This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 6, 2015

I can definitely think of a few people I met with and said, "Well, that person was kind of a jerk" or they just had a bad personality--and they went on to build seemingly successful businesses. You''ve been in VC long enough to see lots of different funds, partners and deals. I think I''ve been good about that so far.

VC 361

VC collaboration disruption founder 361

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

And that was evident on today’s Angel vs. VC panel. The VC industry is segmenting – I have spoken about this many times before. The VC industry has different segments in it that have different fund sizes, different investment amounts and different risk / return expectations. It’s just not a VC investment.

disruption 308

disruption VC entrepreneurs financing 308

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 29, 2011

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. A lot of VCs ask to be introduced through someone. So, if you ping me with "I'm still working my big corporate finance job. The Cold Intro.

VC 289

VC pitching entrepreneurs networking 289

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

When this first ran on TechCrunch I got the greatest comment in the world that I had to repeat here, “VC’s are like martinis: the first is good, the second one great, and the third is a headache.&# I understand the appeal of having many VC firms on your cap table. In my second company I had only 1 investor. I love that.

VC 314

VC advice pitching investing 314

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 this was definitely an introduction I was going to take. Domain Knowledge.

media 373

media education VC financing 373

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I spoke about how Amazon Web Services deserves far more credit for the last 5 years of innovation than it gets credit for and how I believe they spawned the micro-VC category. I said that I felt that Micro-VCs were the most important change in our industry. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs. I believe that.

real estate 309

real estate entrepreneurs financing finance 309

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

By definition you will either get a crappy SI promising you they will move mountains or a great SI that gives you their C-player team. So I’m not endorsing your building your entire company around professional services ( although I think that’s a fine strategy for many non VC-backed companies ) but rather not to avoid it.

startup 403

startup financing finance strategy 403

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

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. Let’s be clear: AngelList doesn’t scare a single VC I know. But it’s not cutting VCs out. It is additive.

VC 292

VC peer-to-peer investing investment 292

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My original thinking from Oct ’09 was, while I didn’t (and still don’t) have a crystal ball I worried that: consumers were over-stretched with debt (and make up 77% of the economy), unemployment would continue to rise, which in turn would drive the stock market south and cut the rate of M&A activity and VC investment even further.

entrepreneurs 298

entrepreneurs real estate VC advice 298

TechCrunch

JANUARY 11, 2022

Use alternative financing to fuel VC-level growth without diluting ownership. Investors are hungry for startups to throw their money at, but VC funding isn’t always the right option at all times or for every startup. Use alternative financing to fuel VC-level growth without diluting ownership.

culture 87

culture financing finance VC 87

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.&#. I’m sure everybody has their own definition of the attributes of an entrepreneur. VC meetings going well. 2 million in VC.

entrepreneurs 384

entrepreneurs startup VC real estate 384

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

Lastly, your city needs to be livable—and that definition is changing. It had been written that NYC was built by industries of zero sum games like finance and real estate, and that DNA wouldn’t work in the startup community. In 2005, it was a risky bet to join Union Square Ventures and plant my VC career here in NYC.

communities 434

communities startup real estate mentorship 434

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 22, 2020

Finantier , a Singapore-based open finance startup, wants to streamline that data with a single API that gives financial services access to user data, with their consent. Open finance grew out of open banking, the same framework that Plaid and Tink are built on.

financing 107

financing finance peer-to-peer startup 107

David Teten VC

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

We’re fortunate to interview William Stringer, Founder of Chisos Capital , a structured finance company. Chisos is a structured finance company that provides startup and brand capital to entrepreneurs, athletes and creatives. Q: What is CISA and how does it compare to other alternative VC models? Q: What’s your background?

