Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2009

I wrote recently about the role of Advisory Boards in startups , which I expected to be a bit controversial. It’s just that many companies waste equity on advisory boards, pick the wrong advisers or set up advisory boards with the wrong expectations. If they’re so great, why are they not just Board Members?

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board VC advice entrepreneurs 215

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2017

Many board meetings are bored meetings. This is a shame since the value that the right board could add is immense if you select the right board members and manage them effectively. Yesterday I wrote a blog post about what the role of a board actually is. Some boards are highly functional, many are not.

board 212

board enablement strategy support 212

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

Perhaps the biggest piece of new news is that after 17 years of operations we’ve changed our name from GRP Partners to Upfront Ventures. Well, the venture capital industry has changed a lot in the past 20 years … and we have too. We think transparency and easy access to information benefit our entire ecosystem.

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ventures venture capital advice VC 343

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 8, 2011

The point is, someone building a career in venture capital that doesn't include prior entrepreneurial success probably doesn't look like they have much to offer in the beginning. So how can a relatively junior VC hope to add any value to an investment and on a board--and is it enough value that you should have one on your board?

VC 275

VC peer-to-peer board advice 275

Jason Malki

JANUARY 23, 2023

who is a junior investor in the Venture Capital industry. He is wrapping up his undergraduate studies at Sacramento State studying Management Information Systems, he’ll graduate in Spring 2023. He hopes to find a fulltime position in venture capital after graduation. Azriel Nicdao otherwise known as (A.Z.)

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venture capital capital ventures startup 98

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. And for some strange reason entrepreneurs didn’t share this information. Tags: Startup Advice This Week in Venture Capital.

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founder VC venture capital entrepreneurs 405

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 30, 2011

I've had the privilege of working not only for investors like Josh Kopelman and Fred Wilson, but for an institutional LP that had been invested in venture capital since 1980. Through other people, I've learned a ton about investing, being a better board member, building a portfolio and building a firm. 2) Trial by fire.

peer-to-peer 299

peer-to-peer innovation startup frameworks 299

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

If you track the venture capital industry it would be hard to miss the conversation going on this week over AngelList “Syndicates.” 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. founder fighting.

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VC peer-to-peer board entrepreneurs 356

abovethecrowd.com

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here. The Lack of a Legitimate Board. As such, the task of governance falls squarely on the shoulders of the board of directors. Theranos) is another. Aversion to Audits.

venture capital 113

venture capital capital ventures board 113

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

Investors let him control the board as long as he continued to make them paper rich, and then actually rich--so they couldn’t technically force him out. When it happens at companies run by women, the media, disgruntled employees, and their investor board members, burn them at the stake. Two reasons: One, they had no other real choice.

coworking spaces 545

coworking spaces hospitality culture coworking 545

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 12, 2016

Often they waited until they were in the office but then the value of the information we got was limited. I also have really enjoyed working with Satish Dharmaraj at Redpoint who like me was an enterprise software CEO (he was the founder & CEO of Zimbra — so he’s a perfect board partner for Tact). I am not over-selling.

real estate 244

real estate leadership board investing 244

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

I am thrilled to announce that we have added Hamet Watt as a Partner at Upfront Ventures. As more consumers were skipping commercials the idea of authentically integrating brands into media seemed obvious to me and ended up informing a lot of my investments in 2009 and 2010. Thank you. The idea immediately resonated.

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ventures investing investment board 340

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 6, 2020

I am not a lawyer nor can you use my advice for the basis for your application but I’d rather provide more public information to help you have the right conversations so please take this posting for what it is (and accept that I may have typos or inaccuracies, which I will amend if pointed out). You should discuss with your board second.

VC 279

VC peer-to-peer startup advice 279

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 6, 2013

Board meetings are a pain in the ass. Investors are less likely to ping you with random stuff when they feel well informed on a consistant basis. Getting outside perspective is the mark of a learning entrepreneur--someone who considers other possibilities and wants more information rather than less.

entrepreneurs 319

entrepreneurs venture capital board capital 319

TechCrunch

JULY 6, 2022

Just about every electronic contraption you care to think of contains at least one printed circuit board (PCB), which serves to house and connect the various components that allow the device to function as a whole. Thus, the global PCB market is big business, expected to grow from a $60 billion industry in 2020 to $75 billion by 2027.

board 97

board mix-use creativity venture capital 97

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 23, 2012

When people tell you how and why they raised capital or what drove their app to success, they often attribute success to planning or neat little explainable reasons when they might simply have no clue what happened. Venture capital is kind of like a knuckleball. Does it work for your customer? They don't stress test.

advice 412

advice startup VC strategy 412

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

What we’re doing at Meebo is trying to socially enable websites by allowing them to immediately get not only the social graph information but to do useful stuff with it. He grew up in Connecticut attended Yale undergrad and worked for IBM after graduation doing M&A, strategy and venture capital. I totally agree.

board 286

board culture VC education 286

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

The biggest difference I cite is that Venture Capital often feels like an “individual sport” while startups are a “team sport.” It was more hedge fund than venture capital. Startups are team sports because you’re all working on the same shared objective of the company.

culture 339

culture VC communities venture capital 339

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 2, 2023

The venture asset class seems to have already decided that AI is the next great investment opportunity, but I’m not so sure it’s going to disrupt business and create the across-the-board wealth that has been predicted. I got to see all of the top VCs pitching their funds. Technology has already made the world pretty efficient.

opportunity 250

opportunity investing investment disruption 250

TechCrunch

JULY 29, 2022

10 tips for running effective board meetings. A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece on TechCrunch about how to run a successful board meeting. Since then, I’ve been asked one question over and over: What does a good board update actually look like? Learn who your board members are and find out which other boards they’ve served on.

board 94

board opportunity networking ventures 94

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2010

Of course I knew that they sat on other boards that kept them busy but somehow it seemed like I had all of their attention to myself during the fund raising process – especially the ones who seemed to like me and spend time with me. Imagine he or she sits on the boards of 5 companies. Imagine your VC as an airport.

