Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 6, 2020

But I have been in close contact with the NVCA, many of the major law firms and many of the major VC firms. If you do apply you must certify that your information and application are true and honest. Am I ineligible since I’m VC-backed? There is nothing in the rules that state that VC-backed businesses are ineligible.

VC 279

VC peer-to-peer startup advice 279

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

AUGUST 23, 2021

I realized a long time ago that the VC’s customer is the founder/CEO/portfolio company and that our investors (called LPs in VC speak) are our “shareholders” That was a very defining moment for me and has clarified what matters the most in a VC firm. That is very rare but has happened. That can work too.

VC 269

VC mix-use opportunity investing 269

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

One of the hardest things about the fund-raising process for entrepreneurs is that you’re trying to raise money from people who have “asymmetric information.” VC firms see thousands of deals and have a refined sense of how the market is valuing deals because they get price signals across all of these deals. So why does a VC ask you?

VC 324

VC investing investment entrepreneurs 324

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

*. What is the role of a VC for entrepreneurs? I suppose it can be different for every founder and for different VCs but I’d like to offer you some context on what I think it is and it isn’t. They are unique to you and not to each other situation that VC has faced. ” I responded. Your decisions are unknowable.

VC 353

VC advice consulting frameworks 353

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 21, 2025

I cant tell you how many times I got announced as a successful VC when I was introduced on a panel or sat across the room from a potential limited partner telling them I was. You dont owe them success, but you do owe them honesty, transparency, and a willingness to share enough information with others to enable them to help you.

VC 289

VC consulting health enablement 289

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

As a result founders often meet the wrong investors, waste time on those who ask for more information. The typical VC process is as follows: They say there are three rules in property: Location, location, location. Same with VC. In sales there are also three rules: Qualify, qualify, qualify. If in high school you got a 3.6

VC 332

VC advice entrepreneurs energy 332

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

One of the hardest things to know when you’re new to fund raising is what you’re supposed to send to an investor, when and will they keep your information confidential. As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. This is part of a series on how to improve your fund raising game. The key is WHAT you send.

VC 261

VC pitching advice entrepreneurs 261

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

In order to understand how to “get to yes” with a VC you first need to understand how VC partnerships make decisions and then you can understand how to increase your odds of closing a deal. VC Partnerships Start by understanding how many partners are at the firm you are approaching. Reciprocity is equally destructive.

VC 314

VC board investing investment 314

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 22, 2020

A VC’s default is “no”, so without enough information to be convincing, it’s going to wind up being a pass. To a VC, $50,000 a pre-sale isn’t really that much. One of the most difficult conversations I have with founders is when they haven’t quite given me enough of a story for me to make a proper evaluation.

pitching 324

pitching VC peer-to-peer founder 324

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

” From the hyperbolic Jason Calacanis weighing in that “The petty VC’s did everything to deride [Naval, the co-founder of AngelList]” as though the industry was collectively s g its pants that AngelList was going to put us out of business. This is the same way VC firms, by the way. Bowery Capital).

VC 356

VC peer-to-peer board entrepreneurs 356

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

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. Where are Things Headed for VC in 2031?

ventures 471

ventures VC venture capital funders 471

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 23, 2014

It''s unclear what piece of information they were lacking or how someone could have gotten them over the hump. It just feels like the VC wasn''t that interested in the first place and so they''re not sure what the interest was in the first place. It doesn''t help them improve their pitch or adjust their model.

pitching 367

pitching VC venture capital opportunity 367

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

VC funding. We love capital efficiency until we love land grabs until we abhor over funding until we get huge payouts and ring the bell for more funding until we attract every non-VC on the planet to invest in startups until it crashes and we start the cycle all over again none the wiser. The industry did that in 2007.

ventures 419

ventures VC capital SaaS 419

TechCrunch

OCTOBER 9, 2023

This is the United States’ first piece of legislation that aims to increase diversity within the venture capital landscape.

VC 144

VC investment investing venture capital 144

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. More information comes out. Rob does it.

board 365

board VC advice pitching 365

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Will I have information that other journalists don’t have (otherwise known as a “scoop”)? The idea is that you put out information with data and a point-of-view and that becomes the story rather than you. I am a VC. That chart has information on it. I hand out money. How differentiated is that?

mix-use 389

mix-use advice VC technology 389

The Seraf Compass

SEPTEMBER 23, 2024

Join Seraf for an engaging and informative webinar on VC investing in BRICS countries, with an emphasis on the exciting opportunities in Brazil. This event is tailored for venture capitalists, startup founders, and investors eager to delve into the high-growth potential within Brazil's dynamic market.