VC 59

VC financing finance peer-to-peer 59

Gust

DECEMBER 13, 2011

I’ve recently taken a look at seed stage funding by venture capitalists (VCs) and angel investors over the past five years. For VCs, I chose to look at all seed stage VC deals (from MoneyTree©) as well as those in five of the most active regions in the country. All Seed-VC. VCs in NYC invested, on average, only $2.4

entrepreneurs 162

entrepreneurs angel investing VC venture capital 162

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

This was the first episode where Jason wasn’t on the show, which gave me the chance to have another VC on the show to discuss deals. Rustic Canyon is an LA-based, but geography-agnostic VC that is currently investing from a $200 million fund. VC Financings: 1. I keep meaning to get him drunk to spill the stories.

venture capital 270

venture capital capital ventures VC 270

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2010

Actually, the latter could be a reasonable strategy for super technical entrepreneurs who can sustain themselves without big financing needs (see: Atebits, owner of Tweetie). The same is true of Twitter, and as a VC I would personally never fund a company that looked to simply plug a functional gap in Twitter. Kind of obvious, huh?

development 287

development communities venture capital VC 287

David Teten VC

MARCH 5, 2021

(co-written with Katherine Boe Heuck , a MBA candidate at MIT Sloan (class of 2022); past intern at Versatile VC ; and a current intern at Metaprop NYC.). We reviewed CB Insights’ global list of “40 of the Best VC Bets of all Time.” For funds with an overall return of 3-5x, which is what VC funds aim for, the overall return was 4.6x

VC 82

VC investment investing founder 82

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

Prices have definitely gone up in 2011 as depicted in the anecdotal chart below. So in 2011 as a startup company if you can generate lots of demand you can definitely raise an A round of capital (say $3 million) at a $7 or 8 million pre-money valuation or slightly higher whereas just two years ago you would have struggled.

startup 336

startup advice pitching investing 336

Gust

OCTOBER 26, 2011

As we conclude our convertible note financing series, there are assorted terms commonly seen in term sheets and deal documents that are worth touching on briefly. The Note Purchase Agreement and Convertible Promissory Note are essential documents for any convertible note financing.

financing 79

financing finance VC investing 79

TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 20, 2020

At TechCrunch, we cover a lot of startup financings, but we rarely get the opportunity to cover exits. The good news is that the wealth is being spread around at least a couple of VC firms, although there are definitely a handful of partners who are looking at a very, very nice check in the mail compared to others.

VC 110

VC venture capital founder ventures 110

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

I know because I marked the occasion with a blog post on how to have a great VC meeting. The decisions were endless, the choices not obvious and the VC involved a pain in the ass. was definitely in the bucket of amazingly talented founders with a great product that hadn’t yet proved product/market fit. .”

peer-to-peer 303

peer-to-peer energy founder advice 303

Revolution

DECEMBER 6, 2023

Unpacking Proptech: A data-driven series on advancing built world innovation In Part 1 and Part 2 , I reviewed proptech financing trends, sources of capital and investor types, scaling and fundraising lessons from the past five years, and potential conflicts of interest. That brings us to one of the most exciting topics — exits.

financing 130

financing finance VC board 130

David Teten VC

AUGUST 30, 2021

I co-wrote this essay with Prabhat Gusain , currently the Chief of Staff at Caffeinated Capital; formerly an intern with Versatile VC ; and a 2021 MBA from UVA Darden. VC firms looking for fundable founders. In a very small number of geographies, there is no shortage of VC funds (NY, CA, Boston, Israel, Beijing).

investment 119

investment investing founder VC 119

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

If that isn’t the original definition of “angel” money I don’t know what is. In LA we have entertainment, finance, textiles, aerospace, transportation, fashion and so forth. It’s worth having a quick read of the first few paragraphs of their annual report. CincyTech today has $28.5

startup 390

startup communities venture capital angel capital 390

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 10, 2021

By definition, once the business has become predictable, the company is in the growth or expansion stage. The VC also won’t take a majority of the startup in most cases, because a control position means the entrepreneur is “working for” the investors. According to PitchBook, the average VC fund has 18.4

VC 85

VC real estate startup venture capital 85

TechCrunch

JANUARY 21, 2022

500 Global’s Christine Tsai shares her 2022 VC predictions. 500 Global’s Christine Tsai shares her 2022 VC predictions. Will quantum computing remain the domain of the specialist VC? Will quantum computing remain the domain of the specialist VC? If you want startup funding, don’t make VCs feel ignorant.

