Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

I am thrilled to announce that we have added Hamet Watt as a Partner at Upfront Ventures. This is a big news day at Upfront Ventures. As more consumers were skipping commercials the idea of authentically integrating brands into media seemed obvious to me and ended up informing a lot of my investments in 2009 and 2010.

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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. It’s always such a pleasure for me to spend time with Farb because he has all of the enthusiasm and energy you love to see in entrepreneurs. He’s also candid, humble and helpful.

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VC founder advice ventures 214

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.

DECEMBER 21, 2012

I met him in April of 2010--almost two years before he got a venture round. It was even earlier when I talked to Jason at Shopkeep--December of 2009 by my records. In 2013, I'll be looking for ways to stay in touch better with entrepreneurs whose first rounds may be slow to develop. Devrim Yasar just raised an additional $7.25

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VC education entrepreneurs development 248

Gust

DECEMBER 13, 2011

I’ve recently taken a look at seed stage funding by venture capitalists (VCs) and angel investors over the past five years. For VCs, I chose to look at all seed stage VC deals (from MoneyTree©) as well as those in five of the most active regions in the country. All Seed-VC. Silicon Valley. New England. Deals. $$$$.

entrepreneurs 162

entrepreneurs angel investing VC venture capital 162

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

In the early spring of 2009, the fundraising nuclear winter of the previous year hadn't yet thawed. It would be months before Foursquare's first round touched off a NYC venture frenzy. Many of you entrepreneurs know that feeling. I'm ecstatic to announce that Brooklyn Bridge Ventures has just completed a first close of $3.5

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ventures pitching VC startup ecosystem 280

Startup Grind

AUGUST 13, 2018

Prior to co-founding Floodgate , she worked at Charles River Ventures and McKinsey and Company. Given the success of her investments she was on the 2017 Midas List of top 100 venture capitalists. Taskrabbit; Nov 2009 What is one question you ask yourself before investing in a company? What struck you about them?

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VC entrepreneurship pitching strategy 111

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.

VC 225

VC social gaming venture capital networking 225

TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 2, 2020

VC has been invested over the past decade according to race, gender and educational background makes for grim reading — with all-ethnic teams and female entrepreneurs receiving just a fraction of available funding versus all-white teams and male founders. female entrepreneurs face in accessing VC funding versus male counterparts.

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founder investing investment VC 113

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 28, 2013

However, in this moment, I think one''s career in venture capital depends on changing your perspective. The biggest question I think VC''s face right now is whether or not, in the future, the best founders will look and act like the best founders of the past. It was exactly how you''d imagine a venture firm to throw a party.

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venture capital VC ventures capital 380

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

Revolution

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

According to PitchBook , VC investments were down 30% in Q2 2022 compared with 2021, and IPOs hit a 50-year low. While a few iconic brands including Uber, Airbnb, and Square emerged successfully from the last downturn, most venture-backed companies struggled during this period, and many ended up pursuing M&A strategies.

startup 130

startup board VC venture capital 130

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

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. Investors: Google Ventures.

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VC venture capital ventures support 236

TechCrunch

MARCH 28, 2023

Laurie Fabiano, the president of the Tory Burch Foundation , said the foundation decided to launch the tool after realizing that women entrepreneurs are often unaware of their funding options or how to navigate the form of capital that might best suits their needs. billion in venture capital allocated to U.S. of the approximate $238.8

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capital founder education startup ecosystem 94

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

I rarely talk to any startup entrepreneur or VC who doesn’t feel it and somehow long for simpler times despite the benefits we all enjoy from increased enthusiasm for our sector. For entrepreneurs there’s too much money sloshing around. We are experiencing a frenetic time. My general advice is to do less.

advice 398

advice VC entrepreneurs transportation 398

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 22, 2012

Viewing the article through the lens of a venture capitalist there’s much to agree with under the mantra of “growth!” He also nails the reason why venture capital is still necessary to grow large businesses quickly in a world where the costs of running startups have fallen dramatically. So I like that bit, too.

startup 390

startup VC venture capital culture 390

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

This is something I think entrepreneurs don’t totally understand and it’s worthwhile they do. No VC will be so naive as not to see straight through it. When I first became a VC, seed rounds were typically $500k – $1.5 If you''re newer to VC math here''s a great primer]. Nobody cares. Why the latter?

VC 399

VC advice financing finance 399

TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 9, 2020

Year-in, year-out, the gender gap in venture capital investment continues to be a problem women founders face. There has been little movement in the amount of VC dollars going to women-founded companies since 2012. In the long term, there needs to be foundational change to level the playing field for women entrepreneurs.

