Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? By definition?—?I’m Of course we can’t. dot-com bonanza.

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ventures VC venture capital funders 471

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series about Raising Venture Capital. A few years ago it became fashionable for large VC’s to do seed funding. If the large VC doesn’t agree to do your A round then you’re in a bit of trouble. If a VC term sheet comes in they begin their due diligence process.

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VC real estate advice venture capital 283

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

I recently got an email from a friend who had been approached by a well known VC. I’m an investor at [Big Name, Large Fund VC] and recently came across [Your Company]. But if that’s all that they’re after then entrepreneurs should definitely be wary of taking these calls.

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This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 8, 2011

How about as a VC? 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. Fred has basically always been a VC, Mike was a reporter, and Jim worked in product marketing and management consulting. Charlie is a nice guy, but his company failed.".

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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. All of this is covered in more detail on the TWiVC video above (and much of it is covered in text on this blog on the “ Raising VC &# tab).

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

*. What is the role of a VC for entrepreneurs? I suppose it can be different for every founder and for different VCs but I’d like to offer you some context on what I think it is and it isn’t. They are unique to you and not to each other situation that VC has faced. ” I responded. Your decisions are unknowable.

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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. I believe these VC funds have suffered some amount of reputation fall out. Let me explain: 1.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

He also nails the reason why venture capital is still necessary to grow large businesses quickly in a world where the costs of running startups have fallen dramatically. “Why do founders want to take the VCs’ money? .” After all, growth equals high valuations and loads of venture capital!

startup 390

startup VC venture capital entrepreneurs 390

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.

founder 400

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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. Or that venture capital is a meritocracy? I’m going to call this the risk/wealth effect and it definitely nudges the numbers towards the funding of wealthier white men.

advice 476

advice pitching venture capital VC 476

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 3, 2012

Age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc are all topics that are deeply emotional for people--and, by definition, personal. Of course, you don't always need that experience from a VC. he's only been in venture for two years and only through one market, an up one!"

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Gust

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Marc Andreessen kicked off another great debate on Twitter last night, one that I’ve been talking about incessantly in private circles for the past 2-3 years – what actually IS the definition of a seed vs. A-round. My view: “Spending any time or energy trying to game the ‘definition’ of your round of fund raising is a total waste.

VC 136

VC advice finance financing 136

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

I became a VC 12 years ago in 2007 when the pace of deals was much slower. As I was trying to figure out the role I wanted to play in the VC world I decided I wanted to focus on businesses that were building deeply technical products to solve problems for business users. almost be definition you should be scratching your head.

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This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 29, 2011

Then I realized that it's probably not obvious what the dynamics are around how VCs tend to get introduced to companies and what works best for people, so I figured I'd blog about it. A lot of VCs ask to be introduced through someone. Talking to a VC is never a one shot deal. The Cold Intro. Multiple Touchpoints.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

If you track the venture capital industry it would be hard to miss the conversation going on this week over AngelList “Syndicates.” But Jason is one of the smartest thinkers in our industry so while style points in his eye-poking post might be low, he’s definitely scratching at something important.

VC 356

VC peer-to-peer board innovation 356

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. ” [it's short, you should read it]. Please watch this. Every single one.

entrepreneurs 341

entrepreneurs entrepreneurship VC pitching 341

Entrepreneur's Handbook

NOVEMBER 17, 2020

Since then, I’ve founded several startups, was employee #3 at a $65m VC firm in San Francisco, and realized that there is a similar phenomenon to what Robert Kiyosaki is talking about in Rich Dad, Poor Dad currently occurring in Silicon Valley. Wealth My definition of rich is having a passive income that’s greater than your burn.

founder 144

founder VC venture capital entrepreneurship 144

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

Changes in the Software World & in Venture Capital. But notably you had the following changes: Horizontally scalable computing & storage systems, which meant you required less capital up front for hardware. If that isn’t the original definition of “angel” money I don’t know what is.

startup 390

startup communities venture capital angel capital 390

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

And that was evident on today’s Angel vs. VC panel. There are real changes in the venture capital industry and it would have been fun to talk about them. The VC industry is segmenting – I have spoken about this many times before. So in the past we needed VC to really get a startup going.

disruption 308

disruption VC entrepreneurs financing 308

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. Tags: Venture Capital & Technology. Ok, so we’re all doing social TV now. Geolocation is so 2009.

