This is going to be BIG.

MAY 12, 2014

It''s also probably less than most funded CEOs are making--or certainly less than your average software developer. I hear that partners can make $300,000 on up to a million dollars at a big fund, and that''s before their cut of the upside. If I was optimizing for cash, I would have been an investment banker a long time ago.

VC 419

VC venture capital capital ventures 419

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

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. Remember that the goal of an email to a VC or an introduction from a trusted mutual connection is simply to get you the meeting. Remember that the goal of an email to a VC or an introduction from a trusted mutual connection is simply to get you the meeting.

VC 261

VC pitching advice entrepreneurs 261

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

I’m over-paying for every check I write into the VC ecosystem and valuations are being pushed up to absurd levels and many of these valuations and companies won’t hold in the long term. However, to be a great VC you have to hold two conflicting ideas in your head at the same time. By definition?—?I’m

ventures 471

ventures VC venture capital funders 471

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 24, 2015

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 Matt joined Lowercase by working the scene at SXSW on behalf of CAA where he worked in business development. I recently interviewed Matt Mazzeo of Lowercase Capital.

VC 334

VC venture capital energy culture 334

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. What Did I Learn From the First VC Check I Ever Wrote?

VC 223

VC venture capital capital investing 223

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

Investment experience (5 years a VC at Battery Ventures). As a firm we start by wanting to attract future partners who have worked at startups before and have developed a competence which might be marketing (Greg) or product and CEO experience (Kara) plus amazing Biz Dev experience (Hamet). Upfront Ventures VC Industry'

VC 408

VC networking board ventures 408

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.

VC 284

VC leadership mentorship entrepreneurs 284

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Over the past month a colleague ( Chang Xu ) and I sifted through data on the venture capital industry (as we do every year) and made a bunch of calls to VCs and LPs to confirm our hypotheses. So What Impact Did the Drop in Tech Founding Costs Have on VC? thus the rise of “pre seed” investing).

investing 328

investing investment VC venture capital 328

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.

VC 128

VC venture capital accelerator ventures 128

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

I only say that because after years as a VC I can always tell when my peer group invested in something because “it seemed like it would make money” versus when they invested out of passion. On reflection of the role that I want to play as a VC it is clearly in the camp of passion. I’m a VC.

peer-to-peer 373

peer-to-peer VC pitching entrepreneurs 373

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

If you are a super young, well-connected, Stanford CS or EE, worked at Facebook early, have a bit o’ dosh and have VCs chasing you … you are exempt. My VC told me that if we monetize too early we will scare away our nascent marketplace and not grow as fast. Your VC is right. Or anybody who remotely resembles you.

VC 412

VC advice strategy accelerator 412

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

We are often asked how companies get funded, why VCs make the decisions we make and what we’re looking for in entrepreneurs. I think this is a Seriously great example of how this process works for at least one VC – Upfront Ventures. So I hope that offers you insights into how companies move through the VC system.

media 373

media education VC finance 373

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

But while universities are developing online content they are not fundamentally disrupting leaning because the method of delivery is not a new business model. We spoke about the disruption of VC through crowd funding. VC can’t don’t invest in these kinds of companies because they can’t get out (no liquidity event).

education 403

education disruption entrepreneurship venture capital 403

TechCrunch

OCTOBER 4, 2022

million seed funding led by Los Angeles–based early-stage VC firm MaC Venture Capital. If you think about more developed countries that have rent data, they use it to either get a mortgage or a school loan or things like that because you can verify yourself with that rent data,” the CEO said about the BNPL product.

VC 131

VC real estate venture capital finance 131

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

We talk a lot about his schooling, his early jobs as a developer and then as a VC and we talk about his decision to spend winters in Los Angeles. Fred is generous with his time and advice and I hope has shaped a generation of VCs for the better. You can’t time VC investing markets. VC investing is hard work.

advice 327

advice board VC investing 327

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2015

If you’re an investor considering putting dollars in the ground in LA, you can see that there is a tremendous opportunity both because of the growth of our markets and there are fewer VC funds here relative to the opportunity than anywhere else in the country.

VC 307

VC opportunity media innovation 307

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

I spent my first year developing proprietary deal flow and learning the business and then the Sept 2008 / Lehman Bros collapse / financial meltdown happened. “I think the best VCs help drive exits alongside their entrepreneurs. I have done 6 VC investments – all within the past 20 months. years ago.

VC 387

VC venture capital financing finance 387

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2015

So I asked a few founders that I've worked with and they mentioned a word that struck me--because I've never heard any of the hordes of people in my inbox asking for internships, VC job recommendations and advice, etc. If I need to fill an open position for an iOS developer, I don't go around asking people for recommendations.

venture capital 376

venture capital capital pitching ventures 376

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

I am a VC. But through expressing points-of-view I can raise above the consciousness of my customers (entrepreneurs and limited partners who invest in VC funds) in ways that I couldn’t without breaking through the noise of the hundreds of others of VCs who also have money. I hand out money. How differentiated is that?

mix-use 389

mix-use advice VC technology 389

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. Because software development skews so male, the younger you fund someone, and you make that builder versus expert tradeoff, the more likely it will be that you''re funding guys.

founder 390

founder pitching mix-use venture capital 390

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

I have been investing in developer tools since the earliest days of my VC career. But that did not cool my interest in developer tools. At USV, we have made developer tools a key area of investment and some of our most well-known successes like MongoDB, Twilio, and Stripe are developer tools.

