This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 16, 2014

How long does it take from first meeting a VC to getting cash in the bank? If all my deals came as intros from trusted connections that I know for years versus at founder pitch events that''s interesting data. If you meet someone at a pitch event, they''ve already got a company and they''re looking to close as quickly as possible.

VC 415

VC pitching networking venture capital 415

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.

VC 365

VC board communities pitching 365

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 18, 2019

Brooklyn Bridge Ventures , the pre-seed and seed stage VC fund I run in NYC, has invested in 64 companies in the last six and a half years. The diversity is the direct result of our mission—to build the most accessible venture capital fund in NY. Twenty-five of them have at least one female co-founder. Fifteen had co-founders over 40.

venture capital 413

venture capital capital ventures peer-to-peer 413

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

She was pitching for a pre-seed round of $400k. Founders hit the street with their pitch deck, some make it, and some don’t, but nearly all of them ascribe a lot more human influence over the process than there probably is. Or that venture capital is a meritocracy? I’m a female founder. I don’t have a technical co-founder.

advice 429

advice pitching venture capital VC 429

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

OCTOBER 14, 2020

The NVCA and Pitch Book are out with their Q3 report on the VC industry and what they report is that the VC industry continues to be very active throughout the pandemic. The massive expansion of later-stage private capital continues unabated. The massive expansion of later-stage private capital continues unabated.

ventures 362

ventures VC pitching innovation 362

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. So what about a Techstars-like program for new VCs? Venture Capital & Technology'

accelerator 355

accelerator mentorship VC incubation 355

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 14, 2014

Most companies don''t ever raise venture capital and they do just fine. That''s a much better picture of female entrepreneurship than the 2-4% of venture capital dollars going to women. The main driver of the skew towards men getting venture capital, statistically, is that far more men are pitching.

founder 378

founder pitching venture capital mix-use 378

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. It makes it extraordinarily hard to raise the next round of capital. They know how to build pitch decks. They know the VCs so they know what interests them.

VC 347

VC advice pitching entrepreneurs 347

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 23, 2014

It doesn''t help them improve their pitch or adjust their model. It just feels like the VC wasn''t that interested in the first place and so they''re not sure what the interest was in the first place. If an entrepreneur is going to invest their time pitching me or having a meeting--I''ll do my best to invest my time to have an opinion.

pitching 351

pitching VC venture capital opportunity 351

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2016

There was an explosion in number of startups both because it was cheap and there was tons of available capital. Non VC Growth Rounds. The fact that I still see it referred to in pitch decks is farcical. Late-Stage VCs Pay Up. VC Infighting. Boom in Number of Startups. Explosion in Seed Funds.

venture capital 271

venture capital capital ventures VC 271

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 1, 2014

We all have our inherent biases and what I am not arguing here is that the venture capital world is a fair playing field for anyone. I repeat: I AM NOT ARGUING THAT VENTURE CAPITAL IS FAIR TO ANYONE. We really don''t know, because we''re missing some critical information: HOW MANY WOMEN ARE SEEKING VENTURE CAPITAL?

venture capital 295

venture capital capital ventures founder 295

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 17, 2016

Now that they have to go back into the market next year to pitch their own fund, they're going to have to answer some tough questions about valuations. If you're a founder fundraising this year, that means spending more time getting VCs comfortable with the risks of your company. Thing of it as a VC hangover.

VC 220

VC pitching board capital 220

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

That story actually begins about eleven or twelve years ago, with a little bit of VC mentoring. I was working for the GM pension fund, an institutional LP, as an analyst, doing a research project on consumer private equity and venture capital investing. Leading an investment into an ice cream chain, however, that's another beast.

venture capital 346

venture capital ventures capital consumer retail 346

TechCrunch

MARCH 3, 2021

Weeks or even months of working on your pitch deck could come down to the 170 seconds (on average) that investors spend looking at it. “Investors see a lot of pitches,” VC and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman noted. “In A pitch deck is a tool to show VCs why your idea merits investment. exit strategy”.

pitching 113

pitching VC strategy leadership 113

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 15, 2020

There have been a lot of calls for VC firms to make more hires from the Black and Brown community, as well as to hire more women. Lots of the data is skewed toward later stage rounds and I’ve never ever seen stats on who is pitching. Not all hires, however, are made equally. Morever, LPs should be influencing these policies.

venture capital 308

venture capital ventures capital mentorship 308

Dream It

MAY 19, 2021

In this Dreamit Dose, Managing Director Adam Dakin presents his view on the right way to answer it after hearing hundreds, if not thousands, of founder pitches. Make the specific amount you are raising and corresponding milestones clear at the beginning of the pitch, and do not give a range. The amount you're raising is your ask.

pitching 393

pitching board health VC 393

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 19, 2014

Go pitch a VC with an idea, and they''ll tell you to build it. Venture Capital & Technology' Go to them with a prototype and they''ll tell you to launch it. Launch it, and they''ll tell you to get more users. Get users and they''ll tell you to get paying customers. Let''s remember that, people.

venture capital 378

venture capital pitching health VC 378

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 16, 2024

There are more active VCs alive today than have ever existed in the history of modern human existence—and that dates back 300,000 years! Then, they need to figure out a way to project that brand up above the venture community, like a Bat signal calling for the best founders to come and pitch them. The question is what to focus on.

