Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

It’s not hard to find people willing to write the narrative that “venture capital is not an asset class” or “venture capital has performed terribly.” That’s a shame because many of these people missed out on what will be a few great VC vintages. VCs used to IPO and then sell.

venture capital 362

venture capital capital ventures VC 362

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JUNE 1, 2021

But until very recently, raising capital for your startup was significantly easier if it was located in the major startup hubs, most notably Silicon Valley. It takes a long time, at least five years and more likely a decade, to know how changes in the startup economy and venture capital will play out. And we are doing exactly that.

venture capital 279

venture capital capital investment investing 279

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

*. What is the role of a VC for entrepreneurs? I suppose it can be different for every founder and for different VCs but I’d like to offer you some context on what I think it is and it isn’t. They are unique to you and not to each other situation that VC has faced. ” I responded. Your decisions are unknowable.

VC 353

VC advice consulting frameworks 353

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

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. What was the post money on your last round (and how much capital have you raised)? So why does a VC ask you? In the first place they’re looking for “fit” with their firm.

VC 324

VC investment investing entrepreneurs 324

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

DECEMBER 14, 2020

And here we are, with a 24×7 global marketplace for crypto assets that has a market capitalization of over half a trillion and daily volumes in the hundreds of billions. This pales in comparison to the legacy capital markets, but that is always the case with a new entrant on the scene. And many/most do that. USV TEAM POSTS:

innovation 257

innovation capital communities opportunity 257

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 3, 2020

The partner at the fund, the VC, gets to do the fun part—the meeting with founders, vetting deals, negotiating, helping, etc. Having a better overall portfolio of venture capital by adding funds into the mix. This creates a source of deal flow for investors who aren’t out there full time creating opportunities.

VC 258

VC angel investing mix-use opportunity 258

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2015

So I asked a few founders that I've worked with and they mentioned a word that struck me--because I've never heard any of the hordes of people in my inbox asking for internships, VC job recommendations and advice, etc. I think of venture capital as a service business. mention about themselves. Generosity.

venture capital 363

venture capital capital pitching ventures 363

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 24, 2015

I recently interviewed Matt Mazzeo of Lowercase Capital. By now most of you know that Chris Sacca invested in what is now thought to be one of the best performing VC funds of all time having invested an $8.4 million fund in: Uber, Instagram, Docker and Twitter, amongst others.

VC 334

VC venture capital energy culture 334

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 7, 2015

After checking out The Information's "open dataset" on diversity in venture capital , I felt pretty disappointed. Most people need a little bit of capital to bring a product to market--or they're an engineer. VCs have an inflated sense of the value of their own time.

venture capital 354

venture capital capital ventures VC 354

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

I’ve heard a lot of people question whether there is too much money in venture capital chasing too few great deals. Others believe that new business models are emerging that could replace venture capital all together. We’re in a new tech bubble!” some have pronounced. Valuations are out of control” is the mantra of others.

venture capital 292

venture capital capital ventures peer-to-peer 292

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2016

There was an explosion in number of startups both because it was cheap and there was tons of available capital. Non VC Growth Rounds. In Q3/Q4 2015 the market changed noticeably for VC funds and the market started to realize this by Q1 2016. VC Infighting. Boom in Number of Startups. Explosion in Seed Funds.

venture capital 271

venture capital capital ventures VC 271

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

That story actually begins about eleven or twelve years ago, with a little bit of VC mentoring. I was working for the GM pension fund, an institutional LP, as an analyst, doing a research project on consumer private equity and venture capital investing. That actually makes Ample Hills my first ever angel investment.

venture capital 346

venture capital ventures capital consumer retail 346

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

You run X amount of capital and Y percentage of that is allocated to venture capital. For the VC that means if you're returning money to your institutional investors, that's about all you need to worry about. Either way, VC funds aren't really built around creating much of an experience for their Limited Partners.

venture capital 283

venture capital capital ventures VC 283

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

I became a VC 12 years ago in 2007 when the pace of deals was much slower. As I was trying to figure out the role I wanted to play in the VC world I decided I wanted to focus on businesses that were building deeply technical products to solve problems for business users. VCs have different views and strategies on this.

VC 223

VC venture capital capital investment 223

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2014

Scott and I agree on nearly everything: The VC structure is changing and there appears to be a bifurcation into small & large VCs with an impact on “traditionally sized” VCs. The only point we didn’t seem totally aligned on was what we happening to the “middle of the VC market.”

VC 309

VC SaaS strategy ventures 309

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 23, 2014

When I turn down the opportunity to invest in a startup, I really turn it down. If I don''t have clarity on something, it means that I don''t think the space and the opportunity size is big enough to get clarity. You''d rather know exactly why I didn''t do a deal than scratch your head over some opaque "VC speak".

pitching 351

pitching VC venture capital opportunity 351

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2016

Recently, Josh Kopelman of First Round Capital announced Brett Berson 's promotion to Partner. For everyone who has aspirations to venture capital, it's a lesson well earned by Brett's hard work. You don't need to start out with money, get a Harvard or Stanford MBA, or sell a company to become a VC.

