A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JUNE 25, 2020

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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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. What’s up with that? Our portfolio companies value us as sparring partners.

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David Teten VC

JUNE 9, 2021

Would you like to work with private equity and venture capital funds? There are relatively few jobs directly inside private equity and venture capital funds, and those jobs are highly competitive. Venture capitalists often come from an operating background. Venture Capital. Private Equity.

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This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 10, 2014

I''m excited to see Christina and Logan''s vision come to life and I''m excited to be on board as an investor. Venture Capital & Technology' They launched the pre-sale of their first set of rings today--their own design. You should check it out.

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Tomasz Tunguz

OCTOBER 7, 2021

Passive venture capital investing is a relatively new idea. As later stage investors permeate venture capital, they are amassing index funds of startups. Classically, venture capital has been an active asset class. The board is fully staffed, the executive team as well. It’s too early to say.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

Photo by Scott Clark for Upfront Ventures (no, Evan is not standing on a box) Last year marked the 25th anniversary for Upfront Ventures and what a year it was. Photo by Scott Clark for Upfront Ventures A question I often hear is “how is Upfront changing given the current market?” What do you do with a $650 million platform?

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 11, 2015

This morning it was announced that Matt Murphy had left his role as a partner Kleiner Perkins to join as a partner in Menlo Ventures. 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. He’s committed.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

Today we’re announcing that my partner Kara Nortman is becoming Co-Managing Partner at Upfront Ventures and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to welcome her to her new role. She worked for 5 years as a VC at Battery Ventures and co-headed M&A at IAC working with Barry Diller. She had all of the skills and traits we sought?

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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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A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

Bolster came out of stealth and into a beta period today and is opening up its marketplace to companies that want to access fractional talent and to executives who want to work at high growth companies in interim, fractional, advisory, or board roles.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

Nearly four months ago we rebranded at Upfront Ventures. We felt nothing embodied these attributes more than the name Upfront Ventures. It’s next to impossible to call yourself Upfront Ventures and not be, well, upfront. Hamet is a 3x entrepreneur and also former EIR with True Ventures. First task for Kyle?

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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. This is a big news day at Upfront Ventures. Hamet started his career in Venture Capital working for the first post-apartheid VC fund in South Africa. He will be a venture partner. So he had had a taste of it.

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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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American Entrepreneurship

OCTOBER 18, 2023

30 Investments to date in the areas of AI, autonomy, cybersecurity and space Shield Capital was launched in 2021 by the Managing Partners Philip Bilden and Raj Shah, both of whom have deep experience in technology and investing, driving their passion to support founders of frontier technologies.

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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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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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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2016

Kobie Fuller, Partner at Upfront Ventures We set out to build a venture capital firm that would not only be a beacon for the rapidly growing LA tech ecosystem but also one that would compete and collaborate nationally with the best firms in the country. Kobie scored highly on all fronts.

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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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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

After years of trying to persuade Kara Nortman to become a partner at Upfront Ventures I can officially announce now that she’s joined us effective immediately. Investment experience (5 years a VC at Battery Ventures). Let me start with the news that I’m excited to share with you. She is a coach and mentor to team members.

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Dream It

APRIL 12, 2020

In New York, for instance, there are now venture funds with a West Coast mentality and firms with an East Coast mentality; the same is true for firms in San Francisco. Will a financial crisis affect how venture funds deploy capital? Do startups need to conduct due diligence on a venture fund’s LPs?

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This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 24, 2014

Venture capitalists play an important role in burgeoning ecosystems. In particular, I''m always trying to improve as a board member, but their aren''t any programs or classes for that. Venture Capital & Technology' Yet, even I wished I had more guidance when I was first starting out.

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TechCrunch

JANUARY 27, 2023

Earlier this month, we reported that investors’ sentiments surrounding venture capital activity going into this were more reserved than upbeat. Partech: The venture capital outfit pegged funding for African tech at $6.5 There was reason to believe so. Briter Bridges recorded $5.2 Equity deals accounted for $4.9

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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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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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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.

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abovethecrowd.com

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

The Lack of a Legitimate Board. Delaware law requires a board of directors, and these directors are tasked with a “fiduciary duty” to look after the best interest of the corporation. As such, the task of governance falls squarely on the shoulders of the board of directors. Filling a board with friends is one way to do this.

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This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 10, 2014

I could probably write a book on venture round pricing dynamics. That also includes 16 Brooklyn Bridge Ventures deals done and five agreed to term sheets. Venture Capital & Technology' What should you price your seed round at? Well, it depends. However, since I only have time for a blog post, I''ll settle for actual data.

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 27, 2014

I remember back in the Union Square Ventures days when we had an internal debate over the price of the first round of Indeed. No wonder people are questioning where the boards of these companies were. No one from the firm leading the deal will join the board. That might be a board seat, or at least an observer right.

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 28, 2013

It''s an especially relevant question for me as I''ve recently joined the board of the Bronx Academy for Software Engineering , one of two software focused high schools in NYC. Venture Capital & Technology' Don''t get me wrong--I think software literacy is extremely important.

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A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JANUARY 18, 2021

In early June, I wrote this post explaining that I and we need to do more to reduce the inequality issues for Black people in tech, venture capital, and startups. I think MLK day is a good time to talk about what has happened since that post.

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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.

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This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 28, 2021

Turns out being in a quiet place with good WIFI minding someone who basically just eats and sleeps most of the time while tethered to all manner of monitors actually makes for a great work environment for venture capital. She’s even been on several board calls already and last week showed up on her first pitch call.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

Just ask the people of Portland, Seattle, Boulder, Iowa, Princeton, Dallas or countless other cities that don’t have enough venture capital. If you don’t live in a major VC zone, I have some tips for how to make it easier to raise Venture Capital. Ask SuperCell. Or UrbanAirship. So here’s the deal.

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AsiaTechDaily

OCTOBER 23, 2023

The company recently secured funding in a Series A round, which was led by TRIVE Venture Capital , a Singapore-based firm specializing in early-stage high-growth technology companies. Register Singapore-based EV charging startup Charge+ is gearing up to expand its electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure across Southeast Asia.

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American Entrepreneurship

DECEMBER 4, 2024

Sutton, an entrepreneur, is a Board Member of YPO, a global leadership community of extraordinary chief executives, and the Nevada Policy Research Institute. The Fund’s team values the unique experience that veterans bring to startup ventures.

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Revolution

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

What we did: The Rise of the Rest team kicked off October with a trip to Chi-Town to catch up with portfolio companies Blueprint , Unreal Estate , and Rheaply and co-investor, Chicago Ventures. What we did: Revolution Ventures Partner, Clara Sieg , headed south to the Peach State to judge the 2023 Venture Atlanta pitch competition.

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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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