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Our first step was to talk with 50 national resource providers and work with the 2018 ESHIP Summit attendees to record hundreds of existing resources utilized by ecosystem builders. By David Kraus. MORE
Whereas in 2016 I struggled to come up with one, and whereas in 2017 it was obvious it was Coinbase, with 2018 comes the most money poured into U.S. In 2018, it was that kind year. So, after all of those warnings and disclaimers (and, yes, you are free to disagree with my selection here), but after months of reflection, I believe Airtable is The Breakout Tech Company of 2018. This is the company, in my opinion, which only first appeared on the radar of most investors in 2018. MORE
This is part of a series of advice for founders who need to raise money from venture capitalists. The first in the series is “ Lemons Ripen Early ,” which also has a link to other posts. The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. MORE
By David Kraus. It all started in October, 2013 when Chorus , a New Zealand telecommunications company, launched a competition. Dubbed “ Gigatown ” as a nod to Chattanooga’s “Gig City” moniker, the competition challenged New Zealand cities to realize the potential of Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) technology for renewing the methods of New Zealand’s education and business sectors. In September of 2014, representatives from finalist towns were flown to Chattanooga, where they met with CO.STARTERS. MORE
For the last two years, I’ve been pretty vocal about politics on social media , in my weekly tech community newsletter and on this blog. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten more progressive—which is a big shift for me because I grew up conservative. More and more, I’ve felt the need to speak out—but the question was asked of me recently whether or not it does more harm than good for me professionally. MORE
Many Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree programs offer their students the opportunity to choose a concentration, which can also be called a "specialization" or a "track." In Australia, some educators may refer to this as a "major." While concentrating in any one aspect of business administration is not essential for career success, it can sometimes lead to higher paychecks and increased credibility in your area of specialization. MORE
People said there’s no money in hosting. WordPress is just a toy. After the success of Smart Bear, I should be setting my sights on something big, not this. I’m sure people said similar things to Heather when she joined as our CEO. The Silicon Valley-oriented technology press outlets don’t cover us because we’re not in San Francisco, even though we’re more successful than most of the startups they cover. MORE
Whilst membership numbers and area are increasing in European coworking spaces, their popularity is slightly decreasing. Do large spaces with more members, private offices and employees lead to worse ratings among members? Yes, but less than expected. Surprisingly, it’s smaller coworking spaces in particular that are becoming much less popular. Read on to find out more about this trend as well as other developments in the European coworking scene MORE
Coworking spaces are growing. Each year they offer larger workspaces and serve more members than the year before. These findings are not new. But what does a detailed view of coworking spaces look like presently? In this article, you will learn not only about membership numbers, but also how they divide their expenditure and revenue, how many locations they operate, where they are located, or what internet speeds they offer. MORE
If you’ve read any of my ongoing series on fund raising from venture capitalist (episode 1?— ?controlling controlling your psychology ) you no doubt have heard me say that raising capital is a sales & marketing process. MORE
I Know Everybody Told You to Send Your Fund-Raising Decks as a Link. Here’s Why You Should Just Send the Deck I know you have your document sending tool to send your fund-raising deck to VCs and track who read your deck, which pages they read and how much time they spend on each page. MORE
The post Annual EntreEd Forum 2018 Recap appeared first on EntreEd. On September 28-30, over one hundred educators from across the nation gathered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the annual EntreEd Forum presented by The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education. This year’s programming included a wide range of valuable professional development activities for entrepreneurship education and classroom innovation. Teachers of all subject and grade levels were in attendance […]. MORE
You had an amazing meeting with an investor. Your product demo crushed. The dialog was great. They told you how much they loved your space. The meeting was only supposed to last 45 minutes but you ran 90. The assistant tried to end the meeting twice but was shoooshed away. You race back to the office to tell everybody how well it went and you wait for the follow-up call to have a partners’ meeting or talk about term sheets or at least dip into due diligence. One week. Two weeks. Oh, fork. MORE
