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% Our Opportunity Funds invest in the later stage rounds of our top-performing portfolio companies plus a few later-stage investments in companies that are new to USV. cash on cash but generated a 58.6% cash on cash but only 46.7%

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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.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2017

Recently the firms two founding partners (and also Managing Partners) —  Fred Wilson and Brad Burnham  — decided to transition management of the firm to Andy Weissman (who joined in 2012) and Albert Wenger (joined in 2008 and writes one of the most thoughtful blogs in our industry ). Lindel Eakman led the discussion with Fred and Andy.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

And so it happened that between 2000-2008 I was the biggest buzz kill at dinner parties. They have marked-up paper gains propped up by an over excited venture capital market that has validated their investments. Logic tells me the following: It is hard to make money angel investing. It was an investment management class.

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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. First, the increment of learning in VC is investment decisions managed to maturity. Founders’ Co-op turns fifteen this year.

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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!).

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OurCrowd

NOVEMBER 19, 2020

SALT Talks-OurCrowd Pandemic Venture Investment Series (Part 1). Venture Partners , a Menlo Park-based VC firm that backed companies like Checkpoint Software Technologies Ltd. chairman of OurCrowd, in an interview in the SALT Talks-OurCrowd Pandemic Venture Investment Series Oct 29. Watch the full episode here. and Box Inc.

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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. Angel investments in 2022 equaled those from 2006 to 2011 combined. Crowdfunding witnessed a 2.4x growth from 2020 to 2021.

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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”. VCs need to invest to make their returns—and eventually, they’ll want to raise the next fund to layer more fees upon more fees. VCs gonna VC.

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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.

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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. LibreDigital.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

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 What is a VC fund? VC’s don’t invest 100% of their own money.

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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?

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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. 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?

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

Because it is a “series&# I plan to get into some of the deeper complexities of funds such as “cross over funds&# and “why VC’s hate to price their own deals&# at a later stage. First, if the VC does 15-20 of these under one partner then it is certain he can’t spend any time with these investments.

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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. When VCs raise capital from LPs, that money does not just sit in a bank collecting interest. startup) per month.

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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. Clearstone currently invests out of a $200 million fund based in LA with offices in Menlo Park and in India. Segment Three: “VC Deals Funded this Week”.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

I’d rather be Roger Ehrenberg with a thesis around data-centric companies and base my investment decisions on my background. I should say that I agree that naive optimism in entrepreneurs can produce higher beta (upside or flops) and that’s good from an investment standpoint if you’re looking for big returns.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

To see the video of This Week in VC click on this link. We spent the first 45 minutes or so talking about industry trends (in this order): The history and background of True Ventures, one of my favorite early-stage VC’s (and the one with whom Om is a venture partner). Are “strategic investors&# (e.g.

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Tomasz Tunguz

MARCH 11, 2020

The most recent event to use as an analogy is the 2008 financial crisis. In 2008, I had just joined the venture industry, and then Lehman fell. In 2006, VCs invested about $3.5B That grew to about $5B per quarter in 2007 and early 2008. Then the investing velocity fell by half to $2.9B, $2.7B, and $2.3B

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Greycroft is an early-stage VC. Closing a VC fund in 2009/10 is a major achievement in and of itself. In the intro section of the show we talked a lot about why VC funds are becoming smaller again and where Greycroft fits. Founded in August 2008 in Palo Alto, CA, by Sam Christiansen and Keith Lee. Total raised: $16.5mm.

