Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

One of the least understood parts of the venture capital industry and venture capital firms is how investment decisions actually get made. You’d be surprised how many firms are “dictator VCs” – even those that don’t formally acknowledge it internally. ” Some firms are collegiate.

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venture capital peer-to-peer capital ventures 336

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2023

It will be the 105th deal out of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, the firm I started back in September 2012, and it will be the last deal I’ll be making out of my third fund. It will also be my last venture capital deal. For me, I don’t mind sharing how I think about it.

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ventures investing investment VC 545

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 16, 2014

I am there, along with other investors and board members to audit their thinking--to make sure they were considerate about the plans *they* came up with, not me. Fourth , I am highly incentivized to provide assistance to my portfolio companies in any way that I can--whether it means connections to talent, PR, other capital, customers, etc.

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VC frameworks venture capital opportunity 399

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

But just because you could see them everywhere doesn't make them an obvious venture bet--nor does it tell the story of how the round even came to be. That story actually begins about eleven or twelve years ago, with a little bit of VC mentoring. While this is a company already making millions of dollars, there is so much to be done.

venture capital 362

venture capital ventures capital consumer retail 362

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2013

His imagination of what is wrong with VC has captured perfectly in satirical format what ails our industry. It is Nikolas Tesla pitching a VC firm. The back-and-forth between Andy & me if anything I hope just raised the issue a bit more about entrepreneur & VC relationships. He knew me then. by Dorrian Porter.

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VC pitching venture capital innovation 315

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

And I am often approached by entrepreneurs in cities which don’t have a vibrant VC community. Just ask the people of Portland, Seattle, Boulder, Iowa, Princeton, Dallas or countless other cities that don’t have enough venture capital. It’s a goal to help you understand the life of a VC. Ask SuperCell.

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VC board communities pitching 365

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. I know I can’t be in every deal and I know that the easy part of being a VC is writing the first check in a deal. They worry too much about missing out on a deal. I don’t. Price matters.

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VC investing investment entrepreneurs 374

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? With the enormous changes to our economies and financial markets?—?how

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ventures VC venture capital funders 471

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 6, 2020

But I have been in close contact with the NVCA, many of the major law firms and many of the major VC firms. If your US-based business is adversely affected by Covid-19 such that you would need to lay off employees imminently and having access to capital would enable you to keep more employees on the payroll then you might be eligible.

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VC peer-to-peer startup advice 279

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

I’ve written a few posts about boards recently as part of a series on the subject. I admit that I haven’t yet read it but I’ve had numerous discussions with Brad over the years about board structure & conduct and consider him a mentor on the topic. Offering a sparring-partner function on strategic decisions.

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board media mentorship advice 325

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. Bolster also will allow venture capital firms and startup investors to participate in its platform as super users.

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board leadership venture capital VC 218

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 3, 2016

That was a question posed to me by a new analyst at a venture capital fund. While there are lots and lots of really kind, generous people working in venture capital--the recently retired Howard Morgan, Hunter Walk, Brad Feld, and Karin Klein for example--it's really tough to argue that there isn't widespread jerkery.

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VC venture capital entrepreneurship advice 401

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 11, 2015

That's one thing you have to realize about venture capital. In two-thirds of those investments I'm in enough of a lead position where I'm acting as a board member, officially or otherwise. There are weird parts, like board meetings being an hour a day. I have no idea. Every single firm is different.

VC 419

VC pitching board construction 419

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).

board 236

board startup venture capital financing 236

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 24, 2014

Not every potentially good VC previously worked for Fred Wilson and Josh Kopelman. Not every VC used to get pitched by VC funds for a living and has seen hundreds and hundreds of VC pitch decks. Venture capitalists play an important role in burgeoning ecosystems. Venture Capital & Technology'

accelerator 371

accelerator mentorship VC incubation 371

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. I just want to figure out what a fair valuation is.&# I figured all the VC’s talked so we should. But this example above is all entrepreneur math, not the VC’s. million.

