Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. The “Triple Play&# of VC Presentations. But take prompts from the VC.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

What is a principal at a VC firm and how does it work at Upfront Ventures? ” Associates have different functions at different VCs. VC firm admin. VC firm policy or fund analysis. Helping be the VC “presence” at key events. inside insight into VC decision-making. Industry reviews.

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investing investment VC board 365

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

In order to understand how to “get to yes” with a VC you first need to understand how VC partnerships make decisions and then you can understand how to increase your odds of closing a deal. VC Partnerships Start by understanding how many partners are at the firm you are approaching.

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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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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

Because my role as a VC requires me to take and endless stream of meetings I long ago decided I need to learn as much as I can from the meetings I attend so I often just ask tons of questions and assimilate knowledge. When I think about what defines us as a VC I think: Operationally knowledgeable / strong startup competence.

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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. Talking to a VC is never a one shot deal. The Cold Intro. Multiple Touchpoints.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 11, 2015

It’s even more rare for VCs to talk publicly about other VCs, so I thought it would be fun to break rank and tell you about Matt. I’ve worked very closely with Matt over the past four years as we share an investment in a company in Los Angeles called NextPlus and we sat on a board together for years. Conclusions?

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

When you’re hiring most reference checkers focus on the person’s former bosses. Just literally this week I had breakfast with a guy giving a reference who said, “He’s brilliant. Our founder, Yves Sisteron, was my mentor and board member at my first startup. In many ways that can be way more telling.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

My favorite two quotes of the weekend were: “Never trade your cat for somebody else’s dog” (referring to selling your company for stock to another privately held company – quote was from Alan. And awesome to get to spend time with Ian Sigalow “comparing notes” (VC speak ). I’m going to save that for a future blog post.

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peer-to-peer advice VC board 279

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 27, 2010

Sometimes it pays to jump on board before a lot of big questions have been answered—simply because you can feel the market starting to notice it and create mindshare momentum. I even started referring to him as a podhead. Undaunted, he went back to work, got some great partners on board, and kept plugging away.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

But honestly there are times when being a VC can feel like that, too. One day if you’re lucky you’ll be big enough to work with recruiters to hire senior members of your team or your board. And in it he profiles the work of Coach Campbell who was once on the boards of both Google & Apple. EXECUTIVE RECRUITERS.

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startup real estate VC venture capital 363

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

Contrast that with a VC conversation I had. In case you don’t know – as VCs we have have 2 sets of customers: LPs (limited partners) who invest money in our funds and entrepreneurs (who we in turn give money to and help support them in building businesses we hope will be valuable). If not, somebody else will.

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peer-to-peer VC entrepreneurs support 341

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2010

In today’s post I want to talk about the concept of a VC flightpath. This is my description of a VC process, not one I’ve heard from other VCs so don’t expect it to be accepted nomenclature. Even when you’re getting the VC love this reality I imagined couldn’t be further from the truth.

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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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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. Information flowed up within the organization and the CEO always packaged things nicely for the board and investors. A quick example.

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startup board advice VC 308

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2015

Because no VCs would fund them with a pending lawsuit of this nature. He signed a release and remained on the board. He regretted the decision and sued the company and the board – it’s still not totally clear to me what he was suing about. I funded a company where the CEO stepped down. Humor is tone deaf in court.

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startup advice board founder 352

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

She worked for 5 years as a VC at Battery Ventures and co-headed M&A at IAC working with Barry Diller. The fact that Kara doesn’t have what my wife likes to refer jokingly as my “Y chromosome problem” is beside the fact. He said to me (only 9 years ago), “I hope you’re not just hiring her because she’s a woman.” (I

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ventures leadership mentorship venture capital 361

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 27, 2010

Sometimes it pays to jump on board before a lot of big questions have been answered—simply because you can feel the market starting to notice it and create mindshare momentum. I even started referring to him as a podhead. Undaunted, he went back to work, got some great partners on board, and kept plugging away.

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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. One was the hardest working guy on our board and the biggest mensch.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

On Losing in VC. By Monday morning after their board meeting in NorCal I didn’t get a return phone call. I know I won’t win every deal I want to in VC. I’m talking about the hard fought battle. The one that you thought you had. The one you were counting on. I was angry – mostly at myself.

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consulting advice collaboration VC 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

On Losing in VC. By Monday morning after their board meeting in NorCal I didn’t get a return phone call. I know I won’t win every deal I want to in VC. I’m talking about the hard fought battle. The one that you thought you had. The one you were counting on. I was angry – mostly at myself.

