Both Sides of the Table

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.

startup 390

startup communities venture capital angel capital 390

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

I have been writing a series on how startup boards get selected, who sits on them and what to avoid. I started this series in part to help entrepreneurs but also to help newer investors because I’ve know with so many new companies you have so many new board members and many people are trying to figure out there respective roles.

board 251

board advice founder construction 251

NZ Entrepreneur

NOVEMBER 19, 2024

Launching a startup in New Zealand is exciting, but navigating the accounting side of things can be tricky. Choose the best business structure for you Choosing the right business structure for your startup is a crucial first step. A separate business bank account draws a clear distinction between your personal and business finances.

startup 104

startup consulting sustainability frameworks 104

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.

board 276

board finance financing sustainability 276

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Nearly every successful tech startup I’ve observed over the past 20 years has gone through a similar growth pattern: Innovate, systematize then scale operations. Innovate In the early years of a startup there is a lot of kinetic energy of enthusiastic innovators looking to launch a product that changes how an industry works.

innovation 286

innovation startup board leadership 286

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Last week a company we enthusiastically backed, uBeam , led by a very special entrepreneur, 25-year-old Meredith Perry , announced a $10 million round of financing. What person hasn’t crouched at an airport to get 18% extra on one’s battery before boarding an airplane? Startup Lessons'

startup 417

startup innovation entrepreneurs transportation 417

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? Today you have funders focused exclusively on “Day 0” startups or ones that aren’t even created yet. Of course we can’t.

ventures 471

ventures VC venture capital funders 471

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

You transition from “startup” to real business and it turns out that having an entire team be efficient is more important than that boundless energy but destructive nature of constantly changing direction from the CEO. And board confidence matters in growing companies. And board confidence matters in growing companies.

board 338

board energy financing finance 338

Both Sides of the Table

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. I got a job at a bank, and I worked in their corporate finance group. You didn’t join startups then.

startup 337

startup entrepreneurs consulting board 337

TechCrunch

AUGUST 4, 2021

Zeni , a Palo Alto fintech company providing real-time financial services data to venture-backed startups, raised $34 million in Series B funding led by Elevation Capital. As part of the investment, Ravi Adusumalli, founder and managing partner at Elevation Capital, will join Zeni’s board. million in a combined seed and Series A round.

financing 138

financing finance startup capital 138

American Entrepreneurship

DECEMBER 20, 2024

Embedded finance infrastructure makes financing decisions based on real-time data. Fintech startup Parafin innovatively tackles this challenge through its embedded finance infrastructure used by partners such as DoorDash, Amazon, and others. and Canada. This is more flexible than fixed payment periods.

finance 98

finance financing incumbents construction 98

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

We remain confident in the long-term trend that software enables and the value accrued to disruptive startups; we also recognized that in a strong market it is important to ring the cash register and this doesn’t come without a concentrated effort to do so. 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

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

Operating experience (Helped run parts of CitySearch & UrbanSpoon, tons of product management experience, Board of Hatch Labs which helped spawn Tinder). Startup CEO experience (Founded P.S. XO along with my good friend Soleil Moon Frye. Kara has worked in finance in Boston, NYC and Silicon Valley. billion).

VC 408

VC networking board ventures 408

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MAY 28, 2020

They also enjoy easier access to finance and face fewer capital restraints. Given these benefits, many investors take great interest in a startup’s social mission. Startups that embrace and exemplify a clear social mission from the get-go will have an easier time attracting much-needed backing. Express a compelling “why.”

board 226

board sustainability strategy energy 226

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

There has been a lot of public debate over the past several weeks about whether it’s a good thing to be “gross margin positive” or not and commentary always reminds me that some people at startups don’t quite understand financial metrics or even how to think about which ones are healthy. That is what finances rapid growth.

startup 280

startup SaaS financing finance 280

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. I have had a version of this conversation with nearly every startup with whom I’m involved. Make sure your board challenges you enough about long-term vision & innovation.

incubation 354

incubation board VC innovation 354

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. You’re in control.

pitching 381

pitching board funders entrepreneurs 381

David Teten VC

JUNE 9, 2021

You can work as a consultant, an interim executive, a board member, a deal executive partnering to buy a company, an executive in residence, or as an entrepreneur in residence. . However, historically most private equity professionals were former investment bankers and other finance professionals.

