This is going to be BIG.

JULY 8, 2013

I usually direct people to this post --still hanging atop the search rankings for " How to be a VC analyst" years later. That''s kind of like what it''s like being on board with these companies after you make an early stage investment. In VC, no one''s investment gets bought on the first day, or the second day, or the third day.

venture capital 419

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

Even then private market investors can paper over valuation changes by investing at the same price but with more structure so it’s hard to understand the “headline valuation.” No blog post about how Tiger is crushing everybody because it’s deploying all its capital in 1-year while “suckers” are investing over 3-years can change this reality.

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VC strategy investing investment 416

Dream It

JANUARY 13, 2021

Learn how to pass a VC associate screen in under 10 minutes! Alana suggests that before speaking to an associate, you gain a basic understanding of the fund’s focus and stages they invest in. We cannot put enough emphasis on how important utilizing your network is. If you’re raising, ask people in your network to help.

VC 364

VC founder consulting networking 364

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2014

The critical skill is not just your immediate network but the network beyond that you can tap into if you’ve earned the right through nurturing your 1-degree relationships. After my first Tweet with the Notorious mothafucka quote , I thought about my role as a VC and I Tweeted the following. Building Your Network.

networking 366

networking peer-to-peer advice mentorship 366

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

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.

investing 328

investing investment VC venture capital 328

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2019

While most of the money that goes into VC funds comes from institutions that are highly experienced in the asset class, some family offices and high net worth individuals also invest in VC. They’re trying to get exposure and diversification at the same time, while potentially seeing co-investment deal flow.

VC 267

VC investing investment strategy 267

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 16, 2014

How long does it take from first meeting a VC to getting cash in the bank? I went back across the 21 investments I''ve made both at First Round and at Brooklyn Bridge Ventures --a period that dates back to January 28, 2010, when I closed on Backupify. That''s an interesting question.

VC 417

VC pitching networking venture capital 417

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 31, 2014

In my career, I''ve done 19 investments in NYC and 1 in Boston, and I''ll admit that I felt like I couldn''t help the Boston company nearly as much. Phone calls were no substitute for in person and when it came to hiring, my network simply wasn''t as big up there as it was here.

VC 379

VC pitching venture capital capital 379

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 22, 2018

This will be the post where I dangerously attempt to walk the minefield of a white male VC opining on the topic. 4) The diverse background of the founder is not the main reason why most diverse founders get turned down for investment. Your network never signed up to do your outsourced job for you. Ducks head.] Ok, let's dive in.

VC 270

VC pitching peer-to-peer founder 270

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 11, 2015

As a single GP (a firm with one investment decision making professional), I get asked a lot of questions about how I manage my time considering the number of investments I make. E-mail is networking, deal work, due diligence. It's ever present and always on. Out of those, I take about 150 new pitches a year--about 3 a week.

VC 419

VC pitching board construction 419

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

Investment experience (5 years a VC at Battery Ventures). People often ask me what VCs look for when we hire partners and many have asked how to become VCs themselves one day. I can’t speak for other VCs but it may interest you to at least know our thought process at Upfront.

VC 408

VC networking ventures board 408

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MAY 4, 2013

As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. There is one source that was always problematic for me – intros from investment bankers. This is no criticism of the investment banking industry (although I’m sure some will read it this way) for which there are very useful purposes.

VC 347

VC advice pitching entrepreneurs 347

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. This is a big news day at Upfront Ventures. The idea immediately resonated.

ventures 340

ventures investing investment board 340

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 3, 2020

Fund investing, like adulting, is boring. That’s the first thing anyone trying to raise a fund needs to understand, as well as anyone thinking about investing in one. The partner at the fund, the VC, gets to do the fun part—the meeting with founders, vetting deals, negotiating, helping, etc. So what’s the point?

VC 258

VC angel investing mix-use opportunity 258

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

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. We not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k?—?$15

VC 223

VC venture capital capital investing 223

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 28, 2013

The biggest question I think VC''s face right now is whether or not, in the future, the best founders will look and act like the best founders of the past. YC''s best investing days may be behind it. A couple of years ago, I went to a networking event sponsored by a top tier VC firm.

venture capital 407

venture capital VC ventures capital 407

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

Growing too slowly is particularly dangerous in a business with network effects, which the best startups usually have to some degree.” ” This is a frequent theme of mine when asked to speak to audience about the VC industry. And this is fueled by the VC culture in Silicon Valley. It is VC math, like it or not.

startup 390

startup VC venture capital entrepreneurs 390

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2016

I laid out the following goals: Hire investment partners with operating experience combined with investment experience and deeply committed to LA Tech, but with strong relationships in SF, NYC and beyond. Build out our junior staff including pulling through some younger professionals into the investment ranks. I sat on panels.

disruption 226

disruption VC communities ventures 226

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 16, 2024

A focus and filter for networking—because otherwise, you’ll find that you could wind up in a meeting with anyone for any reason because any connection could theoretically lead to a future deal. This is something I talk about a lot with my VC coaching clients. He wasn’t only investing in businesses that sold data.

