TechCrunch

MAY 26, 2022

TechCrunch has been covering the demo days of the seed-stage venture firm Pear VC since 2015. Of course, some VCs still get an early look, in part by mentoring the startups. Pictured, top of page: Pejman Nozad and Mar Hershenson talking with guests at Pear’s demo day, last week in Menlo Park, Calif.

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TechCrunch

APRIL 6, 2023

Our favorite startups from YC’s Winter 2023 Demo Day — Part 1 There’s little good news to be found in this Q1 data, but don’t let that stress you. ” Without the Stripe and OpenAI deals, global VC results would have been even worse in Q1 2023 by Alex Wilhelm originally published on TechCrunch

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Don’t even get me started on Demo Days. You could spent 20 days / year at Demo Days now. I told my friend that I felt that in 2014 too many new VCs feel the pressure to chase deals, to be a part of syndicates with other brand names and to pounce on top of every startup whose numbers are trending up quickly.

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VC investing investment entrepreneurs 374

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. I’m comfortable with introductions and then getting into the demo.&#.

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TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

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. “Within AI more broadly, training state-of-the-art models remains expensive,” Steinberger admitted. The short-term goal (i.e.,

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The typical VC process is as follows: They say there are three rules in property: Location, location, location. The surest sign a fund-raising process has stalled is when you aren’t getting follow-up meetings or hearing from the VC or hearing from friends that they got a phone call or email asking about you. Same with VC.

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VC advice entrepreneurs energy 332

TechCrunch

AUGUST 18, 2023

Full TechCrunch+ articles are only available to members Use discount code TCPLUSROUNDUP to save 20% off a one- or two-year subscription “Starting a tech company today costs 99% less than it did 18 years ago when Y Combinator was started,” says Brett Calhoun, managing director and general partner at Redbud VC.

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TechCrunch

JUNE 7, 2022

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. A quick reminder that if you have an early-stage startup, it’s not too late to buy a Summer Party demo table. Ticket price: $75.

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peer-to-peer VC venture capital disruption 78

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. ” The other Paul Graham quote from the article is this: “The other thing they say is that they can’t tell on Demo Day which are the good start-ups. So I stand by my well-read Quora post of why I don’t attend demo days.

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VC advice pitching entrepreneurs 347

500

JUNE 9, 2020

As a VC firm, we’ve had to adapt many aspects of our business as well. From taking all aspects of our accelerators digital (including our Demo Day) to rethinking the opportunities of the future, we’ve taken this moment to analyze what innovations can come from this time and new opportunities that arise from our changing environment.

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frameworks investing investment disruption 202

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “ Pitching a VC.&#. The “Triple Play&# of VC Presentations. A large part of my series has been outlining what the typical VC PowerPoint presentation should look like. You want to build a dialogue where you get to know the VC with whom you’re meeting. I recommend it.

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VC advice pitching venture capital 238

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? Here were the results: I would guess that getting a third of my deals from events is probably disproportionately high compared to other seed investors on the east coast--and that my VC intro percentage is probably somewhat low. That''s an interesting question.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. My blog linked to Brad Feld’s blog because I was so grateful for his series on term sheets and he was one of the biggest reasons that as a VC I felt compelled to blog. And covered we did.

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VC venture capital pitching capital 274

TechCrunch

APRIL 9, 2021

Scale’s story starts with a pivot, and with a bit of rule-breaking, too — Wang went off the typical YC book by speaking to investors prior to demo day when Levine cold-emailed him after seeing Scale on Product Hunt. 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 73

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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VC venture capital networking innovation 255

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “Pitching a VC&# – the outline is here. You’ve pitched several angels and VC’s. Your friends and advisers tell you that this means you need revenue because in this economy VC’s will only fund businesses with revenue. Unfortunately your advisers are wrong.

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VC pitching advice venture capital 309

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 3, 2012

meet with tons of companies every week, work hard for their portfolio companies, and are on planes flying around to the important confereneces and demo days". Of course, you don't always need that experience from a VC. An experienced entrepreneur who has raised money multiple times can be a great board member as well.

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TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 17, 2022

Somewhat relatedly, Y Combinator just wrapped up its latest Demo Day. VC Ann Miura-Ko is looking to help more students answer the question: Is this idea big enough? And then we’re sharing with one another how we would diligence it. And if the other people are interested in looking at the company, we invite them in.