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founder VC venture capital entrepreneurs 405

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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VC board investing investment 314

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). Upfront Ventures VC Industry' But she also has the temperament, which is important.

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VC networking board ventures 408

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. As a result of the IPO window shifting we saw a massive inflow of public-market capital into the latest stages of venture.

investing 328

investing investment VC venture capital 328

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.” My favorite new VC blogger, Hunter Walk, weighed in with some thoughtful comments about how Syndicates might actually pit, “ angel vs. angel.” Bowery Capital).

VC 356

VC peer-to-peer board entrepreneurs 356

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 2, 2013

If I was going to start a venture capital fund around a theme, I''d pick something a little different. Scarcity + high demand = Happy VC all too willing to fund playful things and entrepreneurs ready to play. These companies are not only getting millions in VC investments, but huge revenues as well. No geographic focus.

education 284

education venture capital VC board 284

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

I became a VC 12 years ago in 2007 when the pace of deals was much slower. As I was trying to figure out the role I wanted to play in the VC world I decided I wanted to focus on businesses that were building deeply technical products to solve problems for business users. What Did I Learn From the First VC Check I Ever Wrote?

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VC venture capital capital investing 223

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

If you’ve been following the press about VC funds you’ll know this is no small feat. 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.

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ventures venture capital advice VC 343

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Board Meetings. Frankly, I think venture capital is that way, too. How do VCs break out of group think when they are shuttling from one board meeting to the next, from one conference to the other and talking with all the same people? How does the world in Los Angeles intersect differently with venture capital?

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creativity venture capital entrepreneurs board 400

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 28, 2021

Over the last two and a half months in the hospital, I’ve actually been fairly productive—no doubt setting the record for VC term sheets offered literally from inside the NICU (three). She’s even been on several board calls already and last week showed up on her first pitch call.

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hospitality board energy pitching 478

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

Changes in the Software World & in Venture Capital. But notably you had the following changes: Horizontally scalable computing & storage systems, which meant you required less capital up front for hardware. Venture Capital. And then the world changed. Changes in the Startup Ecosystem. We have invested $17.3

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startup communities venture capital angel capital 390

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

I’m often asked about the differences between being at a VC and being an entrepreneur and whether I prefer one or the other. 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.

culture 339

culture VC communities venture capital 339

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.

venture capital 352

venture capital VC board financing 352

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. They don't stress test.

advice 416

advice startup VC strategy 416

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? billion fund.

VC 466

VC culture sustainability capital 466

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.

VC 360

VC communities investing investment 360

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.

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ventures board VC culture 291

Jason Malki

JANUARY 23, 2023

who is a junior investor in the Venture Capital industry. He hopes to find a fulltime position in venture capital after graduation. He currently serves as a Venture Partner at Mech Ventures where they invest in the future of pop culture. Azriel Nicdao otherwise known as (A.Z.)

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venture capital capital ventures startup 98

TechCrunch

JANUARY 27, 2023

Earlier this month, we reported that investors’ sentiments surrounding venture capital activity going into this were more reserved than upbeat. But before that, there was shared optimism that African startups would raise more VC funding last year than in 2021 when the continent, for the first time, passed the $4-5 billion threshold.

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venture capital capital ventures startup 99

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

But VC is like congress. “This essay is dedicated to the great VC’s on my board who I am lucky to work with: Sameer Gandhi from Accel, Jeremy Liew from Lightspeed, and Kirsten Green from Forerunner. As you can see from the chart their data suggests there are about $25 billion of VC distributions per year in the US.

VC 374

VC peer-to-peer entrepreneurs investing 374

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. VENTURE CAPITAL.

startup 363

startup real estate VC venture capital 363

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 27, 2022

Besides, there were a limited number of places where I could do my job in venture capital anyway—and while I might be a go to for a pitch from super early stage pre-seed and seed founders looking for quick answers and decisive term sheets in New York City, the reality is that I would be pretty far down the list in the Valley.

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culture VC communities education 360