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VC angel investing networking pitching 243

Founder Bounty

MARCH 25, 2025

We have already done the article is antler worth doing here and a lot of you are asking what exactly are the investment terms if they do offer you investment. This varies on the region but below are some of the key figures Investment Amount Antler typically invests $100,000 to $200,000 in pre-seed startups. Antler US).

investing 52

investing investment VC mentorship 52

Dream It

FEBRUARY 14, 2020

With our 2020 Robotics + AI sessions event on the horizon in early March, we’re diving back into the sector to learn about the attributes of construction attracting robotics VCs the most and which types of startups VCs are actually writing checks for in 2020. How much time are you spending on construction robotics right now?

construction 259

construction investing investment opportunity 259

Haystack

DECEMBER 29, 2018

It’s that time of year, time to look back and reflect on the most significant storylines in the tech, startup, and VC world. And, with that warning, I offer to you, the big stories in the startup and investing ecosystem of 2018, written in ascending order of importance and magnitude…. 6/ Venture Capital In Expansion Phase.

VC 165

VC startup venture capital mix-use 165

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 6, 2015

I''m just trying to invest in the best opportunities. You''ve been in VC long enough to see lots of different funds, partners and deals. You get a lot of choice as a VC as to who you want to spend your time with. Are there existing larger VC funds that you''d consider joining, or are you BBV for life? Hard to believe.

VC 377

VC collaboration disruption founder 377

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

And it applies to business relationships & networking as much as it does to remuneration in the workplace. But less as a complaint and more as advice to younger networkers, the more you invest in relationships the more you will get when you need. Jason Nazar is a master networker. ” I see it on Twitter.

advice 407

advice VC networking entrepreneurs 407

Hunter Walk

MARCH 3, 2025

Of course Screendoor has an eye towards new VCs with identities, backgrounds and networks which are ADDITIVE to the venture ecosystem to better serve founders, so while the structure of the playbook is duplicative, the people running the playbook aren’t – and that’s the key. .

peer-to-peer 79

peer-to-peer VC investing investment 79

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2015

My goal in the interview overall was to capture more of the personal side of Fred since so much of his investment thesis and portfolio work already comes out in his blog. 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.

advice 327

advice board VC investing 327

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SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

It got me thinking about the advice that I often give to new VCs. For years I saw myself as the new guy in VC but then you wake up one day and realize that 50% of your peers have been doing it for less time than you and time has moved on. You want to build your network with other VCs so you go to demo days, SxSW and so forth.

peer-to-peer 317

peer-to-peer pitching VC accelerator 317

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 5, 2015

Now, the community is orders of magnitude larger and the number of investors who invest here has grown significantly. You can''t rise up as fast taking a job at a VC firm in NYC the same way you could 10 years ago--and you can''t get that USV job as easily as you could. Who''s the VC that everyone *isn''t* trying to network with.

VC 316

VC startup ecosystem networking venture capital 316

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

It’s the first EIR that we’ve had in the years that I’ve been with the firm and I hope will be the start of our investment in this program. We’re excited to continue to grow our investment professional staff and will continue to do so over the course of 2013 & 2014 with our new fund. ” “Sam?

pitching 372

pitching advice VC entrepreneurs 372

Hunter Walk

FEBRUARY 22, 2025

Ok, back to the VC content marketing. As a result I’ve seen hundreds of VC decks, all certain they will be among the top performers. Most strategies are some combination of innovation and best practices along the classic five steps of venture investing: See, Pick, Win, Service, Exit. This post is about ‘seeing.’

startup 89

startup VC strategy leadership 89

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

Any VC will tell you that the ones they said yes to, they mostly got there right away—and that there are very few “maybe” deals that get tipped over the fence. Here’s the way I look at the math: Let’s go over the structural bias first—the “pipeline” that happens before you ever even get near a VC. First is network bias.

advice 450

advice pitching venture capital VC 450

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2013

The industry finally has one of their own at the helm of the largest YouTube network. This followed an investment late last year by Time Warner in the company in a round totaling $36 million , led by Rachel Lam , head of their investment group. This has been a very welcome addition. Distribution costs have, too.

peer-to-peer 320

peer-to-peer media networking board 320

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 7, 2015

Four of my best performing companies-- Canary , Orchard, Ringly and Tinybop --were all pre-product investments. If you're putting yourself out there that you invest for a living and you want to see deals that fit into a certain criteria, then you should be willing to see those deals.

venture capital 370

venture capital capital ventures VC 370

Entrepreneur's Handbook

AUGUST 2, 2021

5 Ways to Encourage More Women Into Careers in Venture Capital It’s time to tear open the seemingly impenetrable ‘old boys’ network It’s no secret that founders seek out investors who value diversity and recognize the success that comes from having diverse teams. However, the question of how to make this a reality remains unanswered.

VC 111

VC venture capital mentorship leadership 111

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. I’m rooting for Meerkat to succeed as an independent network. 2/ it shows how big the opportunity for live video, and owning the “go live now” network can be. love Twitter. Exciting time.

energy 325

energy networking VC innovation 325

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JUNE 22, 2021

Whilst there are a wide range of LPs and you could have first meetings for months (and many VCs do), there is probably a much smaller number of LPs who want to invest in a fund your size, with your focus, and whose minimum or maximum check size lines up with what you’re seeking. Why Buy Me? What’s your unique selling proposition?

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investing investment ventures pitching 375