Entrepreneurs' Organization

FEBRUARY 24, 2016

I met my future business partner Jennifer Polovetsky in 2001 when we were adversaries. I was fortunate that Jennifer, who had started the law firm on her own in early 2011, had already established the groundwork for our new venture. When I became an entrepreneur, I didn’t expect to have a direct impact on people’s lives.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. 2001–2007: THE BUILDING YEARS The dot com bubble had burst. It wasn’t always like this and frankly it took a lot of joy out of the industry for me personally.

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VC culture sustainability capital 466

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. on the entrepreneur side of the table) when I raised at too high of a price.

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venture capital capital ventures angel investing 282

TechCrunch

JUNE 7, 2022

The right coaching and a strong network can help many entrepreneurs land a sizable seed round, but that money reflects investor confidence, not market demand. EDT, we’re hosting a Twitter Space with new contributors who are covering climate, crypto, venture capital and more. The TechCrunch+ team is growing! Tomorrow at 8 a.m.

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SaaS sustainability venture capital ventures 87

Feedough

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

But, still, every startup, especially those seeking angel and venture capital funding, are conditioned to project this growth curve – because investors love it. This stage starts with the entrepreneurs analyzing and exploring the startup idea more seriously. Usually, entrepreneurs use bootstrapping to finance their expenses.

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disruption sustainability entrepreneurs energy 111

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 3, 2012

For a solid six or seven minutes, I was pretty pissed at Fred Wilson for his last post on the age of venture capitalists. What I would offer to entrepreneurs is that you should know what you're getting from each investor you let into the round. he's only been in venture for two years and only through one market, an up one!"

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VC board venture capital ventures 257

StartupNation

DECEMBER 6, 2020

Venture-backed: 42 years. Related: A Practical Guide to Diversity for Startups and Entrepreneurs. At the same time, according to research by All Raise, only 15 percent of all venture capital funding is allocated to female founders. entrepreneurs who bust this myth. Fastest growing 0.1 percent of companies: 45 years.

innovation 97

innovation startup creativity funders 97

TechCrunch

APRIL 11, 2022

There’s been talk of a slowdown in venture funding recently, with TechCrunch looking at it from different angles, including the fintech sector, a PitchBook report and even earlier on how startups should prepare in case it happens. We asked Beezer Clarkson, partner at Sapphire Ventures, and Josh Lerner, the Jacob H.

venture capital 97

venture capital investing investment ventures 97

Entrepreneurs' Organization

FEBRUARY 2, 2018

For entrepreneurs, “failure” feels like a curse word. In a study conducted by Cambridge Associates, researchers found that the real failure rate hasn’t gone above 60% since 2001. It remains true that a majority of business ventures never reach their full potential, and there are real reasons why. And I’m not alone.

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TechCrunch

MAY 17, 2022

The judges for this pitch-off will be Yoon Choi (Muirwoods Ventures), Mar Hershenson (Pear VC) and Gabriel Scheer (Elemental Excelerator) on day one; and Sven Strohband (Khosla Ventures), Victoria Beasley (Prelude Ventures) and John Du (GM Ventures) on day two. Yoon Choi — Muirwoods Ventures. Alright, alright.

pitching 76

pitching energy startup consulting 76

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

I believe the rise in angel investing is here to stay and the professionalization of this class (aka “super angels&# or “micro VC&# ) is a good thing for the VC industry and for entrepreneurs. Aydin Senkut, Chris Sacca, XG Ventures – all ex Googlers (XG actually stands for that). I could obviously go on.

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angel investing investing investment VC 306

TechCrunch

JANUARY 29, 2021

Here’s who she spoke to: Deborah Quazzo , managing partner, GSV Ventures. Ashley Bittner , founding partner, Firework Ventures (a future of work fund with portfolio companies LearnIn and TransfrVR). Jomayra Herrera , principal, Cowboy Ventures (a generalist fund with portfolio companies Hone and Guild Education).

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VC founder media education 107

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 15, 2022

Contact has been in the business of consumer finance since 2001, while Wasla was founded in 2018 by former Serag Meneassy and Taymour Sabry , both ex-Rocket Internet entrepreneurs, and investment banker Mahmoud El Said. “It’s million in funding from a number of investors including Ventures and Glint Consulting.

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financing finance consulting networking 89

TechCrunch

MARCH 21, 2023

A growing number of investors have begun suggesting that certain venture-backed startups that have yet to find so-called product-market fit throw in the towel. Time is the ultimate currency for an entrepreneur. After all, an entrepreneur only has one company, while the investor has a portfolio. Not at all.

founder 97

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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. 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. Back then VentureHacks didn’t exist.

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founder VC venture capital entrepreneurs 405

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

There are real changes in the venture capital industry and it would have been fun to talk about them. We need venture debt, factoring companies and public markets. These days that’s not the case and it’s a great outcome for entrepreneurs and for innovation. Answer: Not much. It’s a shame. That’s all.

disruption 308

disruption VC entrepreneurs financing 308

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital. Not so in venture capital. First, I would say that most entrepreneurs do almost no reference checks or at least do them very informally. For some reason most entrepreneurs do. I always tell entrepreneurs, “in good times of course everybody loves their VC.