There’s a quick litmus-test conversation any early-stage VC will have with the founder and it’s one that you should be as prepared for as your elevator pitch. It goes something like this … VC: “How much money are you raising?” Founder: “$8–10 million” VC: “What’s your current burn rate?” Founder: “$250k / month.” VC: “So at a constant rate of burn rate you’d be raising enough for 2.5–3 3 years. Why are you raising so much?” Founder: “Um. Let me check my plan.” MORE
You roll down the windows and wear a helmet when you take your car to the track. This does not make me less terrified of a fiery death. The American Autocross champion was sitting in my passenger seat screaming at me to not let my foot off the pedal until I bounced off the RPM limiter. She was properly intense. I didn’t know what I was doing, but it’s fun to power through curves in a high-speed tenuously-controlled skid in my Mini Cooper S (plus Cooperworks). MORE
And, with that warning, I offer to you, the big stories in the startup and investing ecosystem of 2018, written in ascending order of importance and magnitude…. Now in 2018, there’s been significant rounds they’ve led or participated in — Pitchbook here recaps some of the biggest. Then 2018 arrived. It’s that time of year, time to look back and reflect on the most significant storylines in the tech, startup, and VC world. MORE
We all know that startups should make decisions quickly. Fast decisions leads to rapid action, which accelerates the loop of production and feedback, which is how you outpace and out-learn a competitor, even one that already has a lead. But some decisions should not be made in haste, like a key executive hire , or how to price , or whether to raise money, or whether to invest millions of dollars in a new product line. MORE
My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market. MORE
Have you already planned your vacations for this year? Combine some of them with exciting coworking events, extend your trip and turn them into a coworkation! From vibrant New York City, the breezy Hanseatic cities Bremen or Gdansk, to the tropical climate in Georgetown, Malaysia. the coworking gatherings are as diverse as the cities where they take place. However, there are two things all those events have in common. MORE
Many people will write the history on why Ring became an enormously successful company and why it became a real-world unicorn in a world when many startups are anointed that merely on paper. Since I had a ringside seat to the company before it really existed all the way through the end I thought I’d offer my version and what I think it means for our future. MORE
The market pushed higher for nearly 36 months to a new high in September 2018 at 9.5x Multiples at IPO will be lower in 2019 than for most of 2018. But 2018’s multiples were at decade highs, and 2019s figures are are 40%+ larger than the trailing 8 year median. Reading the news in the past week made me wonder. Just where are we pricing SaaS companies today? The Nasdaq and the S&P have toyed with a bear market. Many stocks are down 10 to 50%. MORE
In almost all of the commentary from both educators and industry, the mention of AR and VR for 2018’s big trends were ubiquitous. In this straight-forward report, eSchool Media discusses what to expect, overall, in 2018; how 2017 compares to 2018 for both K-12 and higher ed; and predictions from educators and industry on both K-12 and higher ed trends for the new year. 2018 promises to be a year that epitomizes the term “transformational.” MORE
This is one of my favorite insights, since I lived this one in a positive exit from my computer business. Types of business buyers expanded. Most people will tell you that there are two kinds of eventual buyers for your business: financial and strategic. A financial buyer will analyze your numbers, past and forecast, to the n’th degree, and calculate the price based upon the result, after carefully comparing your numbers with those of others in the same and similar industries. MORE
In the meantime, the number of series As has only declined 20% from its high, remaining relatively stable from 2014 through 2018. In the second quarter of 2018, there were three Series As for every five seeds. In the last six years, the median time between seed and Series A has more than tripled from about 200 days to about 750 days. The seed market is in the midst of some secular changes. Seed rounds have declined 63% from their peak. Total dollars invested have fallen by 37%. MORE
There has always been tension between CPG (consumer packaged goods) companies and the retailers who sell their products to consumers. If a consumer will pay a fixed price for a product or service then the battle over who gets the margin in any sale is between the person who merchandises a product and the person who manufactures it. This is an age-old marketplace tension where leverage often determines the value captured. This is true whether it’s physical products or media products. MORE
2018 is a blockbuster year for software M&A multiples. Billion-dollar plus acquisitions in 2018 have commanded a median 17.7x In 2018, three acquirers have paid greater than 14x trailing multiples, and two have paid greater than 20x trailing. That small decline is driven by Cisco’s acquisition of Broadsoft earlier in 2018, but does nothing to change the conclusion that acquirers prize growth. MORE
