This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 2, 2012

Similarly, picking seed investors for your first startup in and around the craziness of an accelerator demo day can be just as scarring over the long term. In fact, you'd probably be better off both deciding on a tat on demo day. I'm saying this because I went to my first YCombinator Demo Day last Tuesday.

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TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Demo days at startup accelerators are a pretty big deal around here. These events aren’t just a chance to review the latest cohort of hopeful entrepreneurs — they also showcase the technology, products and services that will compete for VC and consumer attention over the next few years. That startup was DoorDash, by the way.

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TechCrunch

APRIL 6, 2023

Even as Y Combinator reveals the latest startups in its cohort for this winter , we have poor news for founders: the global venture capital market shrank in Q1 2023, and it would have been even worse if it were not for a few mega deals, according to Crunchbase (disclosure: my former employer) and PitchBook reports. Up is good, right?

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TechCrunch

MAY 26, 2022

TechCrunch has been covering the demo days of the seed-stage venture firm Pear VC since 2015. And the energy in the room reflects that of Pear’s founders, Pejman Nozad and Mar Hershenson, who year after year project the cheery demeanor of people eager to win you over. Pear lets the founders choose the check size.

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pitching health SaaS accelerator 72

Venture Hacks

APRIL 17, 2019

Spearhead asked me to write a post on angel investing when they first launched. Charlie Munger says investing requires a latticework of mental models. Here are 11 lessons for your angel investing lattice: If you can’t decide, the answer is no. Investing takes years to learn, but improves for a lifetime.

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angel investing investing investment incubation 181

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

This is part of a series of advice for founders who need to raise money from venture capitalists. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. I always tell founders … “An investors job is to deploy capital and make a return. an investment in your company.

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VC advice entrepreneurs energy 332

David Teten VC

AUGUST 20, 2019

A new wave of Revenue-Based Investors are emerging who are using creative investing structures with some of the upside of traditional VC, but some of the downside protection of debt. In addition, their portfolios look far more diverse than VC industry norms. Who are the major Revenue-Based Investing VCs?

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founder investing investment venture capital 74

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

What is a principal at a VC firm and how does it work at Upfront Ventures? ” Associates have different functions at different VCs. VC firm admin. VC firm policy or fund analysis. Helping be the VC “presence” at key events. Smart founders use this extra resource to their advantage.

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TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

Magic’s CEO and co-founder, Eric Steinberger, says that he was inspired by the potential of AI at a young age. But absent a demo, we have only his word to go on. Despite securing millions in VC backing, Kite struggled to pay the bills, running into headwinds that made finding a product-market fit impossible.

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TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 10, 2022

Startups and VC. Denver-based VC firm SpringTime Ventures is pivoting away from its original focus on its home state of Colorado, despite being the only local fund in two of the state’s 10 unicorn companies, Becca reports. ” New crypto startups forged ahead during Alliance DAO’s demo day on Wednesday amid the FTX implosion.

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capital investing investment pitching 99

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. There is one source that was always problematic for me – intros from investment bankers. With which other investors?

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TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 17, 2020

Repeat founders who have a proven track record, good references, and in the best cases, an exit to point to will have an easy time making inroads with venture capitalists. Earlier this week, for example, the former founders of Udemy and altMBA raised more than $4 million for a startup with no name or final product.

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founder VC ventures investing 83

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 16, 2014

How long does it take from first meeting a VC to getting cash in the bank? It''s also not the best way to create a helpful syndicate of investors that share the founder''s vision for the company. If all my deals came as intros from trusted connections that I know for years versus at founder pitch events that''s interesting data.

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VC pitching networking venture capital 418

TechCrunch

JUNE 7, 2022

It has a 50-plus-year history of investing at the inception stage in iconic enterprise, consumer, and human and planetary health companies. This event draws an incredible mix of Silicon Valley’s startup community, including over 40 VC firms so far — a who’s who of founders, investors, tech makers and movers and shakers.

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peer-to-peer VC venture capital disruption 78

Y Combinator

MARCH 15, 2024

 Effective at the end of the w24 batch, I will return to my original role of YC Group Partner and will be able to once again devote all of my time to inspiring, investing, and mentoring early-stage YC startups.  I’ve  I find myself most drawn to the challenges they face building companies during this new wave of AI.

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leadership advice VC accelerator 105

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 17, 2022

The roughly 15-year-old firm has just around $500 million in assets under management — including a $150 million fund that it quietly closed in January — and it makes just a handful of new investments each year. I think it’s so important to recognize that not everyone is supposed to be a founder. But it is a SAFE note.

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VC networking incubation investing 96

TechCrunch

APRIL 9, 2021

CEO and co-founder Alex Wang credits their success since founding, which includes raising over $277 million and achieving break-even status in terms of revenue, to early support from investors including Accel’s Dan Levine. The Product Hunt spot wasn’t planned, either — Wang was as surprised to see his company there as anyone else.

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VC pitching financing finance 96

Y Combinator

AUGUST 23, 2023

Almost all of those companies raised their first rounds from investors that saw them debut at YC Demo Day. YC is undeniably an integral part of the venture capital ecosystem, helping to shine the first spotlight on many of the companies that go on to be featured high up in a huge font on the top VC portfolio pages.

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venture capital VC enablement capital 72

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. Another called Parker Harris, the co-founder and CTO. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. It became a huge kerfuffle with many VC partners writing to thank me for the post, which exposed those that gave their industry a bad name.

