Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2011

And when asked about the topic, I definitely don’t shy away from the topic as you can see in this 8-minute YouTube interview that Pemo Theodore asked me to do on the subject of Women in Entrepreneurship. My guess is that probably only 2-3 out of every hundred pitches I receive are from women. But then the truth sets in.

entrepreneurs 341

entrepreneurs entrepreneurship VC pitching 341

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 27, 2010

Not only that, there’s a hugely disproportionate amount of time spent on pitching for money for these paper ideas. Step #2: Pitch investors. Event and meeting space is tough to come by, but it definitely exists in universities. Most B-school pitches I see involve “Step 1, hire a tech guy to build it.”

education 304

education innovation entrepreneurship peer-to-peer 304

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 2, 2023

The venture asset class seems to have already decided that AI is the next great investment opportunity, but I’m not so sure it’s going to disrupt business and create the across-the-board wealth that has been predicted. I got to see all of the top VCs pitching their funds.

opportunity 253

opportunity investing investment disruption 253

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2010

Anyone who works in the venture business or frankly just lives in Silicon Valley will be used to hearing a buzz word rise up out of nowhere to capture the technology zeitgeist and find its way into every entrepreneur’s product development plan or every aspiring entrepreneur’s pitch deck. It’s the puck at your feet.

pitching 296

pitching innovation social gaming advice 296

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

By definition each of those VCs (unless they are a micro VC – and one who doesn’t mind 5% ownership) will view you as a sort of “option&# where they might get to fund the next round if you do well. Always Pitch Outsiders for Follow Ons. So it will be an internal fight over allocations.

VC 314

VC advice pitching investing 314

Gust

OCTOBER 11, 2012

While you will definitely need to be a corporate entity before you can accept funding from any investor (or issue stock options to any employees), the specific corporate status of the venture at this stage is much less important to investors than its functional status.

pitching 122

pitching investing investment founder 122

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 25, 2013

Anyone who was doing something new and cutting edge should feel connected to each other--whether or not they are building a venture backed startup. It's even more relevant now that I've started the first venture capital fund in Brooklyn-- Brooklyn Bridge Ventures --and invested in four Brooklyn based companies. 33 Flatbush.

communities 294

communities innovation creativity real estate 294

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

Venture capitalists have raised increasing amounts of money from their investors (LPs) every year. Every consultant was pitching a process for reinventing your organization through BI. Poorly implemented this category was the definition of shelfware. Since 2009 we’ve been in an unequivocal bull market.

incubation 354

incubation board VC innovation 354

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 25, 2011

bre.ad , a new startup launching whose founder has perfected the art of the conference pitch. No pitch, nothing more. You see, we hear a lot about elevator pitches, but to be honest, most short pitches really don't do your company justice. Can you really pitch a company in one sentence? No, not bread.

pitching 284

pitching disruption entrepreneurs enablement 284

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 22, 2017

There are a lot of ways the startup world describes venture capitalists that portrays a certain power dynamic, real or perceived, that I believe is at the heart of so many of the industry's problems. We can debate whether they're sociopaths, but we definitely shouldn't assume that every "great investor" is "great" at being human.

VC 333

VC advice pitching opportunity 333

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

Today Upfront Ventures is announcing that we’ve backed Rebecca Kantar ’s startup Imbellus , a company designed to assess human potential and ultimately change the way we teach children. We led a $4 million investment along with Thrive Capital, GLG and Sound Ventures. But really it’s something I look for.

incumbents 270

incumbents entrepreneurs education pitching 270

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series about Raising Venture Capital. But I’m no longer an entrepreneur – I’m a VC at a $200 million fund called GRP Ventures , the largest active fund in Southern California. I think they definitely qualify as a VC and not a seed fund. I could definitely see that happening.