The SaaS fundraising market remains ebullient through 2018 as vibrant M&A and an open IPO window trigger substantial liquidity for shareholders. Blockchain in the enterprise takes the reign as the buzzword for 2018. Below are 7 predictions about the startup software ecosystem. How many of them do you agree with? The tax holiday for repatriation creates one of the most active M&A environments of the past ten years. The repatriation holiday is part of the new tax plan. MORE
These are my ten favorite books from 2018. The (Mis)Behavior of Markets - Written by Benoit Mandelbrot, the Belgian mathematician who pioneered fractals, this book and theory inspired Naseem Taleb. It’s a powerful book on the uncertain nature of financial turbulence. Creative Selection - Ken Kocienda, a former Apple engineer who co-authored Safari and the iPhone keyboard, writes about culture at Apple. MORE
It’s that time of year again—the season of people quitting their jobs soon to start a company. I don’t know whether it’s New Years resolutions or end of year bonuses, but I feel like there’s a bit of a peak in people wrapping up previous things looking to start something new. MORE
Time and time again, I hear how hard of a time startups are having recruiting, especially for software developers. While candidate quality is sometimes an issue, or culture fit, or some other quality, most of the time the issue is that the company just isn't getting enough people into the top of the funnel. When I was a startup founder, I had this same issue. That's when I had a conversation with Max Ventilla, the founder of AltSchool, who at the time was running Aardvark. MORE
We'd like to congratulate FundersClub portfolio companies on their ongoing progress, as well as to welcome aboard their new VC investor partners. Selected recent FundersClub portfolio company follow-on rounds: GitLab announced its $100M Series D, led by ICONIQ, and minting it a new $B portfolio company. GitLab provides open source code collaboration software. We invested at Seed, Series B, and Series D. MORE
The second Startup Community Leaders Mission to the USA took place from 11-18 March 2018, with 20 participants taking part, including 14 from 11 different regional towns in Queensland, 3 from Brisbane, one from Sydney, one from Adelaide, and one from New York (assisting the Beach City film crew). 2018 Startup Community MORE
2018 LondonIn June we conducted our third annual mission to London for London Tech Week. 16 participants from Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales took part in the week long mission, with a total of 25 official events, meetings and tours, and another dozen private meetings organised by participants, as well as other events from the London Tech Week schedule. MORE
In almost every single investment I’ve ever made, I can think of a singular moment in my relationship with a founder that, no matter what came before or what might come after, defined our relationship. Often times, it came in a very vulnerable and down moment for the founder—perhaps they just lost out on a big opportunity, had someone from the team leave, or they’re running low on capital before sales have come around. MORE
Upfront Ventures has a deep-seated commitment to equality in funding & building diverse teams across all ethnicities, nationalities and genders. We do this not just because it’s the right thing to do but also we believe it will help drive large and differentiated returns. In 2017 we began inserting an “Inclusion Clause” into our term sheets because we believe that the culture one establishes at the earliest stages of one’s business will set out the course of how it will grow and develop. MORE
One of the hardest things about the fund-raising process for entrepreneurs is that you’re trying to raise money from people who have “asymmetric information.” VC firms see thousands of deals and have a refined sense of how the market is valuing deals because they get price signals across all of these deals. As an entrepreneur it can feel as intimidating as going to buy a car where the dealer knows the price of every make & model of a car and you’re guessing at how much to pay. MORE
24, Small Business Saturday, we are highlighting one starter a day from our 2018 Holiday Gift Guide on our social channels. Celebrate 12 Days of Starters, Nov. 24 through Dec. CO.STARTERS celebrates starters this holiday season by urging everyone to shop small! Give the gift of small and shop local anywhere from the convenience of your couch while you leverage your holiday gift purchases to support starters and the communities they—and you!—call call home. Starting on Nov. MORE
If you haven’t yet heard about Female Founder Office Hours it is an initiative you should be aware of whether you’re male, female or any other gender identify. 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. MORE
2018 Related Topics Startup Catalyst
JUNE 21, 2018
2018 LondonIn June we conducted our third annual mission to London for London Tech Week. 16 participants from Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales took part in the week long mission, with a total of 25 official events, meetings and tours, and another dozen private meetings organised by participants, as well as other events from the London Tech Week schedule.
