A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

Matt and many members of his leadership team got the band back together early this year and started a new company called Bolster in partnership with Silicon Valley Bank and the early-stage VC firm High Alpha. A few months later, USV joined that investor group along with our friends at Costanoa.

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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? However, to be a great VC you have to hold two conflicting ideas in your head at the same time. Of course we can’t. By definition?—?I’m

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ventures VC venture capital funders 471

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

One of the things that founders have the most angst about is whom they should have on their board and at what stage of the business. This is smart because amazing board members can be transformative with important advice and access and can also help attract other great board members (and team members).

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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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VC advice venture capital entrepreneurs 298

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

When I first read Paul Graham’s blog post on “High Resolution&# Financing I read it as a treatise arguing that convertible notes are better than equity. Most early-stage entrepreneurs who have worked with me (either as an angel or as a seed VC) know that I don’t rely at all on the social proof of other investors.

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financing finance advice VC 286

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

” From the hyperbolic Jason Calacanis weighing in that “The petty VC’s did everything to deride [Naval, the co-founder of AngelList]” as though the industry was collectively s g its pants that AngelList was going to put us out of business. This is the same way VC firms, by the way. Bowery Capital).

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VC peer-to-peer board entrepreneurs 356

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). Kara has worked in finance in Boston, NYC and Silicon Valley. Upfront Ventures VC Industry'

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VC networking ventures board 408

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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board financing finance sustainability 276

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

An impressive number of new VCs have been created – most of them with new seed funds. 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.

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incubation board VC innovation 354

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

I love the enthusiasm, the boundless energy and the sense of possibility that comes from having an idea that hasn’t yet been beat up in the marketplace of competing ideas, customer contracts, VC skepticism, jaded journalists or fickle consumers who are on the The New, New Thing. And board confidence matters in growing companies.

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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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This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 29, 2011

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. A lot of VCs ask to be introduced through someone. So, if you ping me with "I'm still working my big corporate finance job. The Cold Intro.

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VC pitching entrepreneurs networking 291

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

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. why the hell has seed financing declined so much in the past 3 years?? So What Impact Did the Drop in Tech Founding Costs Have on VC?

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investing investment VC venture capital 328

David Teten VC

JUNE 9, 2021

See How to negotiate a partner role at a VC or private equity firm.) 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. . At Versatile VC , we’ve used all these models. Expert Networks.

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consulting venture capital board capital 128

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.

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pitching board funders entrepreneurs 381

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Gregg Johnson, CEO of Invoca For the first 5 years or so after I became a VC I didn’t talk much about what I thought a VC should be excellent at since frankly I wasn’t sure. It’s easy to think the role of a VC is to have strong opinions about markets, trends, tech dynamics and so forth. The role of VC is sparring partner.

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venture capital capital ventures VC 363

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Between 2006–2008 I sold both companies that I had started and became a VC. SEEING THINGS FROM THE VC SIDE OF THE TABLE While I was a VC in 2007 & 2008 those were dead years because the market again evaporated due the the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). THE VC VALUATION GOD Valuation obsession wasn’t restricted to startups.

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VC culture sustainability capital 466

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 4, 2022

I’m a straight white dude who grew up in NYC and worked in finance. I’m the on-paper poster child for “who can get VC dollars”. 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? No company is up and to the right the whole time.

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finance financing board VC 417

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Hire admin / office management after you raise a reasonable size VC round. 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. Limit the number of VCs. Limit the number of VCs.

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startup consulting construction board 388

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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venture capital VC board financing 352

TechCrunch

JANUARY 7, 2022

Securing early-stage venture financing is usually the best way to accelerate and sustain growth, but with various funding options available, how do you figure out the best course of action? What is the best alternative to VC, and at what point in your company’s growth do other funding sources make sense? Revenue financing.

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financing finance VC SaaS 92

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. She found non-traditional financing. Without this money she wouldn’t have been able to finance operations. I’m told she just signed with one who will be on-boarded soon.

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This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 5, 2014

If you need to introduce yourself to a VC firm, you''re probably not getting the job. VC firms are going back to being mostly partner driven shops, where dealflow and decisions stay up top. VC firms are going back to being mostly partner driven shops, where dealflow and decisions stay up top. That''s a benefit to the VC firm.

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venture capital capital ventures peer-to-peer 290

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. In my experience many VC’s fall into this “I’m expected to know all the answers” trap. We are their sparring partners, their sounding boards.

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peer-to-peer entrepreneurs consulting VC 337

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. Nearly four months ago we rebranded at Upfront Ventures. First task for Kyle?

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ventures VC strategy advice 324

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Today I’m handing her the largest A-round check I’ve ever written as a VC as we lead her $10 million A-Round at uBeam. The reality is that as VCs we have limited allocations of where we can spend our time so we want to attach ourselves to projects in which we, too, can be passionate. That was three months ago this week.

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VC ventures leadership board 418

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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VC venture capital accelerator ventures 128

Dream It

MAY 4, 2021

Valuation is not set by you, your team, your investors, or your board. It’s important to understand VC Math 101. The VC believes your company has a reasonable chance of achieving a certain exit valuation. “The The VC believes your company has a reasonable chance of achieving a certain exit valuation. It’s that simple.

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A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

SEPTEMBER 3, 2020

For most of my career as a VC, the IPO has been the holy grail. I don’t take as much offense to this situation as others in the VC business have. I have viewed it as a mutually beneficial relationship between the top banks, VC firms, and the founders and CEOs who lead our portfolio companies. We will see.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

Not exactly the easiest time to be selling a credit business as the finance world around them was melting and the company was negotiating its credit facilities if it were to stay independent with the likes of Citibank. We talked about her desire to sell the company for personal reasons rather than raise a large round of VC.

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angel investing investing investment VC 280

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

This applies to both founders and to VC’s that work with them. And Finally, a word about VC … We VCs need to be as conscious of dipping & skipping as management teams are. I spent a ton of time with the CEO and VP Finance understanding the businesses, its customers and its operational challenges.

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startup board advice VC 308

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

I often tell people in this scenario to focus on a VC “fixer upper.” You will learn about running board meetings, setting up the ultimate financial plan, leading a team from the top, dealing with the press, raising capital, etc. Incoming into a VC fixer-upper you often have leverage over personal compensation.

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advice peer-to-peer VC board 334

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

I’m enjoying being a VC. I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. VC meetings going well. 2 million in VC. And I had all the VCs play head games with me. I swore never to do that as a VC.

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entrepreneurs startup VC real estate 384

TechCrunch

JUNE 29, 2022

That’s the gap that revenue-based financing platforms like GetVantage want to fill. Varanium Capital partner Aparajit Bhandarkar will join GetVantage’s board. GetVantage says this includes several debt lines with non-banking financial companies to help scale its financing platform.

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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. 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.

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financing finance board capital 223

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

David Teten is founder of Versatile VC and writes periodically at teten.com and @dteten. Akshat Dixit is a senior at North Carolina State University, an intern at Versatile VC , and a past intern with the HBS Alumni Angels Association and the Innovation Quarter in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Scouts help promote diversity in VC.

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VC peer-to-peer consulting board 93

TechCrunch

JANUARY 11, 2022

Use alternative financing to fuel VC-level growth without diluting ownership. Investors are hungry for startups to throw their money at, but VC funding isn’t always the right option at all times or for every startup. Use alternative financing to fuel VC-level growth without diluting ownership.

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