VC 283

VC real estate advice venture capital 283

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

They pitched on a Wednesday. Ex Venture Capitalist with Battery Ventures. In the most perfect sense of the definition. It’s not much different than having Dave Morin, Dick Costolo or Sheryl Sandberg sitting next to you at lunch. Turns out Punky was a childhood hero for Tasha. That’s cute. That happens, right?

startup 398

startup creativity advice entrepreneurs 398

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 28, 2010

That’s the classic definition of Grin Fucking. I told him I thought he should sell the company rather than sink more money into his venture. I found that most VC’s never gave me any feedback when I was pitching. Unsurprisingly, this one way best. The title IS the post. Don’t be a grin fucker.

frameworks 378

frameworks consulting advice strategy 378

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

And we all know that Ron Conway is considered the savviest of angel investors and yet by definition not all of his investments succeed. The founders of Quora were respected technologists at Facebook and knew a thing or two about bacn and toast before setting up their highly sought after venture. Want to do a Q&A website?

angel investing 288

angel investing investing investment advice 288

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 8, 2011

If* you believe that a good venture capitalist should have launched their own company and exited, then I simply don't have that track record. The point is, someone building a career in venture capital that doesn't include prior entrepreneurial success probably doesn't look like they have much to offer in the beginning.

VC 275

VC peer-to-peer board advice 275

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 1, 2022

The crew here at TechCrunch has done a lot of writing about making amazing pitch decks over the years, and I figured it was time that I put together a collection of all of it in one handy spot. Perhaps I’m just a teensy bit biased over here, but I’d say it’s definitely worth subscribing to get access to all of this content.

pitching 102

pitching startup venture capital ventures 102

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2011

If you want a very quick primer on all the stuff nobody ever tells you about raising venture capital check out this video where Mark Jeffrey & I break it down on This Week in VC. Problem definition (with the market … it’s why you exist). What should be in the deck? Bio of top 3 people in the company.

VC 340

VC venture capital leadership pitching 340

TechCrunch

APRIL 19, 2022

Conductive Ventures raised a $200 million Fund III to continue its focus on investing in founders where other venture capital firms did not see the potential. One of the great things is we can really look at the pitch that we want, and then decide when to swing,” Lai said. “We We don’t have to swing at every single pitch.

support 98

support ventures founder venture capital 98

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

I’m just pointing out my gut feel for approximate ranges of deals that I’ve seen with Silicon Valley having the highest valuations, NY / LA / Boston / Boulder / Seattle having valuations in a slightly lower range but comparable and sometimes significantly lower prices in markets that don’t have a healthy venture market.

startup 336

startup advice pitching investing 336

Gust

DECEMBER 27, 2012

It sounds obvious, but the majority of entrepreneurs who pitch me have obviously never thought through many of the major issues surrounding their companies. A good beginning would be Bill Payne’s The Definitive Guide to Raising Money from Angels, available as a free download from [link]. Understand your business.

investing 164

investing investment pitching mix-use 164

TechCrunch

OCTOBER 14, 2020

million richer following the close of its series A funding led by the Los Angeles-based investment firm Mucker Capital and including previous investors Urban.us, Knoll Ventures and Atlanta’s own TechSquare Labs. Now the company is $5.7 “There’s a lot of product databases, but no one can analyze it,” said Chopson.

sustainability 101

sustainability pitching construction energy 101

TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

David Smith is VP of data and analytics at TheVentureCity , a global early-stage venture fund investing in product-centric startups across the U.S., Visualizing and communicating this data can definitively power up a pitch deck. If you haven’t been thinking about product-market fit, you don’t have a pitch. David K Smith.

pitching 87

pitching SaaS sustainability VC 87

David Teten VC

FEBRUARY 9, 2015

I’m surprised at how many funding pitches I get which lack some of the basic information which investors require before funding. 50% of these meetings led to pitches to individual partners. About 30% of partner pitches led to full partnership pitches. I suggest use the Founder Institute Mad Libs elevator pitch.

pitching 53

pitching ventures VC capital 53

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

This was evident at the Twiistup pre-event company pitch last week at UCLA. I spotted my fellow VC Leo Spiegel (from Mission Ventures) who had spoken previously to the same group and asked about his experiences. It definitely is an IQ test thing for me. They had more advanced degrees. I was the keynote for a dinner.

