This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 16, 2014

How long does it take from first meeting a VC to getting cash in the bank? Here were the results: I would guess that getting a third of my deals from events is probably disproportionately high compared to other seed investors on the east coast--and that my VC intro percentage is probably somewhat low. Venture Capital & Technology'

VC 418

VC pitching networking venture capital 418

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “Pitching a VC&# – the outline is here. You’ve pitched several angels and VC’s. Your friends and advisers tell you that this means you need revenue because in this economy VC’s will only fund businesses with revenue. Unfortunately your advisers are wrong.

VC 309

VC pitching advice venture capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Pitching a VC.&#. The “Triple Play&# of VC Presentations. A large part of my series has been outlining what the typical VC PowerPoint presentation should look like. You want to build a dialogue where you get to know the VC with whom you’re meeting. I recommend it.

VC 238

VC advice pitching venture capital 238

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. ” The other Paul Graham quote from the article is this: “The other thing they say is that they can’t tell on Demo Day which are the good start-ups.

VC 347

VC advice pitching entrepreneurs 347

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2009

This is part of my blog series “ Pitching a VC.&#. I’ve sat through a lot of VC pitches and having been CEO of an enterprise software firm for many years I’ve also sat through many customer meetings with sales teams. The following are some tips for the debate style VC meeting. Tips in a debate led VC Meeting.

VC 275

VC peer-to-peer pitching advice 275

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 11, 2015

That's one thing you have to realize about venture capital. I have no idea. I just know what I do--and what I saw partners at other firms I've worked at do. Every single firm is different. How a partner at a firm spends their time is a function of the number of deals they do, the stage of the company, and their own personal style.

VC 419

VC pitching board construction 419

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Unlike venture capital funds, they don't make money directly off the multiples of their return. What's worse is that this end of the market is even affecting early stage VC mindset. If you're a VC and you think for a second that whether or not Square pricing at $2.9 Congratulations on your huge disappointment, Square.

angel investing 408

angel investing venture capital VC media 408

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 2, 2015

One time, I spoke at a meetup that was divided into my talk and demos--and the organizer assumed I wanted to go on before the demos. I didn''t understand why it would matter, but she told me that most of the investors like going before so they could skip out after the demos and not get bombared at the end of the event.

pitching 368

pitching peer-to-peer venture capital creativity 368

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 3, 2012

meet with tons of companies every week, work hard for their portfolio companies, and are on planes flying around to the important confereneces and demo days". 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!"

VC 274

VC board venture capital ventures 274

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

If you demo your product (which is always great) then tell us part of the story while you’re demo’ing. I spotted my fellow VC Leo Spiegel (from Mission Ventures) who had spoken previously to the same group and asked about his experiences. NEVER lead with features. My dual approach solves both needs.

advice 362

advice VC entrepreneurs education 362

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

Throughout all of these years I was a full-time VC so Launchpad really came out of evenings and weekends for me. Adam had a full time startup and then was doing consulting (he later raised a VC fund). And Jim & I went on to raise several more venture capital funds in our day jobs. Demo’d to death.

accelerator 290

accelerator mentorship peer-to-peer VC 290

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

This is a story of one of the risks of venture capital. But some companies have entrepreneurs that seem talented on paper, are in a space that seems interesting to investors and are able to raise venture capital early in the company’s existence. 2 weeks later and we may never have raised any more VC.

startup founder 299

startup founder founder startup VC 299

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The typical VC process is as follows: They say there are three rules in property: Location, location, location. The surest sign a fund-raising process has stalled is when you aren’t getting follow-up meetings or hearing from the VC or hearing from friends that they got a phone call or email asking about you. Same with VC.

VC 332

VC advice entrepreneurs energy 332

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 17, 2013

Today, at Demo, SocialSignIn launched to "solve the problem of businesses knowing more about their online visitors than those standing in their physical location." Venture Capital & Technology' And they''re not alone. Disclosure, I have a business relationship with the company.) Got these in a 12??". Opportunties?

venture capital 330

venture capital enablement creativity networking 330

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. There is one source I never liked and no early-stage VC should – investment bankers. They are venture bankers not investment bankers. What stage?

advice 361

advice VC pitching entrepreneurs 361

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 24, 2010

There was one other VC in the room, Charlie O'Donnell, who makes it a practice to be everywhere something is interesting happening. And I saw a bunch of demos of beta services spliced in between the talks.” Tags: Venture Capital & Technology nextNY. That’s kind of the point.

creativity 240

creativity communities venture capital innovation 240

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 10, 2011

So what attracted Howard Morgan, the VC with the hottest hand in NYC as of late ( Turntable.fm , Fab.com ), to bring the investment back to First Round? Joe and Mary Bureaucrat who don't even use the internet because Smalltown, USA blocks it as the decisionmakers. Ugh, right? Except that its working. how many salespeople do you have?

real estate 356

real estate leadership SaaS education 356

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 21, 2010

However, the innovation community seems to be in love with this format, so you can’t be a VC without watching a bunch of them. That's why, when you're giving a live presentation, you should pretty much assume the technology will fail—whether it’s your technology in a demo or the A/V in the room.

pitching 327

pitching VC technology communities 327

TechCrunch

MARCH 29, 2022

Startup accelerators are increasingly putting the brakes on demo days. But demo day isn’t a good use of founders’ or investors’ time. Many VCs who sign deals with the top startups from YC actually do so before demo day. Demo day dilutes investor engagement. Demo days are performative.

mentorship 85

mentorship pitching startup accelerator board 85

500

JUNE 9, 2020

As a VC firm, we’ve had to adapt many aspects of our business as well. From taking all aspects of our accelerators digital (including our Demo Day) to rethinking the opportunities of the future, we’ve taken this moment to analyze what innovations can come from this time and new opportunities that arise from our changing environment.

frameworks 202

frameworks investing investment disruption 202

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Demo days at startup accelerators are a pretty big deal around here. These events aren’t just a chance to review the latest cohort of hopeful entrepreneurs — they also showcase the technology, products and services that will compete for VC and consumer attention over the next few years. That startup was DoorDash, by the way.

