Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital. Not so in venture capital. So my first advice is not to rush in the fund raising process. Don’t take my advice, take Eric Clapton’s. My chips were down in late 2000 / early 2001. You’re tied at the hip to your VC. My story briefly.

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VC advice entrepreneurs venture capital 288

TechCrunch

APRIL 6, 2022

He didn’t raise any capital for Chaotic Moon. He launched his latest venture, Strangeworks in 2018 and raised $4 million in seed stage capital. In addition, he created Ecliptic Capital, a $100 million evergreen investment fund that could grow to $150 million by the end of the year. “But Image source: Errich Petersen.

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transportation entrepreneurship capital entrepreneurs 93

TechCrunch

MARCH 21, 2023

Now, if you were to tell me VCs were starting to return capital to LPs, I could see some parallels. VCs would return capital to LPs because they don’t see attractive investment opportunities that are good fits with their mandate, fund size, [and so forth]. So that’s $2 million to $3 million in capital in reasonable times.

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founder board entrepreneurs capital 97

TechCrunch

JANUARY 29, 2021

John Danner , managing partner, Dunce Capital (an edtech and future of work fund with portfolio companies Lambda School and Outschool). Benoit Wirz , partner, Brighteye Ventures (an active edtech-focused venture capital fund in Europe that backs YouSchool, Lightneer and Aula). Full Extra Crunch articles are only available to members.

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VC founder media education 107

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. Due to competitive markets we ended up with a pretty good term sheet until we needed to raise money in April 2001 and then we got completely screwed.

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founder VC venture capital entrepreneurs 405

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

We went “nuclear&# and slimmed down to 33 people (yes, I know, still large by today’s standards but this was 2001), raised $10 million and we built a real company. I learned everything I know about startups in these lean years: 2001-2004. Tags: Startup Advice. Photo courtesy of Pat Page via Flickr.

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culture construction startup advice 333

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2015

I’ve seen friends (and family members) lose much of their savings that way over the years because “Black Swans” happen and in 1987, 2001, 2003 & 2008 (just to name a few from my memory) huge market gyrations caused much financial distress to people seeking short-term gains. At least later stage investors.

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financing finance ventures real estate 344

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I guess that makes USV, Spark Capital, Foundry Group, Accel, Benchmark, Revolution (along with several others) pretty happy right now. source: Capital IQ. source: Capital IQ. To anybody who asks my advice I repeat the same line, “I don’t know whether this party will last 6 weeks, 6 months or 18 months.

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real estate entrepreneurs financing finance 309

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. On December 3rd Brad Feld wrote a one paragraph blog post titled “ Raising Venture Capital &# in which he linked to my blog. The Original Post (after the jump): Venture Capital, By Mark Suster (December 2nd, 2006). Thus is venture capital. Tempus Fugit.

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VC venture capital pitching capital 274

Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

Me: So, you raised venture capital? Me: Raising convertible notes as a seed round is one of the biggest disservices our industry has done to entrepreneurs since 2001-2003 when there were “full ratchets” and “multiple liquidation preferences” – the most hostile terms anybody found in term sheets 10 years ago. On the phone ….

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VC financing finance entrepreneurs 153

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

Just ask anybody who was trying to close funding the fateful week of September 11, 2001 or even March 2000. But any entrepreneurs raising capital should keep in mind that this opening of the markets could possibly be temporary.

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VC board investing investment 263

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital. Recently I’ve been debating with a number of young startup companies that are raising money in the next few months, “what is the right about of capital to raise at a startup?&#. It’s a tricky question with no clear answer. There are trade offs.

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startup advice venture capital VC 319

The Entrepreneurs Library

JUNE 30, 2015

Typically we’ve found that books that explore economy beyond growth or beyond capitalism fall into a number of common traps. We find that profit for most people represents greed, excess, and excesses of capitalism that people have challenges with. The Book’s Unique Quality (3:45). economy than there were for profit businesses.

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advice sustainability capital financing 58

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

For many businesses you should keep your costs low & your capital raises low until you discover whether you are really on to a big idea where there is market demand. When you see evidence that there is this so called “product / market fit&# then you may be ready for larger amounts of capital. How long is the window open?

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advice frameworks capital mentorship 303

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

I’m not going to cover in this post the obvious post-show marketing tasks such as following up on all those business cards you grabbed, communicating with all those people who registered at your site and leveraging your new found fame to score venture capital. 2001-2004 were very humbling but we built a real company.

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media advice VC energy 310

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Start Up Advice &# but I’d really like to call this post, “VC Advice.&#. In my first company I had to raise money in April 2001 or die. Otherwise, what incentive exists for the VC to put in more capital or to have the founders earn money. It’s that simple.

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founder VC advice pitching 329

Unvalidated Learnings

OCTOBER 5, 2016

Johnson, the company’s first employee, built an epistolary community of fellow runners (a forum of sorts), who, in exchange for his expert advice, would provide him with invaluable product feedback: “ Unlike me, however, most customers came to depend on Johnson’s letters. Most wrote him back. I recall one day, sitting in Wallace’s office.

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startup entrepreneurship culture communities 40

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 13, 2010

Within a year, by late 2000 / early 2001 consulting firms were firing people en masse. On July 27th, 2001 Accenture IPO’s and many of the partners grew fabulously wealthy. My advice to entrepreneurs is to have a sense of purpose and stick to that regardless of what you’re reading in TechCrunch or Business Insider.

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consulting leadership entrepreneurs advice 302

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

It quickly became impossible to raise venture capital. I lived through this again September 2001. It isn’t even a story about raising venture capital or M&A. Don’t over shop – If the deal you’re involved with involves raising venture capital or selling your company you naturally want some competition. Any deal.

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venture capital advice real estate VC 301

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

There is all sorts of advice on the Internet about how to raise capital. I’ve raised money as a “hot company” and I’ve raised capital when no one would return my phone calls. I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies.

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strategy development VC advice 366

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

We raised a seed round of capital in 1999 and our first venture capital round was the first week of March 2000 (e.g. We were now set to close at $46 million in new capital. We found a way to get a round of venture capital closed after all of this. Tags: Start-up Advice Startup Advice. You can do it.

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entrepreneurs advice real estate venture capital 308

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 18, 2009

This was soon after the bursting of the dot com bubble – in early 2001. We commited to getting by on much less capital than was planned. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Start-up Advice Startup Advice. We were going to avoid the embarrassment of being a total dot com flame out. In the morning I flew home.

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entrepreneurs advice VC SaaS 298

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

If you want that advice please click on the link. Most of what I learned about operating startups I learned from the really tough years at my first company from 2001-2003. My company had raised venture capital in April 2001 but we were told that there may never be any more coming. We built a long-term relationship.

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advice venture capital VC construction 285

Gust

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

Amid the remembrance of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks this past weekend, much was made of the voluminous 9/11 Commission report, which described in excruciating detail countless ways in which the United States homeland security and emergency response infrastructure failed to respond adequately to a disaster of unprecedented proportions.

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startup communities culture consulting 98

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2011

Blogs weren’t popularized yet so it was an oddity for me to read the founder of a software company spewing out advice. Lesson: Joel had been building a community of readers since 2001. With StackOverflow, Joel raised money through venture capital. But I loved reading them and so did my team. Fog Creek now has 35 people.

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peer-to-peer communities development innovation 285