Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

And I am often approached by entrepreneurs in cities which don’t have a vibrant VC community. If you don’t live in a major VC zone, I have some tips for how to make it easier to raise Venture Capital. It’s a goal to help you understand the life of a VC. I travel the country a lot. Ask SuperCell.

VC 365

VC board communities pitching 365

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

For some reason, everyone wants to be a VC. The way I figure it, how someone approaches me is indicative of how they'd approach an entrepreneur. It doesn't have to count as an official pitch of any kind. It's more just to understand the kinds of things VCs are going to ask and want to see when you are ready to pitch.

creativity 336

creativity VC pitching communities 336

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 11, 2015

I realized that I judge a lot of hackathons, pitch competitions and other various things on the weekends, and felt like I was losing at least 2 out of my 8 weekend days--so I gave myself back those days. Out of those, I take about 150 new pitches a year--about 3 a week. It's more aspirational. And yes, I take every other Monday off.

VC 419

VC pitching board construction 419

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

There’s a quick litmus-test conversation any early-stage VC will have with the founder and it’s one that you should be as prepared for as your elevator pitch. It goes something like this … VC: “How much money are you raising?” Founder: “$8–10 million” VC: “What’s your current burn rate?” This is a red flag for VCs.

VC 247

VC capital financing finance 247

Dream It

MAY 29, 2019

Startup pitch meetings are pretty predictable. You walk into a venture fund’s conference room or Zoom room (if they’re progressive), pitch the partners, offer to answer their questions, maybe ask them a bland question or two, and then leave the meeting to await a response. Steve Barsh.

pitching 284

pitching VC investment investing 284

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. I attended events.

VC 347

VC advice pitching entrepreneurs 347

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 23, 2014

Sugarcoating isn''t helpful to entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are sending me back notes saying "They turned it down, but I''m not sure why." It doesn''t help them improve their pitch or adjust their model. You''d rather know exactly why I didn''t do a deal than scratch your head over some opaque "VC speak".

pitching 364

pitching VC venture capital opportunity 364

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

She was pitching for a pre-seed round of $400k. Founders hit the street with their pitch deck, some make it, and some don’t, but nearly all of them ascribe a lot more human influence over the process than there probably is. I’m a female founder. I don’t have a technical co-founder. I don’t have enough traction.

advice 446

advice pitching venture capital VC 446

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. The short answer is that you should have multiple versions of your “pitch deck” (a short, visual presentation in Keynote, PPT or similar and shared as a PDF) and each occasion has a specific goal. The VC will smile, thank you, and later pass.

VC 261

VC pitching advice entrepreneurs 261

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 14, 2014

The main driver of the skew towards men getting venture capital, statistically, is that far more men are pitching. That means you actually have a *better* shot, statistically, of getting VC investment at these firms, statistically, once you actually pitch. Once again, that''s all stats and doesn''t really explain anything.

founder 390

founder pitching mix-use venture capital 390

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

I often talk about what I’m looking for when I meet with an entrepreneur. Above all else I’m looking for a genuine passion for what the entrepreneur is doing. You can sense when it is a “mission” for this entrepreneur to succeed and she will continue the journey even if success isn’t easy or immediate.

peer-to-peer 373

peer-to-peer VC pitching entrepreneurs 373

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

What is a principal at a VC firm and how does it work at Upfront Ventures? ” Associates have different functions at different VCs. VC firm admin. VC firm policy or fund analysis. Helping be the VC “presence” at key events. inside insight into VC decision-making. Industry reviews.

investing 365

investing investment VC board 365

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

I can't think of a single time when a white man came to pitch me and I told him his fundraising plans weren't aggressive enough. Yet, for some reason, the goals for her pitch were incremental--despite being in an extremely hot space. So why are so many diverse entrepreneurs shortchanging themselves? Something else is at play.

advice 419

advice founder pitching VC 419

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

I’m very excited to be finally be able to announce that this week we’ve added Sam Rosen to our ranks at GRP Partners in the role of entrepreneurs-in-residence – EIR. Of course he pitched me the entire ride down. I thought Sam might know some talented young entrepreneurs to apply. Come to entrepreneur pitches.

pitching 372

pitching advice VC entrepreneurs 372

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

This is a very common scenario when entrepreneurs pitch VCs and frankly is a very common scenario when VCs try to raise money from LPs. When you pitched me I really did love you. And you get to demonstrate your skill sets without even pitching. I call it, “Remind me why I love you again?” You’re in control.

pitching 381

pitching board funders entrepreneurs 381

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

After all, I am no stranger to the publicly expressing the frustrations of dealing with the downside of this industry as I wrote about in 2006 when I was an entrepreneur. But VC is like congress. As you can see from the chart their data suggests there are about $25 billion of VC distributions per year in the US.

VC 374

VC peer-to-peer entrepreneurs investing 374

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

The speaks to the continued confidence in the venture capital markets and as I had predicted some time ago the VC markets right now are a great place to invest – especially relative to other places to put one’s money. If you want to understand how the VC industry is changing there is a great primer in the link.

ventures 396

ventures VC venture capital real estate 396

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

My friend and fellow SoCal venture capitalist Peter Lee wrote a post about the different roles within a VC and spent much time on the role of an associate. These are the permanent members of a VC. The process for raising money from a VC is a sales process and as such much of what is taught in enterprise sales can be applied.