VC 186

VC venture capital media board 186

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FEBRUARY 22, 2011

When this first ran on TechCrunch I got the greatest comment in the world that I had to repeat here, “VC’s are like martinis: the first is good, the second one great, and the third is a headache.&# I understand the appeal of having many VC firms on your cap table. In my second company I had only 1 investor. I love that.

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VC advice pitching investing 314

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. . I’m very interested in the tech stack of private equity/VC firms , both to improve the efficiency of Versatile VC and also as a focus area for our investing.

venture capital 123

venture capital capital ventures VC 123

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

Recently I wrote a post arguing to make the definition of a Startup more inclusive than that to which Silicon Valley, fueled by Venture Capital return profiles, would sometimes like to attach to the word. The key it to have “realistic capital.” This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. Maker Studios.

communities 378

communities startup venture capital capital 378

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.

communities 315

communities innovation creativity real estate 315

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

But in my experience as an entrepreneur and now spending my time amongst investors I can generalize that almost all VC investments in early stage technology & Internet investments come down to just four key factors. Everyone has their own definition of momentum (user numbers, revenue, channel partners, biz dev deals, whatever).

startup 360

startup VC advice entrepreneurs 360

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

I definitely don’t rule out first timers – I just invested in one to be announced soon who I am really excited about – but I greatly prefer experience. They do what VC’s like to call “pivot.&# Boy did I pivot. I’ve been a VC for 2.5 But it’s not my strategy.

advice 333

advice VC entrepreneurs venture capital 333

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 11, 2014

It''s a solid exit to a company that has lots of revs, is growing, and together will form a very formidable player in the data backup space--one that can definitely be a public company in the next couple of years. Venture Capital & Technology'

board 274

board venture capital creativity entrepreneurship 274

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I spoke about how Amazon Web Services deserves far more credit for the last 5 years of innovation than it gets credit for and how I believe they spawned the micro-VC category. I said that I felt that Micro-VCs were the most important change in our industry. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs. I believe that.

real estate 309

real estate entrepreneurs financing finance 309

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 5, 2011

He was interested in venture capital and was a year away from graduation. I realized that a position at Union Square Ventures was going to be open in a year and that he had a terrific chance of getting it. I'll talk more about this at my upcoming General Assembly talk , but here's the outline.

venture capital 365

venture capital VC construction consulting 365

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. Tags: Venture Capital & Technology. Ok, so we’re all doing social TV now. Geolocation is so 2009. Haven’t you heard?

VC 150

VC venture capital media board 150

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 13, 2010

Every VC and their mother is banging down your door, the media is all over you, and there are underage groupies lining up outside in Washington Square Park NKOTB-style. Money is money, but there’s definitely a limited number of people who normally write checks of the kind of size you’d normally take at this stage. 3) Do the opposite.

venture capital 374

venture capital media entrepreneurship VC 374

Gust

DECEMBER 13, 2011

I’ve recently taken a look at seed stage funding by venture capitalists (VCs) and angel investors over the past five years. For VCs, I chose to look at all seed stage VC deals (from MoneyTree©) as well as those in five of the most active regions in the country. All Seed-VC. VCs in NYC invested, on average, only $2.4

entrepreneurs 162

entrepreneurs angel investing VC venture capital 162

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I was saying that I was happy it was all out in the open because I felt at least everybody could now understand the issues & opportunities from the perspectives of angels, entrepreneurs and VCs. Let’s be clear: AngelList doesn’t scare a single VC I know. But it’s not cutting VCs out. It is additive.

VC 292

VC peer-to-peer investing investment 292

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

“Yes&# was given to me by one of my favorite angel investor / seed VC’s to work with – John Greathouse of Rincon Venture Partners and author of the blog InfoChachkie that you should check out because it is filled with great info from a guy who has been a very successful operator. So what are you waiting for?

strategy 293

strategy venture capital SaaS investing 293

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2010

I guess it may be impractical for Twitter to acquire Seesmic given it has raised considerable amounts of venture capital (reportedly $12 million) but the broader point for me is that I always believed Twitter should control the client versions of its product. Think about the creative tension. Kind of obvious, huh?

development 287

development communities venture capital VC 287

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MARCH 27, 2011

By definition, you read blogs. But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? I was meeting regularly with entrepreneurs and offering (for better or for worse) advice on how to run a startup and how to raise venture capital from my experience in doing so at two companies.

startup 373

startup advice communities VC 373

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

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. I walked around to a few tables and I asked students what would interest them. I can then change my focus based on the results. Are you a moron?

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advice VC entrepreneurs education 362