VC 265

VC angel investing startup venture capital 265

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

I believe that the next generation of top companies are far more likely to be founded by people not on VC radars today. Last week, we ran Fall Fundraising Days , which featured 11 NYC events on raising capital that 800+ individuals attended across the week.

venture capital 237

venture capital communities ventures capital 237

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2015

I spoke at Michael Kim’s excellent annual Cendana VC/LP conference today. One of the points I tried to make is that as venture capital investors as an industry we seem to have a healthy disdain for public market investors. The truth is that Twitter is an amazing company and still has an amazing opportunity in front of it.

VC 392

VC capital culture venture capital 392

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 22, 2020

To a VC, $50,000 a pre-sale isn’t really that much. VCs are less interested that you sold 10 customers, 20, or 100—they want to understand how many you’re selling per week and whether or not that kind of pace would be profitable for your sales & marketing efforts. That’s why we invest in a portfolio.

pitching 312

pitching VC peer-to-peer founder 312

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 28, 2013

However, in this moment, I think one''s career in venture capital depends on changing your perspective. The biggest question I think VC''s face right now is whether or not, in the future, the best founders will look and act like the best founders of the past. That''s 25%. a far higher rate than YC has appeared to have done since then.

venture capital 398

venture capital VC ventures capital 398

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 15, 2020

There have been a lot of calls for VC firms to make more hires from the Black and Brown community, as well as to hire more women. In venture, it’s all about getting an opportunity to make partner and being included in the carry—the economic upside of a fund. Not all hires, however, are made equally.

venture capital 308

venture capital ventures capital mentorship 308

Revolution

MAY 23, 2023

Part of the antidote for startups: employing a more prudent approach to raising capital and curating a diverse investor base. To shed additional light on this issue and its ultimate impact on startups, I partnered with the Center for Real Estate Technology & Innovation to ask proptech founders about their capital and strategic partners.

real estate 278

real estate venture capital VC innovation 278

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 16, 2024

There are more active VCs alive today than have ever existed in the history of modern human existence—and that dates back 300,000 years! This is something I talk about a lot with my VC coaching clients. That means a lot of competition for the best deals and more difficulty in standing out. The question is what to focus on.

VC 243

VC angel investing networking pitching 243

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2015

We set out to understand this market a little bit better along with our friends at CB Insights and I hope you find this data valuable as you try to understand the opportunity as it relates to your business. There are so many great, young funds in the market and many of them are attracting LP capital. LA is the real deal and growing.

VC 307

VC opportunity media innovation 307

TechCrunch

MARCH 11, 2021

David Teten is founder of Versatile VC and writes periodically at teten.com and @dteten. 15 steps to fundraising a new VC or private equity fund. Stéphane Nasser is co-founder of OpenVC , an open-source initiative to collect and analyze all VC theses. VC websites by David Teten and Sam Sabin , co-founder of Hireblue.

VC 136

VC investment investing venture capital 136

Revolution

MAY 11, 2023

Our findings confirmed a significant shift away from the traditional tech hubs of the Bay Area, New York City, and Boston, with the proportion of seed- and early-stage VC dollars funneling into the Bay Area falling below 30% for the first time in more than a decade. marking its highest level since 2017.

real estate 296

real estate energy innovation VC 296

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 19, 2014

Go pitch a VC with an idea, and they''ll tell you to build it. In my mind, that creates the opportunity for increasing returns. Venture Capital & Technology' Go to them with a prototype and they''ll tell you to launch it. Launch it, and they''ll tell you to get more users. Get users and they''ll tell you to get paying customers.

venture capital 378

venture capital pitching health VC 378

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

SEPTEMBER 3, 2020

SPACs are publicly traded “shell companies” that raise capital in an IPO process and then use that capital to merge with a privately held business. For most of my career as a VC, the IPO has been the holy grail. I don’t take as much offense to this situation as others in the VC business have.

VC 279

VC capital board founder 279

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.

VC 128

VC venture capital accelerator ventures 128

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 5, 2015

You can''t rise up as fast taking a job at a VC firm in NYC the same way you could 10 years ago--and you can''t get that USV job as easily as you could. Who''s the VC that everyone *isn''t* trying to network with. Back to Fred--he became a partner at a VC firm after apprenticing there 7 years. Venture Capital & Technology'

VC 306

VC startup ecosystem networking venture capital 306

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.

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

The reality is that fundraising looks more like this: Show me a big opportunity, a great plan, a team whose career has led up to this moment through their experience and homework and show something outstanding that they pulled off that separates them from the pack—a “rabbit out of a hat”, if you will—and I’ll show you a funded team.

advice 429

advice pitching venture capital VC 429

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Prorata investments rights given investors the right to invest in your future fund-raising rounds and maintain their ownership % in your company as your company grows and raises more capital. A day after I published this Changing Structure of VC article I noticed at least one “Angel Prorata Fund” on AngelList.

VC 336

VC investment investing entrepreneurs 336

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

After 9 months it was time to raise seed capital and go test drive our new software and processes. Sam moved back to NY and we announced our seed round of capital, which we led. I guess he was as excited about the opportunity as I was! And for the next several months the founders literally ran the business.

real estate 380

real estate ventures innovation pitching 380

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. See How to negotiate a partner role at a VC or private equity firm.) At Versatile VC , we’ve used all these models.

consulting 128

consulting venture capital board capital 128

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.

VC 235

VC opportunity investment investing 235