VC 308

VC pitching entrepreneurs advice 308

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 23, 2012

I'm often the last one to leave an event, held back by the most persistant of entrepreneurs trying to squeeze as much advice as they can out of me. VCs construct stories in their head as to why they invested in this or that, and much of it is based on prior experience, but they're often awful at articulating the real reasons.

advice 416

advice startup VC strategy 416

Revolution

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

Case in point: only 1% of 2022 VC dollars went to Black founders, a marked decrease year over year. We sourced and received applications from hundreds of Black, high-growth startup founders from all over the country and held workshops and discussions about the challenges they face, all of which culminated in a virtual pitch competition.

innovation 264

innovation investing investment pitching 264

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2017

The perverse nature of raising capital is that “no’s” almost always precede “yeses” because it’s very easy for a VC to tell you that you’re not a good fit without doing any real work to evaluate your company so you hear “no” far before others start doing more work. The best VCs follow up but then so, too, to the best entrepreneurs.

pitching 238

pitching VC mix-use entrepreneurs 238

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2015

Many entrepreneurs pitching err on the side of too much information. Entrepreneurs literally started asking for billion-dollar valuations just because the market is talking about unicorns. ” The report also notes that 75% of mega financings are led by non-VCs. Why is it a really big market? Narrative at its finest.

advice 360

advice pitching disruption VC 360

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

Many of you entrepreneurs know that feeling. Back when I was pitching my previous startup to investors, it had never really dawned on me that they had experienced what I was going through--and that a VC firm was essentially a startup. VCs pitch for money, too. It's the black box of the startup world.

ventures 280

ventures pitching VC startup ecosystem 280

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Now, I’m pretty on the record that being an entrepreneur is about being great at The Do. I want to make sure that my sixth year as a VC doesn’t just become an automatic continuation of what I’ve done in my first 5 years. Board Meetings. Conferences. I get sucked up in “Do” mode. Startups Are for Doers.

creativity 400

creativity venture capital entrepreneurs board 400

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. I attended events.

advice 361

advice VC pitching entrepreneurs 361

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 17, 2011

In large part, that is a result of who pitches to VCs, not surprisingly. We can debate how to get a more diverse stream of people in the top of the funding funnel for sure, but the fact is that VCs just want to make money. Not only that, there are a lot of VCs and angels all walking around competing for the best deals.

venture capital 343

venture capital capital ventures pitching 343

TechCrunch

AUGUST 19, 2021

5 factors founders must consider before choosing their VC. The success of a fundraising process is entirely dependent on how well an entrepreneur can manage it. Here are five pointers that founders should consider while pitching to venture capitalists: Be honest and accurate. More posts by this contributor. Know your BATNA.

pitching 98

pitching VC hospitality venture capital 98

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 24, 2021

For years, he went on to advise other founders about how to generate VC interest, which really could have amounted to, “Be a warm body with a pulse in a sector that firm got shut out of a deal in.” Sorry buddy, but no, I don’t have any other VC friends whose thesis is trying to lose money as fast as possible. You pitched a jerk.

founder 317

founder pitching VC advice 317

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

and I thought if we brought the community together for common purpose we could create more of a sense of community to help new entrepreneurs get funded, assemble teams, raise profiles and help with biz dev, product, etc. Throughout all of these years I was a full-time VC so Launchpad really came out of evenings and weekends for me.

accelerator 290

accelerator mentorship peer-to-peer VC 290

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

One of my favorite entrepreneur-Twitterer weighed in, “You want to keep tapping into their collective intelligence so you keep saying ‘Thank you for the feedback’ and they keep sending it,” Ms. Another founder … “When I pitched the idea to Adam, he was super on board,” Mr. Sloyan said. Morrill said.

startup 323

startup advice pitching VC 323

American Entrepreneurship

SEPTEMBER 15, 2024

This annual gathering brings together a dynamic mix of entrepreneurs, angel investors, and venture capitalists from the surrounding states, creating a fertile ground for innovation, networking, and investment opportunities. With a rigorous selection process, only the most promising tech-enabled companies get the chance to pitch.

entrepreneurs 98

entrepreneurs ventures pitching mentorship 98

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 13, 2012

He oozed a quiet confidence--like a baseball pitcher who had all his stuff working and knew exactly in his head the pitch he was going to finish you off with. No need to get worked up about it--it was just about executing what you had in your head, like he had done on each pitch before during this game. (A The answer: it wasn't.

pitching 360

pitching culture VC consulting 360

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 28, 2011

There's nothing that used to make me feel more like a pompous VC than when I would respond to an entrepreneur by saying their idea isn't big enough--that a success for them would likely be too small for what our firm was looking for. You are the entrepreneur. That's when I realized I was arguing the wrong side of this.

incubation 364

incubation entrepreneurs pitching opportunity 364

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

The past few years of your experience are making you into the perfect entrepreneur to do. If you were to have to pitch a VC right now on a concept, the part about why you is already known--you''ve been living it. something*. What is it? What has life put you in a position to have unique insight into?

startup 319

startup venture capital pitching VC 319

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 16, 2021

The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) exists to help entrepreneurs achieve their full potential. In a recent Forum Confidential session, EO Accelerator member “Dan” (not his real name) presented his business challenge to a group of experienced entrepreneurs in search of helpful, real-world tips and best practices.

SaaS 294

SaaS leadership accelerator entrepreneurs 294

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

I’d like to do a few posts on what life looks like on the way up and perhaps how to keep your head on straight and avoid drinking your own Kool Aid because as I often advise entrepreneurs on irrational exuberance, “ In a strong wind even turkeys can fly.” It’s when the game slows. ” The Lessons of Shelfware.

incubation 354

incubation board VC innovation 354

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2011

In the past I’ve given some tips for handling meetings effectively, covering topics like: - How not to let your meeting go down a rat hole ; - Dealing with the elephant in the room ; - Dealing with skeletons in your closet ; - How to make meetings discussions, not “pitches&#. -

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pitching advice culture VC 392