Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

I’ve written a few posts about boards recently as part of a series on the subject. I admit that I haven’t yet read it but I’ve had numerous discussions with Brad over the years about board structure & conduct and consider him a mentor on the topic. Offering a sparring-partner function on strategic decisions.

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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. We are excited to share the news that we have raised $650 million across three vehicles to allow us to continue making investments for many years ahead.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Seed investments are down by any measure (funds, deals, dollars) over the past 3 years in deals < $1 million AND in deals between $1–5 million. Over the past month a colleague ( Chang Xu ) and I sifted through data on the venture capital industry (as we do every year) and made a bunch of calls to VCs and LPs to confirm our hypotheses.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

Today we’re announcing that my partner Kara Nortman is becoming Co-Managing Partner at Upfront Ventures and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to welcome her to her new role. She worked for 5 years as a VC at Battery Ventures and co-headed M&A at IAC working with Barry Diller. She had all of the skills and traits we sought?

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This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 18, 2019

Brooklyn Bridge Ventures , the pre-seed and seed stage VC fund I run in NYC, has invested in 64 companies in the last six and a half years. The diversity is the direct result of our mission—to build the most accessible venture capital fund in NY. Twenty-five of them have at least one female co-founder. Five have LGBTQ+ founders.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Most VCs did well academically and had enough career success that a venture firm was willing to give them an investment role or they were able to raise their own fund. Fundamentally venture capital is about human capital. In the end I know the only true differentiator in venture capital is the company you keep.

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This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

It's a story that just hit a milestone--a $4mm round of venture funding that I'm ecstatic to say Brooklyn Bridge Ventures just led. But just because you could see them everywhere doesn't make them an obvious venture bet--nor does it tell the story of how the round even came to be. Still, I followed the space closely.

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A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

Bolster came out of stealth and into a beta period today and is opening up its marketplace to companies that want to access fractional talent and to executives who want to work at high growth companies in interim, fractional, advisory, or board roles. The full marketplace will launch soon.

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 2, 2023

The venture asset class seems to have already decided that AI is the next great investment opportunity, but I’m not so sure it’s going to disrupt business and create the across-the-board wealth that has been predicted. I got to see all of the top VCs pitching their funds. Technology has already made the world pretty efficient.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

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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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2015

We recently released the video sharing app Ferris and announced that Upfront Ventures led the funding in the company in our seed round of $2 million and I personally joined the board. So Why Did We Invest? The post Why We Invested in @FerrisApp – A New Kind of Video Sharing App appeared first on Bothsides of the Table.

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Dream It

APRIL 12, 2020

Martino founded Bullpen in 2010 with a focus on post-seed, pre-Series A startups, and he led the fund’s investments in companies like FanDuel, Namely, Ipsy, SpotHero, Classy, and Airmap. This geographic distinction is now less about actual geography and more about mentality and style of investing of these types of firms.

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David Teten VC

JUNE 9, 2021

Would you like to work with private equity and venture capital funds? There are relatively few jobs directly inside private equity and venture capital funds, and those jobs are highly competitive. Venture capitalists often come from an operating background. Venture Capital. Asian Venture Capital Journal (free trial).

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

After years of trying to persuade Kara Nortman to become a partner at Upfront Ventures I can officially announce now that she’s joined us effective immediately. Investment experience (5 years a VC at Battery Ventures). Let me start with the news that I’m excited to share with you.

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Tomasz Tunguz

OCTOBER 7, 2021

Passive venture capital investing is a relatively new idea. As later stage investors permeate venture capital, they are amassing index funds of startups. If the public equities market is any indication, passive investing is here to stay. Classically, venture capital has been an active asset class.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

One of the least understood parts of the venture capital industry and venture capital firms is how investment decisions actually get made. For anything that would be considered a normal investment for the partnership most firms try to make sure every partner has seen the deal and has a chance to weigh in.

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This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 4, 2018

When you get an investment from Brooklyn Bridge Ventures—you get me. My investment thesis is shaped by the sum of my personal experience and so are my values. My goal is to make Brooklyn Bridge Ventures the most accessible VC firm not just because I think it’s good business, but because I think it’s a based on good values.

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This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 3, 2016

That was a question posed to me by a new analyst at a venture capital fund. While there are lots and lots of really kind, generous people working in venture capital--the recently retired Howard Morgan, Hunter Walk, Brad Feld, and Karin Klein for example--it's really tough to argue that there isn't widespread jerkery.

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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. It started out with initial investment size, pricing, and outcome behavior for each deal and then it made a prediction around the distribution of outcomes.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

Changes in the Software World & in Venture Capital. That didn’t make them bad – it just didn’t make them efficient at making rapid decisions of whether to fund a startup or not and the terms on which they would fund were typically not “market” for a startup company that would become venture backed one day.

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This is going to be BIG.