Startup Catalyst
MARCH 27, 2018
The second Startup Community Leaders Mission to the USA took place from 11-18 March 2018, with 20 participants taking part, including 14 from 11 different regional towns in Queensland, 3 from Brisbane, one from Sydney, one from Adelaide, and one from New York (assisting the Beach City film crew). 2018 Startup Community
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Haystack
NOVEMBER 25, 2018
Whereas in 2016 I struggled to come up with one, and whereas in 2017 it was obvious it was Coinbase, with 2018 comes the most money poured into U.S. In 2018, it was that kind year. So, after all of those warnings and disclaimers (and, yes, you are free to disagree with my selection here), but after months of reflection, I believe Airtable is The Breakout Tech Company of 2018. This is the company, in my opinion, which only first appeared on the radar of most investors in 2018.
Haystack
DECEMBER 29, 2018
And, with that warning, I offer to you, the big stories in the startup and investing ecosystem of 2018, written in ascending order of importance and magnitude…. Now in 2018, there’s been significant rounds they’ve led or participated in — Pitchbook here recaps some of the biggest. Then 2018 arrived. It’s that time of year, time to look back and reflect on the most significant storylines in the tech, startup, and VC world.
eSchool News
JANUARY 1, 2018
In almost all of the commentary from both educators and industry, the mention of AR and VR for 2018’s big trends were ubiquitous. In this straight-forward report, eSchool Media discusses what to expect, overall, in 2018; how 2017 compares to 2018 for both K-12 and higher ed; and predictions from educators and industry on both K-12 and higher ed trends for the new year. 2018 promises to be a year that epitomizes the term “transformational.”
This is going to be BIG.
OCTOBER 22, 2018
In almost every single investment I’ve ever made, I can think of a singular moment in my relationship with a founder that, no matter what came before or what might come after, defined our relationship. Often times, it came in a very vulnerable and down moment for the founder—perhaps they just lost out on a big opportunity, had someone from the team leave, or they’re running low on capital before sales have come around.
|
Startup Grind
AUGUST 18, 2018
Many Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree programs offer their students the opportunity to choose a concentration, which can also be called a "specialization" or a "track." In Australia, some educators may refer to this as a "major." While concentrating in any one aspect of business administration is not essential for career success, it can sometimes lead to higher paychecks and increased credibility in your area of specialization.
Co Starters
NOVEMBER 23, 2018
24, Small Business Saturday, we are highlighting one starter a day from our 2018 Holiday Gift Guide on our social channels. Celebrate 12 Days of Starters, Nov. 24 through Dec. CO.STARTERS celebrates starters this holiday season by urging everyone to shop small! Give the gift of small and shop local anywhere from the convenience of your couch while you leverage your holiday gift purchases to support starters and the communities they—and you!—call call home. Starting on Nov.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 9, 2018
You had an amazing meeting with an investor. Your product demo crushed. The dialog was great. They told you how much they loved your space. The meeting was only supposed to last 45 minutes but you ran 90. The assistant tried to end the meeting twice but was shoooshed away. You race back to the office to tell everybody how well it went and you wait for the follow-up call to have a partners’ meeting or talk about term sheets or at least dip into due diligence. One week. Two weeks. Oh, fork.
Tomasz Tunguz
JANUARY 3, 2018
The SaaS fundraising market remains ebullient through 2018 as vibrant M&A and an open IPO window trigger substantial liquidity for shareholders. Blockchain in the enterprise takes the reign as the buzzword for 2018. Below are 7 predictions about the startup software ecosystem. How many of them do you agree with? The tax holiday for repatriation creates one of the most active M&A environments of the past ten years. The repatriation holiday is part of the new tax plan.
A Smart Bear
SEPTEMBER 5, 2018
We all know that startups should make decisions quickly. Fast decisions leads to rapid action, which accelerates the loop of production and feedback, which is how you outpace and out-learn a competitor, even one that already has a lead. But some decisions should not be made in haste, like a key executive hire , or how to price , or whether to raise money, or whether to invest millions of dollars in a new product line.
|
Tomasz Tunguz
JUNE 11, 2018
2018 is a blockbuster year for software M&A multiples. Billion-dollar plus acquisitions in 2018 have commanded a median 17.7x In 2018, three acquirers have paid greater than 14x trailing multiples, and two have paid greater than 20x trailing. That small decline is driven by Cisco’s acquisition of Broadsoft earlier in 2018, but does nothing to change the conclusion that acquirers prize growth.
