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. I'm ecstatic to announce that Brooklyn Bridge Ventures has just completed a first close of $3.5 VCs pitch for money, too.

ventures 280

ventures pitching VC startup ecosystem 280

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.

venture capital 380

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.

VC 255

VC venture capital networking innovation 255

TechCrunch

MARCH 28, 2023

After a founder takes the quiz, the Funding Finder algorithm points them to what could be their best bets: debt financing, community development financial institutions (CDFIs), banks, bootstrapping, family and friend rounds, or even crowdfunding. billion in venture capital allocated to U.S. of the approximate $238.8

capital 94

capital founder education startup ecosystem 94

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

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 There weren’t a lot of seed funds in 2007 so this was often done by angels, funding consortia or sometimes early-stage funds that existed then (First Round Capital, True Ventures, SoftTech VC, etc.).

VC 399

VC advice financing finance 399

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. Since then?

VC 387

VC venture capital financing finance 387

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? It had been written that NYC was built by industries of zero sum games like finance and real estate, and that DNA wouldn’t work in the startup community.

communities 430

communities startup real estate mentorship 430

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.

VC 263

VC board investing investment 263

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.

pitching 76

pitching energy startup consulting 76

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. VC funds must look at ways they can bring in more women decision-makers, all the way up to the top.

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!) Throughout all of these years I was a full-time VC so Launchpad really came out of evenings and weekends for me. Adam had a full time startup and then was doing consulting (he later raised a VC fund). So we went for it.

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accelerator mentorship peer-to-peer VC 290

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

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

Without further ado, here are the five judges who will pick the 2021 Startup Battlefield winner: Kirsten Green is the founder and managing partner of Forerunner Ventures, a San Francisco-based VC firm she formed in 2010. Clicker, which launched at the TechCrunch50 conference in 2009, was acquired by CBS Interactive.

startup 74

startup board venture capital VC 74

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.

technology 83

technology venture capital innovation capital 83

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

This “overnight success” was first financed in 2004. Imagine if, say, Autodesk had purchased it in 2009 for $100 million? Of the first four investments I made as a VC in 2009, two have exited and two (Invoca & GumGum) still are independent and likely to produce $billion++ outcomes . Entrada Ventures? —?that

venture capital 363

venture capital capital ventures VC 363

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

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 15, 2012

He spotted Facebook in 2004 and Spotify in 2009. or would he have been convinced to take a financing round? Companies going for the long ball aren't discovered--they're juiced up to go for the homerun, with financing. Parker made a huge dent in the web as co-founder of Napster, then built Plaxo up to 20 million users.

startup 278

startup financing finance venture capital 278

TechCrunch

MARCH 16, 2022

Of this lot, five were African startups: payments unicorn Flutterwave , credit-led neobank FairMoney , open finance startup Mono , card-issuing API Union54 and SMB credit provider Float ; Float’s round was announced in January but closed in late 2021. However, Tiger Global limited its activity in Africa from 2009 to 2014.

media 87

media investing investment VC 87

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.

disruption 308

disruption VC entrepreneurs financing 308

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! 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].

VC 136

VC advice financing finance 136

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. It’s where the truly innovative separate themselves from the pack.

incubation 354

incubation board VC innovation 354

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

They have marked-up paper gains propped up by an over excited venture capital market that has validated their investments. For venture capitalists this isn’t troubling. Too many angel deals just means more to watch and invest in for the ones that do succeed (if the VCs can get in at reasonable prices). Why should you care?

angel investing 299

angel investing investing investment real estate 299

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. That is why I find it curious when angels start shouting that VC’s are dinosaurs, evil, money-grubbing and non-value-add.

angel investing 284

angel investing investing investment VC 284

WSJ - The Accelerators

JULY 2, 2015

ED ZIMMERMAN : The funnel for venture funding isn’t cylindrical — it’s shape follows a more Darwinian conical path, as many seed stage companies march into the cone’s wide entrance and far fewer make it to the cone’s narrow end. Only 4% of the 160 startups from the class of 2009 completed a 6 th funding round by April 2014.

ventures 28

ventures incumbents venture capital financing 28

Hunter Walk

AUGUST 26, 2022

From Box to Glossier, and Comms to Venture Capital, Ashley Mayer Is Carving a Pretty Unique Path. Box had just 50 employees and was hitting an inflection point when I joined in 2009, so there was far more work to do than people to do it. What She’s Learned, And What You Can Learn From Her. Two additional moments stand out to me.

