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Playing the Long Game in Venture Capital

Both Sides of the Table

This “overnight success” was first financed in 2004. Of the first four investments I made as a VC in 2009, two have exited and two (Invoca & GumGum) still are independent and likely to produce $billion++ outcomes . sold to Disney for $670 million and since our first investment was at < $10 million valuation we did quite well.

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Venture Capital is About Human Capital

Both Sides of the Table

Most VCs did well academically and had enough career success that a venture firm was willing to give them an investment role or they were able to raise their own fund. Fundamentally venture capital is about human capital. In the end I know the only true differentiator in venture capital is the company you keep.

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Why Has Seed Investing Declined? And What Does this Mean for the Future?

Both Sides of the Table

Seed investments are down by any measure (funds, deals, dollars) over the past 3 years in deals < $1 million AND in deals between $1–5 million. 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.

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Changes in the Venture Capital Funding Environment

Both Sides of the Table

I remember when seed funds first started (they were being incorrectly called “super angels” and then Micro VCs before Seed Funds stuck) and every LP (who invest in VCs) told me they weren’t convinced about Seed Funds (too small, too hard to pick winners, would they be able to follow on?). Explosion in Seed Funds. I Leaderless Rounds.

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Paul Graham and The World Out There

This is going to be BIG.

However, in this moment, I think one''s career in venture capital depends on changing your perspective. If you are a venture capital investor and you''re not preparing yourself to succeed in a more diverse ecosystem of entrepreneurs, you''re just going to get left behind. YC''s best investing days may be behind it.

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Making Sense of the Stock Market Drops in Relation to Venture Financing

Both Sides of the Table

So why invest in that period of uncertainty unless it’s early-stage and thus valuation matters less. If the next 30 days stays calm then investment will pick up. So, too, investments. It will make follow-on financings much harder and people will have to consider whether or not to do inside rounds.

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PR for Startups: Avoiding crickets after the Ta-Da!

This is going to be BIG.

I''ve closed three investments in the first Brooklyn Bridge Ventures fund that haven''t quite been made public yet, bringing the total to 13 companies. These companies didn''t announce their financings right away, and for good reason. Venture Capital & Technology'

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