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VC networking incubation investing 96

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. Demo Day is a window into the future of consumer and enterprise investments. This year was no exception. There are so many wonderful ideas and companies founded by terrific entrepreneurs.

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real estate startup data analysis construction 40

Y Combinator

MARCH 15, 2024

 During the past 8 years the entire team at YC was responsible for so much: -  Funding 3000+ startups, including 30+ unicorns (and counting) - Funding founders from 90+ countries around the world - Funding 1000 companies with underrepresented founders (women, Hispanic, Black) - Demo Days that now produce nearly half a billion dollars of funding (..)

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leadership advice VC accelerator 106

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. Signaling risk happens when a VC chooses to not do pro rata, or follow-on investing, in an existing portfolio company.

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startup accelerator accelerator startup energy 92

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). Demo’d to death. We’ve all been demo-day’d to death. Yeah, he was LA, baby! Quality endures.

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accelerator mentorship peer-to-peer VC 290

TechCrunch

APRIL 5, 2023

.” Levitt and Pager co-founded Coast , a platform that enables a sales team to demo its company’s APIs via a dashboard that executes live requests visually and in the browser. Certainly, there’s other software demoing platforms on the market — many with substantial VC backing.

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TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 11, 2022

This week saw two big events running in parallel: an Apple hardware announcement and Y Combinator’s Demo Day. From faux fish to teams that want to reinvent flying, the Demo Day team rounded up some of the wildest pitches. The week an Apple event and YC Demo Day collided by Greg Kumparak originally published on TechCrunch.

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pitching media VC startup 86

TechCrunch

MAY 10, 2021

training with the TC Battlefield team to make sure they’re primed and ready to face a panel of expert VC judges. Each startup team gets six minutes to pitch and present their demo — and then they’ll answer probing questions from the judges. 11 words and phrases to cut from your VC pitch deck. Participants receive weeks of (free!)

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disruption startup pitching VC 77

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 13, 2021

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. A triple-hitter Demo Day. TechCrunch covered favorites from Techstars’ three Demo Days, which were focused on Chicago, Boston and workforce development.

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TechCrunch

APRIL 7, 2022

You can visit the huge exhibition and demo areas, meet the founders and engineers behind buzzy early-stage startups and get an up-close or even a hands-on encounter with their tech. They’ll provide keen editorial insights on what’s happening in the marketplace. 5: Tickets are just $75. How can we drive this point home? (We

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transportation collaboration pitching networking 81

TechCrunch

MAY 14, 2021

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. By pitching in the finals, we booked a demo with one of the final panelists. Your pitch, presentation skills and business model will reach new heights of excellence.

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David Teten VC

JULY 27, 2021

We have collected a wide range of freebies, contests, accelerators, online communities, and VCs designed for student tech founders. I have been researching this both to support Versatile VC ’s portfolio companies and also as part of research for my new book, To University and Beyond: Launch Your Career in High Gear. 1) Your school.

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founder mentorship peer-to-peer pitching 144

TechCrunch

OCTOBER 2, 2022

A multibillion dollar acquisition , IPO projections and some good ol’ VC and billionaire drama? 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. The biggest moonshots from 500 Global’s latest Demo Day. A few notes.

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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

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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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

The idea is simple enough: several female VC partners at top funds will hold 1-hour meetings with 40 promising female entrepreneurs looking to get advice on their business and pitch in a friendly, non-judgmental, safe environment. 8% of VC partnerships, for example). With 8% of partners at VC firms being female?—?we

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TechCrunch

MARCH 29, 2022

It will be all hands on deck today and tomorrow as we listen to startups pitch at the YC Demo Day, so look out for a deluge of stories over the next two days. Startups and VC. YC’s Demo Day showed off 32 startups from India (the accelerator has funded almost 200 Indian startups to date), with heavy focus on fintech.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. There is one source I never liked and no early-stage VC should – investment bankers. Before I tell you my reasons for never doing a deal that a banker intro’d I have to preface by where I think bankers are enormously helpful on VC deals.

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advice VC pitching entrepreneurs 361

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. inside insight into VC decision-making. Industry reviews.

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