Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In my previous post, The VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) I wrote about the reasons why the VC market came to a screeching halt in September 2008 and remained largely shut until at least April 2009. There are now signs the VC market has gathered pace meaning it’s a great time to be fund raising.

VC 255

VC venture capital networking innovation 255

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. I think the issue I have always had with investment bank pitches was best summed up in this article about Y Combinator in which Paul Graham apparently made the following quotes. They know how to build pitch decks. International money.

VC 347

VC advice pitching entrepreneurs 347

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

I would never as a VC fund a round and then expect somebody else to pay a higher price right after me. I also would never expect another VC to do that to me. The second way is to pitch them like normal but offer them a discount. The pitch is really simple: “We’re going to be raising $750,000 – $1 million.

finance 294

finance financing pitching VC 294

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 29, 2011

I had an interesting conversation with an entrepreneur last week about how he decided which VCs he was going to pitch. 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. The Cold Intro. If I don't.

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VC pitching entrepreneurs networking 292

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 19, 2014

Go pitch a VC with an idea, and they''ll tell you to build it. Finance is changing. Go to them with a prototype and they''ll tell you to launch it. Launch it, and they''ll tell you to get more users. Get users and they''ll tell you to get paying customers. In my mind, that creates the opportunity for increasing returns.

venture capital 392

venture capital pitching health VC 392

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. 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.

pitching 381

pitching board funders entrepreneurs 381

Both Sides of the Table

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.

VC 314

VC advice pitching investing 314

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

Two Sigma is a technology and finance company in Soho filled with incredibly bright engineers and developers, so I’m really excited about leveraging that partnership in a number of cool ways. VCs pitch for money, too. No one ever thinks about VCs having to pitch, who they pitch to, or how it works.

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ventures pitching VC startup ecosystem 280

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Your goal should be to turn your VCs into extended members of your team to get real value from them. Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. Ask your VC to send a critical email to a contact.

board 365

board VC advice pitching 365

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2015

Many entrepreneurs pitching err on the side of too much information. You feel very unique when you pitch your business yet three weeks later when you follow up on your VC pitches each partner has probably seen 15-20 more companies in that time and while she remembers you, she can’t quite, exactly remember what was unique about you. .

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advice pitching disruption VC 360

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Pitching a VC “ There’s a great meme developing this morning on the need to simplify funding terms and documents. I had multiple term sheets to do my Series A financing. They eventually took money from non-traditional VC based in the UK. I have this mentality, too.

founder 252

founder pitching VC advice 252

StartupNation

AUGUST 8, 2021

But financing isn’t always easy — especially if you’re the proud founder of a brand new business. You still have plenty of creative financing options to fund your business. You’ll need to think outside the box, but you’re bound to come across your “aha” financing moment in this article. Bootstrapping.

creativity 104

creativity finance financing startup 104

TechCrunch

OCTOBER 4, 2022

This relationship also supplied Spleet with the critical network of landlords required to list multiple units when it went live; the pitch to landlords was that Spleet would bring proper KYC into the rental process and allow them to verify tenants and automate rent collection. monthly to finance rent payments.

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VC real estate venture capital finance 131

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2017

It’s why raising a round of capital often feels like a hollow victory because it almost feels like a temporary reprieve from the Grim Reaper and in a way every new round just sets the bar higher to clear for the next round of financing or the hope of reaching profitability. By the end the buyer forgets why they loved your presentation.

pitching 238

pitching VC mix-use entrepreneurs 238

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 4, 2022

I’m a straight white dude who grew up in NYC and worked in finance. I’m the on-paper poster child for “who can get VC dollars”. Will the money have been worth it if you find yourself out on the street, fired from your own company, just a few years later—replaced by some guy that was in the same fraternity as your lead VC?

financing 417

financing finance board VC 417

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

It was 2009 and it was terribly difficult to get any financing (if you can remember a time like that!) 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). Yeah, he was LA, baby!

accelerator 290

accelerator mentorship peer-to-peer VC 290

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

An impressive number of new VCs have been created – most of them with new seed funds. We’ve had an explosion of alternate sources of financing from crowd-sourcing, angels, accelerators, incubators, corporates, corporate incubators. Every consultant was pitching a process for reinventing your organization through BI.

incubation 354

incubation board VC innovation 354

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

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. Before I tell you my reasons for never doing a deal that a banker intro’d I have to preface by where I think bankers are enormously helpful on VC deals.

advice 361

advice VC pitching entrepreneurs 361

TechCrunch

AUGUST 19, 2021

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

pitching 98

pitching VC hospitality venture capital 98

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 5, 2014

In my experience many VC’s fall into this “I’m expected to know all the answers” trap. The more self-assured the VC is and the more impressionable the entrepreneur is the worse the outcome. We are their sparring partners, their sounding boards. It is unknowable. Any true disruption will change all the rules.

peer-to-peer 337

peer-to-peer entrepreneurs consulting VC 337

David Teten VC

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

We’re fortunate to interview William Stringer, Founder of Chisos Capital , a structured finance company. Chisos is a structured finance company that provides startup and brand capital to entrepreneurs, athletes and creatives. Q: What is CISA and how does it compare to other alternative VC models? Q: What’s your background?

