TechCrunch

DECEMBER 19, 2022

For Black founders, who have rarely received more than 1% of total venture capital invested in startups, 2022 wasn’t kind, and 2023 doesn’t look promising given how things are going. To find out how Black founders are planning to manage their time, money, and expectations for the upcoming months, TechCrunch+ surveyed three founders.

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TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 19, 2023

Stay tuned, and please feel free to share with anyone looking for a new opportunity! In this TechCrunch+ piece , Amsterdam-based Grant Easterbrook (fintech consultant and co-founder of Dream Forward) focuses “on fintech ideas that received some degree of initial hype and momentum, but ultimately did not live up to their promise.”

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TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

Though some businesses may never be truly sustainable, a venture firm in Seoul argues that emerging climate-tech startups will help big manufacturers do better overall. I spoke with Sopoong chief executive Max Sang-Yeop Han , a serial entrepreneur who joined Sopoong in 2016 and acquired the firm in 2019, to learn about the VC’s plans.

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TechCrunch

JANUARY 29, 2023

Much hope remains after the crypto winter almost froze the sector: the Luna crash , the bankruptcy of Celsius and the arrest of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried for alleged fraud. In 2021, web3 startups globally raised a record $29.2 Bubble had to pop,” People of Crypto co-founder Simone Berry said. “It web3 startups in 2022).

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TechCrunch

MARCH 14, 2023

To put it mildly, the meteoric collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has been a historic time of confusion for everyone the startup ecosystem touches. Niko Bonatsos, MD, General Catalyst While many founders and VCs have shared similar experiences as they try to navigate this confusion, the future ahead is even hazier.

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Andreessen Horowitz

MAY 6, 2024

The Cultural Leadership Fund (CLF) team is often asked by portfolio founders how exactly cultural leaders can be a game-changing asset for their companies. The benefits of founder x cultural leader partnerships work both ways. For Founders Make It Make Sense Venture capital is where innovation meets investment.

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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. Right here.

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TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

Sesie Bonsi is the founder and CEO of Bleu , a financial technology platform focused on enabling touchless payment experiences. But most venture-backed startups are “still overwhelmingly white, male, Ivy-League-educated and based in Silicon Valley,” according to a study conducted by RateMyInvestor and Diversity VC.

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TechCrunch

OCTOBER 20, 2020

In 2020, VR did not get the shelter-in-place usage bump many had hoped for largely due to supply chain issues at Facebook, but VCs hope their new cheaper device will spell good things for the startup ecosystem. Brayton Williams, Boost VC. “We believe VR is still the largest long-term opportunity of the two.

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TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 24, 2020

The Netherlands’ ecosystem has been flourishing; more than $85 million was invested in regional startups in 2019 alone. Plenty of good funding rounds, a highly skilled workforce and a strong entrepreneurial culture have given Amsterdam a booming startup ecosystem. based tech founders are welcomed with open arms.

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TechCrunch

MAY 15, 2023

The venture community has realized several things in recent years: Climate change isn’t going away, and there is a huge opportunity to invest in companies that promise to define entire segments of the future economy. That capital is adding up; since the start of 2021, climate tech startups have raised $88 billion, according to PitchBook data.

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Revolution

MARCH 8, 2023

population, but in 2022, companies with solely female founders garnered just 2% of the total capital invested in venture-backed startups. The long and short of it: Female founders face systemic barriers to founding, funding, and scaling their businesses. Women represent 50.5% of the U.S. That ticked up to 15.4%

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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.” All of the 40 companies’ 92 founders were male. Of the 43 U.S. Of the 43 U.S.-based

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This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 9, 2020

While I got some very kind words on my recent writings , I heard from some founders that didn't feel like they got treated fairly—specifically around feeling patronized or dismissed—and that I wasn't showing enough action to improve on that. I try to get back to everyone—which is something not all VCs do.

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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?

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TechCrunch

MARCH 21, 2023

Portal Innovations , a biotech VC firm based in Chicago, is trying to broaden everyone’s horizons and give opportunities to biotech startups growing out of labs in Chicago, Atlanta, and hopefully beyond. The most recent startup, Pyxis Oncology , was spun out of the University of Chicago. The Bay Area?

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David Teten VC

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

Versatile VC is hosting a one-hour interactive webinar on Thursday, September 28, at noon EST. We’ll discuss Versatile VC ‘s strategy, how we see the market, and some of the opportunities we think are exciting. Our team has a history of investing in diverse and underrepresented founders.

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TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 29, 2022

Russ Heddleston is co-founder and former CEO of DocSend at Dropbox. Start up solo or bring on a co-founder? There’s plenty of money to be invested, and founders who have the right mix of purpose, business model and traction need to remember that opportunities for funding can still be found. Russ Heddleston. Contributor.

