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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VC ventures venture capital capital 230

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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ventures VC investing investment 133

TechCrunch

APRIL 18, 2023

Simply put, equity risk premiums (ERPs) have broken down well below the ranges that were established since 2008. For the venture world specifically, this dynamic is compounded by the venture debt markets cooling, which in turn makes equity the most viable option for most. The data tells a clear and extreme story.

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ventures VC venture capital capital 82

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. Neither do I.

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financing finance ventures real estate 344

TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 10, 2020

Andy Areitio is a partner at the early-stage fund TheVentureCity , a new venture and acceleration model that helps diverse founders achieve global impact. When you’re running your own venture — especially if it’s your first — it’s unlikely you will find the time to deep dive into how venture capital firms work.

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venture capital capital ventures founder 107

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. Perhaps the biggest piece of new news is that after 17 years of operations we’ve changed our name from GRP Partners to Upfront Ventures.

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ventures venture capital advice VC 343

AsiaTechDaily

APRIL 16, 2023

The firm is founded on experience in both business operations and private equity investments. In an interview with AsiaTechDaily, Mun warns against investing in the business rather than the people and advises entrepreneurs to be realistic in their funding requests. I will say my domain expertise is in venture and growth investments.

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investing investment advice VC 75

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JULY 27, 2021

The two most used measures of a venture fund’s performance are the “cash on cash” return and the “internal rate of return” (IRR). Our 2008 vintage early-stage fund has generated about 5x cash on cash but only generated a 22.5% Venture capital funds do not take down the entire capital commitment upfront.

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opportunity venture capital strategy investing 279

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. And so it goes.

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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.

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VC startup real estate financing 311

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. Amid these turbulent times, the VC accelerator industry has emerged as a stalwart player. Crowdfunding witnessed a 2.4x

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accelerator peer-to-peer startup VC 96

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

I’d rather be Roger Ehrenberg with a thesis around data-centric companies and base my investment decisions on the skills I’ve developed in my career. To some extent Keith Rabois agreed with me about domain knowledge and argued that most of his investments are in the consumer Internet space as a result. Always have been.

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angel investing investing investment VC 284

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.

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venture capital capital ventures VC 205

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.

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founder peer-to-peer VC sustainability 168

OurCrowd

NOVEMBER 19, 2020

SALT Talks-OurCrowd Pandemic Venture Investment Series (Part 1). Despite the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, venture capital is well placed to thrive as the world becomes increasingly digital and demands innovative solutions, according to one veteran Silicon Valley investor. Watch the full episode here.

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investing investment VC venture capital 67

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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angel investing investing investment real estate 299

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. Farb talks about how he did that.

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VC founder advice ventures 214

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). Real-time search engine.

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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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VC startup advice innovation 269

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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VC financing finance leadership 244

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2010

Had a great chat with Jim Armstrong who is a General Partner at Clearstone Venture Partners today on TWiVC. 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”.

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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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VC venture capital networking innovation 255

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.

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VC peer-to-peer advice collaboration 240

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?

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VC venture capital entrepreneurs real estate 265

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.

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venture capital capital ventures VC 270

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

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VC venture capital investing investment 269

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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incubation startup VC sustainability 129

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. Short answer – yes.

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VC board investing investment 263

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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angel investing investing investment VC 152

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). per year.

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VC venture capital ventures capital 241

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

Current round: $20.0mm Series-B led by Andreesen Horowitz, with USV and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures. 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. Kontagent. -A

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VC incubation ventures capital 248

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.

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founder peer-to-peer venture capital ventures 95

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

I become a venture capitalist in September 2007 – exactly 6.5 I spent my first year developing proprietary deal flow and learning the business and then the Sept 2008 / Lehman Bros collapse / financial meltdown happened. As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago.

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VC venture capital financing finance 387

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

Imagine the positions of Sequoia (Google, Zynga, YouTube), Kleiner Perkins (Google), Accel (Facebook), Union Square Ventures (Zynga, Twitter) and so on. 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.

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angel investing investing investment VC 280

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2010

I know that the tone of the title and post will seem a bit aggressive for a post from a venture capitalist on fund raising. If you want to raise venture capital more easily the advice could be quite practical and counter-intuitive. Not so VC. Clean up your own shite. It is 2010. The list goes on. And herein lies the problem.

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venture capital capital ventures advice 289

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. I know this is a familiar experience for many of my peers in Venture Capital. But for me, and for the investment partnership I co-founded, it still feels like a moment worth celebrating.

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peer-to-peer VC venture capital startup ecosystem 132

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. The point of raising venture capital is to have money when the company needs it.

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venture capital VC investing investment 82