A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JULY 19, 2021

Over the last 18 months, the early-stage financing market has seen dramatic changes characterized by these three things: A shift from in-person fundraising to virtual fundraising A reduction in financing process timelines from months to weeks A continued increase in the amount of capital available for early stage companies.

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This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 7, 2013

Some financing rounds seem to go really fast. Others drag on for months and months. The problem with dragging it on is twofold--. a) The entrepreneur is distracted from doing what they need to do--i.e. running the business.

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

Investment experience (5 years a VC at Battery Ventures). Operating experience (Helped run parts of CitySearch & UrbanSpoon, tons of product management experience, Board of Hatch Labs which helped spawn Tinder). For starters we’re an LA-based venture fund who invests nationally (and sometimes internationally, but less so).

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

AngelList 101 : As you know, AngelList is a platform where angels can invest in semi-screened tech deals. As an angel you can look for the social proof in deals “Dave Morin is investing …” to make your decision. AngelList Syndicate leads don’t take any fees on the investment, which should help with returns.

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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). Board Preparation. Board meetings.

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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. I think you’d really enjoy meeting her wether you decide to invest or not.

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 27, 2014

Last week, for just the second time ever, I passed on an investment opportunity because of the terms of the deal--both the price and the legal structure of the agreement. No wonder people are questioning where the boards of these companies were. No one from the firm leading the deal will join the board. No, probably not.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

I am fond of quoting that about 70% of my investment decision of an early-stage company is the team. So I naturally spend much time with the companies in which I invest helping them: recruit. Equally – a great VP Finance can be leveraged well to take on finance, legal, HR and much of the operational tasks.

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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 is the company’s go-forward budget split across platform investments and program-specific spend?

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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. ” Most VCs view it as their responsibility to mentor, debate, cajole and generally assist with investments they make.

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TechCrunch

AUGUST 4, 2021

The new investment comes just five months after Zeni announced $13.5 Elevation was joined in the new round by new investors Think Investments and Neeraj Arora, as well as existing investors Saama Capital, Amit Singhal, Sierra Ventures, Twin Ventures, Dragon Capital and Liquid 2 Ventures. million in a combined seed and Series A round.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 6, 2020

At the same time, many investors are being more cautious with making new investments, preferring to focus on their existing portfolio before investing in new companies. It’s important to enlist the ideas of others that are invested in your venture. A startup is not a lone adventure. Join a CEO peer group.

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 4, 2022

So when you finally do get an offer to invest, the temptation to not question where it comes from is understandable. How about an investment from the Sackler family—the pharma family in the middle of the opioid crisis. I’m a straight white dude who grew up in NYC and worked in finance. Is there a line you would draw?

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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. Pre-money ($8m) + investment ($2m) = Post-money ($10m) and the investors now own 20% of your company $2m / $10m.

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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. And if you can’t grow your revenues without investing out ahead of income, then you also need to be able to operate in the red. Venture backed companies have a strange relationship to positive cashflow.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

And while over the past few years we have been laser-focused on cash returns, we are equally planting seeds for our next 10–15 years of returns by actively investing in today’s market. We are excited to share the news that we have raised $650 million across three vehicles to allow us to continue making investments for many years ahead.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

When I work with community leaders I often encourage them to “pool capital” together from many angels into a fund structure run by a small investment committee that can make more rapid funding decisions, take more risks (it is pooled capital so goes across more investments), and standardize investment terms.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

The initial investment certainly wasn’t a consensus decision at Upfront, but that’s how we invest. 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.

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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.

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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. The timing of the announcement of this investment couldn’t have been timed more perfectly if we tried. Predictive Data. Augmented Data.

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TechCrunch

DECEMBER 22, 2020

Indianapolis-based Boardable , a provider of board management software tools for nonprofits, has raised $8 million in a new round of financing, the company said. The investment came from Base10 Partners with participation from the company’s seed-stage backer, the Indianapolis-based enterprise investment firm High Alpha.

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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.). Seriously, this happens.

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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. Fred Wilson wrote perfectly about sticking with struggling investments. Industry or Operating Experience? It’s not you.

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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. It was impressive.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

APRIL 2, 2021

Contributed By Susan Michel, EO New Jersey member and founder and CEO of Glen Eagle Advisors , which provides investment management and financial planning advice. Consider letting your child invest their money in the stock market: You can let them pick the stock the money is invested in. and more articles from the EO blog. .

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Berkonomics

AUGUST 24, 2023

Often, that money is worth more than the cash invested, because the investors who often become members of the board bring a wealth of experience, insight, relationships and deeper pockets to the table. The VCs subsequently invested $18 million, well beyond what angel investors usually can project from their own resources.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

Give direct feedback to entrepreneurs on their businesses or if we’re not investing why it’s not a fit for us. Investing early in the lifecycle of a startups history where we can have the biggest impact on strategy & team development and deliver the highest returns if we are successful. First task for Kyle?

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

She found non-traditional financing. Without this money she wouldn’t have been able to finance operations. One of the things I like the most about Tracy’s businesses is that she is focused on volume & deflationary economics ( which is my main investment thesis as I covered in this post ). She never gave up.

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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.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

Freedom to invest in people and things that I feel are important. 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. “In a word: Freedom. Freedom to create.

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Dream It

MAY 4, 2021

Valuation is not set by you, your team, your investors, or your board. There’s No Such Thing As An Unfair Deal VCs often hear founders say they got screwed by “vulture capitalists” who invested at low valuations and acted opportunistically. I have co-founded several companies and served on many boards. So I am not unsympathetic.

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American Entrepreneurship

OCTOBER 20, 2023

Strategic investment fund BankTech Ventures invests in companies that are developing innovative technologies that enhance the ability of community banks to serve their customers. The Fund just announced their investment commitment of $13.5 as of December 31, 2022, according to the FDIC.

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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. 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.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Most VCs did well academically and had enough career success that a venture firm was willing to give them an investment role or they were able to raise their own fund. Importantly, we recently announced a $30 million financing that gives us the resources we need to build a global enterprise software company.

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Dream It

APRIL 12, 2020

Martino founded Bullpen in 2010 with a focus on post-seed, pre-Series A startups, and he led the fund’s investments in companies like FanDuel, Namely, Ipsy, SpotHero, Classy, and Airmap. This geographic distinction is now less about actual geography and more about mentality and style of investing of these types of firms.

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Andreessen Horowitz

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

He has always loved both science and people, and so when he called to say he was starting a biotech company and raising Seed financing, I knew I wanted to be involved. They aren’t afraid to build new tools and new ways of measuring the impact of a Molecular Gate, but are also keen to learn from the experience of previously ‘new’ modalities.

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