VC 193

VC sustainability financing finance 193

TechCrunch

JANUARY 18, 2022

The company is developing a superconducting quantum computer, which already could scale up to 80 qubits. As a result, quantum hardware manufacturers develop their own cloud-based operating systems. The company was founded in 2015, and it went public in 2021 through a SPAC at a $2 billion valuation. billion valuation.

VC 141

VC consulting technology enablement 141

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

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Yes, VC / Startup Funding is up Massively If you look at how much VC firms have raised from Limited Partners (LPs) over the past 2 decades you’ll see that we’ve returned to a level that we haven’t seen since 1999. If you want the whole deck you can find it on SlideShare but I’ve written up a short summary with commentary below.

venture capital 292

venture capital capital ventures peer-to-peer 292

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 17, 2014

One of the big opportunities for them is audience development--driving event attendees to the content, events to the readers, and doing some low-hanging fruit upgrades to their social strategy. The fundraising will be for that content team, additional developers, and salespeople to leverage the unique brand they''ve built.

pitching 348

pitching consulting VC venture capital 348

AsiaTechDaily

MARCH 30, 2023

billion) for VC by the end of 2022. Corporate investors, individuals and family offices, and financial institutions were the top sources of funding for PE, while government agencies and investment companies, sovereign wealth funds, and corporate investors were the top sources for VC. The total committed funds in the industry were $2.42

VC 119

VC venture capital opportunity capital 119

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Today I’m handing her the largest A-round check I’ve ever written as a VC as we lead her $10 million A-Round at uBeam. I said simply, “That’s the most ambitious project I’ve seen since I became a VC.” When I first met Meredith Perry she was 24. That was three months ago this week.

VC 418

VC ventures leadership board 418

TechCrunch

JUNE 2, 2022

As the race between different chains heats up, communities of loyalists are duking it out to attract developers to their blockchain of choice in hopes that doing so will turbocharge growth. Canonical has already made 16 investments in seed and pre-seed startups spanning the developer infrastructure landscape, Iyer said.

development 126

development VC communities ventures 126

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JUNE 25, 2020

The board diversity problem is a symptom of a much broader problem around lack of diversity in founders that get funded and lack of diversity in VC firms. Most startup boards are made up of a few founders and a few VCs. Board development in general is not a high priority for founders.

board 241

board VC venture capital founder 241

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

So if you're a super early stage with just a prototype, you might not think that a VC fund is the right fit for you--so you wind up at an angel group. So, while BBV is a *VC fund*, there's very little question that I'm backing founders earlier than an angel group like Golden Seeds, regardless of who the founder is.

advice 419

advice founder pitching VC 419

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JANUARY 1, 2024

The AI “stack” has emerged with Large Language Models and other important models (like audio, imagery, video, etc) operating in the cloud with well-documented and supported APIs that are available to developers to build on. AI developed for over forty years before its coming out party.

energy 236

energy venture capital innovation capital 236

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Many questioned whether it could survive under the fail whale, inevitable competition from Facebook, founder fighting, fights with 3rd-party developers let alone become a revolutionary business that could make money. When Fred Wilson funded Twitter I guarantee you it wasn’t obvious that it was a billion dollar idea. Far from it.

funders 362

funders culture incumbents technology 362

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

I rarely talk to any startup entrepreneur or VC who doesn’t feel it and somehow long for simpler times despite the benefits we all enjoy from increased enthusiasm for our sector. Everyone is a rock star developers, every company is crushing it and when they’re not crushing it they’re killing it. Year in, year out.

advice 398

advice VC entrepreneurs transportation 398

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2015

I ran a VC AMA (ask me anything) last Monday on Meerkat and had > 1,000 simultaneous people asking me questions. For years when I did This Week in VC (now BothSides TV ) and one of the most magic parts was the people who watched the show live and could ask questions in realtime. So what should a startup developer do?

energy 325

energy networking VC innovation 325

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

OCTOBER 12, 2021

I observed that NYC continues to develop as one of the world’s leading centers of tech innovation. A few weeks ago, I wrote about NYC’s Tech Resurgence. And then yesterday, I saw this tweet : NYC startups are getting funded at 2/3 the rate of Silicon Valley startups.

innovation 329

innovation development capital startup 329

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

At night I had a group dinner where I met 6 new entrepreneurs and hung out with some old friends from law firms, banks and other VC funds. I developed a list of questions to ask you next time we speak?—?especially I raced home to put my kids to bed, say hello to my wife and then spend a grueling administrative hour doing email.

pitching 381

pitching board funders entrepreneurs 381