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David Teten VC

AUGUST 30, 2021

Our proposal: governments systematically support funding for their diaspora founders, not just the local founders. 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.

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TechCrunch

MAY 10, 2021

It is clear that Black, women, Latinx and LGBTQ+ startup founders face an uphill battle when it comes to getting a share of the VC investment pie in Silicon Valley. It’s working with another Indy based VC firm, Allos Ventures , and Paul Ehlinger from Allos will be a venture partner at Sixty8.

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Jason Malki

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

I had the pleasure of interviewing Tom Shields, Executive Recruiter & Founder of Shields Group Search , a search firm specializing in supporting the hiring needs of early-stage startups. As a seasoned recruiter, his efforts have predominantly focused on structuring the executive teams of emerging VC and PE-backed ventures.

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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 find a job as a VC scout. VC recruiters list and compensation data. How to negotiate a partner role at a VC or private equity firm. Syllabus for how to launch, manage, and invest a VC fund.

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TechCrunch

MARCH 29, 2023

If you think embedded insurance is the only hot thing in insurtech these days, we’ve got a surprise in store for you: While it’s true that startups that help sell insurance together with other products and services are enjoying tailwinds, there are plenty of other opportunities in the space, several investors told TechCrunch+.

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TechCrunch

JUNE 7, 2021

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. 5 innovative fundraising methods for emerging VCs and PEs. Hey, founders between gigs: What now? If you want outside capital, VCs will chase after you to invest.

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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. I thought I’d write a post about how to talk about valuation at a startup and give you some sense of what might be on the mind of the person considering funding you.

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TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 17, 2020

Italy’s ecosystem for tech venture capital and startups has been in development for years and has made decent strides in the last decade. Put off by high taxes and paperwork in their home country, many Italian entrepreneurs moved to places like London in years past to startup. The good news: VC funding in Italy has grown.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2014

This week I wrote about obsessive and competitive founders and how this forms the basis of what I look for when I invest. In fact, my salary never caught up with my pre startup salary across 2 companies and 8 years. And that’s what differentiates founders and early employees. So I did, in fact, invest in myself.

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This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2016

The firm scaled assistance to startups in a way that for outpaced the resources any investment team could provide as individuals. By figuring out the best ways to help founders, he learned valuable lessons alongside them--lessons he can now bring to a new generation of founders as their investor.

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This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 22, 2020

One of the most difficult conversations I have with founders is when they haven’t quite given me enough of a story for me to make a proper evaluation. A VC’s default is “no”, so without enough information to be convincing, it’s going to wind up being a pass. To a VC, $50,000 a pre-sale isn’t really that much.

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Jason Malki

MARCH 9, 2023

I had the pleasure of interviewing Karen Sheffield, the Founder & Managing Partner of Pachamama Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in US early-stage climate tech companies. Then, I stumbled upon PE/VC after chatting with a good college buddy of mine. How did you break into tech investing?

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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 theses are often so vague that they’re meaningless.

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TechCrunch

OCTOBER 4, 2022

Ridgeline is a new VC firm that invests in B2B companies with a specific goal in mind: helping its portfolio companies sell to complex organizations that are hard to crack, but can be great customers if you break into them. It is a lengthy process that isn’t for all startups, and timing of when to pitch is key.

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TechCrunch

JULY 22, 2022

Here’s a look at just some of the ways early-stage founders can learn to build, grow and fund their startups at TechCrunch Disrupt on October 18–20 in San Francisco. Let’s kick off the Disrupt opportun-a-palooza with a time-sensitive reminder to apply to the Startup Battlefield 200 (SBF 200) by July 31 at 11:59 p.m.

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Startup Grind

AUGUST 15, 2018

He has worked with several startups, invested in companies like Mayvenn, Gimlet Media, Blavity, Airspace Technologies, Codeverse, and many others Pitch your startup for a chance to meet with Cross Culture VC Q&A: What is your / your fund's mission? Who is one your founders you think we should watch? BUILD and EXECUTE!

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StartupNation

JANUARY 6, 2022

There are fantastic rewards to be had for those who know how to exploit the new opportunities for business funding that arise in times like these. In this post, I’ll cover six realistic ways startups and entrepreneurs can fund their business , including: Incubators or accelerators. Venture capital or VC. Angel investment.

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Entrepreneur's Handbook

JANUARY 4, 2024

My previous startup was bootstrapped, easy, fast, and 100% control. The head VC guy seems a little bit… weird. Fundraising is different for each startup, and it’s also very different in each stage of that startup. Rookie founders want to raise to reduce their risk. Still no new email. Refresh again. Still nothing.

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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.

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