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TechCrunch

DECEMBER 21, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic might have upended the global economy, but according to Meagan Crawford at Spacefund and Chris Moran with Lockheed Martin Ventures, it didn’t dampen investment in space startups. Crawford and Moran both agreed that interest and investment in space will increase as more startups have successful exits.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 21, 2009

This morning we heard from Jamie Montgomery, CEO of the venerable Montgomery & Co investment bank who is at the heart of what is going on in M&A for venture backed companies. They do around 7% of the total VC-backed deals in the US per year or just under 40 deals / year on average (present year excluded!). per year.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

I’m obviously only naming a small fraction of their investments since I don’t feel inclined to research them all and many other great venture firms have this kind of access. It’s hard for me to imagine that angel investing outcomes judged 10 years from now will have a drastically different profile. I agreed to help.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

The speaks to the continued confidence in the venture capital markets and as I had predicted some time ago the VC markets right now are a great place to invest – especially relative to other places to put one’s money. If you want to understand how the VC industry is changing there is a great primer in the link.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

Founded in 2008 in Santa Monica by Ron Goldman (former CRO of shopping.com) and Rahul Sonnad. Incubated by Clearstone Ventures in 2008. Investing much of new cash to build presence in Android platform. Current round: $4. led by Altos Ventures and Maverick Capital, with Larry Braitman. Total raised: $6.0mm. See: TechCrunch.

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Tomasz Tunguz

NOVEMBER 5, 2022

In the mid-2000s, many startups invested their excess cash reserves in instruments called Auction Rate Securities. In February 2008, the ARS market seized. VC investment fell 40%, nearly halving another source of oxygen. ARS produced a steady stream of interest payments, like savings accounts, with a higher return.

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Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2015

I’ve seen friends (and family members) lose much of their savings that way over the years because “Black Swans” happen and in 1987, 2001, 2003 & 2008 (just to name a few from my memory) huge market gyrations caused much financial distress to people seeking short-term gains. So, too, investments.

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TechCrunch

MARCH 30, 2021

Finch Capital , the early-stage fintech VC with a presence in London and Amsterdam, is acquiring Wirecard Turkey, a subsidiary of Wirecard, the disgraced fintech out of Germany. Finch’s managing partner Radboud Vlaar tells me Noma Pay’s larger plan is to invest in payments infrastructure in Turkey and the Middle East region.

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TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 10, 2020

million Series A round, passed the due diligence process, and the investment committee had approved the deal. In a Point Nine Capital survey, founders said that the two most stressful elements of raising venture capital are not knowing where in the fundraising process they are and not understanding why VCs have rejected their proposal.

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A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

And you can see what AVC looked like in September 2008. Decentralized infrastructure is one of our favorite investment themes in crypto (Filecoin, Helium, Arweave, and at least one unannounced investment) because of the resiliency and sustainability of decentralized infrastructure (just look at bitcoin mining for an example of that).

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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. The data tells a clear and extreme story.

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Founders Coop

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

Today marks the first time in my investing life that an investment I led at Seed has made it all the way to its Wall Street debut. But for me, and for the investment partnership I co-founded, it still feels like a moment worth celebrating. Matt, Josh and Shivaas helped me learn early in my VC career what good really looked like.

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This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 11, 2014

I''m super proud of Rob, Ben and the whole Backupify team--and this is particularly special for me because Backupify was the first investment I ever made as a VC, and the first board I ever sat on. Rob messed around with some local video thing in 2008, which everyone but Rob thought was a pretty terrible idea.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2010

If you don’t know Montgomery & Co it is one of the premier technology & media focused investment banks in the country (and as Michael corrected me they also have a strong Healthcare / Med tech practice). Should you use investment banks to raise venture capital? Revenue of ~$160mm in 2008. TechCrunch.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

I spent my first year developing proprietary deal flow and learning the business and then the Sept 2008 / Lehman Bros collapse / financial meltdown happened. At the time I pointed out: “If I had realized exits almost certainly it would be because I invested in a company that failed. years ago. ” Still. None have exited.

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TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 24, 2023

7 investors explain why they’re all in Pitch Deck Teardown: Uber’s $200K pre-seed deck from 2008 Image Credits: Uber (opens in a new window) The word “disruptive” gets thrown around so much, it’s lost much of its impact. While it isn’t a trivial decision, it’s also not as hard as you might think.

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