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VC venture capital pitching capital 274

Jason Malki

JANUARY 15, 2023

From Military Service to Tech Investing: The Journey of Ethan Tan, Harvard Student and Web3 Investor I had the pleasure of interviewing Ethan Tan, a Harvard student and Web3 investor. Ethan is currently a Venture Partner with Contrary Capital and founder of a stealth startup. How did you break into tech investing?

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investing investment peer-to-peer real estate 52

TechCrunch

JANUARY 8, 2022

Even to outsiders, the inner workings of startup accelerators has become familiar: pumped up on camaraderie and energy drinks, scrappy founders do product demos onstage before a room full of buzzy journalists and investors. Let’s start with a juicy topic: pro rata. In this instance, we failed to follow our own advice.”.

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startup accelerator accelerator startup energy 92

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In my previous post, The VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) I wrote about the reasons why the VC market came to a screeching halt in September 2008 and remained largely shut until at least April 2009. There are now signs the VC market has gathered pace meaning it’s a great time to be fund raising.

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TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

We’re excited about the Apple event, and Y Combinator has its demo day. Startups and VC. They keep telling me I have outstanding balance : Brex’s CRO is leaving to join Founders Fund, and in her fintech newsletter this weekend, Mary Ann talks with him to figure out what drove that decision. PDT, subscribe here. Hey, hey, hey!

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ventures investing investment disruption 90

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 2, 2015

One time, I spoke at a meetup that was divided into my talk and demos--and the organizer assumed I wanted to go on before the demos. I didn''t understand why it would matter, but she told me that most of the investors like going before so they could skip out after the demos and not get bombared at the end of the event.

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pitching peer-to-peer venture capital creativity 368

TechCrunch

APRIL 7, 2022

It’s a two-day deep dive featuring the best, brightest and most intriguing founders, engineers, investors, regulators and technologists dedicated to transforming the way we move people and packages around the globe. Line up live or online meetings with founders, pitch investors, connect with hiring managers or meet up with other students.

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transportation collaboration pitching networking 81

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 13, 2021

Aditi Shekar, the co-founder, gave me some notes about why the ongoing popularity of Venmo is validation for the company, instead of competition. In the rest of this newsletter, we’ll talk about the new career path to CEO, our favorite startups from Techstars Demo Day and the latest SPAC you should probably know about. techcrunch.com.

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TechCrunch

MAY 10, 2021

Founders from these three startups took a chance, gave it their all and ended up winning the championship — and $100,000 — in their respective years: Canix (2020), Render (2019) and Forethought (2018). Oh, and Forethought scored a $9 million Series A investment after it won. 11 words and phrases to cut from your VC pitch deck.

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disruption startup pitching VC 77

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

In fact, even some of the excesses of 2021 were eclipsed when the number of investments on the continent rose higher in 2022 than they had a year earlier, boosted by early-stage firms flocking to fund startups in the wake of landmark exits of homegrown companies like Jumia and Paystack. billion, according to data from Partech.

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startup ecosystem startup incubation VC 96

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

Throughout all of these years I was a full-time VC so Launchpad really came out of evenings and weekends for me. Adam had a full time startup and then was doing consulting (he later raised a VC fund). She joined Mesa Global where she is doing both venture capital and investment banking. Yeah, he was LA, baby! Jamie did, too!

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Tomasz Tunguz

AUGUST 19, 2015

I’ve been to many YC Demo Days and I always look forward to them. This trend opposes the broader VC market’s investment patterns. Startups pursuing consumer finance have popped recently, not driven by Bitcoin, but by a wave of founders bringing more sophisticated financial tools to the masses.

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real estate startup data analysis construction 40

TechCrunch

MAY 14, 2021

When you’re head-down and nose to the grindstone — I’m looking at all you hard-working early-stage startup founders — it’s easy to miss a deadline for an outstanding opportunity. You’ll also be ready to deftly handle all the questions you’ll receive from our expert VC judges. 11 words and phrases to cut from your VC pitch deck.

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TechCrunch

OCTOBER 2, 2022

A multibillion dollar acquisition , IPO projections and some good ol’ VC and billionaire drama? Instead, Cloudflare just got dozens of venture firms to offer to invest up to $1.25 This week, we’re following up on our conversation about accelerator and demo days with a look at how 500 Global, formerly 500 Startups, thinks about it.

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TechCrunch

MAY 9, 2023

Investing in artificial intelligence (AI) startups is the latest bandwagon VCs are piling onto. But as last year’s crypto experts quickly work to rebrand as AI experts, they’ll have to compete with the VCs who have been investing in the category all along. million from existing portfolio company founders.

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startup incubation strategy SaaS 97

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally generated funds.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

I rarely talk to any startup entrepreneur or VC who doesn’t feel it and somehow long for simpler times despite the benefits we all enjoy from increased enthusiasm for our sector. They take fewer bets, they don’t mind being counter-conventional and investing in things that make others scratch their heads.

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advice VC entrepreneurs transportation 398

TechCrunch

MAY 26, 2022

To kickstart its operations, the startup has closed a $13 million seed round, financing which co-founder Matt Gialich says will fund Astroforge through its first two missions, including an initial demonstration flight that’s scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission next year. Astroforge co-founder Matt Gialich.

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TechCrunch

MARCH 25, 2023

However, that’s what we’re seeing happen in the solo GP world, where investors, hearing about institutional investor risk appetite changing, are extending fundraising timelines, cutting investment vehicle targets or planning to leave venture altogether. In the rest of this newsletter we’re talking AI, icons and demo days.

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