advice 362

advice VC entrepreneurs education 362

TechCrunch

MAY 20, 2021

Now, a startup out of Berlin called Pitch has just picked up a substantial Series B of $85 million to take it on with what it believes is a more dynamic approach. The round is being led by Lakestar and Tiger Global, with previous backers Index Ventures and Thrive Capital also participating.

pitching 98

pitching real estate collaboration leadership 98

David Teten VC

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

One of the first decisions we had to make in setting up our new VC fund, Versatile Venture Capital , was our CRM and marketing technology infrastructure. . Linkedin : Versatile Venture Capital / David Teten personal. Price was definitely a consideration. I run PEVCTech , a community focused on this area. Some firms (e.g.,

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venture capital capital ventures VC 123

AsiaTechDaily

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

Register Startup founders need to be authentic and prepared when they get the chance to meet prospective investors, according to Rex Fong, founding partner at investment and advisory group Capitale Ventures. Fong’s Capitale Ventures is an investment and advisory group with expertise in complex, cross-border transactions.

ventures 97

ventures startup VC strategy 97

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

It is with this backdrop that I was really happy to learn from my friend Ethan Anderson (HBS alum & founder of RedBeacon) about an awesome program at HBS run by Tom Eisenmann called Launching Technology Ventures. And finally a reminder: Selling is about listening & reacting and not “pitching.”

startup 319

startup consulting pitching support 319

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Understanding Venture Capital. I recently wrote a blog post on understanding how the size and age of a venture capital fund might affect you when you’re raising money. First Round Capital meets Chris’s definition of a “big fund&# and they do seed and A round investments.

VC 265

VC venture capital entrepreneurs investing 265

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 27, 2010

Kinda seems like that sometimes, right—that the venture capital community seems to chase after the bright shiny object of the moment in droves and then just as quickly moves on to the next new new thing. Back when I was at Union Square Ventures, Fred started to get really excited about podcasting. Geolocation is so 2009.

VC 186

VC venture capital media board 186

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 29, 2011

I had an interesting conversation with an entrepreneur last week about how he decided which VCs he was going to pitch. I try and respond to pitches right away. If you went to college with Phin, but only kind of knew him, and you wind up meeting me at a pitch event, don't show up at our office without giving me or Phin the heads up.

VC 291

VC pitching entrepreneurs networking 291

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

Everyone has their own definition of momentum (user numbers, revenue, channel partners, biz dev deals, whatever). Imagine the “typical&# deal – somebody comes into a VC’s office, they’ve never met, they’re highly referred by a friend and they’re pitching a product demo and a PPT.

startup 360

startup VC advice entrepreneurs 360

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 22, 2014

You''ll get a venture capital analyst from a brand name firm who has just recently taken his job talking about what makes a company successful. Some people have definitively had better experience than others. Sometimes, I see people on venture capital panels that aren''t even VCs! Some analysts definitely say that.

ventures 384

ventures startup venture capital pitching 384

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 3, 2019

Seems like that should translate over to the venture world, too. We do the work of sorting through the pitch decks of everyone and their mother, finding the diamonds in the rough, helping them turn an idea into something that looks like a company—and we do it for a fraction of the management fees of our later stage counterparts.

mix-use 276

mix-use pitching investing investment 276

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 5, 2019

It’s not actually surprising that investors bought into it, considering that for a long time, VCs have focused on one particular archtype of leader as being more worthy of venture investment than others—the bold, confident visionary who will talk big in the pitch meeting. you ever heard.

founder 158

founder pitching leadership culture 158

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 3, 2019

I’ve made a bet that if a founder pitches me, whether or not I fund them, if I make the process worthwhile by telling them exactly why I couldn’t get there, they’re likely to recommend that other founders do the same. Is this pay to pitch? Time/Effort As investors, we offer money as our product—and the demand for it is high.

pitching 158

pitching communities VC founder 158