This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 29, 2011

No matter how much I or any of the team here at First Round made themselves accessable through Office Hours, LinkedIn, Twitter, speaking, blogging, etc., Then I realized that it's probably not obvious what the dynamics are around how VCs tend to get introduced to companies and what works best for people, so I figured I'd blog about it.

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This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 22, 2014

First, I''ve finished raising the first Brooklyn Bridge Ventures fund--tallying $8.3 These are things that other VCs think about, but founders who come to pitch don''t think about too much. When you blog, tweet , Instagram , etc., as a VC, sometimes your own website becomes an afterthought. So there ya go.

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pitching board VC opportunity 413

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 18, 2011

I always try hard to make this blog a place where you can learn lessons rather than an advertisement for portfolio companies. I hope you’ll excuse me when I do the latter in combination with the former to try and explain how I see macro trends and help you think about the mind of a VC. Pose is no different. I still do.

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investing investment VC media 303

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

We are often asked how companies get funded, why VCs make the decisions we make and what we’re looking for in entrepreneurs. I think this is a Seriously great example of how this process works for at least one VC – Upfront Ventures. So I hope that offers you insights into how companies move through the VC system.

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media education VC finance 373

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

FEBRUARY 15, 2022

Sometimes the opportunity set forces you to go faster. As I wrote then: I don’t think a VC firm should manage to a pacing number. It should manage to the opportunity set that it sees. But even so, the VC business has turned into a sprint. I don’t know if the VC business is near a top or near a bottom.

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This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 20, 2013

I''m also excited to say that Brooklyn Bridge Ventures has already committed to funding a new product also born out of NYC Resistor. Check out this post from NYC Resistor''s blog four years ago about the launch of the very first Makerbot. Venture Capital & Technology' That''s basically accurate. And it does need help.

real estate 289

real estate creativity venture capital startup ecosystem 289

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

The tech community has been having a long-overdue conversation about mental health and work/life balance and it’s something I’ve been talking up as far back as 2006 , 2009 , and 2014 on my blog and in public. In late 2018, the company raised $75 million Series C from Sequoia, arguably the top VC firm in the world.

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coworking spaces hospitality culture coworking 545

David Teten VC

MARCH 1, 2022

The easiest way to work with and for VC funds is to become a part-time scout, getting paid for sourcing investments. How to win consulting, board, operating, and investment roles with private equity and venture capital funds (video). How to find a job as a VC scout. How to get a job in venture capital.

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VC venture capital accelerator ventures 128

David Teten VC

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

It’s hard enough to raise capital from VC, private equity fund, and family offices. The vastly larger universe of B2B companies, many of which have teams focused on pushing VC and private equity funds to evangelize their product to their portfolio. See my list of due diligence questions for VC and private equity funds. .

venture capital 126

venture capital capital ventures VC 126

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 25, 2012

I'm so excited to hear that Indeed.com, a company that Union Square Ventures invested in while I worked there, just exited for a reported billion dollars. Back in 2005, I was a lowly analyst at Union Square Ventures with a million product ideas that I'd blog about all the time. Congrats guys.

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strategy VC ventures opportunity 300

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

Because my wife is a superstar she published them all on a blog here along with much other wonderful type-A mom advice. I was saying that I was happy it was all out in the open because I felt at least everybody could now understand the issues & opportunities from the perspectives of angels, entrepreneurs and VCs.

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TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

But most venture-backed startups are “still overwhelmingly white, male, Ivy-League-educated and based in Silicon Valley,” according to a study conducted by RateMyInvestor and Diversity VC. Or will we have to repeat the same conversations about representation failings within VC funds? Funding for Black entrepreneurs in the U.S.

startup ecosystem 129

startup ecosystem ventures founder startup 129

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 11, 2011

Back in 2005, when I was with Union Square Ventures, we changed our brochureware homepage into a blog. A few other VCs had been blogging before, but no one had gone as far as to make the whole front facing effort of their firm into something so interactive. It changed the way we worked with entrepreneurs.

innovation 279

innovation media development technology 279

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2012

I had been trading emails & Tweets with venture capitalist John Frankel and we were to meet in person in March 2011 at SxSW to talk about Klout and other investments he had made. We met at a private party hosted by his venture partner Mike Yavonditte and I outlined my concerns for the lack of precision of the algorithm.

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venture capital VC ventures capital 303

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Plus, many VC rounds traditionally didn’t guarantee angels prorata rights unless they were “major investors” which often means they wrote large checks in the angel round. A day after I published this Changing Structure of VC article I noticed at least one “Angel Prorata Fund” on AngelList. Prorata rights.

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VC investing investment entrepreneurs 336

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. Maybe that’s USV, too.

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leadership VC venture capital ventures 161

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JANUARY 1, 2024

Should I, as the author of over 9,000 blog posts that have been used to train these large language models, be entitled to some of the revenue they will make? So if we have healthier capital markets and more innovation than ever, what is up with the venture capital ecosystem? Let’s start with litigation. Should I get some of that?

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energy venture capital innovation capital 236

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 13, 2011

The venture capital industry is so heavily skewed to Northern California, which the remains spilled over Boston, New York & Southern California. So it was wonderful to hear from a leading venture capital firm based in Washington DC. We are a venture capital growth equity fund in Washington DC with about $500m invested.

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founder venture capital media VC 277

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 1, 2010

The simple fact of the matter is that most startups seeking angel or vc capital just don’t receive it—and that’s just anywhere. It’s often some combination of the idea not being big enough to sustain a venture exit or the company just not being appropriate for venture financing. You know what—it’s supposed to work like that!

