Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

You’re tied at the hip to your VC. 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. How do you then reference check your VC to be sure that you’ve chosen a good firm and partner? Ask the CEO’s about the VC when the chips were down.

VC 288

VC advice entrepreneurs venture capital 288

Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

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. Could be a VC seed lead, a VC lead an angel lead.

VC 153

VC financing finance entrepreneurs 153

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

Lots of discussion these days about the changes in the VC industry. 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.

VC 311

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. Another called Parker Harris, the co-founder and CTO. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. A number of VC’s stopped by our booth or watched our demo on the DEMO website and we had about 5 proactive inquiries.

VC 274

VC venture capital pitching capital 274

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2015

I spoke at Michael Kim’s excellent annual Cendana VC/LP conference today. You can read it in VCs discussions about hedge fund managers, activist investors or the need to have dual-share voting structures. Today I called it, “our own little VC led, portfolio-by-portfolio company version of RIP Good Times from 7 years ago.”

VC 392

VC capital culture venture capital 392

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. I would argue that the shut-down of September 2009 was equally severe yet there are signs that this “VC Ice Age” has begun to thaw. Why did the VC markets freeze so quickly? Short answer – yes.

VC 263

VC board investing investment 263

Dream It

APRIL 12, 2020

During our recent Dreamit Kickoff week, Bullpen Capital Founder and General Partner Paul Martino ( @ahpah ) spoke with our Spring 2020 cohort about the state of the VC ecosystem in the current economic crisis. The founder negotiated with the fund and ultimately accepted a 15% lower price.

ventures 334

ventures startup capital board 334

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

When I first started in venture capital, back in 2001, I used to fund funds. There were a million reasons not to do Uber, for example--regulatory hurdles, first time VC backed founder (Remember, Ryan Graves raised the seed round as CEO, not Travis), the fact that it required individual launches in each city, premium product, etc, etc.

sustainability 289

sustainability angel investing venture capital VC 289

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 27, 2022

Andre Maciel is the founder of Volpe Capital. Jennifer Queen is the founder of Pina , a PR firm focused on startups and venture capital firms. Latin America became the fastest-growing VC region globally, and the market expanded to $16 billion in 2021. Andre Maciel. Contributor. Share on Twitter. He formerly worked with J.P.

venture capital 95

venture capital capital VC opportunity 95

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 6, 2021

Since BCV’s first fund in 2001, the firm has invested over $4.5 I love working with founders at that stage.”. The move to VC felt like a natural transition,” Melas-Kyriazi said. Her commitment to entrepreneurs’ success is second to none; she always goes the extra mile for founders,” . The firm currently has $9.2

capital 79

capital ventures angel investing VC 79

TechCrunch

MAY 17, 2022

Hailing from around the United States and the globe, founders will pitch on the main stage, for four minutes, followed by an intense Q&A with our expert panel of judges. Join us on Wednesday, May 18 and Thursday, May 19 to watch these incredible founders take the stage. I know you want to see who made the cut.

pitching 76

pitching energy startup consulting 76

TechCrunch

APRIL 11, 2022

For example, Leading Edge Capital closed on nearly $2 billion for its sixth fund, Base10 Partners brought in $460 million for its third fund, Founders Fund secured $5 billion for two funds, Freestyle raised $130 million for its sixth fund and the list goes on and on. Overlooked Ventures co-founders Janine Sickmeyer and Brandon Brooks.

venture capital 97

venture capital investing investment ventures 97

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. Mostly, this segment of the market (like all of VC) is stacked in favor of the few. Unfortunately that’s a myth.

angel investing 306

angel investing investing investment VC 306

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

And that was evident on today’s Angel vs. VC panel. The VC industry is segmenting – I have spoken about this many times before. The VC industry has different segments in it that have different fund sizes, different investment amounts and different risk / return expectations. Answer: Not much. It’s a shame.

disruption 308

disruption VC entrepreneurs financing 308

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

EDT, we are talking with Andrew Chan about why Gen Z VCs are trash, and at 12:00 p.m. EDT, we’re talking with M13 partner Anna Barber about what today’s founders can learn from the dot-com bubble bursting. Startups and VC. TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead.

micromobility 89

micromobility SaaS capital VC 89

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 5, 2010

I’ve been meaning to write this post since September of last year when Brad Feld first wrote about the The Founders Visa Movement. Two weeks after Brad’s post I was at the 140 Conference in LA and I held open office hours for any entrepreneur who wanted to spend 15 minutes talking with a VC about their business.

education 282

education creativity innovation entrepreneurs 282

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

Justyn Howard, founder of Sprout Social has a blog post that he’s written about his experiences of migrating from scrappy tools to more efficient ones (i.e. Our first big institutional round of VC was $16.5 I learned everything I know about startups in these lean years: 2001-2004.

