Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2018

In 2017 we began inserting an “Inclusion Clause” into our term sheets because we believe that the culture one establishes at the earliest stages of one’s business will set out the course of how it will grow and develop. We believe that diverse teams produce diversity of thought and that this leads to better decisions and outcomes.

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VC leadership mentorship entrepreneurs 284

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

VC funding. We love capital efficiency until we love land grabs until we abhor over funding until we get huge payouts and ring the bell for more funding until we attract every non-VC on the planet to invest in startups until it crashes and we start the cycle all over again none the wiser. Your culture suffers. Your CAC stinks.

ventures 419

ventures VC capital SaaS 419

David Teten VC

FEBRUARY 17, 2025

At Coolwater Capital , the Y Combinator for VC funds, we assess this as part of our diligence process. However, forming your new fund also typically requires making important decisions about firm strategy, culture, how you make decisions, budget, data ownership, and other issues. The firms long-term goal is [long-term aspirations].

culture 52

culture strategy venture capital finance 52

Revolution

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

Fast forward to today, the tech-forward company spans more than 140 stores nationwide; partners regularly with chefs , artists , and cultural icons ; caters to millions of app users; and has officially debuted as a public company on the NYSE. the first a 560-square-foot shack in our backyard.

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investing investment transportation disruption 363

Andreessen Horowitz

MAY 6, 2024

The Cultural Leadership Fund (CLF) team is often asked by portfolio founders how exactly cultural leaders can be a game-changing asset for their companies. The benefits of founder x cultural leader partnerships work both ways. For Founders Make It Make Sense Venture capital is where innovation meets investment.

culture 104

culture innovation founder leadership 104

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

The culture is driven by the 20-something irreverent founder with huge technical chops who in a “David vs. Goliath” mythology take on the titans of industry and wins. Of the first four investments I made as a VC in 2009, two have exited and two (Invoca & GumGum) still are independent and likely to produce $billion++ outcomes .

venture capital 363

venture capital capital ventures VC 363

Haystack

DECEMBER 29, 2018

It’s that time of year, time to look back and reflect on the most significant storylines in the tech, startup, and VC world. Telegram announced their ICO and raised over $1B from some of the best VC firms. VC funds invested directly in MakerDao’s Dai stable coin. 5/ Early Effects Of The Softbank Effect.

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VC startup venture capital mix-use 165

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2015

I spoke at Michael Kim’s excellent annual Cendana VC/LP conference today. You can read it in VCs discussions about hedge fund managers, activist investors or the need to have dual-share voting structures. And I actually think we could learn a lot from public investors even if we don’t always feel culturally aligned.

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VC capital culture venture capital 392

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

Berkeley-based cultured meat company New Age Meats announced Monday it raised $25 million in Series A funding that will enable the company to begin production of its first product offering, a variety of pork sausages, next year. The cultured meat landscape is gaining new entrants as the technology has evolved.

culture 97

culture development VC enablement 97

TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 17, 2020

However, while many startups exist in cities like Turin, Bologna, Naples and Rome, Milan is generally seen as a bigger ecosystem because of its mercantile culture and a significant share of VC funds. The good news: VC funding in Italy has grown. It has an estimated 67 VC funds, with 18 of them started since 2015.

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VC venture capital mix-use accelerator 122

Haystack

JANUARY 18, 2020

Having spent time around and then in the world of VC in the Bay Area during the last decade, I’ve been reflecting on how different norms in the industry have changed. At the start of 2010, there was some unwritten VC industry conventions that have been tested, challenged, and upended in the last decade. That is for another post.

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VC construction strategy investing 130

TechCrunch

APRIL 6, 2023

For example, one of the biggest venture capital investments into alternative seafood in 2022 went into Wildtype , which raised $100 million in a Series B round for its cultured salmon product. Today, Chicago-based Aqua Cultured Foods is adding itself to that list, announcing $5.5 by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch

culture 99

culture startup venture capital health 99

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.

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VC venture capital accelerator ventures 128

Entrepreneur's Handbook

AUGUST 2, 2021

Photo Credit: Fortune Adding to the lack of female representation in the industry, research also shows that only 8% of the investment professionals at the top 25 VC firms are women. As Lindquist adds, “We all have unique networks, personal relationships, market knowledge, and talents, which contribute to the fabric of a VC ecosystem.”

VC 111

VC venture capital mentorship leadership 111

TechCrunch

JANUARY 11, 2022

In a deeply researched report for TechCrunch+ , reporter Christine Hall examined the state of the cell-cultured meat industry and identified many of the startups innovating in the sector, along with the challenges they face when it comes to ramping up production and getting regulators and consumers on their side. Senior Editor, TechCrunch+.

culture 87

culture finance financing VC 87

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 14, 2014

That means you actually have a *better* shot, statistically, of getting VC investment at these firms, statistically, once you actually pitch. They seem to be much more open to sharing the spotlight, focused on building teams that come at problems from multiple perspective, and they think a lot about culture.

founder 390

founder pitching venture capital mix-use 390

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 13, 2019

There’s no reason why a culture needs to fall apart at the seams in a hypergrowth startup. It’s a tricky subject, because VCs only exist to make money—not really to oversee the running of these companies as beneficial to the world, unless it gets so bad that it affects the economic outcome.

culture 314

culture incumbents enablement sustainability 314

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

You’d be surprised how many firms are “dictator VCs” – even those that don’t formally acknowledge it internally. When you’re newer in VC many partners choose to play it safe, doing smaller investments and not trying to bet on something that a “far out” risk.

venture capital 336

venture capital peer-to-peer capital ventures 336

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 2, 2021

Monique Villa is an investor at Mucker Capital , an early-stage VC fund investing in startups across the U.S. Getting a seat at the VC table. VC deals by region, as of June 2019. In a post-COVID world, customers have never demanded more transparency into supply chains, workplace culture and equity ownership. and Canada.

opportunity 101

opportunity VC venture capital funders 101

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2015

In part because as a VC I reached the longevity where you see some things fail and have to ask yourself, “would I readily work with that person again? And it’s what I believe sets apart the tech startup culture more than any other sector out there. But I’ve been thinking a lot about failure in the past year or so.

