The Seraf Compass

MAY 10, 2023

Staying on top of the early stage investing world requires a lot of reading. One of the biggest trends we witnessed over the past few years is the rapid pace of new early stage venture fund formation combined with significant growth in the amount of capital invested.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

The world around us is being disrupted by the acceleration of technology into more industries and more consumer applications. Technology solutions are now used by authoritarians to monitor and control populations, to stymie an individual company’s economic prospects or to foment chaos through demagoguery. Are we in a bubble?”

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ventures VC venture capital funders 471

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. Venture Capital & Technology' That''s an interesting question.

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 12, 2014

If I was optimizing for cash, I would have been an investment banker a long time ago. The fund''s dollars are used both for investments and for administration--so lets''s say I wind up putting about 85% of the fund to work in actual investments. So, ten years from now, investments I make three years from now might be exiting.

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VC venture capital capital investing 419

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.

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VC mix-use opportunity investing 269

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

FEBRUARY 20, 2020

This page shows the highlights of this sale, including a video, a link to the investment deck, and a link to the offering circular. But regardless, we are starting to see how technologies like crypto can open up a market to everyone, or at least a lot more people, and that is very exciting to me. It may go there in the future.

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investing investment technology entrepreneurship 331

Revolution

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

Since the beginning of modern venture capital investing — a relatively nascent asset class — the industry has been biased toward funding what it knows best: founders with familiar demographics (white, male) in familiar geographies (Silicon Valley). One event held by a few investors focused on Black founders is clearly not enough.

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innovation investing investment pitching 264

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. It’s super easy to suss all this out.

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A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JUNE 1, 2021

When I look at all of the opportunities we are currently considering plus all of the investments we have made this year to date, what stands out most to me is the location of the founders and teams. And very little of it is in western Europe where most of our non-US investing has been for the last decade.

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venture capital capital investing investment 279

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?

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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

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VC venture capital investing investment 223

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

AUGUST 17, 2020

I woke up to a dream this morning where I was playing a game that was very similar to Turntable.fm , a failed effort to create a social music experience that had a moment back in 2011 and that I had invested in via USV. Investments that don’t work haunt me. It comes with the territory in VC. Then I woke up.

investing 205

investing investment VC venture capital 205

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 23, 2014

When I turn down the opportunity to invest in a startup, I really turn it down. 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. You''d rather know exactly why I didn''t do a deal than scratch your head over some opaque "VC speak".

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pitching VC venture capital opportunity 385

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

OCTOBER 15, 2020

I wrote yesterday , about the quarterly numbers for VC investing activity: If this was a student coming home with a report card, it would be straight As. Firms invested a total of $434 million in Q3—the lowest figure since the second quarter of 2017, according to PitchBook data. It feels like positive change is happening.

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VC innovation founder investing 345

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

I only say that because after years as a VC I can always tell when my peer group invested in something because “it seemed like it would make money” versus when they invested out of passion. On reflection of the role that I want to play as a VC it is clearly in the camp of passion. I’m a VC.

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peer-to-peer VC pitching entrepreneurs 373

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 & Technology'

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venture capital VC ventures capital 410

Venture Hacks

APRIL 17, 2019

Spearhead asked me to write a post on angel investing when they first launched. Charlie Munger says investing requires a latticework of mental models. Here are 11 lessons for your angel investing lattice: If you can’t decide, the answer is no. Investing takes years to learn, but improves for a lifetime.

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angel investing investing investment incubation 181

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

Let me start by saying that Clayton is one of the most influential people on my thoughts about markets that led to both the concept behind my first startup and my main theses in investing. Internationalization of Technology. We spoke about what succeeds early in technology market evolutions. So what did he actually say?

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education disruption entrepreneurship venture capital 403

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 16, 2024

Add on the fact that some people theorize that the need for venture capital dollars will peak, or potentially already has, and then decline because of the ever-decreasing cost of technology infrastructure as well as the increasing capability of AI to replace expensive humans. This is something I talk about a lot with my VC coaching clients.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

 —  @jasonlk How the Long Game Has Benefitted Upfront I was thinking about it this morning in particular and thinking about my own personal investment history. sold to Disney for $670 million and since our first investment was at < $10 million valuation we did quite well. Maker Studios?—?sold

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venture capital capital ventures VC 363

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 19, 2014

Go pitch a VC with an idea, and they''ll tell you to build it. If someone actually did check all these boxes, it would be a Series B deal, not a seed investment. Technology is moving faster, markets are changing more quickly and uncertainty seems to be increasing. Venture Capital & Technology' It frustrates me to no end.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Creating awareness for your brand and products is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. I am a VC. They are an investment bank that targets the technology & media sectors. I hand out money.

