Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2017

Union Square Ventures (USV) has been one of the most successful venture capital firms of the past 10–15 years and continues to be a leader in our industry. Lindel is no stranger to thorny venture capital issues — he was arguably amongst the most successful LPs of his generation. Maybe that’s USV, too.

leadership 161

leadership VC venture capital ventures 161

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

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JULY 27, 2021

Our 2008 vintage early-stage fund has generated about 5x cash on cash but only generated a 22.5% That explains why our 2010 Opportunity Fund has a lower cash on cash return but a much higher IRR than our 2008 early-stage fund. Venture capital funds do not take down the entire capital commitment upfront.

opportunity 279

opportunity venture capital strategy investing 279

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 9, 2022

I’ve been asked by portfolio companies and plenty of others about how they should be changing their strategy given the stock market pullback and what they’ve been hearing on “VC twitter”. 3) Do you need to raise a large amount of growth capital in 2022? Even “needing” growth capital can be problematic. VCs gonna VC.

VC 243

VC financing finance leadership 243

TechCrunch

AUGUST 15, 2023

Brett Calhoun Contributor Share on Twitter Brett Calhoun is the managing director and general partner at Redbud VC. Amid these turbulent times, the VC accelerator industry has emerged as a stalwart player. At the dawn of 2022, there were 2,900 active VC firms, marking a 225% increase since 2008.

accelerator 96

accelerator peer-to-peer startup VC 96

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

At the Upfront Summit in early February, we had a chance to have many off-the-record conversations with Limited Partners (LPs) who fund Venture Capital (VC) funds about their views of the market. However, they have been sending VCs far more investment checks in the last ten years than they’ve gotten back as distributions.

venture capital 205

venture capital capital ventures VC 205

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

If you read this blog often you'll know that I'm a huge fan of First Round Capital. They have totally changed the way you run a VC firm, investing heavily in systems & events for their founders that are pushing the boundaries of the way our industry works. In 2008 they raised a much larger fund $132.5 and Half.com.

capital 284

capital board VC pitching 284

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Our guest this week on #TWiVC was Dana Settle , partner at Greycroft Partners , a venture capital firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Greycroft is an early-stage VC. Closing a VC fund in 2009/10 is a major achievement in and of itself. Founded in August 2008 in Palo Alto, CA, by Sam Christiansen and Keith Lee.

VC 240

VC peer-to-peer advice collaboration 240

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 3, 2010

This was really a fun week at TWiVC because we decided to have an entrepreneur come and talk about raising capital rather than having a VC come on. In particular I tried to do most of the “entrepreneur advice on VC” up front so that if you don’t want to watch our views on the deals you don’t have to. OTHER DEALS: 1.

VC 214

VC founder advice ventures 214

Dream It

APRIL 12, 2020

Paul Martino, General Partner at Bullpen Capital. 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. Will a financial crisis affect how venture funds deploy capital?

ventures 334

ventures startup capital board 334

Founders Coop

JANUARY 11, 2023

We started the firm in 2008, on the cusp of the Global Financial Crisis, and it’s somehow fitting to be entering our 15th year as the laws of financial gravity reassert themselves once again. By contrast, venture capital is a craft that defies both speed and scale. Founders’ Co-op turns fifteen this year.

founder 168

founder peer-to-peer VC sustainability 168

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In the first post in this three part series I described why I believe the VC market froze between September 2008 – April 2009. I’m not a doomsday guy, but just believe that we won’t see a V shaped recovery, which could make VC funding more difficult for tech start-ups (don’t shoot the messenger!).

VC 269

VC startup advice innovation 269

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2010

One of things I’ve loved the most about doing now 11 weeks of This Week in VC is a chance to have an hour-long recorded conversation with investors. And in my interviews with many VCs I feel that people can watch these and get to know the VC’s as human beings a bit better. So how did Mike get into VC?

VC 230

VC ventures venture capital capital 230

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In my previous post, The VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) I wrote about the reasons why the VC market came to a screeching halt in September 2008 and remained largely shut until at least April 2009. There are now signs the VC market has gathered pace meaning it’s a great time to be fund raising.

VC 255

VC venture capital networking innovation 255

Tomasz Tunguz

APRIL 1, 2019

In 2014, I published a post called Do Startup Require Less Capital to Succeed than 10 Years Ago ? In the analysis, I created a metric, the return on invested capital (ROIC). In other words, at IPO, how much revenue per VC dollar did the company generate. First, availability of capital. It was harder.

SaaS 110

SaaS capital startup VC 110

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

To see the video of This Week in VC click on this link. What a pleasure that I got to spend an hour talking with both Om Malik (whom I’ve always respected his views) and Paul Jozefak , a venture capital partner at Neuhaus Partners in Germany (and formerly the head of Europe for SAP Ventures). But it’s a real phenomenon.

VC 225

VC social gaming venture capital networking 225

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2010

It was especially fun for me because we got the chance to talk about the VC industry and how entrepreneurs should think about the VC industry in addition to discussing deals. Segment Three: “VC Deals Funded this Week”. Segment Four, “VC Discussion – How Should Entrepreneurs Think about ‘Strategic’ Investors?”.

VC 236

VC venture capital ventures support 236

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Understanding Venture Capital. I recently wrote a blog post on understanding how the size and age of a venture capital fund might affect you when you’re raising money. I believe these VC funds have suffered some amount of reputation fall out. Why are VC’s really doing seed deals?

VC 265

VC venture capital entrepreneurs real estate 265

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

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. But any entrepreneurs raising capital should keep in mind that this opening of the markets could possibly be temporary. Why did the VC markets freeze so quickly? Short answer – yes.