JULY 16, 2014

There''s been some writing about how VCs and founders interact with each other and it inspired me to take a step back and reflect on what my role is supposed to be with regards to the investments I make and the founders I deal with. Venture Capital & Technology' Here''s what I came up with. I am not an expert.

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Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2017

Many board meetings are bored meetings. This is a shame since the value that the right board could add is immense if you select the right board members and manage them effectively. Yesterday I wrote a blog post about what the role of a board actually is. Some boards are highly functional, many are not.

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Paul G. Silva

FEBRUARY 11, 2025

Breaking the “Impossible” at VVM When I was at Valley Venture Mentors, we set this BHAG: “In ten years, catalyze entrepreneurs to change the economy of Western Massachusetts by generating $1 billion in cumulative revenue and investment.” ” At the time, we were running a startup accelerator for 6 companies.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

If you track the venture capital industry it would be hard to miss the conversation going on this week over AngelList “Syndicates.” I had a chance to discuss AngelList Syndicates with Naval at Michael Kim’s Cendana LP/VC conference on a panel with Naval, Roger Ehrenberg (IA Ventures) and Mike Brown, Jr.

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American Entrepreneurship

OCTOBER 20, 2023

Strategic investment fund BankTech Ventures invests in companies that are developing innovative technologies that enhance the ability of community banks to serve their customers. The Fund just announced their investment commitment of $13.5 as of December 31, 2022, according to the FDIC.

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AsiaTechDaily

NOVEMBER 27, 2023

Register Soho.com.au , an AI-powered real estate discovery app, has secured a $750,000 equity investment from Singapore-based proptech venture capital firm Feedback Ventures. The funding round, led by Investible, adds to the $1.65 seed funding The post Feedback Ventures Invests, Elevates Soho.com.au

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American Entrepreneurship

DECEMBER 4, 2024

Recognizing this, The Veteran Fund announced the winner of its $100,000 Veteran Pitch Competition and the recent closing of its inaugural oversubscribed investment Fund I. With one click of a smartphone’s camera, building owners and service providers gain much-needed insight in 50 to 80% less time and cash invested.

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This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 10, 2014

I could probably write a book on venture round pricing dynamics. Since January of 2010, when I led my first seed investment in Backupify , I have led or committed to 27 investments. That also includes 16 Brooklyn Bridge Ventures deals done and five agreed to term sheets. Venture Capital & Technology' No Revenues.

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Dream It

MAY 19, 2021

At Dreamit, we coach founders to use a snapshot slide at the beginning of the deck which covers this element and highlights why you’re an exciting investment. Your inflection points need to put the company in a position for a liquidity event - raising more money at a higher valuation or achieving an exit that delivers venture-level returns.

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Berkonomics

MARCH 28, 2024

All other board functions are secondary. Even venture capitalists who sit on boards where they have significant investments often forget this point. Actually, there are two legal duties of board members. They are: the duty of care , and the duty of loyalty. Everything else is a self-imposed duty or responsibility.

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This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 18, 2019

Very little time and effort is spent helping professional, full time investors raise capital for venture funds. Accelerators can be great, but they’re not giving companies enough money to achieve the kind of escape velocity needed to get on the radar of national Series A firms that will invest anywhere.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

Just ask the people of Portland, Seattle, Boulder, Iowa, Princeton, Dallas or countless other cities that don’t have enough venture capital. If you don’t live in a major VC zone, I have some tips for how to make it easier to raise Venture Capital. But I do invest outside of LA. Ask SuperCell. Or UrbanAirship.

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This is going to be BIG.

MAY 27, 2014

Last week, for just the second time ever, I passed on an investment opportunity because of the terms of the deal--both the price and the legal structure of the agreement. I remember back in the Union Square Ventures days when we had an internal debate over the price of the first round of Indeed. Venture Capital & Technology'

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

As I’ve written about recently, at Upfront Ventures we started talking a couple of years ago about wanting to fund stuff with more meaning. I think this is a combination of being realists as venture capitalists that outsized returns in our funds must come from taking on bigger, more impactful projects that can move markets.

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Entrepreneurs' Organization

JULY 6, 2020

Many entrepreneurs are reliant on outside funding, whether angel investors, venture capitalists or strategic investors , to keep the venture going. At the same time, many investors are being more cautious with making new investments, preferring to focus on their existing portfolio before investing in new companies.

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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 How many more investments could I do? I''m announcing two things today. This is what I set out to do just about two years ago when I first broke out on my own and started raising, so I''m thrilled to say that it has finally happened. So there ya go.

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This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 18, 2024

Still, there are a lot of downsides to taking venture money—the push to grow at all costs, our desire to be all up in your business, literally, and sometimes, we’re kind of obnoxious. These are people that didn’t make their money through a tech startup or startup investing. That’s why I normally ask for a Board Observer seat.

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