This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

Not in the “founder friendly” culture of tech anyway. An examination of several high profile stories this past year about female CEO issues lays bare the other reason: It’s not “founder friendly.” It’s male founder friendly. Founders have to reckon with that. Travis should hire her back?? He should have been long gone.

coworking spaces 545

coworking spaces hospitality culture coworking 545

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Today I’m handing her the largest A-round check I’ve ever written as a VC as we lead her $10 million A-Round at uBeam. I said simply, “That’s the most ambitious project I’ve seen since I became a VC.” With Meredith I did every on-reference-sheet call I could make and many off-reference-list calls.

VC 418

VC ventures leadership board 418

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

Back to Mr. Christensen, “We subsidize their education in fields for which there are no jobs” he said in referring to the fact that many courses at universities are still taught with skills that aren’t relevant to the 21st century needs of the US workforce. We spoke about the disruption of VC through crowd funding.

education 403

education disruption entrepreneurship venture capital 403

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. I first met Andrew Stalbow , the founder & CEO of Seriously in August of 2013.

media 373

media education VC finance 373

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.

investment 365

investment investing VC board 365

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. Answer: Not much. It’s a shame.

disruption 308

disruption VC entrepreneurs finance 308

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.

VC 128

VC venture capital accelerator ventures 128

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2012

I knew him well before he became a VC. I knew his as he considered becoming a VC and we talked a lot about how it was going for me in my early years. These engagements went well and he came highly referred by my friend Gary Swart who runs oDesk. My guess is that many VCs are. And so are most startup CEOs for that matter.

VC 309

VC data analysis incubation health 309

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 investment 314

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 27, 2017

Founders don't start companies so they can spend half their time asking people for money and VCs don't love the dance either. For VCs: Be upfront about the possibility of you investing now versus whether this is a "get to know you" kind of thing. Make references to founders you've backed available upon request.

VC 353

VC pitching founder opportunity 353

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 14, 2013

We used Dumbo as a reference and talked about how the critical mass of Two Trees buildings created a neighborhood with multiple destinations. There was no strategic goal to build venture backed startup companies, but yet at least three companies in her community got VC investment last year. But who is going to run the conference?

communities 304

communities coworking spaces economic development funders 304

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

As many of you know I run a weekly webcast called This Week in VC that’s getting between 25-35,000 weekly views across ThisWeekIn.com, YouTube & mostly iTunes. there was no frame of reference for the value. My key take away – frame of reference in pricing is important. Yesterday’s show floored me.

mix-use 303

mix-use VC advice creativity 303

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

MARCH 28, 2022

So I saw this tweet by Semil Shah yesterday: A friend who works in an industry far from tech startups & VC asked what would be the single article I’d share to read on each topic. It is about how a VC can compete and win a deal that many others want. Here are my rules: 1) Do your very best to connect with the entrepreneur.

VC 261

VC entrepreneurs venture capital strategy 261

TechCrunch

MARCH 2, 2021

The Future Africa Fund kicked off in 2015 when Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and Nadayar Enegesi , co-founders of US-based and African-focused talent company Andela, wrote checks to African startups as angel investors. Syndicate leads are often experienced angel investors or successful startup founders.

founder 144

founder finance financing investment 144

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

My favorite two quotes of the weekend were: “Never trade your cat for somebody else’s dog” (referring to selling your company for stock to another privately held company – quote was from Alan. And awesome to get to spend time with Ian Sigalow “comparing notes” (VC speak ). I’m going to save that for a future blog post.

peer-to-peer 279

peer-to-peer advice VC board 279

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

and of course a relentless pursuit of helping founders succeed. So mostly we just had to listen to customer feedback from founders, VCs and LPs. She worked for 5 years as a VC at Battery Ventures and co-headed M&A at IAC working with Barry Diller. I promise you, he really said this out loud.) So why now?

ventures 361

ventures leadership mentorship venture capital 361

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

But honestly there are times when being a VC can feel like that, too. I wonder sometimes if founders even know about the hours their lawyers or advisers put in on evenings, weekends, vacations. I had dinner with my friend Brooke Hammerling , founder of Brew PR recently. Not all VCs are good human beings or good actors.

