Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. I’m comfortable with introductions and then getting into the demo.&#.

VC 299

VC board pitching venture capital 299

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Pitching a VC.&#. The “Triple Play&# of VC Presentations. A large part of my series has been outlining what the typical VC PowerPoint presentation should look like. You want to build a dialogue where you get to know the VC with whom you’re meeting. I recommend it.

VC 238

VC advice pitching venture capital 238

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. My blog linked to Brad Feld’s blog because I was so grateful for his series on term sheets and he was one of the biggest reasons that as a VC I felt compelled to blog. And covered we did.

VC 274

VC venture capital pitching capital 274

Y Combinator

MARCH 15, 2024

 During the past 8 years the entire team at YC was responsible for so much: -  Funding 3000+ startups, including 30+ unicorns (and counting) - Funding founders from 90+ countries around the world - Funding 1000 companies with underrepresented founders (women, Hispanic, Black) - Demo Days that now produce nearly half a billion dollars of funding (..)

leadership 106

leadership advice VC accelerator 106

TechCrunch

JANUARY 8, 2022

Even to outsiders, the inner workings of startup accelerators has become familiar: pumped up on camaraderie and energy drinks, scrappy founders do product demos onstage before a room full of buzzy journalists and investors. Signaling risk happens when a VC chooses to not do pro rata, or follow-on investing, in an existing portfolio company.

startup accelerator 92

startup accelerator accelerator startup energy 92

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

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “Pitching a VC&# – the outline is here. You’ve pitched several angels and VC’s. Your friends and advisers tell you that this means you need revenue because in this economy VC’s will only fund businesses with revenue. Unfortunately your advisers are wrong.

VC 309

VC pitching advice venture capital 309

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 3, 2012

meet with tons of companies every week, work hard for their portfolio companies, and are on planes flying around to the important confereneces and demo days". I think Fred was trying to offer some friendly advice to young investors that you're going to "take lumps" and that it's worth learning from those who are more experienced.

VC 257

VC board venture capital ventures 257

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. There are too many pulls & tugs at our elbows for time, for coffee meetings, for advice or speaking engagements or cocktail parties or dinners.

advice 398

advice VC entrepreneurs transportation 398

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.

founder 256

founder peer-to-peer mentorship VC 256

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

You’ll hear from iconic founders, unicorn makers, boundary-benders — all of it served up with a gigantic side of DIY tips, actionable advice, encouragement and inspiration. Visit their virtual booths, get a product demo and start a conversation. Remember we said you’ll find plenty of actionable advice?

disruption 85

disruption opportunity pitching advice 85

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. There is one source I never liked and no early-stage VC should – investment bankers. Before I tell you my reasons for never doing a deal that a banker intro’d I have to preface by where I think bankers are enormously helpful on VC deals.

advice 361

advice VC pitching entrepreneurs 361

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

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). Demo’d to death. We’ve all been demo-day’d to death. Yeah, he was LA, baby! Quality endures.

accelerator 290

accelerator mentorship peer-to-peer VC 290

David Teten VC

MARCH 21, 2024

My Partner Winter Mead, Founder & CEO of Coolwater Capital , the accelerator for emerging VC fund managers, said: “Fewer than 5 of the 180 emerging managers we’ve worked with are raising via 506c, in order to get in front of more retail LPs, who are generally already following the GP, e.g., through the GP’s newsletter or community.

capital 52

capital advice consulting VC 52

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

What is a principal at a VC firm and how does it work at Upfront Ventures? ” Associates have different functions at different VCs. VC firm admin. VC firm policy or fund analysis. Helping be the VC “presence” at key events. inside insight into VC decision-making. Industry reviews.

investing 365

investing investment VC board 365

David Teten VC

JULY 27, 2021

We have collected a wide range of freebies, contests, accelerators, online communities, and VCs designed for student tech founders. I have been researching this both to support Versatile VC ’s portfolio companies and also as part of research for my new book, To University and Beyond: Launch Your Career in High Gear. 1) Your school.

founder 144

founder mentorship peer-to-peer pitching 144

TechCrunch

MAY 10, 2023

The advice is a lot like one size fits all,” Mohnot said. “We Now, YC companies are less incentivized to raise a small amount of money from angels, and more incentivized to optimize for higher valuations after Demo Day, so dilution is limited when accepting that $375,000 check. “We YC is built for scale.

accelerator 77

accelerator ventures VC advice 77

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 14, 2019

The Fantasy Cash Flow Model When I was an analyst at the General Motors pension fund, investing in VC funds, I had to build a model of how I thought they would perform. He demoed the product to me and I wound up being dollars #476 and #477 to be swiped on the very first Square prototype. I was blown away.

ventures 242

ventures angel investing board advice 242

Venture Hacks

APRIL 17, 2019

Incentives make for bad investing advice. These valuations moved to $4-6M pre-money after 2010, with some demo days in the $8-10M range. Incentives make for bad investing advice. Incentives influence the advice you get from VCs, lawyers, incubators, and everybody else. Back $0B companies. Invest only in technology.

angel investing 181

angel investing investing investment incubation 181

TechCrunch

MAY 9, 2023

Now that seemingly every VC has turned their attention to the category he told TechCrunch he’s glad he’s been in it for so long and therefore will not make some of the mistakes newer entrants will. “It’s so easy to throw together a vertical AI demo,” Winfield told TechCrunch.

