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. Same with VC. these are simply guidelines.

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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!).

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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. I often tell people that raising venture capital is more difficult than getting married. Not so in venture capital. You’re tied at the hip to your VC. But what was the VC like when the chips were down?

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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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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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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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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. 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. Advice to VCs Startup Advice' What stage?

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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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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. But take prompts from the VC.

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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. Perhaps the biggest piece of new news is that after 17 years of operations we’ve changed our name from GRP Partners to Upfront Ventures. Well, the venture capital industry has changed a lot in the past 20 years … and we have too.

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ventures venture capital advice VC 343

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

Nearly four months ago we rebranded at Upfront Ventures. 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.

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ventures VC strategy advice 324

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. Hunter Walk: So why venture capital, why early stage, and why Canada? Everyone subscribe to his blog. Like a month or two.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. I just want to figure out what a fair valuation is.&# I figured all the VC’s talked so we should. But this example above is all entrepreneur math, not the VC’s.

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founder VC venture capital entrepreneurs 405

Entrepreneur's Handbook

JUNE 15, 2022

You’ll receive the best practical startup advice straight to your inbox every week. Send blog posts, not sales emails ?—?Rather Rather than send “Course open, buy now, 2 hours left” emails, provide value through blog posts or other content, and add CTA at the end. ?? Welcome to another edition of our new newsletter!

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investing investment incubation venture capital 52

TechCrunch

MARCH 13, 2021

During his free time, he started a blog to tell his friends back home about his life out west, and also to recommend TV shows. Slowly, Mike’s Bloggity Blog became one of Canada’s premier entertainment sites, and Morrison found himself with a local newspaper column as well as regular television and radio appearances. venture capital.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

Greycroft is Alan’s venture capital firm that recently raised its second fund ($130 million) with offices in both New York and LA. I’m going to save that for a future blog post. And awesome to get to spend time with Ian Sigalow “comparing notes” (VC speak ). Greycroft – Why Accountants Don’t Run Startups.

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peer-to-peer advice VC board 279

Hunter Walk

DECEMBER 11, 2023

I *think* Daniel and I met at a VC happy hour many years ago. Originally backed by venture capital, in 2021 Daniel worked with TPG , a large private equity firm, to make them the majority investor. It might ‘exit’ again at a later point (anything from a sale to an IPO), but it’s no long dependent on VC funding.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

But honestly there are times when being a VC can feel like that, too. And they will offer you some of the best business advice you will ever receive if you’re open to it. VENTURE CAPITAL. And finally that brings me to obvious topic of venture capital. And it’s not just lawyers. No exceptions.”

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I was reading Danielle Morrill’s blog post today on whether one’s “ Startup Burn Rate is Normal. ” Stay lean and only raise a big round if you DO find product / market fit and which point you want to loosen the belt quickly and raise the capital to do so. ” I highly recommend reading it. Profitability.

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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

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

She hasn’t raised any venture capital. It represents the great majority of entrepreneurship and eschews the fairytale rags-to-VC-riches stories we so often read about in the press. So Tracy began keeping a blog about … (what else?) She did her first tech startup after the age of 30. That may soon change.

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TechCrunch

MAY 7, 2022

This week, a spate of tech companies – largely those valued above $1 billion from their venture capital investors – announced reductions in their workforce. For more thoughts, read a round-up of all the tech layoffs this past week , and then head to TechCrunch+ for some advice on how to navigate the market.

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Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2009

This is part of my blog series “Pitching a VC.&#. I’ve sat through a lot of VC pitches and having been CEO of an enterprise software firm for many years I’ve also sat through many customer meetings with sales teams.

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 11, 2012

I can't put up my track record on my blog, which I'd happily do--whether I have any exits (even though it is theoretically public what I've worked on and who might have sold to a company that rhymes with hype) and how the other companies are doing. Want to know why there aren't more female partners at VC funds? scratches bald head].

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David Teten VC

MAY 16, 2017

Historically, the process of winning capital from limited partners has been opaque. 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. my presentation on raising capital for tech companies .

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

What I *SHOULD HAVE* considered was that I was in college in a time when there were no digital cameras and I’m very thankful for that or I likely wouldn’t be writing this blog post today. My job as a VC isn’t to beat myself up or any other partner up for the one deal we didn’t do. That’s a benefit for us as a local VC.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

In his blog he says, “I responded that I thought it was stupid. Think about venture capital. Those that were around 30+ years ago never had to think about branding – there were hardly any other VCs. But if you were going to start a venture capital fund today, you’d want to stand out.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. 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. They are venture bankers not investment bankers.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Contrary to popular opinion I actually believe crowd-funding is best used after seed capital or venture capital. And you need somebody who is committed to keeping up your presence in blogs, social media and other online forums. It super charges a business that is closer to product delivery.

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This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 5, 2011

He was interested in venture capital and was a year away from graduation. I realized that a position at Union Square Ventures was going to be open in a year and that he had a terrific chance of getting it. Just start looking for blog posts on "10 SEO tips for startups" or "How to write a marketing survey".

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Hunter Walk

AUGUST 26, 2022

From Box to Glossier, and Comms to Venture Capital, Ashley Mayer Is Carving a Pretty Unique Path. And then take your experience and turn it into a piece of thought leadership career advice to share with people reading this. What She’s Learned, And What You Can Learn From Her. We had overlapping circles and then became friends.

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FundersClub

JUNE 12, 2017

Venture capital investing offers different challenges than those associated with tech entrepreneurship, but Alex Mittal, co-founder and CEO of FundersClub, approached the sphere of venture capital the same way he did as a tech founder previously: is there a better way to do this? Why have you switched to the dark side?

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series, “ Pitching a VC.&# Getting a meeting with a prominent angel or VC is difficult enough. Some advice on how to do that was covered in this link – Getting Access to a VC. If you haven’t read how to build VC relationships and demonstrate traction make sure to read it.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

When I first read Paul Graham’s blog post on “High Resolution&# Financing I read it as a treatise arguing that convertible notes are better than equity. Most early-stage entrepreneurs who have worked with me (either as an angel or as a seed VC) know that I don’t rely at all on the social proof of other investors.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

By definition, you read blogs. But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? People often ask me why I started blogging. GRP Partners last fund is the single best performing VC fund in the US (prequin data) for its vintage year). Absofuckinglutely. accessibility.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Frankly, I think venture capital is that way, too. How do VCs break out of group think when they are shuttling from one board meeting to the next, from one conference to the other and talking with all the same people? How does the world in Los Angeles intersect differently with venture capital? go on, click it ).

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2011

tl;dr version: If you’re an entrepreneur or VC or will be working in this industry - buy this. When I first started as a startup CEO in 1999 there were no guides on raising venture capital. 3) VCs are anal about things like voting thresholds, seniority of their stock, protective provisions, etc. Drag along rights?

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