VC 130

VC investing investment startup founder 130

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 13, 2022

In this case, a VC would have every right, having seen lots of products get built and succeed or fail, to want to observe and discuss that process. What’s harder to notice for a founder is all of the things that a founder isn’t being asked to review in detail that a VC has no problem trusting the founder on.

founder 415

founder VC board strategy 415

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

When you raise money from investors you produce information that you are told they want and care about: A fund-raising deck that articulates your company strategy, plans, team, market, competitors and so forth. So what does a VC do when he or she isn’t ready to say “no” or perhaps might like to talk with you in a year but not now?

advice 336

advice VC entrepreneurs investing 336

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

They now have a strong VC lead from Foundry Group and from experience when you get advice from Foundry it comes with authority, experience, empathy and the right amount of straight talk. But we’ve gotten the point where ENIFA and they will invest with no information based solely on the name of who else has invested.

startup 323

startup advice pitching VC 323

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

Because my role as a VC requires me to take and endless stream of meetings I long ago decided I need to learn as much as I can from the meetings I attend so I often just ask tons of questions and assimilate knowledge. When I think about what defines us as a VC I think: Operationally knowledgeable / strong startup competence.

VC 360

VC communities investing investment 360

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 23, 2012

Try and figure out exactly what a startup had to show at the moment a VC chose to invest in them. Half the time, founders were pitching a completely different idea than what took off--so the VC who looks brilliant for funding the latest viral app really funded a B2B product that never took off. So why bother showing up?

advice 416

advice startup VC strategy 416

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I know all of this because every VC knows this because we’ve all either funded companies that have marketing technology or we’ve seen a pitch with a company that does this. If you haven’t read the other VC fund-raising posts I’ve done as part of this series you can find the whole outline and this first in the series here.]

VC 239

VC pitching strategy investing 239

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 6, 2013

I had to get basic information about my brother’s dogs (size, willingness to be with other dogs, special needs, were they spayed, had shots, etc.) Monitor had a little internal VC group so he got some experience there. More like a temporary VC just to get some experience and of course we’d pay him. and upload that.

collaboration 344

collaboration VC accelerator consulting 344

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 11, 2021

Despite the huge and sustained growth in digital advertising (or maybe because of it), there are virtually no tools where a marketer or growth leader can understand their performance and spend across channels, nor where they can share best practices and insights with their peers so the platforms are at an information advantage.

founder 424

founder peer-to-peer sustainability VC 424

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

If you’ve been following the press about VC funds you’ll know this is no small feat. We think transparency and easy access to information benefit our entire ecosystem. We have previously raised funds in 1996 ($200 million), 2000 ($400 million) and 2008/9 ($200 million). This month we closed our 4th fund of $200 million.

ventures 343

ventures venture capital advice VC 343

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

We use this try to draw some context that informs our funding decisions. Our last thoughts on the VC funding markets heading into 2016 was published here and I followed up with a little more context on the resetting of the venture industry , some thoughts on how startups are valued and how to think about burn rates at startups.

peer-to-peer 277

peer-to-peer VC advice ventures 277

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 5, 2014

We are expected to know everything and many people rush to conclusions given a limited set of information. 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.

peer-to-peer 337

peer-to-peer entrepreneurs consulting VC 337

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 25, 2014

But you have to admit that we live in a skewed system in which the elite educated population gains disproportionally from our change from an industrial to an information economy. We need to make sure our young kids have public schooling that trains them for the information economy. Tech Market Analysis VC Industry'

education 417

education real estate economic growth VC 417

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

In a VC pitch this type of messaging will do just fine. Even the VC who invested in your deal struggles to properly position why you’re going to be huge when they’re calling big tech companies or other VCs on your behalf. how informed will they be about our product / service? Simplify Your Message.

entrepreneurs 370

entrepreneurs pitching startup education 370

Founder Bounty

JANUARY 8, 2025

Our content is informative as well as education from VC-backed founders who have experience in building companies from scratch and helps you navigate the online world this year. Your content has to stand out. At founderbounty we understand the importance of creating content that turns eyeballs.

education 105

education VC financing finance 105

Hunter Walk

MARCH 3, 2025

And how quickly the firm can process new information and adjust if portions of their hypothesis need tuning once in market. If you’re a VC raising your first fund, and you think you fit either of these descriptions, please let us know. But we’re interested in taking this risk when the person and opportunity warrants it.

peer-to-peer 79

peer-to-peer VC investing investment 79

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

I’m often asked about the differences between being at a VC and being an entrepreneur and whether I prefer one or the other. You come together as a team one day per week (the “Partner Meeting,” which for most firms is on Mondays) and mostly share the news & information from your portfolio companies or evaluate new deals.

culture 339

culture VC communities venture capital 339

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

They collected each other’s information and Sam immediately built a relationship with Jody. But … we had committed to setting up an EIR program where we would fund people to work on their ideas in our offices and also get the dual experience of working inside a VC. But the CEO in NYC and the team in LA? Not for me.

pitching 372

pitching advice VC entrepreneurs 372

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 7, 2015

After checking out The Information's "open dataset" on diversity in venture capital , I felt pretty disappointed. So, while my fund might be 100% run by one white guy, I'm sure I'd fare pretty well on The Information's list if they added actual funding data. VCs have an inflated sense of the value of their own time.

venture capital 370

venture capital capital ventures VC 370

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

Now that he’s become a VC he’s promising me he’ll provide way more public information and discourse so please welcome him by following him on Twitter and better yet welcoming him with a Tweet of your own linking to his Twitter handle or this post. The idea immediately resonated. And he followed through.

ventures 340

ventures investing investment board 340