Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

And more recently he has turned that into a fund called CrossCulture VC such that many in Silicon Valley and beyond now know Troy as well. The history of tech will always tell you there was a defining moment for companies (like Twitter at SXSW in 2007) but the reality is often more nuanced. Same with Gaga.

venture capital 228

venture capital communities VC entrepreneurs 228

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

5 investors discuss Boston’s resilient tech ecosystem Boston’s university-to-startup pipeline defies downturn to grow and diversify In order to build a startup culture, a city or region needs some key elements in place – like an innovation engine to drive startup ideas. It also has a long history of innovation and a rich tech legacy.

startup founder 95

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

I’d like to explain as best I can my opinion on what is going on because most of what I hear from entrepreneurs is not only wrong but is reminiscent of what I heard in 1997-2000. What is the True Sentiment of VCs? It pains me to see the typical (and predictable) responses on Twitter, “VCs want prices to drop!”

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TechCrunch

OCTOBER 22, 2020

European entrepreneurs who want to launch startups could do worse than Switzerland. Lawyers and accountants tend to err on the conservative side, leading to a low failure rate of businesses but less “moonshot innovation,” shall we say. Today, pitch competitions, incubators, accelerators, VCs and angel groups proliferate.

startup 144

startup ecology education incubation 144

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.

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angel investing investing investment VC 152

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

Argument two says, “big companies can’t innovate anymore so Google, Apple, Microsoft, etc. If the “forever ramen profitable&# or “startups as a source of M&A innovation&# arguments don’t hold then we’re likely headed for one big brick wall. We’ll re-compare notes then. Why should you care?

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angel investing investing investment real estate 299

Dream It

FEBRUARY 14, 2020

From 2007 to 2011, during which the Great Recession of 2008-09 took place, the construction industry lost approximately 2 million workers. Overall, we are very optimistic about construction robotics and hope to see more companies attempt to solve the issues in productivity with breakthrough technologies, as well as innovative business models.

construction 259

construction investing investment opportunity 259

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

This was an audience of mostly first-time entrepreneurs. 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.

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TechCrunch

APRIL 4, 2023

As unease spread amongst a handful of entrepreneurs, alarmed at radical “reforms,” proposed by the Benjamin Netanyahu-led government, to the independence of the judiciary, WhatsApp groups were fired up, and were quickly flooded with volunteers from the tech industry. ’” This is not a marginal issue, either.

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abovethecrowd.com

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Scott’s relationships with founders like Kayvon embody Benchmark’s approach of working shoulder-to-shoulder in support of the entrepreneurs we back. Scott never sought credit, fame, or anything that would put him in front of his clear purpose to help the entrepreneur.

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creativity entrepreneurship venture capital entrepreneurs 56

FundersClub

JUNE 30, 2017

Jerrod Engelberg and Kevin Lee of FundersClub discuss board of directors, why they exist, how they work in public companies vs startups, what founders should be thinking about when dealing with a board of directors, and more in " Transparent VC, Episode 6: It’s All About That Board. part 1 of 2). " Did You Know?

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 5, 2010

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. But it turns out I met a bunch of really interesting entrepreneurs. But TWTFelipe is an entrepreneur. But I have some. Her response?

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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.

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Don Dodge

APRIL 6, 2015

They were part of the Ycombinator Cambridge class of 2007, after being rejected by YC in 2005 and 2006. I remember the Demo Day in 2007 where DropBox presented to about 30 Boston area Angels and Venture Capital investors. None of the local VC firms invested. Classic VC funding is a well-understood model.

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TechCrunch

DECEMBER 8, 2020

The real innovation was a business one, with Klarna’s young and non-technical founders, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Niklas Adalberth and Victor Jacobsso, taking an old idea and reconfiguring it for the burgeoning e-commerce industry. However, what is made less explicit is that there was likely very little technology involved.

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abovethecrowd.com

JUNE 2, 2021

Interestingly, many years later, Square would use other innovative “cash giveaway” strategies to steal market share from Paypal (in addition to copying the give $5, get $5 model ). Is it disrespectful to imply that the founders, executives, VC-backers, and the boards of these companies are gullible or naive? I don’t think so.

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Andreessen Horowitz

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

That success has been bolstered by the fact that the UK is among the world’s most innovative financial services regulatory environments. Regulation is generally a blocker to innovation. In 2007, it became one of the first markets in the world to issue contactless (tap-to-pay) cards. (A A full 8 years earlier than the U.S.)

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innovation disruption enablement support 113

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 8, 2020

The real innovation was a business one, with Klarna’s young and non-technical founders, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Niklas Adalberth and Victor Jacobsso, taking an old idea and reconfiguring it for the burgeoning e-commerce industry. However, what is made less explicit is that there was likely very little technology involved.

investing 82

investing investment mix-use media 82