VC 275

VC venture capital pitching board 275

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JUNE 10, 2019

I have worked in three venture capital firms over the last thirty-three years and am intimately familiar with the performance of the fifteen (ish) venture funds raised and invested by these three firms. It is not in a single database and there is a ton of confidential information in it.

angel investing 223

angel investing venture capital board investing 223

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. And so is venture capital. Industry or Operating Experience? Now you’re talking. It’s not you. Commitment.

VC 364

VC advice board leadership 364

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2010

I often tell people that raising venture capital is more difficult than getting married. Not so in venture capital. Get a reference list - Most entrepreneurs do almost no reference checks or at least do them very informally. You’re going to build a board and you want people who can work well together.

VC 298

VC advice venture capital entrepreneurs 298

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I was having dinner with a friend last night and we were chatting about venture capital and a bit about what I’ve learned. But if you’re a concentrated investor who takes board seats then you know the hard bit starts the day after. When you’ve been around for 7 years you also see the inevitable cycles.

VC 374

VC investing investment entrepreneurs 374

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

He shared tons of information about how how they were using marketing to quantitatively make marketing decisions at HauteLook and acquire customers for prices that were far cheaper than similar companies. Like any firm we of course invest in the San Francisco Bay Area where 33% of my personal boards are. Many more improvements afoot.

VC 360

VC communities investing investment 360

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 3, 2009

This is part of my ongoing Raising Venture Capital (VC) series. When people refer to a strategic investor they are usually talking about an investor that comes from the industry you serve as opposed to an independent venture capital investor. The reality is that their core business is not venture capital.

advice 279

advice venture capital frameworks entrepreneurs 279

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 7, 2013

b) There really isn''t any more actual information to pour over--it''s just a lot of thinking and talking about the same things over and over again. Venture Capital & Technology' 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.

investing 322

investing investment construction venture capital 322

David Teten VC

APRIL 1, 2021

Almost every private equity and venture capital investor now advertises that they have a platform to support their portfolio companies. Relationships with Venture Partners, Entrepreneurs in Residence , and other non-salaried personnel who can help your companies. Organize events in your vertical. Extends network dramatically.

venture capital 81

venture capital accelerator capital ventures 81

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

Venture Capitalists typically have partners’ meetings on Mondays. So the industry formed around a day of the week when all partners could avoid having company board meetings or traveling. Businesses will continue to realize that the Internet is one big information utility and will continue to move operations to the cloud.

VC 305

VC disruption entrepreneurs venture capital 305

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

Venture capital isn’t right for many business but if you do want to raise from a VC at some point you need to understand that often investors care more about growth than profits. They raised $5 million in venture capital to fund growth. Are you looking to potentially sell the company in the next year or two?

startup 227

startup venture capital VC capital 227

TechCrunch

MARCH 6, 2023

Serial entrepreneur and seasoned investor Vinod Khosla has some strong, contrarian advice for the venture capital industry: don’t sit on your founders’ boards. Khosla, who spoke onstage at the Upfront Summit in Los Angeles this week, spoke about the culture of capital.

board 100

board advice founder VC 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

Next Wednesday we’ll have Dana Settle of Greycroft Partners, a New York / LA early-stage venture capital fund. Swipely can even append transaction data with relevant information such as menus or store catalogs. Klarna is apparently the first European board for legendary Sequoia partner, Michael Moritz.

VC 285

VC financing finance capital 285

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

If I told you that the people who strike out the most batters, on average, have 98MPH fastballs, which is 2% higher than the league average, that’s much more useful information. Venture capital is basically the complete opposite. That’s not really helpful to someone who is training to be a pitcher. So I asked them.

pitching 243

pitching peer-to-peer board VC 243

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2020

with $15 million to Prove It The venture capital world has started firing up a few cylinders again and looking for businesses that it believes will help us all succeed in ways that resonate with new ways of working as we begin to return to work. Ryan Smith, the founder of Qualtrics, also invested and has joined the board of directors.

communities 234

communities peer-to-peer venture capital enablement 234

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 16, 2011

I provided information for my customers to make their lives easier.&# A really good sales person can get people excited and get people to tell you information they won’t tell other people. Make sure they’re on your board, your board of advisors, whatever. “A lot of sales is innate. Say very little.

startup 311

startup VC communities board 311

American Entrepreneurship

JUNE 11, 2024

Notable Capital partnered with 100+ CISOs, VPs of Security from companies such as Amazon, Atlassian, Coupang, and Netflix, and prominent venture capital firms to nominate and vote on approximately 200 companies in order to select the 30 honorees. Congratulations to the honorees of Rising in Cyber 2024!”

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venture capital capital ventures innovation 52