This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 2, 2012

Similarly, picking seed investors for your first startup in and around the craziness of an accelerator demo day can be just as scarring over the long term. In fact, you'd probably be better off both deciding on a tat on demo day. I'm saying this because I went to my first YCombinator Demo Day last Tuesday. How active are they?

pitching 305

pitching entrepreneurs VC accelerator 305

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 26, 2012

I always get asked how to get into VC and so I think a lot about what it takes to do the job well. I'm way early in my career, so I won't say I've perfected anything yet, but after 8 years on the investing side and 3 in startups, I've come up at least one thing: Be open. In venture capital, you say "no" a lot.

VC 397

VC pitching venture capital creativity 397

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Demo days at startup accelerators are a pretty big deal around here. These events aren’t just a chance to review the latest cohort of hopeful entrepreneurs — they also showcase the technology, products and services that will compete for VC and consumer attention over the next few years. That startup was DoorDash, by the way.

SaaS 113

SaaS startup pitching education 113

TechCrunch

APRIL 1, 2022

For decades, there were several blocks where angels and VC partners camped out at café tables, taking pitches between lattes. DeWitt, who became a VC after selling Drop, Inc. ” There’s an inherent power imbalance when asking a stranger for money, but “VCs should work to earn your trust,” writes DeWitt.

pitching 91

pitching energy VC opportunity 91

David Teten VC

JUNE 14, 2021

If you want outside capital, VCs will chase after you to invest. . At my prior firm, ff Venture Capital, we invested in a company co-founded by Nate Jenkins , who had a successful exit, but not quite enough to buy a private plane. Angel Investing, Venture Capital, and Mentoring.

consulting 119

consulting founder investing investment 119

Haystack

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

.” Yet, this topic has become increasingly interesting in a world where tech startups are mainstream, Shark Tank is popular nationwide, where Y Combinator has opened Demo Day to more and more investors, where new funds sprout up every year, more and more. Harry interviews Barry Eggers , one of the four co-founders of Lightspeed.

venture capital 117

venture capital capital ventures VC 117

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

This was the first episode where Jason wasn’t on the show, which gave me the chance to have another VC on the show to discuss deals. Rustic Canyon is an LA-based, but geography-agnostic VC that is currently investing from a $200 million fund. VC Financings: 1. I keep meaning to get him drunk to spill the stories.

venture capital 270

venture capital capital ventures VC 270

TechCrunch

JUNE 7, 2022

This year, we’re pleased to share hosting honors with Mayfield — a global venture capital firm with a people-first philosophy. It has a 50-plus-year history of investing at the inception stage in iconic enterprise, consumer, and human and planetary health companies. Each demo table includes four Summer Party tickets.

peer-to-peer 78

peer-to-peer VC venture capital disruption 78

TechCrunch

MAY 26, 2022

TechCrunch has been covering the demo days of the seed-stage venture firm Pear VC since 2015. A lot of top firms show up, including from NEA, Lux Capital and Sequoia Capital. Of course, some VCs still get an early look, in part by mentoring the startups. A few things have remained true since that time.

pitching 72

pitching health SaaS accelerator 72

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 30, 2012

A number of VC firms have hired specialists in the area of recruiting. Interacting with a venture firm these days can feel like ordering from Seamless. One of my potential investors called me the "lean VC". Others have partners with expertise in PR. Firms have networks of advisors, too--with particular expertise in your area.

VC 272

VC incubation construction networking 272

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you truly believe that you, your company and your products are exceptional and your company will be valuable then you’re actually doing them a FAVOR by helping them invest in your startup. If you don’t believe in your bones that you’re amazing then it’s no wonder you don’t want to sell them on making the investment.”

VC 332

VC advice entrepreneurs energy 332

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. My blog linked to Brad Feld’s blog because I was so grateful for his series on term sheets and he was one of the biggest reasons that as a VC I felt compelled to blog. And covered we did.

VC 274

VC venture capital pitching capital 274

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’m comfortable with introductions and then getting into the demo.&#.

VC 299

VC board pitching venture capital 299

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.

VC 418

VC pitching networking venture capital 418

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2011

If you want a very quick primer on all the stuff nobody ever tells you about raising venture capital check out this video where Mark Jeffrey & I break it down on This Week in VC. All of this is covered in more detail on the TWiVC video above (and much of it is covered in text on this blog on the “ Raising VC &# tab).

VC 340

VC venture capital leadership pitching 340

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. There is one source that was always problematic for me – intros from investment bankers. They are venture bankers not investment bankers.

VC 347

VC advice pitching entrepreneurs 347

Y Combinator

AUGUST 23, 2023

Almost all of those companies raised their first rounds from investors that saw them debut at YC Demo Day. YC is undeniably an integral part of the venture capital ecosystem, helping to shine the first spotlight on many of the companies that go on to be featured high up in a huge font on the top VC portfolio pages.

venture capital 73

venture capital VC enablement capital 73

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 11, 2015

That's one thing you have to realize about venture capital. As a single GP (a firm with one investment decision making professional), I get asked a lot of questions about how I manage my time considering the number of investments I make. I just know what I do--and what I saw partners at other firms I've worked at do.