culture 333

culture construction startup advice 333

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

People assume that I’m biased because I’m a VC and think you should always get the highest valuation possible. The A round was done in February 2000 (end of the bull market) and my B round was done in April 2001 (bear market). But if you do this early (pre VC) then the price points are pretty low. This is wrong.

venture capital 282

venture capital capital ventures angel investing 282

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I recently spoke at the Founder Showcase at the request of Adeo Ressi. I spoke about how Amazon Web Services deserves far more credit for the last 5 years of innovation than it gets credit for and how I believe they spawned the micro-VC category. I said that I felt that Micro-VCs were the most important change in our industry.

real estate 309

real estate entrepreneurs financing finance 309

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 12, 2020

While several marketplace unicorns prepare IPOs, a VC digs into the data (EC). Alex Wilhelm hears from one startup founder who has taken a bit of an alternative approach to building a SaaS company. Chatting with CEO and co-founder Tomas Gorny, I got to dig a little under the skin of the company’s history. DoorDash, C3.ai

venture capital 122

venture capital capital SaaS startup 122

Tomasz Tunguz

AUGUST 14, 2014

The chart above compares the total number of MegaRounds, those VC investments of $50M or more, from 2001 through 2013. In short, MegaRounds are increasingly common, while the number of VC-backed IPOs is relatively constant. The rise of MegaRounds as a new financing tool for founders is a terrific development for founders.

financing 40

financing finance VC capital 40

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.&#. On a panel that I sat on with Ron in LA in 2008 he stated that there were no circumstances in which the founder should take money off of the table. VC’s who don’t get this are naive.

founder 329

founder VC advice pitching 329

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 22, 2010

It’s still important advice for startup founders and something that I’m passionate about. You’re a startup founder. You start fighting with your co-founder whom you thought you understood. And good VC’s feel the same way. This is part of my startup advice series. I’m sure of that.

advice 392

advice peer-to-peer consulting startup founder 392

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

I sat next to Irwin Jacobs (founder of Qualcomm) on a bus ride. We then had a piece in Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Europe, we ran front cover of Tornado Insider (the top VC magazine in Europe at the time). 2001-2004 were very humbling but we built a real company. If you need VC, no better time than the present.

media 310

media advice VC energy 310

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2015

It’s my hypothesis of why so many founding teams have 3-4 founders. In part because as a VC I reached the longevity where you see some things fail and have to ask yourself, “would I readily work with that person again? I saw this in 2001-2003 and in 2008-2010. I fund both types all the time. Yet failure smells.

creativity 378

creativity culture entrepreneurs energy 378

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. And of course I’ve sat on the other side of the table: As a VC. This is not just the perspective of a VC although I can’t say I have zero VC bias. Neither can any VC. Executive Summary.

strategy 366

strategy development VC advice 366

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

My co-founder and other management team members wanted us to hold off and see whether we could get the deal done at a higher price. I lived through this again September 2001. Many deals – VC or otherwise – didn’t close. VC, sales, biz dev, M&A or otherwise. Especially in VC. I was resolute. Any deal.

venture capital 301

venture capital advice real estate VC 301

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2009

Please don’t also confuse this with whether a VC should invest in a CEO who’s done it before – that’s a given. This was a reasonable achievement when you consider that it was 2001-02, one of the worst years to be selling enterprise software and we were selling it SaaS style, which was still evangelical back then.

startup 327

startup advice SaaS consulting 327

Gust

OCTOBER 20, 2011

We also have data points for VC investments in seed/startup companies (but not necessarily pre-revenue companies). The following chart from Dow Jones VentureSource shows very little variation in pre-money valuation of VC seed stage deals over the past decade. Is the founder coachable? million to a high of $3.4 — No.

angel investing 146

angel investing investing investment opportunity 146

Unvalidated Learnings

OCTOBER 5, 2016

And yet, this is the story Phil Knight, Nike’s founder and long time CEO recounts in his brilliant autobiography Shoe dog. In similar fashion to many Silicon Valley startups, the founders simply scratched their own itch: they loved track running and single-mindedly dedicated their life to designing the best shoes to do so.

startup 40

startup entrepreneurship culture communities 40

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. I asked him if he’d be willing to allow me to interview him for This Week in VC and we filmed it in the offices of Stack Overflow – his new company. But I loved reading them and so did my team.

peer-to-peer 285

peer-to-peer communities development innovation 285

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2017

That is why I invited the Founder & CEO, Jonah Peretti , to come talk at the 2017 Upfront Summit and make the case himself. Around 2001 Jonah was studying at MIT Media Lab and began running experiments in viral stories in an era before smart phones (2007) and before social networks took off (2004–2007) and before YouTube (2005).

media 210

media leadership innovation VC 210