Dream It

AUGUST 29, 2019

At the seed stage, talking about exit strategy always seems a bit premature, even presumptuous. But this topic is always in the back of mind for VCs and other investors, so it’s important to formulate a plan around the topic, even if those exit strategies might change as you grow your startup. Take Google as an example.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

And I am often approached by entrepreneurs in cities which don’t have a vibrant VC community. If you don’t live in a major VC zone, I have some tips for how to make it easier to raise Venture Capital. ” Most VCs view it as their responsibility to mentor, debate, cajole and generally assist with investments they make.

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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? The way I choose conferences and events, and my strategy once I''m there, is based more around who I''m going to back two years from now than it is who is raising now. That''s an interesting question. But does the data play that out?

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

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. It’s not uncommon for a VC to ask you how much capital you’ve raised and what the post-money valuation was on your last round. So why does a VC ask you?

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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.

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JULY 27, 2014

Scott and I agree on nearly everything: The VC structure is changing and there appears to be a bifurcation into small & large VCs with an impact on “traditionally sized” VCs. The only point we didn’t seem totally aligned on was what we happening to the “middle of the VC market.”

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JUNE 13, 2018

As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. Remember that the goal of an email to a VC or an introduction from a trusted mutual connection is simply to get you the meeting. Remember that the goal of an email to a VC or an introduction from a trusted mutual connection is simply to get you the meeting.

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FEBRUARY 24, 2016

I’m a stickler for focus, being efficient with capital and building out operational excellence, so our strategy initially was very constrained. MakeSpace , the leading provider of next-generation storage for consumers, today announced an additional $17.5 It’s no wonder incumbents don’t want us to exist. The Early Years.

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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.

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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. VCs have different views and strategies on this.

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This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 24, 2014

Not every potentially good VC previously worked for Fred Wilson and Josh Kopelman. Not every VC used to get pitched by VC funds for a living and has seen hundreds and hundreds of VC pitch decks. So what about a Techstars-like program for new VCs? How can we leverage them to help create the next generation of VCs?

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

If you are a super young, well-connected, Stanford CS or EE, worked at Facebook early, have a bit o’ dosh and have VCs chasing you … you are exempt. Delaying going out of business gives you way more chances at product / market fit than any other strategy I know of. Your VC is right. You’re full of s**t!

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American Entrepreneurship

OCTOBER 17, 2024

With the recent funding of AirOps, marketers have a platform that builds and scales go-to-market strategies using human + AI content workflows that produce best-in-class brand content. The startup’s platform was quickly embraced by marketing agencies and in-house teams. The power of AI is unfolding across industries.

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creativity VC entrepreneurship strategy 97

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 23, 2012

So much of this is gut feel with a thin later of strategy retrofitted to seem more than random. Try and figure out exactly what a startup had to show at the moment a VC chose to invest in them. The biggest problem is that what gets lauded as successful strategy isn't replicable--or at minimum should never be advocated.

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This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

They imagine it to look something like this: They think that there are some deals that are automatic yeses and some that are just bad, but there’s a whole lot that are kind of in the middle—deals that can be nudged over to one side or the other based on things like clever fundraising strategy or the presence of bias. This isn’t surprising.

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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. There, some loose thoughts on magnets.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

You can watch the video above for a very brief overview of why we rebranded and where we see our place in the VC ecosystem along with what has changed in our industry. Relaunching our brand is part of our larger initiative to build a VC firm of the future. Nearly four months ago we rebranded at Upfront Ventures.

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JUNE 27, 2013

If you’ve been following the press about VC funds you’ll know this is no small feat. VC has operated as an “old boys club”, with access to capital often requiring entrance through an elite university engineering department in one of two cities. This month we closed our 4th fund of $200 million.

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

No VC will be so naive as not to see straight through it. When I first became a VC, seed rounds were typically $500k – $1.5 There weren’t a lot of seed funds in 2007 so this was often done by angels, funding consortia or sometimes early-stage funds that existed then (First Round Capital, True Ventures, SoftTech VC, etc.).

