This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 16, 2020

To that end, my goal was to make the firm the most accessible VC fund in New York—showing up across diverse communities, getting rid of barriers to access like requirements for warm intros, and being conscious of which patterns of success I believe in and which only serve to reinforce certain power dynamics.

communities 166

communities networking founder disruption 166

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

Investment experience (5 years a VC at Battery Ventures). We believe it’s important to have our partners all based in one location so our starting point is wanting our partners to be based in LA and be committed to making this city a vibrant startup community that is now the third largest in the country. So there you have it.

VC 408

VC networking board ventures 408

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 22, 2018

This will be the post where I dangerously attempt to walk the minefield of a white male VC opining on the topic. On an app advertised to "meet inspiring people" for meaningful networking, someone tells this black founder, whose last name is "Youngblood" that is name is inappropriate. There is discrimination in the world.

VC 267

VC pitching peer-to-peer founder 267

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

I believe that the next generation of top companies are far more likely to be founded by people not on VC radars today. Opening up our circle to create and scale genuine engagement for people outside of typical venture networks is how we do business—and we’re getting exceptional deal flow because of that.

venture capital 239

venture capital communities ventures capital 239

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 3, 2020

The partner at the fund, the VC, gets to do the fun part—the meeting with founders, vetting deals, negotiating, helping, etc. This is above and beyond whatever events and educational opportunities the fund provides for its community, which could also be very useful. Fund investing, like adulting, is boring. So what’s the point?

VC 258

VC angel investing mix-use opportunity 258

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2016

He’s pushed us to be out in the community more. I created an accelerator & mentor network (Launchpad LA). He’s proved much more efficient that I ever was at tracking the activities of the community. He’s even challenged some of our sacred cows on investment philosophy. I tried to be at every event.

disruption 226

disruption VC communities ventures 226

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. Portfolio community building. VC firm admin. VC firm policy or fund analysis. Helping be the VC “presence” at key events. Industry reviews. Alumni activities.

investing 365

investing investment VC board 365

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 5, 2015

You could literally get to know everyone in the local tech community at the time. Now, the community is orders of magnitude larger and the number of investors who invest here has grown significantly. Who''s the VC that everyone *isn''t* trying to network with. I had something VC firms were interested in.

VC 314

VC startup ecosystem networking venture capital 314

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 16, 2024

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. This is something I talk about a lot with my VC coaching clients. It could mean focusing on combating lonliness, which could be a proptech focus and a social networking play.

VC 243

VC angel investing networking pitching 243

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

I have never been more optimistic about the impact that the tech startup community is having on cities in America or about the role that cities outside of San Francisco / Silicon Valley can play in our future. It really only needs a few community leaders to kick things off and land a community on a map. Co-Working Space.

startup 390

startup communities venture capital angel capital 390

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Seattle should be the envy of any non Silicon Valley tech community in the country. I need to take some VC meetings. And that is precisely my thoughts for Seattle and what I plan to deliver on Thursday night: Which few key community leaders are going to step up and get those neurons properly firing and connected?

communities 317

communities VC innovation entrepreneurs 317

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 28, 2013

The biggest question I think VC''s face right now is whether or not, in the future, the best founders will look and act like the best founders of the past. My own track record as a VC across First Round Capital and Brooklyn Bridge Ventures actually starts in January of 2010, *after* the Airbnb class of Winter 2009.

venture capital 406

venture capital VC ventures capital 406

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

Growing too slowly is particularly dangerous in a business with network effects, which the best startups usually have to some degree.” ” This is a frequent theme of mine when asked to speak to audience about the VC industry. And this is fueled by the VC culture in Silicon Valley. It is VC math, like it or not.

startup 390

startup VC venture capital entrepreneurs 390

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. When you can introduce diverse founders to a diverse network of professionals, it makes their professional experience orders of magnitude better. Fifteen had co-founders over 40.

venture capital 413

venture capital capital ventures peer-to-peer 413

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

I can’t help feel a bit of rear-view mirror analysis in all of “VC model is broken” bears in our industry. The movie, “The Social Network” might have had more of an impact on creating future entrepreneurs than any other event of the past 5 years. In 1998 there were around 850 VC funds and by 2000 there were 2,300.

venture capital 347

venture capital capital ventures VC 347

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

It got me thinking about the advice that I often give to new VCs. For years I saw myself as the new guy in VC but then you wake up one day and realize that 50% of your peers have been doing it for less time than you and time has moved on. You want to build your network with other VCs so you go to demo days, SxSW and so forth.

peer-to-peer 317

peer-to-peer pitching VC accelerator 317

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

The challenges are more business challenges and design challenges--so schools need to rethink how they interact with innovation communities if it's not going to only be through commercialization: Recognize that creating a founder should be a secondary goal. Be a community center. Kick the students out. Kick the faculty out.

innovation 309

innovation entrepreneurship incubation education 309

David Teten VC

MARCH 1, 2022

The easiest way to work with and for VC funds is to become a part-time scout, getting paid for sourcing investments. How to find a job as a VC scout. VC recruiters list and compensation data. How to negotiate a partner role at a VC or private equity firm. Syllabus for how to launch, manage, and invest a VC fund.