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creativity culture entrepreneurs energy 378

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

I believe that over capitalizing companies too early often favors the VC. And it seems to be creeping back into startup culture of late in a worrying way. Talking about whether to raise more money or not, their VC allegedly said to them: “If you had more capital, could you get to the future faster?

entrepreneurs 374

entrepreneurs incubation board VC 374

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 13, 2012

A VC once said about him that "I'm not sure about the company, but I sure do want him reading bedtime stories to my kids."). When I asked him to come share his sales and company culture expertise at GA, he was on it--right in the middle of acquisition negotiations. A chalkboard stood in the corner with sales totals for the week.

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pitching culture VC consulting 360

Andreessen Horowitz

APRIL 23, 2024

They also talked about the difficulties — and potential advantages — of selling into small businesses, taking alternative approaches to interviewing candidates, and the importance of keeping culture a vital part of a company as it scales. Immad: We care a lot about culture, and we have that well defined. Immad: Our culture degrading.

culture 110

culture enablement entrepreneurs opportunity 110

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

MAY 18, 2020

Music venues, movie theaters, art galleries, restaurants, performance spaces, maker spaces, conferences, festivals, and bookshops are the places we hang out in, enjoy each other, and and connect to art and culture. But these spaces also have communities of people connected to them, rooting for them, and eager to help them.

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culture creativity communities sustainability 300

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 11, 2015

I watched him jump on a plane regularly to be down at all of our board meetings and while I know that sounds like an obvious commitment from a VC, I’ve watched other scenarios where NorCal VCs find reasons to always dial in via Google Hangouts or ask non-Silicon Valley investments to travel to Menlo Park or San Francisco for meetings.

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ventures board VC culture 291

Founders Coop

SEPTEMBER 30, 2024

But VC bubbles deflate slowly. Homework cheaters and deepfake campaign videos are just the cultural exhaust of capitalism’s relentless quest for new levers of productivity and competitive edge. Building a generational company from scratch is the hardest thing you can do in capitalism.

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VC innovation incumbents energy 143

HPA

APRIL 6, 2023

We’re excited to share that Aqua Cultured Foods , a food tech startup, is bringing its ultra-realistic seafood alternative s to market thanks to its $5.5M HPA participated in the round , which was led by Stray Dog Capital, a VC fund specializing in alternative protein investments. The post Aqua Cultured Foods raises $5.5M

culture 91

culture VC sustainability investing 91

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JANUARY 31, 2023

Company cultures got out of whack. VC portfolios have been marked down upwards of 50% and more. Things had gotten so nutty, frothy, and out of control that we needed a reset. It was not just valuations that got out of whack, although they certainly did. Cost structures got out of whack. Compensation structures got out of whack.

venture capital 267

venture capital VC culture capital 267

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

MAY 11, 2021

That allows us to retain the team dynamic and culture while being more open to on-screen work going forward. Each company needs to figure this out in a way that works for their team and culture and I believe that there is no “right way” for everyone.

culture 262

culture disruption capital founder 262

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Since the majority of VC returns come from a small number of deals, “obvious” investments seldom return such incredible multiples. In other words, if it seems this obvious to us then it must be this obvious to many other investors and probably to many other teams gearing up to compete.

funders 362

funders culture incumbents technology 362

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

” Your VC friends have been egging you on. The don’t understand VC liquidation preferences or multiple return expectations. They weren’t with you when you did the VC pitch where you looked them in the eyes 9 months ago and said, “I see only one outcome, we want to build something really big.

startup 417

startup peer-to-peer VC culture 417

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2016

With one single arc he had the chance to experience two great firms with distinct cultures and working practices and did all of this in his 20s. Importantly, our entire partnership knew Kobie and there was a strong cultural alignment with his work style, ethos and skills.

ventures 260

ventures culture venture capital SaaS 260

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 3, 2015

Every VC firm works differently but when asked about our process I always reply the same way, We’re a “high conviction” shop. If you pound the table on deals over a period of time and you’re consistently wrong it’s clear you won’t make a great long-term VC. He took two words where I take 1,000!

advice 332

advice peer-to-peer startup frameworks 332

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 4, 2014

I think as a tech industry we have bred a culture that places more emphasis on product excellence than managing human behavior. I have seen it first-hand in my VC career many, many times. There were cultural challenges across the board. Of course it makes no sense to have great people management and a crappy product.

founder 340

founder board culture advice 340

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JULY 25, 2022

It’s not perfect, but mitigating the cultural issues associated with remote work turns out to be easier than mitigating the employee satisfaction issues associated with forcing everyone into the office 5 days/week. But I want to return to Ben’s quote and talk about the cultural issues. Think WeWork meets SohoHouse meets VC firm.

culture 218

culture VC technology innovation 218

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

You also need to establish a culture of sharing and collegiality. In 2005, it was a risky bet to join Union Square Ventures and plant my VC career here in NYC. It wasn’t until I helped Foursquare raise their seed round in 2009 that many outside VCs even took notice of NYC. You need both.

communities 434

communities startup real estate mentorship 434

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2011

This might be a VC meeting but also might just be a sales or biz dev meeting. One warning: I was taught that culturally in Japan there is an expectation that you sit in the home team / away team format so you need to follow this convention. . - A tale of two pitches (I eventually invested in the first company that pitched).

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pitching advice culture VC 392