VC 123

VC startup leadership communities 123

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

It was 2009 and it was terribly difficult to get any financing (if you can remember a time like that!) and I thought if we brought the community together for common purpose we could create more of a sense of community to help new entrepreneurs get funded, assemble teams, raise profiles and help with biz dev, product, etc. And Adam his.

accelerator 290

accelerator mentorship peer-to-peer VC 290

TechCrunch

MAY 17, 2022

The judges for this pitch-off will be Yoon Choi (Muirwoods Ventures), Mar Hershenson (Pear VC) and Gabriel Scheer (Elemental Excelerator) on day one; and Sven Strohband (Khosla Ventures), Victoria Beasley (Prelude Ventures) and John Du (GM Ventures) on day two. Yoon Choi — Muirwoods Ventures. ” Day 2

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pitching energy startup consulting 76

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

Are you trying to figure out how to build a place that creates venture backed IPOs or are you trying to build something where technical people can feel like they’re in a community? In 2005, it was a risky bet to join Union Square Ventures and plant my VC career here in NYC. Those two things aren’t really the same.

communities 430

communities startup real estate mentorship 430

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

By now you will likely have read Andy Dunn’s scathing post about Venture Capitalists in which he decries the industry’s masses. After all, I am no stranger to the publicly expressing the frustrations of dealing with the downside of this industry as I wrote about in 2006 when I was an entrepreneur. But VC is like congress.

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VC peer-to-peer entrepreneurs board 374

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

I become a venture capitalist in September 2007 – exactly 6.5 As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. In 2010 somebody posed the question on Quora, “Is Mark Suster a Successful Venture Capitalist?” years ago. None have exited.

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VC venture capital financing finance 387

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

The idea is simple enough: several female VC partners at top funds will hold 1-hour meetings with 40 promising female entrepreneurs looking to get advice on their business and pitch in a friendly, non-judgmental, safe environment. 8% of VC partnerships, for example). Now 33% of Supreme Court Justices are women (vs.

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founder peer-to-peer mentorship VC 256

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

It’s a critical appointment — while brief — that can have a lasting impact on the founders who win, as well as help maintain TechCrunch’s reputation as an outlet that finds innovative tech and entrepreneurs behind it. Lanzone has a long history in media and as an entrepreneur.

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startup board venture capital VC 74

TechCrunch

AUGUST 11, 2021

AppWorks , the Taipei-based venture capital firm focused on Taiwan and Southeast Asia, announced today it has closed its oversubscribed third fund, raising $150 million. By comparison, the top quartile of global VC and private equity funds launched around the same time have a TVPI of 2.4x, according to data from Cambridge Associates.

startup 98

startup accelerator venture capital creativity 98

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

And that was evident on today’s Angel vs. VC panel. There are real changes in the venture capital industry and it would have been fun to talk about them. The VC industry is segmenting – I have spoken about this many times before. We need people at all stages of the funding lifecycle and not just VCs.

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disruption VC entrepreneurs financing 308

Innovation 2 Enterprise

MAY 23, 2021

In venture capital parlance, “unicorn” describes a privately held startup company with a company valuation of over $1 billion. In literature and in most of life, unicorns are a rare mythical breed, more likely imagined than seen—but in the venture capital business, they do sometimes appear. Rising Value. It has been a blockbuster year.

technology 83

technology venture capital innovation capital 83

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

In a world where the economy only heads in one direction (read: 2009-2014) most investors & entrepreneurs forget to pay attention to gross burn. 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

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 27, 2010

Geolocation is so 2009. Kinda seems like that sometimes, right—that the venture capital community seems to chase after the bright shiny object of the moment in droves and then just as quickly moves on to the next new new thing. Back when I was at Union Square Ventures, Fred started to get really excited about podcasting.

VC 186

VC venture capital media board 186

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 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). 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 284

Gust

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Cautionary note: No competent VC is actually fooled when you show up after raising $6M in seed financing and say you’re now raising an A! This is something I think entrepreneurs don’t totally understand and it’s worthwhile they do. No VC will be so naive as not to see straight through it. Nobody cares. Why the latter?

VC 136

VC advice financing finance 136

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 9, 2012

With the ascension of Kent Goldman and Phin Barnes to Partner, Christine Herron leaving to join Intel Capital and me starting Brooklyn Bridge Ventures , there are no longer any people at the Principal level. When I first sat down with Josh back in September of 2009 to talk about joining First Round.

capital 236

capital VC pitching venture capital 236

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 27, 2010

Geolocation is so 2009. Kinda seems like that sometimes, right—that the venture capital community seems to chase after the bright shiny object of the moment in droves and then just as quickly moves on to the next new new thing. Back when I was at Union Square Ventures, Fred started to get really excited about podcasting.

VC 150

VC venture capital media board 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

Since 2009 we’ve been in an unequivocal bull market. Venture capitalists have raised increasing amounts of money from their investors (LPs) every year. An impressive number of new VCs have been created – most of them with new seed funds. And as I always assert, “Great companies are built in downturns.

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incubation board VC innovation 354