Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

I often talk about what I’m looking for when I meet with an entrepreneur. Above all else I’m looking for a genuine passion for what the entrepreneur is doing. You can sense when it is a “mission” for this entrepreneur to succeed and she will continue the journey even if success isn’t easy or immediate.

peer-to-peer 373

peer-to-peer VC pitching entrepreneurs 373

Gust

OCTOBER 8, 2014

This is something I think entrepreneurs don’t totally understand and it’s worthwhile they do. There weren’t a lot of seed funds in 2007 so this was often done by angels, funding consortia or sometimes early-stage funds that existed then (First Round Capital, True Ventures, SoftTech VC, etc.). Why the latter?

VC 136

VC advice financing finance 136

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

I became a VC 12 years ago in 2007 when the pace of deals was much slower. Just as I was getting the swing of things the world shifted beneath my feet and the stock market went into a free fall and venture capital all but shut down for nearly a year. 15 million first checks but we also have three growth funds. Over the past 2.5

VC 223

VC venture capital capital investing 223

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I was having dinner with a friend last night and we were chatting about venture capital and a bit about what I’ve learned. I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). And there’s conferences. Oh, the conferences.

VC 374

VC investing investment entrepreneurs 374

TechCrunch

OCTOBER 22, 2020

European entrepreneurs who want to launch startups could do worse than Switzerland. Venture Kick was launched in 2007 with the vision to double the number of spin-offs from Swiss universities and draws from a jury of more than 150 leading startup experts in Switzerland. Philipp Stauffer, partner, FYRFLY Venture Partners.

startup 144

startup ecology education incubation 144

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

I have conversations with entrepreneurs and other VCs on a daily basis about fund raising, the prices of deals, how much companies should raise, etc. It’s the one bit of advice I find myself giving most frequently these days, “raise money at the top end of normal.&#. Here’s what I mean. That’s fine.

startup 336

startup advice pitching VC 336

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. But any entrepreneurs raising capital should keep in mind that this opening of the markets could possibly be temporary. The deal was done in late 2007.

VC 263

VC board investing investment 263

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

by Michael Woolf that is worth any startup founder reading to get a sense of perspective on the reality warp that is startup world during a frothy market such as 1997-1999, 2005-2007 or 2012-2014. Understand how venture debt might shorten your projections. * If you have raised venture debt you might have even less time.

startup 383

startup VC frameworks capital 383

abovethecrowd.com

JULY 23, 2014

Eric’s keen intellect, his experience as an entrepreneur and CEO, his depth in infrastructure and enterprise software, and his infectious optimism about technology make him an ideal Benchmark partner. We believe that successful early-stage venture investing is just that: a craft. He stayed briefly at HP as a vice president.

board 74

board entrepreneurship energy advice 74

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

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). And if I were an entrepreneur I’d rather find investors who understood “my space&# so that in tough times they felt comfortable about “doubling down.&#. Not everybody agreed.

angel investing 152

angel investing investing investment VC 152

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

I originally conceived it as the Top 11 things that I believe “all entrepreneurs need to succeed.&# If it stuck to this theme then I would stand by my top 11. It isn’t a “must&# for me but it’s certainly a huge positive when entrepreneurs have it. Domain experience also brings relationships. That’s OK.

entrepreneurs 267

entrepreneurs advice SaaS networking 267

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

This is part of my series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. Entrepreneurs are inherently risk takers.

entrepreneurs 293

entrepreneurs VC advice consulting 293

Founders Coop

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

This post is an attempt to unpack the changes we observed both during and after our time with Techstars, to draw out potentially useful lessons about how things might have gone differently. ——— In the Beginning: Champions of the Local Startup Ecosystem Techstars launched its first program in Boulder in 2007.

startup ecosystem 195

startup ecosystem accelerator communities support 195

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

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Start Up Advice &# but I’d really like to call this post, “VC Advice.&#. A friend of mine is a serial entrepreneur and is running a high-profile, early stage company in NorCal. This made me think hard about the relationship between VCs and entrepreneurs.

founder 329

founder VC advice pitching 329

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Since its 2007 founding by Morris — who also co-founded Capital One Financial Services in 1994 — and Frank Rotman, QED has backed more than 150 companies, including 20 unicorns. Very, very few can augment that with proven, actionable advice and insight that can help them tomorrow.”. Many VCs can offer capital.

investing 91

investing investment capital advice 91

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 8, 2020

“We did hear that and I think it’s very poor advice,” he says. Siemiatkowski also shares what’s next for the company as it ventures further into the world of retail banking after gaining a bank license in 2017. companies should relocate to Silicon Valley if they really want to grow.

investing 143

investing investment mix-use media 143

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

If you were a newly minted, venture-backed consumer Internet company you had to have a deal with AOL to reach your customers. It was obviously a scheme set up by young entrepreneurs to line their pockets and some big-company executives who didn’t understand innovation. They controlled distribution to the masses. Enter Facebook.

networking 318

networking mix-use innovation development 318

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 8, 2020

“We did hear that and I think it’s very poor advice,” he says. Siemiatkowski also shares what’s next for the company as it ventures further into the world of retail banking after gaining a bank license in 2017. companies should relocate to Silicon Valley if they really want to grow.

investing 82

investing investment mix-use media 82

FundersClub

JUNE 30, 2017

" Ethan Kurzweil of Bessemer Venture Partners chats with Harry Stebbings of The 20 Minute VC about how to view pattern recognition and deal with the anti-portfolio, the next frontier in developer focussed businesses, and why eSports is interesting again in " 20VC with Ethan Kurzweil, Partner @ Bessemer Venture Partners.

construction 70

construction SaaS board strategy 70

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 20, 2013

How many web entrepreneurs in their early 20''s would have ignored Fred Wilson when he said they should include comments in their blogging platform early on? In December of 2007, I wrote the following e-mail to Fred Wilson, Brad Burnham, and Bjian Sabet: "I met with David the other day about using Tumblr to power Path 101 career blogs.

venture capital 320

venture capital communities advice capital 320

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My advice to entrepreneurs was and is “ when the hors d’oeuvres tray is being passed take two ” (e.g. So I agreed to offer my current thinking on the economy and what it portends for the VC industry & fund raising for entrepreneurs. What does this mean if you’re an entrepreneur? raise money now to weather any storms).

entrepreneurs 298

entrepreneurs real estate VC advice 298

Smart Hustle Magazine

JUNE 4, 2021

You have other people who can market for employees… So let’s go back then to that growth of between 2007, 2017, this 10 year, and how’s grown. How are you getting leads in and customers in, and then two, what’s your advice for other small business owners? Ramon Ray: I love it. You started Infusionsoft.

leadership 88

leadership advice sustainability investing 88

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

Venture Capitalists typically have partners’ meetings on Mondays. When I first got into the industry it was 2007. I thought about things I never had to as an entrepreneur: check size, ownership percentage, deal stage, portfolio construction and risk. I have a young entrepreneur friend who IMs me a lot. Why is that?

VC 305

VC disruption entrepreneurs venture capital 305

abovethecrowd.com

JUNE 2, 2021

This “gain” ($34B last year alone) is a result of a direct wealth-transfer to these individuals FROM the previous owners of the company — founders, executives, employees, and venture investors. The founders, the CEO, the CFO, the executives, the employees, and the venture investors. Why would you want advice from them?

peer-to-peer 82

peer-to-peer VC advice capital 82