VC 419

VC pitching board construction 419

TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 10, 2022

Startups and VC. Denver-based VC firm SpringTime Ventures is pivoting away from its original focus on its home state of Colorado, despite being the only local fund in two of the state’s 10 unicorn companies, Becca reports. Mute fast, mute often : Reddit users who don’t want to see a certain community can now mute it.

capital 99

capital investing investment pitching 99

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

The only people who should be disappointed where the regular folks invested in these T. Unlike venture capital funds, they don't make money directly off the multiples of their return. They did quite well on their angel investment in Square. Congratulations on your huge disappointment, Square.

angel investing 408

angel investing venture capital VC media 408

David Teten VC

AUGUST 20, 2019

A new wave of Revenue-Based Investors are emerging who are using creative investing structures with some of the upside of traditional VC, but some of the downside protection of debt. In addition, their portfolios look far more diverse than VC industry norms. Who are the major Revenue-Based Investing VCs?

founder 74

founder investing investment venture capital 74

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Pitching a VC.&#. The “Triple Play&# of VC Presentations. A large part of my series has been outlining what the typical VC PowerPoint presentation should look like. You want to build a dialogue where you get to know the VC with whom you’re meeting. I recommend it.

VC 238

VC advice pitching venture capital 238

David Teten VC

JULY 27, 2021

We have collected a wide range of freebies, contests, accelerators, online communities, and VCs designed for student tech founders. I have been researching this both to support Versatile VC ’s portfolio companies and also as part of research for my new book, To University and Beyond: Launch Your Career in High Gear. 1) Your school.

founder 144

founder mentorship peer-to-peer pitching 144

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In my previous post, The VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) I wrote about the reasons why the VC market came to a screeching halt in September 2008 and remained largely shut until at least April 2009. There are now signs the VC market has gathered pace meaning it’s a great time to be fund raising.

VC 255

VC venture capital networking innovation 255

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 3, 2012

meet with tons of companies every week, work hard for their portfolio companies, and are on planes flying around to the important confereneces and demo days". Of course, you don't always need that experience from a VC. An experienced entrepreneur who has raised money multiple times can be a great board member as well.

VC 274

VC board venture capital ventures 274

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

Throughout all of these years I was a full-time VC so Launchpad really came out of evenings and weekends for me. Adam had a full time startup and then was doing consulting (he later raised a VC fund). And Jim & I went on to raise several more venture capital funds in our day jobs. Yeah, he was LA, baby! And Adam his.

accelerator 290

accelerator mentorship peer-to-peer VC 290

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “Pitching a VC&# – the outline is here. You’ve pitched several angels and VC’s. Most of them are telling you that they just need to see a bit of traction before they’d be prepared to invest. Unfortunately your advisers are wrong.

VC 309

VC pitching advice venture capital 309

TechCrunch

APRIL 9, 2021

Scale’s story starts with a pivot, and with a bit of rule-breaking, too — Wang went off the typical YC book by speaking to investors prior to demo day when Levine cold-emailed him after seeing Scale on Product Hunt. The Product Hunt spot wasn’t planned, either — Wang was as surprised to see his company there as anyone else.

VC 96

VC pitching financing finance 96

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 17, 2022

The roughly 15-year-old firm has just around $500 million in assets under management — including a $150 million fund that it quietly closed in January — and it makes just a handful of new investments each year. Somewhat relatedly, Y Combinator just wrapped up its latest Demo Day. But it is a SAFE note.

VC 96

VC networking incubation investing 96

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 2, 2015

One time, I spoke at a meetup that was divided into my talk and demos--and the organizer assumed I wanted to go on before the demos. I didn''t understand why it would matter, but she told me that most of the investors like going before so they could skip out after the demos and not get bombared at the end of the event.

pitching 368

pitching peer-to-peer venture capital creativity 368

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. The following are some tips for the debate style VC meeting. Tips in a debate led VC Meeting.

VC 275

VC peer-to-peer pitching advice 275

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 13, 2021

In the rest of this newsletter, we’ll talk about the new career path to CEO, our favorite startups from Techstars Demo Day and the latest SPAC you should probably know about. A triple-hitter Demo Day. TechCrunch covered favorites from Techstars’ three Demo Days, which were focused on Chicago, Boston and workforce development.

startup 127

startup financing finance creativity 127

TechCrunch

OCTOBER 24, 2020

Back in August during Y Combinator’s two-day demo extravaganza , TechCrunch noted a number of startups from India that stood out from the batch. Data shows that India’s venture capital scene has grown sharply in recent years. In 2020, the third quarter brought the country’s venture capital scene back to form.

startup 144

startup venture capital health social gaming 144

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally generated funds. Better yet, the valuation of your enterprise is often higher than if the same investment were taken from a professional investor. It is most often a win-win for both you and the strategic partner.

accelerator 118

accelerator mix-use financing finance 118

TechCrunch

APRIL 10, 2023

I knew the way you know about a good melon : Rob Solomon, former GoFundMe chairman and president, is finding his next big thing in digital commerce by starting Kite with investment firms Juxtapose and Blackstone. Startups and VC Many insurtechs solve for insurance distribution and policy administration. ” Who’s a good boy? :

mix-use 99

mix-use VC venture capital capital 99

TechCrunch

JANUARY 8, 2022

Even to outsiders, the inner workings of startup accelerators has become familiar: pumped up on camaraderie and energy drinks, scrappy founders do product demos onstage before a room full of buzzy journalists and investors. Signaling risk happens when a VC chooses to not do pro rata, or follow-on investing, in an existing portfolio company.

startup accelerator 92

startup accelerator accelerator startup energy 92

TechCrunch

MARCH 30, 2022

Many of those companies are Nigerian, and when we look at venture capital data, we can see why. The country had an incredible 2021 as the most active venture capital scene in Africa, collecting more than $1.8 In 2019, startups based in Nigeria attracted $747 million, or 37% of Africa’s total VC investment.

venture capital 95

venture capital VC accelerator capital 95