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consulting venture capital board capital 128

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. Startups should know how VCs work. startup) per month. Do startups need to conduct due diligence on a venture fund’s LPs?

ventures 334

ventures startup capital board 334

Dream It

APRIL 7, 2020

Friday, April 3 was supposed to be the orderly launch of the CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) providing $349B of urgently needed funding to struggling startups and small businesses. What are the immediate do’s and don’ts for startups? For instance, one of our startups applied to J.P.

startup 348

startup communities VC ventures 348

American Entrepreneurship

MARCH 30, 2025

The company touts over 200,000 businesses with, a large portion being startups that use its services as a financial backbone, replacing cumbersome platform switching or thejuggling third-party apps. Bank accounts are the nucleus of business finance, said Akhund. billionmore than double its 2021 Series B figure of $1.6 The result?

financing 74

financing finance board entrepreneurship 74

Tomasz Tunguz

NOVEMBER 5, 2024

It’s striking that most of them already have a significant number of AI startups pursuing their ambitions to change workflows. AI radiology, drug discovery, research analysis Finance 1.13 AI radiology, drug discovery, research analysis Finance 1.13 Computer adaptive instruction & testing Engineers 1.73

data analysis 92

data analysis construction education creativity 92

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 4, 2022

Morality aside, I’d say given the inherent riskiness of startups, I’m not sure this would be a great addition to your cap table. 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?

finance 417

finance financing board VC 417

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Was Paul Graham right in his “high resolution” financing post? When convertible debt first started being introduced as a “faster, cheaper way to get startups funded” they didn’t have pricing built into them. I recommend that startups agree the “conversion price” at maturity.

startup 354

startup VC entrepreneurs financing 354

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. “ Startup Advice'

VC 365

VC board communities pitching 365

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. Politics are a part of human nature and thus a part of all startups. Startups are hard. Startup Advice VC Industry'

VC 364

VC advice board leadership 364

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

We all know that funding markets have changed for startups. 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). Fundraising / Negotiations Startup Lessons VC Industry'

venture capital 352

venture capital VC board financing 352

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

” “Mark has a vested interest in talking down valuations of startups.” Most prefer not to say this publicly for two reasons: 1) they have an entire portfolio of startups, many of whom are raising capital and 2) they prefer not to be attacked publicly or seem “anti entrepreneur.” goes into a startup.

startup 285

startup VC entrepreneurs investing 285

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

why the hell has seed financing declined so much in the past 3 years?? The reality is that as a result of two major trends the costs of starting a technology startup went down massively. I launched my first startup in 1999 so I know the economics of launching from first-hand experience.

investment 328

investment investing VC venture capital 328

TechCrunch

JUNE 29, 2022

That’s the gap that revenue-based financing platforms like GetVantage want to fill. The Mumbai-based startup announced today that it has raised $36 million in equity and debt led by Varanium Nexgen Fintech Fund, DMI Sparkle Fund, along with returning investors Chiratae Ventures and Dream Incubator Japan.

financing 94

financing finance founder incubation 94

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2015

Over the years I’ve written extensively about the downsides of convertible notes for startups such as here , here and here. So how DOES a VC think about financings at early stages? Of course investors care about controls (board, protective provisions, IP assignments, non-solicitation) but these are all pretty standard.

VC 364

VC finance financing board 364

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. How should a large European telco deal with a rival “free Internet access” startup? We are their sparring partners, their sounding boards.

peer-to-peer 337

peer-to-peer entrepreneurs consulting VC 337

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened? There was no money train.

VC 466

VC culture sustainability capital 466

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

We then help surround founders with other talent who want to join important causes but don’t have the startup idea themselves. It’s rare to find extraordinarily talented individuals who are natural leaders and who are driven to succeed and who have a passion for startups so when you do you work hard to find opportunities for them.

venture capital 363

venture capital capital ventures VC 363

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. And no, analyzing startups is not a portfolio company benefit. That''s a benefit to the VC firm.

venture capital 290

venture capital capital ventures peer-to-peer 290

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

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

I often advise startup companies not to try and pin all of your brand equity into an announcement. Simply – we believe it’s hypocritical to sit with tech startups every day and talk about the need to innovate while ourselves making no major changes. who is talking about putting in up to $30 million in our startup.

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ventures VC strategy advice 324