VC 243

VC angel investing networking pitching 243

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 17, 2014

With the author staying close as an advisor, they build a real, cashflow positive business and start to think about where they could go with some outside capital. The first pitch I got was from someone who didn''t intend on staying with the business as an employee. You could think of it as a spin on Thrillist.

pitching 336

pitching consulting VC venture capital 336

TechCrunch

JULY 2, 2021

Founder of Unicorn Capital and Minimal Capital, Evan Fisher 's pitching and investor strategy has helped startups raise more than $2.5 Not even a senior VC. The biggest lie in venture capital is: “Yes, I read through your deck.” None of that is effectively transmitted in a cold pitch deck. Evan Fisher.

pitching 122

pitching VC venture capital capital 122

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2017

It’s why raising a round of capital often feels like a hollow victory because it almost feels like a temporary reprieve from the Grim Reaper and in a way every new round just sets the bar higher to clear for the next round of financing or the hope of reaching profitability. It’s why so few can really start a business from scratch.

pitching 238

pitching VC mix-use entrepreneurs 238

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. So why bother showing up? Why ever read another tech blog?

advice 412

advice startup VC strategy 412

Revolution

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

Since the beginning of modern venture capital investing — a relatively nascent asset class — the industry has been biased toward funding what it knows best: founders with familiar demographics (white, male) in familiar geographies (Silicon Valley).

innovation 264

innovation investing investment pitching 264

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

I have sat through countless pitches with Ivy League grads spewing off intellectual descriptions of the details of their product or service and why it will win in the market. In a VC pitch this type of messaging will do just fine. These messages need to pass the cocktail party pitch. And I think this is a mistake.

entrepreneurs 370

entrepreneurs pitching startup education 370

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 4, 2021

Below is a link to the pitch video. There wasn’t any context around it—not exactly something I’d call a “pitch”. I explained that this wasn’t really a pitch because it lacked all sorts of context. Having been called out, I set up a meeting—but I didn’t do it to take a charity pitch. Who was the team?

pitching 243

pitching transportation consulting creativity 243

TechCrunch

OCTOBER 4, 2022

This relationship also supplied Spleet with the critical network of landlords required to list multiple units when it went live; the pitch to landlords was that Spleet would bring proper KYC into the rental process and allow them to verify tenants and automate rent collection. Closing on $103M, MaC VC is changing the face of venture capital.

VC 131

VC real estate venture capital financing 131

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

Every pitch I’ve ever seen has led to the, “Would Amazon eventually do this? After 9 months it was time to raise seed capital and go test drive our new software and processes. Sam moved back to NY and we announced our seed round of capital, which we led. And could we then compete?” ” type questions.

real estate 380

real estate ventures innovation pitching 380

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. Home is a different story.

hospitality 469

hospitality board energy pitching 469

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 25, 2023

That includes investing way earlier than they would normally, investing outside of scope, investing with their personal capital outside of the fund, etc. Does the VC think that a designer needs to be on the team from day one if you’re going to build a better version of Instagram? That’s fair. Technically, it’s a title.

founder 364

founder VC board pitching 364

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

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? Board Meetings. Conferences.

creativity 400

creativity venture capital entrepreneurs board 400

Revolution

AUGUST 2, 2022

Rise of the Rest Senior Associate, James Barlia , and Senior Director of Strategy, Jamie Rodota , also headed to the Palmetto State to meet with local investors and judge the College of Charleston Founders Club’s pitch competition. Where we went: Chicago, IL ?? an event connecting coastal investors with Chicago’s most innovative startups.

economic growth 344

economic growth innovation communities startup ecosystem 344

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

People like Vinod Khosla, Keith Rabois, Brian Singerman, Marc Andreessen and others have all made head-scratching private comments to me that sounded so foreign to what I thought other people were doing in VC that they caused me to challenge and ultimately change some of my own views. I had coffee with a friend on Friday.

advice 407

advice frameworks startup mix-use 407

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2015

Try to imagine if you *didn’t* already know Amazon and the company walking into VC meetings telling people they were going to disrupt the selling of all goods starting with books but then extending into electronics, apparel, toys and so forth. What tech has our capital raised gone into? ” Let’s start with some basics.

real estate 364

real estate startup disruption incumbents 364

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Contrary to popular opinion I actually believe crowd-funding is best used after seed capital or venture capital. They get pitched by so many blowhards that more genuine people who aren’t in it for just a story stand out from the crowd. It super charges a business that is closer to product delivery.

pitching 319

pitching media advice venture capital 319

TechCrunch

AUGUST 17, 2022

At TechCrunch, it often seems as if every other startup story is about yet another fun company raising satchels full of venture capital. One truth is that successfully raising capital from a VC firm is a huge milestone in the life of a startup. Another truth is that VC isn’t right for all companies.

venture capital 102

venture capital startup founder capital ventures 102

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

If you were to have to pitch a VC right now on a concept, the part about why you is already known--you''ve been living it. Venture Capital & Technology' What has life put you in a position to have unique insight into? So what startup have you already started working on before you have an idea?

startup 310

startup venture capital pitching VC 310

TechCrunch

APRIL 25, 2023

But dealmaking is idiosyncratic: a few investors might be content to make a deal over coffee, but early-stage teams still need a sturdy pitch deck or memo they can leave behind. Similarly, one VC may encourage newly minted CEOs to eat ramen and ride the bus, while another might suggest a salary in the low six-figures, depending on geography.

pitching 98

pitching incubation board opportunity 98