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

Working with early-stage teams : coaching, mentoring, setting strategy, rolling up sleeves: 9/10. “I think the best VCs help drive exits alongside their entrepreneurs. I have done 6 VC investments – all within the past 20 months. Sourcing high-quality leads : 9/10. Since then? None have exited.

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David Teten VC

MARCH 1, 2022

The easiest way to work with and for VC funds is to become a part-time scout, getting paid for sourcing investments. How to find a job as a VC scout. VC recruiters list and compensation data. How to negotiate a partner role at a VC or private equity firm. Syllabus for how to launch, manage, and invest a VC fund.

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OCTOBER 14, 2015

I spoke at Michael Kim’s excellent annual Cendana VC/LP conference today. You can read it in VCs discussions about hedge fund managers, activist investors or the need to have dual-share voting structures. Today I called it, “our own little VC led, portfolio-by-portfolio company version of RIP Good Times from 7 years ago.”

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DECEMBER 6, 2013

He had been working as a strategy consultant post b-school at Monitor and worked closely with a good family friend of mine who recommended I meet him. 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.

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OCTOBER 12, 2014

Their strategy might be to have 25 companies of $3-7 million total invested and thus $10 million might be more risk in one deal than they typically like to have. Neither case is better or worse – they more depend on investor strategy and their outlook on the potential of the company.

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OCTOBER 11, 2016

Gregg Johnson, CEO of Invoca For the first 5 years or so after I became a VC I didn’t talk much about what I thought a VC should be excellent at since frankly I wasn’t sure. It’s easy to think the role of a VC is to have strong opinions about markets, trends, tech dynamics and so forth. The role of VC is sparring partner.

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FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Yes, VC / Startup Funding is up Massively If you look at how much VC firms have raised from Limited Partners (LPs) over the past 2 decades you’ll see that we’ve returned to a level that we haven’t seen since 1999. If you want the whole deck you can find it on SlideShare but I’ve written up a short summary with commentary below.

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David Teten VC

FEBRUARY 17, 2025

At Coolwater Capital , the Y Combinator for VC funds, we assess this as part of our diligence process. However, forming your new fund also typically requires making important decisions about firm strategy, culture, how you make decisions, budget, data ownership, and other issues.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 5, 2014

What is the right organizational strategy for a large UK conglomerate to operate more effectively? What would the right technology strategy for Telecom Italia be in 5 years. In my experience many VC’s fall into this “I’m expected to know all the answers” trap. But much of the work was unknowable.

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David Teten VC

APRIL 16, 2025

Download here our Template General Partner Entity Agreement for Your New Private Equity or VC Fund. Thanks to my coauthor Dolph M. Hellman, Esq.

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A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

MARCH 28, 2022

So I saw this tweet by Semil Shah yesterday: A friend who works in an industry far from tech startups & VC asked what would be the single article I’d share to read on each topic. It is about how a VC can compete and win a deal that many others want. Talk about the strategy issues facing the company.

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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.]

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AsiaTechDaily

DECEMBER 27, 2022

Register TradeDog Group, the parent company of TD VC that is based in Dubai in the UAE, has announced the launch of their $100M Web3 “special situation” fund that will be allocated in projects with good products and businesses with struggling token markets. Bookmark ( 0 ) Please login to bookmark. Username or Email Address. Remember Me.

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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. The biggest difference I cite is that Venture Capital often feels like an “individual sport” while startups are a “team sport.”

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

Contrast that with a VC conversation I had. In case you don’t know – as VCs we have have 2 sets of customers: LPs (limited partners) who invest money in our funds and entrepreneurs (who we in turn give money to and help support them in building businesses we hope will be valuable). If not, somebody else will.

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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.” Through many meetings discussing strategy, approach, recruiting, financing, etc.

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