Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

This is part of a series of advice for founders who need to raise money from venture capitalists. The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. an investment in your company.

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VC advice entrepreneurs energy 332

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. That pitch has never excited any VC in the history of VC funding. Ducks head.]

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VC pitching peer-to-peer founder 297

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

In the VC insider baseball world a discussion has gone on about “VC platforms” over the past 5 or so years. While firms define platforms differently, let’s just say they are the services that a VC offers outside of investment capital and partner time on boards or providing intros.

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VC peer-to-peer mix-use leadership 198

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In the first post in this three part series I described why I believe the VC market froze between September 2008 – April 2009. I’m not a doomsday guy, but just believe that we won’t see a V shaped recovery, which could make VC funding more difficult for tech start-ups (don’t shoot the messenger!).

VC 269

VC startup advice innovation 269

Entrepreneur's Handbook

JUNE 15, 2022

You’ll receive the best practical startup advice straight to your inbox every week. In this week’s edition, we discuss: Creating successful online courses, Unexpected turnarounds to become investors, Sources of investment during an economic downturn. Send blog posts, not sales emails ?—?Rather This applies in both ways. ??

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investing investment incubation venture capital 52

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.

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advice board VC investing 327

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC. Quick caveats: having fewer investors (3-5) is better than many investors (10-15) and PLEASE make sure you hire a great lawyer who has experience in doing start-ups to avoid pitfalls that will make VC harder down the line. They have advice to share. They exist in every town.

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advice VC pitching angel investing 291

Entrepreneurs' Organization

DECEMBER 15, 2023

Evaluate investors thoroughly, not just based on the size of their check, but whether they can provide strategic advice and introductions that support your vision. Seek investor advice to strengthen your business model. After landing an initial investment, founders feel confirmed that their model and pitch work.

pitching 218

pitching consulting advice communities 218

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

One of the questions I’m most often asked is, “what’s it like being a VC?&# I’ve been a VC for nearly 3 years now. Since I answer this all the time anyway I thought it might make an interesting blog post. But let’s face it, as a VC you spend time with whichever companies you want.

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VC consulting entrepreneurs creativity 312

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

Beware of VC Seagulls, who shit on you and then fly away (or worse yet leave you with Red Herrings). This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. I write this post as a warning to pick your VC’s carefully. I like to say to first-time entrepreneurs, picking a VC is more permanent than marriage.

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VC board consulting advice 297

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 5, 2012

Most conversations don't end in funding or even a follow up meeting, so your aim should be to get specific, helpful advice that moves you forward. Are you blogging really insightful takes on your industry? 7) When being introduced to a VC, you follow up first, not them. Ask me those, or did you just want me to toss up a big "9.5"

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VC pitching disruption advice 360

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

I was reading Chris Dixon’s blog tonight. I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. I just completed an exercise where I went out to hire a new associate for my VC firm, GRP Partners.

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VC peer-to-peer advice consulting 337

Startup Grind

AUGUST 13, 2018

Some of Ann’s investments include Lyft, Ayasdi, Xamarin, Refinery29, JoyRun, TaskRabbit, and Modcloth. Given the success of her investments she was on the 2017 Midas List of top 100 venture capitalists. What and when was your very first investment? I really admire David Swensen, Chief Investment Officer at Yale.

VC 111

VC entrepreneurship pitching strategy 111

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. I eventually stumbled on to the best source of high-quality deal flow imaginable – blogging. There is one source that was always problematic for me – intros from investment bankers. They are venture bankers not investment bankers.

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VC advice pitching entrepreneurs 347

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2010

They had received a term sheet from a VC and were wondering whether to work with this firm. You’re tied at the hip to your VC. So my first advice is not to rush in the fund raising process. Get to know VCs over a long period of time so that when you’re ready to get engaged you feel you know their character.

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VC advice venture capital entrepreneurs 298

Hunter Walk

SEPTEMBER 12, 2022

The common VC passes are pretty cliche. And while I passed on leading their seed, I did contribute a smaller amount into the financing, along with three subsequent pro rata/super pro rata investments. But the initial pass was, in investment terms, a huge mistake and something I regret. Would Have In The First Place.

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VC SaaS culture advice 80

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

Every tech or major news journal in the country is preparing to write their Snap, Inc (creators of Snapchat, Spectacles, etc) stories and many of them seem to want a “How does it feel to have missed this investment story.” My job as a VC isn’t to beat myself up or any other partner up for the one deal we didn’t do. Mostly kidding.

investing 214

investing investment VC pitching 214

Founder Bounty

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

The team, the funding (if you have any) the idea, the timing, the advisors, the pilots to get your investment. The point is whatever business your trying to build its good to have coaching advice and mentoring from people in the space your trying to build. Start blogging around the theme your business is going to be about.

