This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2023

It will be the 105th deal out of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, the firm I started back in September 2012, and it will be the last deal I’ll be making out of my third fund. It will also be my last venture capital deal. Around that time, I’ll be able to mark twenty years since I started as the first analyst at Union Square Ventures.

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ventures investment investing VC 545

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2015

When you see pitch after pitch – what works and what doesn’t – you start to get a sense of patterns of business model approaches, go-to-market strategies and the like. So we discussed his moving to LA for a while and working in our offices and developing his ideas and we decided to formalize it.

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ventures pitching entrepreneurship advice 420

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2015

I think of venture capital as a service business. I went through eight years of Jesuit education, both at Regis High School and Fordham University--and one of the tenets they tried to convey was to be "Men and Women for Others". That's largely how I think about my job. How can I leverage what I know to help people?

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venture capital capital pitching ventures 379

American Entrepreneurship

JANUARY 28, 2025

Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, a leading venture capital firm, says, “The thing that gets me most excited is the founder whos obsessed with solving a problem that matters, and is determined to keep going no matter what.” The keyword is compelling.

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pitching investment investing startup 77

Dream It

AUGUST 10, 2020

Word choice is important and even the smallest detail can make or break your startup pitch. Adam Dakin , Managing Director of Dreamit Healthtech, sees founders make the same common pitch mistakes over and over. Luckily, he’s a pro when it comes to pitching investors and distills the advice so it’s easy to avoid.

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pitching disruption startup advice 341

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

We’ve been dying to tell you all for a while that we had raised a new venture capital fund and of course given SEC filing requirements the story was somewhat already scooped by the always-in-the-know Dan Primack a few weeks ago. VCs need to go to 20 cities and pitch one firm in each location!” We raised $280 million.

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ventures VC venture capital real estate 396

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

OCTOBER 14, 2020

The NVCA and Pitch Book are out with their Q3 report on the VC industry and what they report is that the VC industry continues to be very active throughout the pandemic. The NVCA and Pitch Book are out with their Q3 report on the VC industry and what they report is that the VC industry continues to be very active throughout the pandemic.

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ventures VC pitching innovation 362

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 18, 2019

Brooklyn Bridge Ventures , the pre-seed and seed stage VC fund I run in NYC, has invested in 64 companies in the last six and a half years. The diversity is the direct result of our mission—to build the most accessible venture capital fund in NY. Twenty-five of them have at least one female co-founder. Fifteen had co-founders over 40.

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venture capital capital ventures peer-to-peer 413

Dream It

SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

Many of these new red flags that occur during virtual pitching are easy to fix. In this Dreamit Dose, Healthtech MD Adam Dakin provides 5 simple rules to avoid giving investors the wrong impression when pitching remotely. We hear startups pitch everyday and far too often founders end up joining the meeting late. Read Part 1.

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pitching advice health founder 285

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 22, 2020

Pitch deck outlines are ok, but they don’t say much about what you’re trying to convey besides particular categories that may or may not be relevant. Too often people only pitch what they have, not where they’re going—and they forget that fundraising is selling tickets to the future, not asking for rewards for the past.

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pitching VC peer-to-peer founder 324

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 14, 2014

Brooklyn Bridge Ventures came in first, with a whopping 61%. Lerer Ventures was second, with just under 20%. Take the most widely used number--that way fewer women are getting venture funding than guys. Most companies don''t ever raise venture capital and they do just fine. Well, it''s gotta mean something, right?

founder 392

founder pitching venture capital mix-use 392

Dream It

FEBRUARY 27, 2020

“VCs are looking for a grand slam,” according to Steve Barsh, Managing Partner at Dreamit Ventures. Selling a compelling vision is so critical that some investors weigh it more heavily than the pitch deck itself. By Charles LaCalle Director of Sourcing at Dreamit Ventures. It’s not about the slide deck.

