Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 24, 2015

I recently interviewed Matt Mazzeo of Lowercase Capital. By now most of you know that Chris Sacca invested in what is now thought to be one of the best performing VC funds of all time having invested an $8.4 million fund in: Uber, Instagram, Docker and Twitter, amongst others.

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This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 14, 2014

It also doesn''t take into consideration many important factors: One, venture backed companies are a tiny hiccup in the grand scheme of entrepreneurship. Most companies don''t ever raise venture capital and they do just fine. I scratch my head over why raising venture is put on such a podium.

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This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

In February of 2017, Susan Fowler’s description of the pervasive cultural issues at Uber, after the company’s abject failure to address her sexual harassment complaints properly, finally broke through in a way that garnered the tech community’s appropriate attention. Not in the “founder friendly” culture of tech anyway.

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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. Heres How to Do Your Due Diligence First.

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StartupNation

OCTOBER 3, 2021

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd and nationwide protests, venture capital firms are making newfound commitments to invest in, or at least evaluate, potential investments that are led by diverse founders. Hire more diverse investors and change your culture. So, what exactly do those action steps look like? Sign up now.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

Last year I was on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley meeting with one of the most prominent venture capital firms in the country. The VC partner, somebody I greatly respect said, “Yeah, we like Gil and what they’re doing. That’s convenience when your VC is hoping to write the next $20 million check.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2015

I spoke at Michael Kim’s excellent annual Cendana VC/LP conference today. One of the points I tried to make is that as venture capital investors as an industry we seem to have a healthy disdain for public market investors. This will be seen as a watershed moment in the wake-up call and rationalization of our industry.

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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. 6/ Venture Capital In Expansion Phase. 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.

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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 win consulting, board, operating, and investment roles with private equity and venture capital funds (video). How to find a job as a VC scout. How to get a job in venture capital.

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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.

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culture innovation founder leadership 104

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

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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Entrepreneur's Handbook

AUGUST 2, 2021

5 Ways to Encourage More Women Into Careers in Venture Capital It’s time to tear open the seemingly impenetrable ‘old boys’ network It’s no secret that founders seek out investors who value diversity and recognize the success that comes from having diverse teams. However, the question of how to make this a reality remains unanswered.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2017

Union Square Ventures (USV) has been one of the most successful venture capital firms of the past 10–15 years and continues to be a leader in our industry. Lindel is no stranger to thorny venture capital issues — he was arguably amongst the most successful LPs of his generation. Maybe that’s USV, too.

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leadership VC venture capital ventures 161

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JANUARY 31, 2023

I like to think of what we’ve been going through in the tech sector/startup land/venture capital over the last year as a cleanse. Company cultures got out of whack. Venture capital firms got out of whack. VC portfolios have been marked down upwards of 50% and more. Cost structures got out of whack.

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

One of the great joys of doing the web series This Week in VC every week is that I get to spend time with great people debating the issues of our day including how our industry is evolving as well as insights into how companies got started, got their initial traction and dealt with adversities. Oh, yeah.

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David Teten VC

MAY 19, 2017

Historically VC has been an apprenticeship business. VC ASSOCIATIONS. Let’s Talk Ops , Venture Capital Operations Association – fund operations professionals. Let’s Talk Ops , Venture Capital Operations Association – fund operations professionals. National Venture Capital Association.

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TechCrunch

APRIL 6, 2023

Venture capital investors focused on food tech are calling 2023 the year when alternative seafood startups will make notable strides. 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.

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This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 23, 2011

The "meetup" culture of NYC, where there are three great educational events to go to every night is how the community bootstrapped itself. That's why prominent VC bloggers who came here and started here seemed to leapfrog existing capital that was here in terms of presence in the ecosystem. Information spillover.

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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.

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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. The wave of venture capital interest in geographies other than Silicon Valley has been building momentum over the past 5+ years. VC deals by region, as of June 2019.

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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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Hunter Walk

FEBRUARY 17, 2022

I’d been at Uber for almost five years and it was so comfortable — any new role would have felt like a big change for me, but moving into the venture world felt particularly intimidating. VC is a relatively opaque industry, and it was hard to know what to expect. On top of all this, I was settling into San Francisco.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

And of course a place of idyllic weather, culture and a lifestyle. Think about venture capital. Those that were around 30+ years ago never had to think about branding – there were hardly any other VCs. But if you were going to start a venture capital fund today, you’d want to stand out.

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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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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

Often when startups who have raised venture capital need another round of financing they will turn to their existing investors to give them money before raising from outsiders. VC’s money comes from mostly institutional investors called LPs (limited partners). Maybe the market views this as not worth the price you paid?

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Venture Capital is a tricky industry. Since the majority of VC returns come from a small number of deals, “obvious” investments seldom return such incredible multiples. When Fred Wilson funded Twitter I guarantee you it wasn’t obvious that it was a billion dollar idea. Far from it.

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David Teten VC

APRIL 16, 2025

Download here our Template General Partner Entity Agreement for Your New Private Equity or VC Fund. Thanks to my coauthor Dolph M. Hellman, Esq.

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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+.

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A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

MAY 31, 2022

We use this public charity to put together syndicates of donors and raise more capital for our projects than would be possible on our own. It reminds me very much of the way early-stage venture capital works. Philanthropy is an incredibly rewarding way to invest in the change you want to see in the world.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

As many of you know I run a weekly webcast called This Week in VC that’s getting between 25-35,000 weekly views across ThisWeekIn.com, YouTube & mostly iTunes. Why did you raise VC from Polaris & how have they been to work with? Yesterday’s show floored me. I consider Gregg Spiridellis a good friend.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

I recently sat down with Troy Carter to talk about what he does and why he believes it is applicable to venture capital. And more recently he has turned that into a fund called CrossCulture VC such that many in Silicon Valley and beyond now know Troy as well. He said that. And he said it so elequently.

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David Teten VC

MARCH 5, 2021

(co-written with Katherine Boe Heuck , a MBA candidate at MIT Sloan (class of 2022); past intern at Versatile VC ; and a current intern at Metaprop NYC.). What can we learn from the best 40 venture capital investments of all time? We reviewed CB Insights’ global list of “40 of the Best VC Bets of all Time.”

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Revolution

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

BioSTL: BioSTL has introduced nationally acclaimed initiatives in startup creation and investment (BioGenerator), strategic business attraction (GlobalSTL), physical environment (including the Cortex Innovation District and BioGenerator Labs), entrepreneur support, seed and venture capital, workforce diversity, and public policy.

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TechCrunch

JUNE 10, 2022

Felix Williams is the founder and managing director of Lagomaj Capital. TechCrunch sat down with Williams to learn more about how he got into venture capital, and his plans for the future. When did you first become interested in venture capital? While growing up, I had no idea what venture capital was.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2009

Let’s assume that the company raised it at a normal VC valuation, which means it gave up 33% of the company and thus $5 million / 33% = $15 million post-money valuation. Over time I realized that this created a rotten culture. . They raised $5 million in their B round. It was 1999. It was easy to do these calcs.

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