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Tomasz Tunguz

JULY 22, 2014

If this pace of fund raising continues, 2014 would mark the biggest year for VCs since 2001, when the industry raised about $38B. Each quarter, the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters gather data on the VC industry. Through the first six months of 2014, VCs have raised about as much as all of 2013.

venture capital 40

venture capital capital ventures startup 40

StartupNation

DECEMBER 6, 2020

Venture-backed: 42 years. Related: A Practical Guide to Diversity for Startups and Entrepreneurs. At the same time, according to research by All Raise, only 15 percent of all venture capital funding is allocated to female founders. entrepreneurs who bust this myth. Fastest growing 0.1 percent of companies: 45 years.

innovation 45

innovation startup creativity funders 45

OkDork

DECEMBER 9, 2022

As entrepreneurs, we can’t do it alone. In the last quarter of 2001, Amazon finally turned its first profit. A lot of entrepreneurs I see will give up in less than 7 months if they don’t see a profit. Bezos Expeditions is Jeff’s personal venture capital firm, and it invests in a variety of startups and established companies.

investing 52

investing investment culture pitching 52

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

This was an audience of mostly first-time entrepreneurs. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs. So here is what I have been telling entrepreneurs privately for the past 6 months. In any given year there are about 50 venture-backed companies or so that are bought for $100 million or more. I believe that.

real estate 309

real estate entrepreneurs financing finance 309

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

JULY 16, 2010

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. There is also True Ventures that does early stage, seed investments.

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VC startup real estate financing 311

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

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

When venture capitalists scale back investing activities it can be very swift and leave many companies that are in the process of fund raising hung out to dry. Just ask anybody who was trying to close funding the fateful week of September 11, 2001 or even March 2000.

VC 263

VC board investing investment 263

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

TechCrunch Europe ran an article in November of last year that European startups need to work as hard as those in Silicon Valley and I echoed the sentiment in my post about the need for entrepreneurs to be maniacal about their businesses if one wants to work in the hyper competitive tech world. We were based in London.

entrepreneurs 308

entrepreneurs advice real estate venture capital 308

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital. I’ve seen too many entrepreneurs try to do things on the cheap. But there are also problems / risks: - the funding environment might change dramatically – there may never be a next round (see: March 2000, September 11, 2001 and September 2008). -

startup 319

startup advice venture capital VC 319

TechCrunch

JANUARY 25, 2021

Bank, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, Elevate Capital, Portfolia’s First Step and Rising America Fund and Pipeline Angels also participated in the round. Goalsetter launched in 2019 out of the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator. million seed round this morning, led by Astia. PNC Bank, Mastercard, U.S.

education 108

education health accelerator opportunity 108

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.

media 310

media advice VC energy 310

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

A reminder that it is important for all entrepreneurs is to remember to be careful about “deal drift.” 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. Anybody who didn’t close was dead. Any deal.

venture capital 301

venture capital advice real estate VC 301

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

A friend of mine is a serial entrepreneur and is running a high-profile, early stage company in NorCal. We exchanged ideas when I was an entrepreneur along side him in NorCal in 05-07 and my point-of-view on founder / VC relationships hasn’t shifted even 1% since I went to the dark side. I believe this is wrong.

founder 329

founder VC advice pitching 329

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. I never suggest that entrepreneurs just randomly pitch VCs. Others that are experts in this field include Matt Harris at Village Ventures and Jim Robinson at RRE. You’ll never make a great entrepreneur.

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strategy development VC advice 366

Gust

OCTOBER 20, 2011

million and is established by negotiations between the entrepreneur and the angel investors. This method compares the target company to typical angel-funded startup ventures and adjusts the average valuation of recently funded companies in the region to establish a pre-money valuation of the target. Strength of Entrepreneur and Team.

angel investing 146

angel investing investing investment opportunity 146

OurCrowd

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

No, we are not going back to the future As we ride the 2021 market roller coaster through wreckage and recovery, accompanied by a raging bull market in tech stocks, some people are wondering whether we might be re-living the dreadful dot-com boom and bust of 2000-2001. Is venture investing too risky in the current climate?

media 41

media technology collaboration investing 41

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

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. So how did I come to work in the world of venture capital?

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advice venture capital VC construction 285

Unvalidated Learnings

OCTOBER 5, 2016

and yet so familiar to every contemporary entrepreneur. With venture capital out of the equation, and only two business banks in his town, he couldn’t afford to lose one of them. “I A VC treating an entrepreneur that way today wouldn’t stay in business for long… 7. A lot of the entrepreneurs I work with would say the same thing.

startup 40

startup entrepreneurship culture communities 40

abovethecrowd.com

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Founded by Michael Bruno in Paris in 2001, 1stdibs (*) is the world’s largest online marketplace for luxury one-of-a-kind antiques, high-end modern furniture, vintage fashion, jewelry, and fine art. Launched in 2005, Etsy is a leading marketplaces for the exchange of vintage and handmade items. annual GMV.

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opportunity enablement networking education 88