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pitching incumbents transportation strategy 286

Entrepreneurs' Organization

DECEMBER 15, 2021

Maximilian Fleitmann , an Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) member primarily based in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany, is the CEO of BaseTemplates and Partner at Richmond View Ventures. He has raised venture capital for his startups, helped hundreds of founders craft their pitch decks and fundraising strategy, and invested as a business angel.

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pitching entrepreneurs venture capital ventures 256

Dream It

MAY 29, 2019

Startup pitch meetings are pretty predictable. You walk into a venture fund’s conference room or Zoom room (if they’re progressive), pitch the partners, offer to answer their questions, maybe ask them a bland question or two, and then leave the meeting to await a response. Steve Barsh.

pitching 284

pitching VC investing investment 284

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

It's a story that just hit a milestone--a $4mm round of venture funding that I'm ecstatic to say Brooklyn Bridge Ventures just led. But just because you could see them everywhere doesn't make them an obvious venture bet--nor does it tell the story of how the round even came to be. At least, I thought it was.

venture capital 362

venture capital ventures capital consumer retail 362

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

She was pitching for a pre-seed round of $400k. Founders hit the street with their pitch deck, some make it, and some don’t, but nearly all of them ascribe a lot more human influence over the process than there probably is. Or that venture capital is a meritocracy? I’m a female founder. I don’t have a technical co-founder.

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advice pitching venture capital VC 450

Dream It

APRIL 21, 2020

When pitching investors, remember that your ask is like porridge; it follows the goldilocks ratio and has to be just right. Here are some common red flags for venture investors: Red Flag #1 : Ask isn’t tied to specific fundable milestones. So the question remains: what is the appropriate amount of funding founders should request?

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ventures pitching frameworks founder 351

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 1, 2014

We all have our inherent biases and what I am not arguing here is that the venture capital world is a fair playing field for anyone. I repeat: I AM NOT ARGUING THAT VENTURE CAPITAL IS FAIR TO ANYONE. billion went to women-led ventures.". I AM NOT ARGUING THAT WOMEN AREN''T SEEKING VENTURE CAPITAL. Sounds awful, right?

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venture capital capital ventures founder 304

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 22, 2015

I'm excited to be able to finally announce Brooklyn Bridge Ventures ' investment in Clubhouse , a company I agreed to back before I even knew what it was. We stayed in touch, doing a couple of tris together, chatting about startups, and venture, life, etc. In 2010, a bunch of techies got together to do the next year's NYC Triathlon.

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pitching construction development communities 334

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 15, 2020

In venture, it’s all about getting an opportunity to make partner and being included in the carry—the economic upside of a fund. There are so many different ways to interpret the data on who gets venture and why. Lots of the data is skewed toward later stage rounds and I’ve never ever seen stats on who is pitching.

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venture capital ventures capital mentorship 312

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2016

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. Non VC Growth Rounds.

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venture capital capital ventures VC 271

Dream It

APRIL 12, 2020

In New York, for instance, there are now venture funds with a West Coast mentality and firms with an East Coast mentality; the same is true for firms in San Francisco. Will a financial crisis affect how venture funds deploy capital? The biggest question for a venture firm is whether LPs will fail to make capital calls in a crisis. “It

ventures 334

ventures startup capital board 334

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 23, 2014

It doesn''t help them improve their pitch or adjust their model. If you take a smart home pitch, and you turn it down because you''re not certain how the smart home segment will play out, what you should have done was tell the entrepreneur this, but offer up the opportunity to shed some light. Venture Capital & Technology'

pitching 367

pitching VC venture capital opportunity 367

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 24, 2014

Not every VC used to get pitched by VC funds for a living and has seen hundreds and hundreds of VC pitch decks. Venture capitalists play an important role in burgeoning ecosystems. Venture Capital & Technology' Not every potentially good VC previously worked for Fred Wilson and Josh Kopelman.