SaaS 113

SaaS startup pitching education 113

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. And VC’s are tough customers. I’ve talked before about how to build long-term relationships with VCs.

startup 360

startup VC advice entrepreneurs 360

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2013

Get yourself in a big demo day competition. Acquihires and Venture Capital. I’m a VC. But that’s not how you make money in the venture capital business. What kind of message does that send to the party faithful who slave away loyally to hit targets for BigCo? I’ll tell you what is says.

strategy 357

strategy venture capital advice entrepreneurs 357

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 8, 2014

someone who can win over the VCs, the CTOs, create content, etc. All he had to do was hangout at hackathons and do demos where he wrote code live. I think big companies (and sometimes VC firms) invest too much in personalities when a big personality or someone with a big network should be used more like a tool than a centerpiece.

venture capital 277

venture capital communities pitching networking 277

TechCrunch

APRIL 7, 2023

You don’t need to move to San Francisco to launch a startup, but working here does have some advantages: moderate weather, natural beauty, great food, and sure, the world’s largest concentration of venture capital. ” Thanks very much for reading. Have a great weekend! Cast your vote before Thursday, April 20!

pitching 98

pitching frameworks VC ventures 98

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

The idea is simple enough: several female VC partners at top funds will hold 1-hour meetings with 40 promising female entrepreneurs looking to get advice on their business and pitch in a friendly, non-judgmental, safe environment. 8% of VC partnerships, for example). Now 33% of Supreme Court Justices are women (vs.

founder 256

founder peer-to-peer VC mentorship 256

TechCrunch

MARCH 26, 2021

Pre-seed round funding is under scrutiny: Is VC pandemic posturing here to stay? Pre-seed round funding is under scrutiny: Is VC pandemic posturing here to stay? Our favorite companies from Y Combinator’s W21 Demo Day. Our favorite companies from Y Combinator’s W21 Demo Day: Part 1.

VC 94

VC real estate venture capital pitching 94

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

Most early-stage entrepreneurs who have worked with me (either as an angel or as a seed VC) know that I don’t rely at all on the social proof of other investors. Importantly any VC investor will understand the “first close&# mentality since nearly all VC funds are raised this way from our investors.

financing 286

financing finance advice VC 286

TechCrunch

APRIL 6, 2023

Even as Y Combinator reveals the latest startups in its cohort for this winter , we have poor news for founders: the global venture capital market shrank in Q1 2023, and it would have been even worse if it were not for a few mega deals, according to Crunchbase (disclosure: my former employer) and PitchBook reports.

VC 100

VC venture capital collaboration ventures 100

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 31, 2013

The average partner at a VC firm probably meets with at least two or three companies a day. You''ve been to demo days and pitch meetups and read Techcrunch and Mashable about product launches. Venture Capital & Technology' Well, first. do you think getting a meeting is a very high bar? Think about it. Come, on, seriously.

pitching 303

pitching venture capital energy technology 303

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

Oh, and Demo charges the startups $18,000. Use the fact that you were on an anointed list to build credibility when you eventually approach journalists (and VC’s, customers, employees). Robert’s article is worth reading. It got me thinking, which for me is always the sign of a good blog post. I think Robert’s right.

advice 307

advice media startup SaaS 307

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Yeah, that was when I changed for me…” “…there was so much positive feedback on demystifying this one element of venture capital. And I would rather, even before the executive summary, have something to play with (a demo)…” It falls in the category of show don’t tell. Brad’s start in Venture Capital. was starting.

venture capital 288

venture capital pitching communities entrepreneurs 288

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 13, 2021

In the rest of this newsletter, we’ll talk about the new career path to CEO, our favorite startups from Techstars Demo Day and the latest SPAC you should probably know about. A triple-hitter Demo Day. TechCrunch covered favorites from Techstars’ three Demo Days, which were focused on Chicago, Boston and workforce development.

startup 127

startup financing finance creativity 127

TechCrunch

MAY 26, 2022

TechCrunch has been covering the demo days of the seed-stage venture firm Pear VC since 2015. A lot of top firms show up, including from NEA, Lux Capital and Sequoia Capital. Of course, some VCs still get an early look, in part by mentoring the startups. A few things have remained true since that time.

pitching 72

pitching health SaaS accelerator 72

TechCrunch

OCTOBER 24, 2020

Back in August during Y Combinator’s two-day demo extravaganza , TechCrunch noted a number of startups from India that stood out from the batch. Data shows that India’s venture capital scene has grown sharply in recent years. In 2020, the third quarter brought the country’s venture capital scene back to form.

startup 144

startup venture capital health social gaming 144

American Entrepreneurship

SEPTEMBER 15, 2024

Startups, early-stage and growth-stage companies present their models to a gathering of angel investors and venture capital firms The Venture Atlanta Conference, set to take place on October 8-9, 2024, at The Woodruff Arts Center and Atlanta Symphony Hall, is one of the most anticipated entrepreneurial events in the southeast U.S.

entrepreneurs 98

entrepreneurs ventures pitching mentorship 98

TechCrunch

JUNE 7, 2022

This year, we’re pleased to share hosting honors with Mayfield — a global venture capital firm with a people-first philosophy. This event draws an incredible mix of Silicon Valley’s startup community, including over 40 VC firms so far — a who’s who of founders, investors, tech makers and movers and shakers. Ticket price: $75.

peer-to-peer 78

peer-to-peer VC venture capital disruption 78