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Board Diversity

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

The board diversity problem is a symptom of a much broader problem around lack of diversity in founders that get funded and lack of diversity in VC firms. Most startup boards are made up of a few founders and a few VCs. No wonder you have no diversity on the board. Boards don’t need three or four VCs on them.

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Your board should protect you!

Berkonomics

All other board functions are secondary. Even venture capitalists who sit on boards where they have significant investments often forget this point. Actually, there are two legal duties of board members. Sometimes, there will be a conflict of interest between the people representing the various shareholder classes on a board.

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Investors, your board, and you: Who is smarter?

Berkonomics

And because you need their money, the temptation is to listen a bit too well, and take all of the advice thrown at you during your presentations and during due diligence and finally from the vantage point of a board seat. Some board members may show dismay. After several months on the board, he spoke up. “I And push back.

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The Bolster Board Diversity Survey

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

Last June, I wrote about board diversity and suggested some things we are doing and that you can do to diversity your board. In the ten months that have passed since I wrote that I am pleased to say that we have seen a noticeable increase in board diversity in our portfolio. It is that important to me and USV. Just do it.

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Bolster Your Management Team And Board

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

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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How to Make Sense of the PPP Loan Program for VC-Backed Startups

Both Sides of the Table

But I have been in close contact with the NVCA, many of the major law firms and many of the major VC firms. You need to: study the rules, make sure that you don’t violate the “affiliate rule” (more later), consult with your Company Counsel, consult with your board and investors and then make your own determination. shouldn’t I?

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The Twenty Year Itch: My Last VC Investment Out of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures

This is going to be BIG.

To put that timeframe in perspective, here’s a picture of analyst me taken at USV’s first office in 2005, dressed in khakis and a button-down shirt versus a picture of me, a GP at my own firm, over 100 deals later, now on my latest Zoom board call from my couch at home with my junior analyst of about a year and a half.

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