Berkonomics
SEPTEMBER 13, 2018
This is one of my favorite insights, since I lived this one in a positive exit from my computer business. Types of business buyers expanded. Most people will tell you that there are two kinds of eventual buyers for your business: financial and strategic. A financial buyer will analyze your numbers, past and forecast, to the n’th degree, and calculate the price based upon the result, after carefully comparing your numbers with those of others in the same and similar industries.
Deskmag
NOVEMBER 21, 2018
Whilst membership numbers and area are increasing in European coworking spaces, their popularity is slightly decreasing. Do large spaces with more members, private offices and employees lead to worse ratings among members? Yes, but less than expected. Surprisingly, it’s smaller coworking spaces in particular that are becoming much less popular. Read on to find out more about this trend as well as other developments in the European coworking scene
Tomasz Tunguz
DECEMBER 14, 2018
These are my ten favorite books from 2018. The (Mis)Behavior of Markets - Written by Benoit Mandelbrot, the Belgian mathematician who pioneered fractals, this book and theory inspired Naseem Taleb. It’s a powerful book on the uncertain nature of financial turbulence. Creative Selection - Ken Kocienda, a former Apple engineer who co-authored Safari and the iPhone keyboard, writes about culture at Apple.
Tomasz Tunguz
DECEMBER 26, 2018
The market pushed higher for nearly 36 months to a new high in September 2018 at 9.5x Multiples at IPO will be lower in 2019 than for most of 2018. But 2018’s multiples were at decade highs, and 2019s figures are are 40%+ larger than the trailing 8 year median. Reading the news in the past week made me wonder. Just where are we pricing SaaS companies today? The Nasdaq and the S&P have toyed with a bear market. Many stocks are down 10 to 50%.
Co Starters
JUNE 26, 2018
By David Kraus. It all started in October, 2013 when Chorus , a New Zealand telecommunications company, launched a competition. Dubbed “ Gigatown ” as a nod to Chattanooga’s “Gig City” moniker, the competition challenged New Zealand cities to realize the potential of Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) technology for renewing the methods of New Zealand’s education and business sectors. In September of 2014, representatives from finalist towns were flown to Chattanooga, where they met with CO.STARTERS.
Deskmag
SEPTEMBER 18, 2018
Coworking spaces are growing. Each year they offer larger workspaces and serve more members than the year before. These findings are not new. But what does a detailed view of coworking spaces look like presently? In this article, you will learn not only about membership numbers, but also how they divide their expenditure and revenue, how many locations they operate, where they are located, or what internet speeds they offer.
This is going to be BIG.
DECEMBER 24, 2018
It’s that time of year again—the season of people quitting their jobs soon to start a company. I don’t know whether it’s New Years resolutions or end of year bonuses, but I feel like there’s a bit of a peak in people wrapping up previous things looking to start something new.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 24, 2018
If you’ve read any of my ongoing series on fund raising from venture capitalist (episode 1?— ?controlling controlling your psychology ) you no doubt have heard me say that raising capital is a sales & marketing process.
FundersClub
OCTOBER 17, 2018
We'd like to congratulate FundersClub portfolio companies on their ongoing progress, as well as to welcome aboard their new VC investor partners. Selected recent FundersClub portfolio company follow-on rounds: GitLab announced its $100M Series D, led by ICONIQ, and minting it a new $B portfolio company. GitLab provides open source code collaboration software. We invested at Seed, Series B, and Series D.
Both Sides of the Table
APRIL 12, 2018
Many people will write the history on why Ring became an enormously successful company and why it became a real-world unicorn in a world when many startups are anointed that merely on paper. Since I had a ringside seat to the company before it really existed all the way through the end I thought I’d offer my version and what I think it means for our future.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 28, 2018
There has always been tension between CPG (consumer packaged goods) companies and the retailers who sell their products to consumers. If a consumer will pay a fixed price for a product or service then the battle over who gets the margin in any sale is between the person who merchandises a product and the person who manufactures it. This is an age-old marketplace tension where leverage often determines the value captured. This is true whether it’s physical products or media products.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 13, 2018
This is part of a series of advice for founders who need to raise money from venture capitalists. The first in the series is “ Lemons Ripen Early ,” which also has a link to other posts. The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 30, 2018
One of the hardest things about the fund-raising process for entrepreneurs is that you’re trying to raise money from people who have “asymmetric information.” VC firms see thousands of deals and have a refined sense of how the market is valuing deals because they get price signals across all of these deals. As an entrepreneur it can feel as intimidating as going to buy a car where the dealer knows the price of every make & model of a car and you’re guessing at how much to pay.