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accelerator mentorship VC incubation 371

Dream It

MAY 19, 2021

In this Dreamit Dose, Managing Director Adam Dakin presents his view on the right way to answer it after hearing hundreds, if not thousands, of founder pitches. Make the specific amount you are raising and corresponding milestones clear at the beginning of the pitch, and do not give a range. The amount you're raising is your ask.

pitching 393

pitching board health VC 393

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 16, 2014

If all my deals came as intros from trusted connections that I know for years versus at founder pitch events that''s interesting data. If you meet someone at a pitch event, they''ve already got a company and they''re looking to close as quickly as possible. In fact, that''s what I tend to do--at least, what I say that I do.

VC 417

VC pitching networking venture capital 417

Paul G. Silva

FEBRUARY 25, 2025

How Iteration Transformed Valley Venture Mentors Before I co-founded Valley Venture Mentors (VVM) and for all of my time there, we experimented with different ways to connect startups with mentors. Startups pitched for 10 minutes each. pitches , back-to-back, with no Q&A. It wasn’t scalable.

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energy mentorship pitching entrepreneurship 130

Revolution

JANUARY 27, 2025

Reflections on Georgetowns 2025 pitch competition from TedLeonsis Last week, Georgetown Universitys McDonough School of Business once again became a launchpad for the next generation of bold thinkers and doers.

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entrepreneurship capital pitching startup ecosystem 100

Dream It

FEBRUARY 1, 2022

When pitching a potential investor or customer, time is of the essence. While politicians may be masters at deflecting away from questions they are asked, that is not productive for a founder pitching. By Elliot Levy , Healthtech Associate at Dreamit Ventures Book Office Hours with me.

VC 513

VC pitching health founder 513

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 17, 2014

Takes an hour or an hour and a half at most and everyone gets the benefit of a public conversation--versus three or four hours of pitches. Those kinds of requests feel desperate and not only undermine their pitch, but it''s still real time that adds up. Venture Capital & Technology' Panel prep calls. That makes no sense to me.

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pitching finance financing incubation 344

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

I can't think of a single time when a white man came to pitch me and I told him his fundraising plans weren't aggressive enough. Yet, for some reason, the goals for her pitch were incremental--despite being in an extremely hot space. First off, the vast majority of venture dollars goes to white men. Venture investing is hard.

advice 419

advice founder pitching VC 419

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 14, 2019

If you’re lacking for track record as a firm, here’s three exercises you should walk through to help turn your pitch and due diligence meetings from guesswork into something more substantive. Obviously, that’s ideal, but that’s not where everyone starts. This is actually easily referenced. For example, let’s say I had a more national fund.

ventures 257

ventures angel investing board advice 257

American Entrepreneurship

MARCH 5, 2024

Three finalists received training via workshops and coaching from business advisors, fine-tuning their business plans and pitches for the showcase and pitch competition. In addition to its classroom curriculum, NFTE hosts the Founders Forum Pitch Competition.

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pitching founder entrepreneurship education 111

Dream It

JULY 31, 2019

The press enhances this misconception around YCombinator demo days, where the 3-day pitch event is perceived like an auction, with investors fighting each other for the best deals. Many programs still put a lot of focus on demo day rehearsals, prep, and on getting the pitch deck just right. It did for me, at least.

startup 334

startup accelerator pitching venture capital 334

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 31, 2014

Even if you haven''t gotten offers yet, your time is valuable and you can''t pitch everyone. You feel like you have a decent shot of successfully raising, so you want to prioritize who to pitch to first. When you pitch, tell a firm how they can be helpful. How did you pick who to pitch? Venture Capital & Technology'

VC 379

VC pitching venture capital capital 379

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 11, 2015

That's one thing you have to realize about venture capital. I realized that I judge a lot of hackathons, pitch competitions and other various things on the weekends, and felt like I was losing at least 2 out of my 8 weekend days--so I gave myself back those days. Out of those, I take about 150 new pitches a year--about 3 a week.

VC 419

VC pitching board construction 419

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).

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innovation investment investing pitching 264