VC 59

VC finance financing peer-to-peer 59

Dream It

MAY 4, 2021

In this Dreamit Dose, Managing Director Adam Dakin reveals the right approach on how to answer the valuation question when pitching VCs. It’s important to understand VC Math 101. The VC believes your company has a reasonable chance of achieving a certain exit valuation. Most early-stage VC’s are aiming for a 5-10x return.

VC 300

VC board pitching health 300

Entrepreneur's Handbook

DECEMBER 13, 2020

On the fundraising side of things, there is no milestone more validating for a young company than securing your Series A financing. Know What to Expect When a VC Opens your Deck (and their Checkbook) As Series A companies are more mature than in previous rounds, Series A decks are longer at 25 slides.

pitching 109

pitching VC founder finance 109

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

The reality is you must be great at HR, PR, finance AND product. They get pitched by so many blowhards that more genuine people who aren’t in it for just a story stand out from the crowd. They don’t have enough billable hours to be able to really understand what you do or effectively pitch it. In a startup this is a mistake.

pitching 319

pitching media advice venture capital 319

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 1, 2010

The simple fact of the matter is that most startups seeking angel or vc capital just don’t receive it—and that’s just anywhere. It’s often some combination of the idea not being big enough to sustain a venture exit or the company just not being appropriate for venture financing. If only VCs were smart, they’d fund me.”

startup 289

startup media ecology VC 289

TechCrunch

APRIL 25, 2023

But dealmaking is idiosyncratic: a few investors might be content to make a deal over coffee, but early-stage teams still need a sturdy pitch deck or memo they can leave behind. Similarly, one VC may encourage newly minted CEOs to eat ramen and ride the bus, while another might suggest a salary in the low six-figures, depending on geography.

pitching 98

pitching incubation board opportunity 98

Jason Malki

MARCH 9, 2023

She is also a Finance Director at Visa and has previously worked for PepsiCo and American Airlines. Karen holds a double degree in Finance and Economics from Texas Christian University (TCU) and an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin. Then, I stumbled upon PE/VC after chatting with a good college buddy of mine.

VC 98

VC ventures angel investing venture capital 98

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JUNE 17, 2019

Scott makes the point numerous times in the book that the capital raising process is asymmetric for entrepreneurs in that they do it a few times in their career and VCs do it every day. That is true for the pitch meetings, the negotiation process, and the post financing relationship too. It would be a great course.

VC 209

VC pitching venture capital entrepreneurs 209

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

One of the biggest fears about the future of data is that everyone will turn into a number--that algorithms will turn everyone's personal experience into a single score that will decide whether or not you get what you want, a job, a house, a car, financing for a new business etc. That's important for a VC. or whether you get shut out.

pitching 269

pitching disruption VC opportunity 269

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 16, 2021

Use these resources to understand how your company will look when you pitch a VC or angel. One EO member who is currently planning an exit shared that, though he has now hired a high-level VP of Finance, “I brought him in too late in our stage—I wish I had hired him earlier. and see how your company compares.

SaaS 294

SaaS leadership accelerator entrepreneurs 294

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2010

Detail Orientation / Hands On – One of the easiest ways to rule out people who are pitching to me is when they don’t know the details of their business. I once had a startup team pitch me for an investment where the President of the company led the first call with me on his own. Who does finance report to?

entrepreneurs 286

entrepreneurs advice pitching VC 286

Gust

DECEMBER 27, 2012

It sounds obvious, but the majority of entrepreneurs who pitch me have obviously never thought through many of the major issues surrounding their companies. With #1 – #3 under your belt, you should start preparing the components you will use to support your pitch to outside investors. Understand your business.

investing 164

investing investment pitching mix-use 164

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2016

Non VC Growth Rounds. The other major trend of 2012–2015 was the entrance of “non VCs” into late-stages of venture capital , which mostly consisted of hedge funds, mutual funds, corporate investors, sovereign wealth funds and even LPs doing direct deals. The fact that I still see it referred to in pitch decks is farcical.

venture capital 271

venture capital capital ventures VC 271

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

There was a lot of consumer internet activity again…resurgence of things, but it was still mysterious, venture capital was still kind of closed, 1st time entrepreneurs had a lot of questions that were unanswered, and there was still some sort of hand waiving around all the financing stuff and so we took it on….”. Human Computer Interaction.

venture capital 288

venture capital pitching communities entrepreneurs 288

Entrepreneur's Handbook

MARCH 10, 2023

Stories, Slides, and Data Primary data set of public 3-minute pitches and 2-minute Q&As I have spent more than a decade coaching thousands of people on how to tell stories. As a result, I began meticulously cataloging the pitch conversations I listened to and ended up with nearly four hundred thousand words in transcript data.

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pitching ecology venture capital mix-use 75

StartupNation

MAY 24, 2021

All was not rosy, however, as first-time financings comprised only a fraction of that funding and decreased at points during the year. Part of this could be the result of the pitch. While we’ve been strongly supported by our VC backers during the pandemic, the same can’t be said for every startup. in the third quarter of 2019.

VC 76

VC pitching networking venture capital 76

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 1, 2013

That will cause some VCs to try and outbid them, causing more and more hype for mediocre deals. At the same time, the good deals that hit the traditional markets will also be overfunded--because VCs will fear companies getting financed by other means. At the same time, the talent market will heat up even more.

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angel investing financing finance entrepreneurs 277