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advice media VC accelerator 98

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 3, 2010

This was really a fun week at TWiVC because we decided to have an entrepreneur come and talk about raising capital rather than having a VC come on. In particular I tried to do most of the “entrepreneur advice on VC” up front so that if you don’t want to watch our views on the deals you don’t have to. They sponsor TWiVC.

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VC founder advice ventures 214

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 3, 2012

Instead of just e-mailing people and dealing with them directly, as we do in person, we're a blog post away from a flamewar. I think Fred was trying to offer some friendly advice to young investors that you're going to "take lumps" and that it's worth learning from those who are more experienced.

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VC board venture capital ventures 274

Onevest

APRIL 1, 2015

By Michael "Luni" Libes In the traditional world of early stage, Angel and VC investing, money is local. Studies show that over 80% of funding at Angel groups and Series A VCs goes to businesses in the same city/region as the funders. Over in the impact investing space, this rule is not true. Read the original post here.

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angel investing investing investment funders 110

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

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. Brunson’s short and to-the-point blog post, “ It’s Called Networking, Not Using.” It’s why I wrote the blog post on 50 Coffee Meetings. Be helpful.

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advice VC networking entrepreneurs 407

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 15, 2010

We started this week’s show with a Q&A session where I answered viewer questions about fund raising and the VC industry. If you enjoy this blog I think you’ll enjoy watching the first 14 minutes of this video (just click on the image of me below). What advice do you have for people who want to get into venture capital?

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VC ventures venture capital advice 210

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. I wrote the summary notes in this blog post. The “Triple Play&# of VC Presentations.

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VC board pitching venture capital 299

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. When he starts his blog I’ll let you know.

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ventures VC strategy advice 324

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.

peer-to-peer 373

peer-to-peer VC pitching entrepreneurs 373

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

The first three skills I espoused were: access to the highest-quality deal-flow, domain knowledge of the topic area in which you’re investing and access to VCs to help fund the next stages of development. Markets like these are very kind to angel investors because you get taken out early and see a nice pop on your investment.

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angel investing investing investment disruption 283

Hunter Walk

JUNE 26, 2023

Chris Neumann (of Canada’s Panache Ventures ) checks these boxes so I asked him to come on my blog (currently less consistent, hopefully still the other two) for Five Questions. Chris Neumann: I’ve been lucky to have been a part of 5 startups going back to the late-90s, including two that were VC-backed (DataHero and Aster Data).

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founder ventures culture advice 95

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2016

In 2008 I started VC blogging. I had blogged when I was an entrepreneur. Ironic to be self-centered while you’re trying to offer advice to others. But how can you invest in technology unless you’re going to use the tools and understand them? In 2011 I started using Instagram. Sometimes they’re just a bit of fun.

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networking advice VC financing 230

David Teten VC

MAY 16, 2017

I particularly like OpenLP.com , Origins , and the Raise blog , all of which include content from multiple LPs. . Limited partner due diligence on VC and private equity funds. I’ve collected several lists of limited partners focused on VC. Aggreg8r: LPs in Emerging Micro-VCs. Relationship Science.

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ventures investing investment VC 74

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

I rarely talk to any startup entrepreneur or VC who doesn’t feel it and somehow long for simpler times despite the benefits we all enjoy from increased enthusiasm for our sector. There are too many pulls & tugs at our elbows for time, for coffee meetings, for advice or speaking engagements or cocktail parties or dinners.

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advice VC entrepreneurs transportation 398

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

The major battle for press is a battle for “mindshare” and it’s exactly the reason I blog. I am a VC. They are an investment bank that targets the technology & media sectors. Their website proclaims, “LUMA Partners is a different kind of investment bank. I hand out money.

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mix-use advice VC technology 389

Founder Bounty

DECEMBER 17, 2022

In venture capital, you get paid a management fee whatever happens plus a carry of its one of your investable company exits. A great example is FTX and sequoia investment in them. You don't really need to do that much at the end of the day. Its a great life and its work trying to get into.

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venture capital capital ventures startup 98

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 21, 2023

Startups and VC FreshToHome, an Indian meat startup going after a piece of the country’s food delivery market, has a new backer in Amazon, which led a $104 million round in funding. Manish writes that this investment marks the largest check Amazon’s Smbhav Venture Fund has written thus far. It was “game on” for hackers today.

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micromobility VC creativity advice 85

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. 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. Startup Advice' That seems pretty superficial!”.

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ventures venture capital advice VC 343

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2015

I’m so tired of seeing young entrepreneurs get screwed by their angel investors on convertible notes and I know I can’t convince you not to do it so I’d like to offer one simple bit of advice to help you avoid getting screwed (at least on one part of your note). They get their full investment as a 1x liquidation preference.

entrepreneurs 381

entrepreneurs VC advice financing 381

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

By spending more time educating your board on your business you get more valuable advice from them. Your goal should be to turn your VCs into extended members of your team to get real value from them. So what are Rob’s secret hacks that he didn’t spill in his blog post? . What Rob wrote in his post is right.

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board VC advice pitching 365