VC 76

VC advice energy capital 76

TechCrunch

APRIL 13, 2022

with Yoon Choi (Muirwoods Ventures), Mar Hershenson (Pear VC) and Gabriel Scheer (Elemental Excelerator). Investors don’t need to explain the venture-sized opportunity in the transportation industry; instead they want to see contrarian growth — whether that’s a new angle on an old technology, or profitability.

micromobility 82

micromobility transportation pitching collaboration 82

Tomasz Tunguz

MARCH 18, 2014

Just a few months ago, Pure Storage raised $150M in the largest ever venture investment in a storage company. These record financings certainly generate significant press interest. In addition to looking at gross numbers, let’s compare the growth rates from 2009 to 2013 of each of these buckets.

VC 40

VC financing finance enablement 40

TechCrunch

APRIL 12, 2022

with Yoon Choi (Muirwoods Ventures), Mar Hershenson (Pear VC) and Gabriel Scheer (Elemental Excelerator). Investors don’t need to explain the venture-sized opportunity in the transportation industry; instead they want to see contrarian growth — whether that’s a new angle on an old technology, or profitability.

micromobility 78

micromobility transportation pitching collaboration 78

TechCrunch

APRIL 15, 2022

with Yoon Choi (Muirwoods Ventures), Mar Hershenson (Pear VC) and Gabriel Scheer (Elemental Excelerator). Investors don’t need to explain the venture-sized opportunity in the transportation industry; instead they want to see contrarian growth — whether that’s a new angle on an old technology, or profitability.

micromobility 71

micromobility transportation pitching collaboration 71

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

This is where VC comes in and why it’s needed in the industry no matter how much populist sentiment exists agains the industry. got picked up early without raising a lot of VC. That is why I find it curious when angels start shouting that VC’s are dinosaurs, evil, money-grubbing and non-value-add.

angel investing 152

angel investing investing investment VC 152

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

Photo by Scott Clark for Upfront Ventures (no, Evan is not standing on a box) Last year marked the 25th anniversary for Upfront Ventures and what a year it was. 2021 saw phenomenal returns for our industry and it topped off more than a decade of unprecedented VC growth. What do you do with a $650 million platform?

ventures 408

ventures startup peer-to-peer venture capital 408

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC. I recently wrote a post on angel financing covering the topic of convertible notes but I realized I was thinking about the issue more from investor perspective and a very narrow topic of how to price the round. They might be as hard as raising VC. They are calling cards.

advice 291

advice VC pitching angel investing 291

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. Next Wednesday we’ll have Dana Settle of Greycroft Partners, a New York / LA early-stage venture capital fund. I’d link to it but it’s behind a paywall.

VC 285

VC financing finance advice 285

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

I got a job at a bank, and I worked in their corporate finance group. We had a finance group for all of the bank branches based in San Diego, and I wrote programs to download stuff from the mainframe so we could do analysis three days faster than they could send us the data. Comp sci in the 80s was terrible.

startup 337

startup entrepreneurs consulting board 337

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

This thinking is largely driven by the venture capital industry (and subsequently Wall Street) who are in search of high margin, highly scalable businesses. It’s nearly impossible to get a services company financed by VCs. Why Shouldn’t Most Services Businesses Raise VC? You’re a small fish.

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VC advice financing finance 332

Founders Coop

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Just two years later, in 2009, we worked out a deal to create the Techstars Seattle program, with our first program running in 2010. From the beginning, we were deeply committed to Techstars’ “give first” ethos and mentorship-driven approach to startup investing.

startup ecosystem 195

startup ecosystem accelerator communities support 195

Don Dodge

APRIL 6, 2015

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. from Sequoia Capital and have gone on to raise over $1 Billion from VC investors. Classic VC funding is a well-understood model. They got their initial funding of $1.2M

incubation 40

incubation angel investing pitching venture capital 40