This is going to be BIG.
NOVEMBER 4, 2018
For the last two years, I’ve been pretty vocal about politics on social media , in my weekly tech community newsletter and on this blog. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten more progressive—which is a big shift for me because I grew up conservative. More and more, I’ve felt the need to speak out—but the question was asked of me recently whether or not it does more harm than good for me professionally.
A Smart Bear
SEPTEMBER 19, 2018
You roll down the windows and wear a helmet when you take your car to the track. This does not make me less terrified of a fiery death. The American Autocross champion was sitting in my passenger seat screaming at me to not let my foot off the pedal until I bounced off the RPM limiter. She was properly intense. I didn’t know what I was doing, but it’s fun to power through curves in a high-speed tenuously-controlled skid in my Mini Cooper S (plus Cooperworks).
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 14, 2018
I Know Everybody Told You to Send Your Fund-Raising Decks as a Link. Here’s Why You Should Just Send the Deck I know you have your document sending tool to send your fund-raising deck to VCs and track who read your deck, which pages they read and how much time they spend on each page.
Tomasz Tunguz
JUNE 23, 2018
In the meantime, the number of series As has only declined 20% from its high, remaining relatively stable from 2014 through 2018. In the second quarter of 2018, there were three Series As for every five seeds. In the last six years, the median time between seed and Series A has more than tripled from about 200 days to about 750 days. The seed market is in the midst of some secular changes. Seed rounds have declined 63% from their peak. Total dollars invested have fallen by 37%.
This is going to be BIG.
JUNE 11, 2018
Time and time again, I hear how hard of a time startups are having recruiting, especially for software developers. While candidate quality is sometimes an issue, or culture fit, or some other quality, most of the time the issue is that the company just isn't getting enough people into the top of the funnel. When I was a startup founder, I had this same issue. That's when I had a conversation with Max Ventilla, the founder of AltSchool, who at the time was running Aardvark.
A Smart Bear
JANUARY 4, 2018
People said there’s no money in hosting. WordPress is just a toy. After the success of Smart Bear, I should be setting my sights on something big, not this. I’m sure people said similar things to Heather when she joined as our CEO. The Silicon Valley-oriented technology press outlets don’t cover us because we’re not in San Francisco, even though we’re more successful than most of the startups they cover.
Co Starters
AUGUST 29, 2018
Our first step was to talk with 50 national resource providers and work with the 2018 ESHIP Summit attendees to record hundreds of existing resources utilized by ecosystem builders. By David Kraus.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 28, 2018
There’s a quick litmus-test conversation any early-stage VC will have with the founder and it’s one that you should be as prepared for as your elevator pitch. It goes something like this … VC: “How much money are you raising?” Founder: “$8–10 million” VC: “What’s your current burn rate?” Founder: “$250k / month.” VC: “So at a constant rate of burn rate you’d be raising enough for 2.5–3 3 years. Why are you raising so much?” Founder: “Um. Let me check my plan.”
Deskmag
JANUARY 17, 2018
Have you already planned your vacations for this year? Combine some of them with exciting coworking events, extend your trip and turn them into a coworkation! From vibrant New York City, the breezy Hanseatic cities Bremen or Gdansk, to the tropical climate in Georgetown, Malaysia. the coworking gatherings are as diverse as the cities where they take place. However, there are two things all those events have in common.
Both Sides of the Table
JUNE 28, 2018
My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 14, 2018
If you haven’t yet heard about Female Founder Office Hours it is an initiative you should be aware of whether you’re male, female or any other gender identify. 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.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 8, 2018
Upfront Ventures has a deep-seated commitment to equality in funding & building diverse teams across all ethnicities, nationalities and genders. We do this not just because it’s the right thing to do but also we believe it will help drive large and differentiated returns. In 2017 we began inserting an “Inclusion Clause” into our term sheets because we believe that the culture one establishes at the earliest stages of one’s business will set out the course of how it will grow and develop.
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