VC 128

VC venture capital accelerator ventures 128

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2011

But last week I noticed a blog post by a woman, Tara Tiger Brown, that asked the question, “ Why Aren’t More Women Commenting on VC Blog Posts? She has a quote from literally every major VC from whom you’d want to hear. She was the dominant figure in my family and was both an entrepreneur and a community leader.

entrepreneurs 341

entrepreneurs entrepreneurship VC pitching 341

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

and I thought if we brought the community together for common purpose we could create more of a sense of community to help new entrepreneurs get funded, assemble teams, raise profiles and help with biz dev, product, etc. Throughout all of these years I was a full-time VC so Launchpad really came out of evenings and weekends for me.

accelerator 290

accelerator mentorship peer-to-peer VC 290

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

Any VC will tell you that the ones they said yes to, they mostly got there right away—and that there are very few “maybe” deals that get tipped over the fence. I’ve backed multiple Black founders and entrepreneurs from the LGBTQ community and so I’ve seen a very wide mix of founders pitch, get funded and get passed on. It needs to end.

advice 446

advice pitching venture capital VC 446

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

It represents the great majority of entrepreneurship and eschews the fairytale rags-to-VC-riches stories we so often read about in the press. She became part of the fabric of her community. I blog on entrepreneurship & VC precisely because entrepreneurs and other VCs are my customers. That may soon change.

peer-to-peer 363

peer-to-peer entrepreneurs startup entrepreneurship 363

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2012

And it is one of the reasons that NYC is developing a vibrant technology community. I see it first hand in Los Angeles where given the growth of YouTube networks the worlds of art & technology are colliding. I’m sure there’s a lot of truth to that. GRP’s offices are near Beverly Hills.

technology 313

technology incubation VC ventures 313

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

In fact, one could say that the sagging stock price of Facebook and stories about lack of VC funding for consumer startups represents , in one microcosm, the story of Web 2.0: That is the very month that Facebook became the largest social network, outpacing MySpace. Need to find a collaborator?

collaboration 348

collaboration media SaaS VC 348

Entrepreneurs' Organization

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

When women have more money, not only is there gender equality and economic growth, but there’s also stronger and healthier communities for our children and generations to come. The best advice she ever gave me, though, was to join the EO to build my leadership skills and my support network.

founder 262

founder advice entrepreneurship entrepreneurs 262

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

He used the 500Startups platform to uber network in the Bay Area where he was living. But … we had committed to setting up an EIR program where we would fund people to work on their ideas in our offices and also get the dual experience of working inside a VC. I’m ecstatic to have in the LA community. They loved him.

pitching 372

pitching advice VC entrepreneurs 372

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

Back when I was pitching my previous startup to investors, it had never really dawned on me that they had experienced what I was going through--and that a VC firm was essentially a startup. VCs pitch for money, too. No one ever thinks about VCs having to pitch, who they pitch to, or how it works.

ventures 280

ventures pitching VC startup ecosystem 280

Hunter Walk

MARCH 3, 2025

Of course Screendoor has an eye towards new VCs with identities, backgrounds and networks which are ADDITIVE to the venture ecosystem to better serve founders, so while the structure of the playbook is duplicative, the people running the playbook aren’t – and that’s the key. .

peer-to-peer 83

peer-to-peer VC investing investment 83

Revolution

OCTOBER 25, 2023

We spent the good part of the past three months doing our favorite part of the job: meeting the startups we seed (and the communities that rally around them) on their home turf. Where we went: Bozeman, MT? Where to go: We’ve said it before , but we’ll say it again: Hula Lakeside is a must-see.

real estate 246

real estate funders innovation VC 246

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 14, 2024

It’s an approach to the community that I’ve tried to emulate—to make myself available to founders wherever I can, but it’s not easy to scale. It’s easy for a VC to just stick within your own networks and filter bubbles—and hard to scale being “open” without opening the floodgates.

communities 350

communities consulting creativity advice 350

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 11, 2012

16k+ Twitter followers, 5500+ e-mail subs a week, 6th most read VC blog, appearences on Bloomberg and CNBC and I can't use any of it to market any kind of financial product--but if I wanted to sell you a watch or build a video game, I'd be set. Want to know why there aren't more female partners at VC funds? scratches bald head].

ventures 288

ventures incubation VC venture capital 288

Revolution

DECEMBER 20, 2023

While VC dollars still overwhelmingly funnel into places like Silicon Valley, Brookings research shows tech jobs are finally spreading out — movement spurred by the availability of hybrid and remote work, private investment, and federal initiatives. Think: New York and Miami, LA and Nashville, and San Francisco and Austin.

real estate 242

real estate entrepreneurial ecosystem collaboration incubation 242

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

AUGUST 11, 2021

I’ve always thought the opening would be at the intersection of gaming, online communities, and social networks. But when a party emerges online that anyone is invited to attend and the 500 person group picks up a punk with a party hat and they all change their social network avatar to this, well that got my attention.

incumbents 363

incumbents communities networking opportunity 363

TechCrunch

MARCH 24, 2023

Silicon Valley’s full of people from all walks of life, but very little of its wealth is distributed evenly, especially when we’re talking about the LGBTQ+ community. There are no numbers on how much of that capital goes specifically to trans founders or how many investors identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community.

VC 95

VC founder funders communities 95

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 29, 2012

Being a good angel or VC has a lot to do with pattern matching. 2) Network with as many other angel investors as possible. A mutual fund manager won't give you their portfolio strategy but most seed funds love having a network of angels to syndicate deals with. Here are just a few suggestions: 1) Advise first, invest later.

peer-to-peer 307

peer-to-peer angel investing advice entrepreneurs 307

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

So if you're a super early stage with just a prototype, you might not think that a VC fund is the right fit for you--so you wind up at an angel group. So, while BBV is a *VC fund*, there's very little question that I'm backing founders earlier than an angel group like Golden Seeds, regardless of who the founder is.

advice 419

advice founder pitching VC 419

TechCrunch

JUNE 30, 2021

Peanut , the maker of a social networking app for women, is entering into the investing space with today’s launch of a microfund called StartHER. “The assumption that founders should have networks able to invest in their businesses creates an unfair starting line for most groups.

networking 100

networking investing investment startup 100