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Some Reflections on VC Investment Decisions

Both Sides of the Table

The ones above are the ones I’ve prioritized this year (other than Disrupt – I never seem to get invited to that one). I know I can’t be in every deal and I know that the easy part of being a VC is writing the first check in a deal. And we live in public so many people are able just to reach out. Oh, the conferences.

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Who Should be on Your Startup Board?

Both Sides of the Table

One of the things that founders have the most angst about is whom they should have on their board and at what stage of the business. This is smart because amazing board members can be transformative with important advice and access and can also help attract other great board members (and team members).

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Accel, BoxGroup, Cowboy Ventures, Pear VC and Yahoo to judge Startup Battlefield at Disrupt

TechCrunch

We’re less than a month away from TechCrunch Disrupt on October 18–20 in San Francisco! Mar Hershenson , co-founder and managing partner at Pear VC. Hershenson also serves on the board of trustees of Harvey Mudd College and on the Advisory Council of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Carnegie Mellon University.

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Understanding Changes in the Software & Venture Capital Industries

Both Sides of the Table

I will argue that LPs who invest in VC funds will also need to adjust a bit as well. A 90% disruption in cost spawns innovation – believe me. These two trends had a major impact on the computing industry from 2000-2005 but the effects weren’t yet felt by the VC industry. Enter Amazon.

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The Problem with Startup Advice

This is going to be BIG.

Try and figure out exactly what a startup had to show at the moment a VC chose to invest in them. Half the time, founders were pitching a completely different idea than what took off--so the VC who looks brilliant for funding the latest viral app really funded a B2B product that never took off. Not special? Same with product ideas.

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9 Women Can’t Make a Baby in a Month

Both Sides of the Table

I believe that over capitalizing companies too early often favors the VC. Talking about whether to raise more money or not, their VC allegedly said to them: “If you had more capital, could you get to the future faster? And having too much money certainly raises board expectations that you will do big things quickly.

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Stock Market Drops. Then It Rallies. What Happens Next for Funding?

Both Sides of the Table

So the industry formed around a day of the week when all partners could avoid having company board meetings or traveling. I started showing my partners more deals that I found interesting and doing loads of analysis on the future of markets I thought were ripe for disruption. I have always believed that TV was ripe for disruption.

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