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startup media ecology VC 301

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

If you read this blog often you'll know that I'm a huge fan of First Round Capital. They have totally changed the way you run a VC firm, investing heavily in systems & events for their founders that are pushing the boundaries of the way our industry works. Howard is successful enough that he doesn't need to work.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

But honestly there are times when being a VC can feel like that, too. And at moments of crisis or moments of great opportunity it can often be a small group of people surrounding you who help move you carefully across a winding pass and on to greatness. VENTURE CAPITAL. After I posted I saw the following Tweet. No exceptions.”

startup 363

startup real estate VC venture capital 363

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I need to take some VC meetings. But it did take Brad as a public spokesman, consummate networker and successful VC to help create legitimacy to let David’s ideas flourish. Chris Devore & Andy Sack have created Founder’s Coop with the goal of funding, incubating & launching more early-stage ventures in Seattle.

communities 317

communities VC innovation entrepreneurs 317

David Teten VC

MAY 19, 2017

Historically VC has been an apprenticeship business. That said, I’ve identified quite a few microcredentials, conferences, and other learning opportunities which will help train you to be a better investor. VC ASSOCIATIONS. Let’s Talk Ops , Venture Capital Operations Association – fund operations professionals.

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VC angel investing venture capital accelerator 83

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2011

Sometime around 2003/04 my technology team turned me on to “Spolsky on Software&# a periodic newsletter served up blog style from Joel Spolsky of FogCreek Software, a maker of bug-tracking software. Blogs weren’t popularized yet so it was an oddity for me to read the founder of a software company spewing out advice.

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peer-to-peer communities development innovation 285

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

David Teten is founder of Versatile VC and writes periodically at teten.com and @dteten. Akshat Dixit is a senior at North Carolina State University, an intern at Versatile VC , and a past intern with the HBS Alumni Angels Association and the Innovation Quarter in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Scouts help promote diversity in VC.

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VC peer-to-peer consulting board 93

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Most venture capitalists who have been in this business for a long time foresaw this correction and have been talking about it privately for the better part of the last year or two. What is the True Sentiment of VCs? When I started blogging it was because I was inspired by Brad Feld. Now for every dollar a VC raises $2.50

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startup VC entrepreneurs investing 285

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. When you get an investment from Brooklyn Bridge Ventures—you get me. Quietly sticking to investing means wasting the opportunity to do good. But does that mean we can’t talk about it?

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investing investment communities founder 294

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 9, 2020

If you’re a white professional in venture, you might feel uncomfortable tweeting or blogging about race. Besides, if you’re not comfortable with making mistakes and learning from them—what are you even doing in venture? Until that changes, I need to be taking these really tiny risks at a bare minimum.

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founder pitching VC opportunity 299

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

.&# It was my investment philosophy that observing teams’ performance over time was far more insightful than reacting to how good of a product demo they do, how good they present Powerpoint slides or how great tech blogs say they are. Market Opportunity. But what about markets? Let me explain. There is only road kill.

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entrepreneurs incumbents VC disruption 330

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

Today Upfront Ventures is announcing that we’ve backed Rebecca Kantar ’s startup Imbellus , a company designed to assess human potential and ultimately change the way we teach children. We led a $4 million investment along with Thrive Capital, GLG and Sound Ventures.

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incumbents entrepreneurs education pitching 270

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

Stuart Lander has joined Upfront Ventures to help us run operations. Stuart is well worth following on Twitter & now that’s he’s a VC he is likely to share his wisdom more freely. Neither is very strategic nor in the best interest of either set of customers that VCs have (portfolio companies & LPs).

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board VC construction opportunity 320

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. Pitch your startup for an opportunity to meet with Floodgate. Favorite business book, blog, podcast? And it’s fun!

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VC entrepreneurship pitching strategy 111

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 19, 2023

Stay tuned, and please feel free to share with anyone looking for a new opportunity! In a blog post/letter to employees , CEO and co-founder Will Young wrote that the company’s “focus on accelerating growth and product development came at the cost of higher risk tolerance and greater expenses.” Super interesting read.

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opportunity startup real estate mix-use 98

Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 16, 2021

Never share your exit strategy with venture capitalists. VCs want to learn the total available market and see evidence that you can grow your startup into a US$1-10 million (or more) revenue business. Use these resources to understand how your company will look when you pitch a VC or angel. Here are 11 tips EO members shared: 1.

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SaaS leadership accelerator entrepreneurs 294

David Teten VC

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

One of the first decisions we had to make in setting up our new VC fund, Versatile Venture Capital , was our CRM and marketing technology infrastructure. . I’m very interested in the tech stack of private equity/VC firms , both to improve the efficiency of Versatile VC and also as a focus area for our investing.

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venture capital capital ventures VC 123

Entrepreneurs' Organization

MARCH 3, 2021

Seeing the dramatic needs of students but not being able to provide services in-person, I realized a unique opportunity. While seeking funding and information on how the venture capitalism (VC) world works, I stumbled upon the MyEO Angels group, 400 members strong, founded by Daniel Dubois of EO Toronto.

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David Teten VC

APRIL 1, 2021

I’ve recently advised a number of emerging private equity and VC funds who are wrestling with the question: What are the highest impact steps they can take to support their portfolio companies? . Almost every private equity and venture capital investor now advertises that they have a platform to support their portfolio companies.

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venture capital accelerator capital ventures 81