VC 80

VC incubation angel investing investing 80

Gust

DECEMBER 27, 2012

A good beginning would be Bill Payne’s The Definitive Guide to Raising Money from Angels, available as a free download from [link]. A comprehensive list of things you might want is listed in the answer to What materials or software should I use to pitch a VC? , Now, and only now, are you prepared to start fundraising.

investment 164

investment investing pitching mix-use 164

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

I have figured out the ultimate VC fund strategy. That wasn't a bubble bursting issue--that was a poor financing strategy issue of people getting caught with their pants down, hands in the cookie jar, and all the metaphors you can think of at once. You know what most VCs aren't good at? Do what you're good at. It's that simple.

strategy 247

strategy VC ventures financing 247

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 23, 2021

Even after the unprecedented year that we had in 2020, the VC markets picked up in 2021 and founders raised 157% more capital in the second quarter of 2021 compared to the previous year. Global VCs have invested $268.7 De Santis Breindel asked CEOs what was the top evaluation criteria when choosing a VC firm.

capital 115

capital entrepreneurship VC venture capital 115

TechCrunch

APRIL 9, 2021

participated in four of Scale’s financing rounds, which is all of them unless you include the funding from YC the company secured as part of a cohort in 2016. But Levine saw the kernel of something with huge potential, and despite being a relative unknown in VC at the time, didn’t want to let the opportunity pass him, or Wang, by.

VC 96

VC pitching finance financing 96

Dream It

APRIL 12, 2020

During our recent Dreamit Kickoff week, Bullpen Capital Founder and General Partner Paul Martino ( @ahpah ) spoke with our Spring 2020 cohort about the state of the VC ecosystem in the current economic crisis. It will definitely happen for some venture funds, but the question is how widespread it will be,” states Martino.

ventures 334

ventures startup capital board 334

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2018

The “sure, let’s continue the process” by definition are not yeses so the no’s rack up and the yeses stay stuck at zero. What you don’t know is that MANY of these financings have been a months’ long series of no’s, compromises, hard terms, heartaches, arguments, self doubt, followed by a “yes” that saves the day.

pitching 232

pitching VC consulting creativity 232

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 18, 2010

Here’s how I break down the four quadrants (and I’ve put my definitions in here – not Covey’s). I was on vacation in Santa Barbara two years ago with my wife and I was reflecting on what I had learned in my first year in LA and in VC. Get VCs to agree to join. Figure out a way to finance it.

mentorship 374

mentorship creativity energy entrepreneurs 374

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 3, 2019

You hear this from VC’s a lot: “We need to own X% of your company to make our returns.” They back it up with sensible math—owning 20% of a billion dollar outcome returns a $200mm VC fund, and, of course, you’re trying to at least return the fund. So, no one really questions the ownership model. Seed round investors get a tidy 18.2x

mix-use 276

mix-use pitching investing investment 276

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 17, 2022

What is your definition of a big idea and how do you know when you see it? And then for the follow-on financing, it ranges in terms of what the person needs and also [it’s tied to] when we invest into that company, so it ranges in valuation, as well. The aim is to help them identify big ideas. But it is a SAFE note.

VC 96

VC networking incubation investing 96

TechCrunch

AUGUST 17, 2021

Prabhat Gusain is currently the chief of staff at Caffeinated Capital and was previously an intern with Versatile VC. David Teten is founder of Versatile VC and writes periodically at teten.com and @dteten. How to win consulting, board and deal roles with PE and VC funds. Next are VC firms looking for founders.

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founder investment investing VC 97