startup 97

startup incubation strategy SaaS 97

TechCrunch

APRIL 8, 2023

As The TechCrunch team sat through hundreds of startup pitches during YC’s biannual Demo Day, the backdrop of change was certainly noted. It’s a conversation that bubbles up around Demo Day time and time again, but given the downturn, some expected to see valuations that they think are more realistic for businesses only a few months old.

pitching 71

pitching VC construction startup 71

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2010

Along with detail orientation I have a strong bias for “doers.&# When I ask for a quick demo and the CEO tells me that he’ll schedule a follow-on meeting with his sales rep because, “I’m not a demo guy. years as a VC, “You don’t want to raise money from me. Then I’d fire the CEO.

entrepreneurs 286

entrepreneurs advice pitching VC 286

David Teten VC

JUNE 9, 2021

See How to negotiate a partner role at a VC or private equity firm.) At Versatile VC , we’ve used all these models. Preqin (free demo). Grey House (free demo). Thank you to my co-author for this essay, Paulina Symala, a Consultant at Oliver Wyman and a past intern of Versatile VC. Private Equity. Venture Capital.

consulting 128

consulting venture capital board capital 128

TechCrunch

JANUARY 21, 2023

Somewhere in the midst of all that, Boston Dynamics demoed an improved bipedal robot, Wikipedia launched a redesign and major universities banned TikTok from their campus networks. At Early Stage, experts will share advice on protecting intellectual property, structuring cap tables, developing target customer personas and more.

creativity 78

creativity networking leadership advice 78

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Demos – One of the things that most people are bad at and that are hard to standardize is the demo. I have written about how to do a demo before (even though this was in the context of a VC pitch much of it applies). A good demo tells a story. 80% of demos I see are features, functions & benefits.

advice 296

advice SaaS startup pitching 296

TechCrunch

JANUARY 21, 2023

of all VC funds in 2022, a drop from 2021 Image Credits: Emily Malan Gas Discord has acquired Gas, a compliments-based social media app for teens. Amazing advice for anyone who is a student or just … new. “As a woman, why wouldn’t I want to invest in the advantage that a man has, like, feel free to publish that — it’s true.”

construction 92

construction ventures energy founder 92

David Teten VC

AUGUST 20, 2019

A new wave of Revenue-Based Investors are emerging who are using creative investing structures with some of the upside of traditional VC, but some of the downside protection of debt. In addition, their portfolios look far more diverse than VC industry norms. Who are the major Revenue-Based Investing VCs?

founder 74

founder investing investment venture capital 74

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 9, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series, “ Pitching a VC.&#. I recently wrote a blog post here in which I argued that the best VC meetings are discussions and not sales pitches. I hope that when you’re presenting to a VC this will give you some sense of what might be going on in our minds. Both presenters are anonymized.

pitching 288

pitching VC advice strategy 288

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2010

Can we do a really quick run through your deck so that we save tons of time for a product demo & questions at the end?&#. And because as a VC or as a CEO or senior exec you get presented to all the time we’re extra sensitive to it. 25% of VCs are expressives, like you. Can I make a small suggestion?

VC 358

VC entrepreneurs creativity leadership 358

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2013

Get yourself in a big demo day competition. I’m a VC. Startup Advice' What kind of message does that send to the party faithful who slave away loyally to hit targets for BigCo? I’ll tell you what is says. It says if you want to make “real” money - quit. Go do a startup. Woo the press.

strategy 357

strategy venture capital advice entrepreneurs 357

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

I’m enjoying being a VC. I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. VC meetings going well. 2 million in VC. I swore never to do that as a VC. What do VC’s Experience?

entrepreneurs 384

entrepreneurs startup VC real estate 384

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

Most early-stage entrepreneurs who have worked with me (either as an angel or as a seed VC) know that I don’t rely at all on the social proof of other investors. if you need advice on how to find / work with startup lawyers cheaply click that link). When I’m in, I’m in. It goes back to the issue of investor fairness.

financing 286

financing finance advice VC 286

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

Who wouldn’t accept an invite to “A networking breakfast where 7 midstage startups will be able to give short demos to the CEO/COO/Head of Business Development/etc for Big Interesting Company X that has huge reach/distribution/userbase, etc.” Of course, you don’t have to take any of this advice.

startup 479

startup consulting networking opportunity 479

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2016

For the past few months I’ve been doing nearly daily “Snapstorms” or short videos with startup advice released on Snapchat. Why would a VC do that? If you’re not on Snapchat — but still want video advice — Snapstorms.com is for you. It’s a quick, easy way to share advice to masses of people. I LOVE writing.

advice 200

advice VC media entrepreneurs 200

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2011

I’m enjoying being a VC. I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. VC meetings going well. 2 million in VC. I swore never to do that as a VC. What do VC’s Experience?

entrepreneurs 176

entrepreneurs startup VC real estate 176

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 30, 2012

A number of VC firms have hired specialists in the area of recruiting. Given the proliferation of accelerators and incubators that pre-vet entrepreneurs, roll up their sleeves to help companies, and dress them up for demo days, the best and brightest are being showcased to look better than ever. It's happening on their side, too.

VC 272

VC incubation construction networking 272

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

The frantic pace of technology cycles, the amount of tech news, the blogs, the conferences, the demo days, the announcements, the fundings, the IPOs. It got me thinking about the advice that I often give to new VCs. They want you to attend demo days. I’ll go as long as it’s not on a demo day.

peer-to-peer 317

peer-to-peer pitching VC accelerator 317