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mix-use advice VC technology 389

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

DECEMBER 15, 2020

In the most recent Pitchbook 2021 predictions , they project that Silicon Valley will make up less than 20% of all VC deals in 2021. In the first decade of USV, the 2000s, we mostly invested in NYC and Silicon Valley. In the second decade of USV, the 2010s, we invested throughout North America and Western Europe.

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VC entrepreneurship board investing 279

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 8, 2015

How I got to this investment was another long term story. But Fab fell into the trap that many companies who go down the VC route fall into--too much money, too soon, and growing too fast. Venture Capital & Technology' I was a huge Fab.com buyer in the early days when we backed it at First Round Capital.

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venture capital creativity VC financing 411

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 11, 2021

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Charlie O'Donnell - VC (@ceonyc) She’s the best. I’d like to invest in enterprise companies that make the experience of working better for all—from benefits and professional development to company culture. These are solutions I want to invest in. This is my daughter, Mirren.

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investing investment startup disruption 186

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.

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startup ecosystem VC networking venture capital 342

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

NOVEMBER 15, 2021

These investments have a high failure rate. In my experience, roughly half of seed stage investments fail completely, wiping out everyone’s investment, including the founding team’s. The exit values in VC have increased significantly over the last decade leading to escalating entry values. That makes sense.

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VC sustainability investing investment 363

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

"Square, the payment technology company founded and led by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, this evening raised $243 million by pricing its initial public offering at $9 per share, which would imply an market value of around $2.9 The only people who should be disappointed where the regular folks invested in these T. A "major disappointment".

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angel investing venture capital VC media 408

Revolution

MAY 23, 2023

To shed additional light on this issue and its ultimate impact on startups, I partnered with the Center for Real Estate Technology & Innovation to ask proptech founders about their capital and strategic partners. This is largely driven by large investment flows from strategic and tourist investors.

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real estate venture capital VC innovation 278

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 14, 2014

Last week, there was a Business Insider article measuring the percent of female founded companies that NYC seed funds invest in. That means you actually have a *better* shot, statistically, of getting VC investment at these firms, statistically, once you actually pitch. In truth, that''s what''s actually driving my investments.

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A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

MAY 5, 2021

There has been this narrative about investing in VC funds that you have to get into the top quartile (25%) or possibly the top decile (10%) in order to generate good returns. I have heard that for as long as I have been in VC and probably have written it here a few times. Well, it turns out that is not right.

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VC board investing investment 279

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

At the time I pointed out: “If I had realized exits almost certainly it would be because I invested in a company that failed. “I think the best VCs help drive exits alongside their entrepreneurs. I have done 6 VC investments – all within the past 20 months. Lemons ripen early, great companies take time.”

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VC venture capital financing finance 387

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Today I’m handing her the largest A-round check I’ve ever written as a VC as we lead her $10 million A-Round at uBeam. I said simply, “That’s the most ambitious project I’ve seen since I became a VC.” The practical uses for uBeam technology is limitless. That was three months ago this week.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Prorata rights are one of the most important rights of a private market technology investors and yet are seldom fully understood. They often create the biggest tensions between investors who are investing at different stages in the business. Put simply – if you invested early in Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2015

As an active investor in the Los Angeles technology market we’re always seeking to better understand the data and trends of why our market has grown so rapidly since 2009. If you’re an LP and want to know who these emerging funds are please call me and/or attend our Annual VC Summit.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

As is often said if you don’t get at least a few fellow VCs (and entrepreneurs) scratching their heads you may not be funding ideas with enough upside. This was certainly the case when I invested in a small YouTube video production company called Maker Studios that recently sold to Disney for just shy of $1 billion.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

One of the least understood parts of the venture capital industry and venture capital firms is how investment decisions actually get made. For anything that would be considered a normal investment for the partnership most firms try to make sure every partner has seen the deal and has a chance to weigh in.

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