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consulting advice collaboration VC 328

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 29, 2024

Every week, new VCs inquired about coaching even though I had barely put it out there. I coached investors to promotions, first board seats, internal personnel decisions and even a long overdue resignation. VC firms often have weird internal dynamics that conflict with your career goals. Make it easy for them to say yes.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series, “ Pitching a VC.&# Getting a meeting with a prominent angel or VC is difficult enough. Some advice on how to do that was covered in this link – Getting Access to a VC. If you haven’t read how to build VC relationships and demonstrate traction make sure to read it.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2016

During this period Kobie worked closely with many SaaS companies including ExactTarget from its early days and the Founder & CEO, Scott Dorsey, served as a strong reference for Kobie. I worked on two boards with Kobie (Invoca & Osmo) where I got to experience his operating insights and work ethic first hand.

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ventures culture venture capital SaaS 260

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? Within 2 years I was getting 400,000 views / month and had been voted the 2nd most respected VC in the country by an independent survey of entrepreneurs, The Funded and sentiment analysis. They’re mine because I’m a VC.

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startup advice communities VC 373

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2016

We knew better than to start funding raising in August, when larger VC firms have a harder time assembling full decision teams – so in August we would plan and September we would commence. Many VC firms expressed interest, nearly every one took a meeting and several called Mark and the team back for meetings.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

If you don’t follow the image reference above or the tag line, “ You don’t need double talk; you need Bob Loblaw “ (try saying it out loud) , and if you care! Founded it as a California LLC but your potential VC wants a Delaware C-Corp? the link is here. Shame about that pesky FAS 157 ruling.

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startup advice entrepreneurs VC 318

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2018

There is an old management saying, “measure twice, cut once” which refers to the benefit of doing some planning. Many points will seem obvious but since I observe many fund-raising processes as a VC I can tell you that most people get even the basics wrong. This can be somebody on 15 boards or maybe the managing partner.

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board VC entrepreneurs education 215

Y Combinator

JULY 15, 2019

One of the most common questions we hear from founders is “How do I manage my board?” It’s something that provokes anxiety, because this is the first time the founder/CEO is subject to external supervision, and the board has powers that include the firing of the CEO and the senior management. But first, what’s the purpose of a board?

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Dream It

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

Managing Partner Steve Barsh refers to this as being a “mercenary” entrepreneur, as opposed to a “missionary.” However, Amit says, “VCs aren’t going to build your business, you’re going to build your business.” When a VC signs onboard to help you with your company, do not expect or look for them to do the bulk of the work for you.

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board VC strategy construction 195

TechCrunch

OCTOBER 6, 2022

It promises to give credit to any one of them who refers a successful deal to the venture firm in the form of some carried interest in the firm’s own profits. Despite the venture slowdown, VC firms in Latin America continue to raise funds. and Latin America. Why global investors are flocking to back Latin American startups.

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David Teten VC

MARCH 5, 2021

(co-written with Katherine Boe Heuck , a MBA candidate at MIT Sloan (class of 2022); past intern at Versatile VC ; and a current intern at Metaprop NYC.). We reviewed CB Insights’ global list of “40 of the Best VC Bets of all Time.” For funds with an overall return of 3-5x, which is what VC funds aim for, the overall return was 4.6x

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VC investing investment founder 82

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 18, 2024

I’m talking about what someone I know recently referred to as “dentists”. They might have a more flexible time horizon than a VC because the money doesn’t come from a fund with a limited lifespan. That’s why I normally ask for a Board Observer seat. I’m not talking about active angels. Perhaps they inherited it.

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investing investment startup real estate 221

TechCrunch

APRIL 1, 2022

Perfect pitch, a singer’s ability to produce any given musical note without a reference tone, is a rare phenomenon — only 1-5 people out of every 10,000 have it. While your odds of creating a perfect pitch deck that captures coveted VC interest aren’t quite that dire, they’re not exactly in your favor, either.

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pitching VC construction venture capital 89

Entrepreneurs' Organization

OCTOBER 19, 2018

That was about a half year after we raised the first million in VC. Testdrive and check references with the team. We used the following methods to generate applications: We spread the job description on all the relevant job boards as well as social networks like LinkedIn and XING. Testdrive and check references with the team.

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creativity board networking energy 130

Gust

NOVEMBER 22, 2011

This is the realm of venture capital professional investors, with funding amounts of $1-10 million, often referred to as the “A-round,” or first institutional funding. VC money, for example, usually comes with high expectations of milestones met, board seats, and dominant control. Funding or rollout stage.

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venture capital investing investment sustainability 171

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 21, 2021

The investor joined Tackle’s board when his firm led the startup’s Series B round, and sees it as a category leader. At the time, Casado referred to Tackle having more than 200 customers. The VC firm has backed Tackle since its seed round, and led its $7.25

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