VC 263

VC board investing investment 263

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

This is part of my series on Understanding Venture Capital. I’m writing this series because if you better understand how VC firms work you can better target which firms make sense for you to speak with. It in not uncommon to see a VC talk about “total assets under management&# as in “We have $1.5

VC 269

VC venture capital investing investment 269

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 9, 2016

In 2008, I tried to fundraise for my startup the week that Lehman Brothers went under. Basically, VCs told us that they were going to wait and see how the election turned out--and things didn't really thaw out until the following September. Extreme uncertainty slows the VC market to a crawl--that's what I learned.

VC 279

VC innovation opportunity capital 279

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

This was the first episode where Jason wasn’t on the show, which gave me the chance to have another VC on the show to discuss deals. Rustic Canyon is an LA-based, but geography-agnostic VC that is currently investing from a $200 million fund. VC Financings: 1. I keep meaning to get him drunk to spill the stories.

venture capital 270

venture capital capital ventures VC 270

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

Company plans to use the capital to build out sales and marketing and r&d. -a led by Altos Ventures and Maverick Capital, with Larry Braitman. Founded in 2008 in Santa Monica by Ron Goldman (former CRO of shopping.com) and Rahul Sonnad. Incubated by Clearstone Ventures in 2008. a fbFund winner. Current round: $4.

VC 248

VC incubation ventures capital 248

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 21, 2009

On the third Wednesday of every month I co-chair a meeting called the SoCal VCA (venture capital alliance), which represents participants from all of the top venture capital firms in Southern California as well as prominent members of the Tech Coast Angels (TCA).

VC 241

VC venture capital ventures capital 241

TechCrunch

APRIL 18, 2023

Simply put, equity risk premiums (ERPs) have broken down well below the ranges that were established since 2008. Venture capital activity has declined Deployment of VC capital continues to slow down. There has been an aggressive shift in assumed equity returns compared to fixed income returns.

ventures 82

ventures VC venture capital capital 82

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2010

If you want to raise venture capital more easily the advice could be quite practical and counter-intuitive. Many companies that are raising B or C venture capital rounds right now raised their initial money in 2005-2008. They often have “dead&# or “tired&# investors who have stranded capital. Not so VC.

venture capital 289

venture capital capital ventures advice 289

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2015

I spoke at Michael Kim’s excellent annual Cendana VC/LP conference today. One of the points I tried to make is that as venture capital investors as an industry we seem to have a healthy disdain for public market investors. What is your revenue growth rate and what does this imply about your number of months of capital remaining?

VC 392

VC capital culture venture capital 392

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 21, 2020

Spacefund research conducted earlier this year found that there is almost no correlation between the global economy and the space industry, said Crawford, a managing partner at the VC firm, last Thursday at TC Sessions: Space 2020. Moran said this unabashed growth period will continue for a few years before narrowing.

incubation 129

incubation startup VC sustainability 129

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

We’ve been dying to tell you all for a while that we had raised a new venture capital fund and of course given SEC filing requirements the story was somewhat already scooped by the always-in-the-know Dan Primack a few weeks ago. If you want to understand how the VC industry is changing there is a great primer in the link.

ventures 396

ventures VC venture capital real estate 396

TechCrunch

JANUARY 19, 2022

Less than 2% of venture capital funding went to all-female founding teams in 2021, marking a five-year low, new data from Pitchbook shows. So how is it that despite the recent boom in startup funding, the venture capital industry is actually becoming an even tougher place for women to raise money? of overall deal value.

founder 95

founder peer-to-peer venture capital ventures 95

TechCrunch

JULY 19, 2022

Everyone loves an underdog, which is why investors and tech journalists are so fond of discussing startups that launched during the Great Recession of 2008, like Airbnb, Uber, WhatsApp, Mailchimp, Square and Venmo. Record VC fundraising isn’t necessarily good news for first-time fund managers. based venture capital firms raised $74.1

pitching 94

pitching venture capital VC financing 94

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2010

This episode of This Week in Venture Capital featured Michael Montgomery, president of Montgomery & Co. You have to be selected to present and it is typically reserved for companies that have already raised early-stage capital and are well into revenue growth. Should you use investment banks to raise venture capital?

VC 242

VC venture capital ventures capital 242

Tomasz Tunguz

NOVEMBER 5, 2022

In February 2008, the ARS market seized. VC investment fell 40%, nearly halving another source of oxygen. The point of raising venture capital is to have money when the company needs it. ARS produced a steady stream of interest payments, like savings accounts, with a higher return. The Global Financial Crisis followed.

venture capital 82

venture capital VC investing investment 82

AsiaTechDaily

APRIL 16, 2023

I spent the first seven years of my career in corporate finance and advisory, helping entrepreneurs in either raising capital (through IPO) or growth through M&A. I have always wanted to start a fund; hence I joined the industry in 2008. The idea was to learn as much as possible in fund management, especially in VC and Growth.

investing 78

investing investment advice VC 78

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

This is where VC comes in and why it’s needed in the industry no matter how much populist sentiment exists against the VC industry. got picked up early without raising a lot of VC. Yes, the VC industry was over funded and too many non value-add people entered the industry.

angel investing 284

angel investing investing investment VC 284

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

We have previously raised funds in 1996 ($200 million), 2000 ($400 million) and 2008/9 ($200 million). If you’ve been following the press about VC funds you’ll know this is no small feat. Well, the venture capital industry has changed a lot in the past 20 years … and we have too. Let’s start with the fund.

ventures 343

ventures venture capital advice VC 343

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 24, 2023

Leslie Crowe, talent partner at Bain Capital Ventures, says founders who prepare a communication plan and “opt to be generous where you can” can do right by former employees and keep the trust of those who remain. While it isn’t a trivial decision, it’s also not as hard as you might think.

pitching 75

pitching frameworks transportation ventures 75