) and made a bunch of calls to VCs and LPs to confirm our hypotheses.

investing 328

investing investment VC venture capital 328

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 5, 2014

Like lefties out of the bullpen, VC firms now have recruiting partners, pr and marketing experts, technologists-in-residents--and USV even has an on board activist. It''s a group of her peers from the professional world--up and coming titans of finance and consulting with good salaries and not a lot of dependents.

venture capital 291

venture capital capital ventures peer-to-peer 291

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. We are their sparring partners, their sounding boards. Some areas were easy because they were technical and the answer was knowable or estimate-able. It is unknowable.

peer-to-peer 337

peer-to-peer entrepreneurs consulting VC 337

Entrepreneurs' Organization

APRIL 2, 2021

Play games involving money: Money-themed board games including Monopoly or Life are engaging, memorable introductions into understanding how money works. Since 2016, not one US state has added personal finance to its K-12 standards. Susan is a board member of EO’s New Jersey chapter. and more articles from the EO blog. .

education 196

education board financing finance 196

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Importantly, we recently announced a $30 million financing that gives us the resources we need to build a global enterprise software company. The existing Invoca team has been in place and functioning incredibly well the last few years and I’m so honored that Gregg has decided to come on board and help lead us to the next level.

venture capital 363

venture capital capital ventures VC 363

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 9, 2015

Forming a board. Board members can provide useful feedback, help to focus the founding team, and provide a network of contacts. . Unfortunately, many companies don''t get financing--because they don''t get any of the above. That''s how board participation can help an advisor scale. Venture Capital & Technology'

board 353

board peer-to-peer venture capital opportunity 353

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

When we get involved in Seed investments we usually represent 60–80% in one of the first institutional rounds of capital, we almost always take board seats and then we serve these founders over the course of a decade or longer. In fact, I am still active on two boards where I first invested in 2009.

ventures 408

ventures startup peer-to-peer venture capital 408

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

It’s true the some VCs have started writing so many checks that they resemble stock pickers but the majority of us still have less than 10 board seats at any time and tend to go pretty deep so the result is that we care deeply about where we commit our time. Meredith came to see me along with the CTO Marc Berte.

VC 418

VC ventures leadership board 418

Dream It

MAY 4, 2021

Valuation is not set by you, your team, your investors, or your board. I have co-founded several companies and served on many boards. I have been through my share of down rounds and ugly financings. If you answer the right way, you won’t be in a defensive position. If you don’t know this, you sound like a rookie.

VC 300

VC board pitching health 300

Entrepreneurs' Organization

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

Meryem Salman, EO Turkey, partner and vice chairman +partner, Finance & Insurance and founder, Buldan Foundation. This also gives me time to give back to my local community through several volunteer boards and EO. With education, a woman changes, she changes generations, and then the world changes. Facing Challenges Confidently.

entrepreneurship 272

entrepreneurship education disruption entrepreneurs 272

NZ Entrepreneur

NOVEMBER 19, 2024

A separate business bank account draws a clear distinction between your personal and business finances. Beyond technical expertise, a good accountant can be a valuable sounding board for your business decisions. This makes tracking your income and expenses a breeze when the tax season comes around.

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startup consulting sustainability frameworks 100

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Almost no financings, many VCs and tech startups cratered for the second time in less than a decade following the dot com bursting. Within 5 years I was on the board of real businesses with meaningful revenue, strong balance sheets, no debt and on the path to a few interesting exits. Hey, we got to raise again next year.

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VC culture sustainability capital 466