startup 363

startup real estate VC venture capital 363

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

When you’re hiring most reference checkers focus on the person’s former bosses. Just literally this week I had breakfast with a guy giving a reference who said, “He’s brilliant. Our founder, Yves Sisteron, was my mentor and board member at my first startup. In many ways that can be way more telling.

board 320

board VC construction opportunity 320

TechCrunch

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

David Teten is founder of Versatile VC and writes periodically at teten.com and @dteten. Akshat Dixit is a senior at North Carolina State University, an intern at Versatile VC , and a past intern with the HBS Alumni Angels Association and the Innovation Quarter in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. David Teten. Contributor.

VC 93

VC peer-to-peer consulting board 93

Revolution

OCTOBER 9, 2024

We gathered 50 founders from across the country for 36 hours of connection and candor in Alexandria, VA, and no surprise: We left inspired. We believe place matters, and that there’s no substitute for meeting founders where they are, in the ecosystems they’re building within.

peer-to-peer 130

peer-to-peer founder collaboration communities 130

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2015

I often speak about co-founder fighting and how this ends in lawsuits but this has become much more prevalent. I’d encourage you to watch this quick 3-minute video with some views on what I call “ The Co-Founder Mythology ” that is perpetuated in Silicon Valley. Lawsuits are particularly common amongst co-founders.

startup 352

startup advice board founder 352

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

VC 82

VC investment investing founder 82

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

But in my experience as an entrepreneur and now spending my time amongst investors I can generalize that almost all VC investments in early stage technology & Internet investments come down to just four key factors. And VC’s are tough customers. I’ve talked before about how to build long-term relationships with VCs.

startup 360

startup VC advice entrepreneurs 360

TechCrunch

OCTOBER 15, 2021

VC Lab , an accelerator for venture capital firms, wants to create investors who will back the rest of the world. Today, VC Lab is providing a set of freely available boilerplate documents intended to streamline the process, save everyone time and money and make fund governance structures more accessible.

VC 101

VC investment investing startup 101

TechCrunch

OCTOBER 6, 2022

Atman Capital, a year-old early-stage venture firm partially backed by about 20 founders, is sweetening the deal for these individual limited partners. It promises to give credit to any one of them who refers a successful deal to the venture firm in the form of some carried interest in the firm’s own profits. and Latin America.

VC 81

VC founder peer-to-peer angel investing 81

StartupNation

JANUARY 6, 2022

Venture capital or VC. They are also often founders of successful businesses with plenty of experience in return on investment. On one side, crypto lending refers to the process of borrowing or lending cryptocurrencies through a blockchain-based platform. On the other hand, crypto lending can also refer to crypto-backed lending.

VC 110

VC incubation business incubator angel investing 110

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 25, 2013

Back in 2006, when I started working on putting together some community groups for entrepreneurs and tech people, I looked for a better name to reference this collection of people. Three companies from the Studiomates community-- Sherpaa , Tinybop , and Editorially --received VC dollars in 2012. via Brownstoner.

communities 290

communities innovation creativity real estate 290

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2016

Non VC Growth Rounds. The other major trend of 2012–2015 was the entrance of “non VCs” into late-stages of venture capital , which mostly consisted of hedge funds, mutual funds, corporate investors, sovereign wealth funds and even LPs doing direct deals. The fact that I still see it referred to in pitch decks is farcical.

venture capital 271

venture capital capital ventures VC 271

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

On Losing in VC. So I organized a team dinner with all four of my partners and all three of their founders. I know I won’t win every deal I want to in VC. There are other great VC’s in SoCal and there is always the allure of the NorCal guys flying down and talking about how they invested in Google, Facebook, Yahoo!

consulting 333

consulting advice collaboration VC 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

On Losing in VC. So I organized a team dinner with all four of my partners and all three of their founders. I know I won’t win every deal I want to in VC. There are other great VC’s in SoCal and there is always the allure of the NorCal guys flying down and talking about how they invested in Google, Facebook, Yahoo!

consulting 328

consulting advice collaboration VC 328

TechCrunch

NOVEMBER 20, 2020

Well-regarded by founders and co-investors, his transition to a full-time role in venture capital feels like quite a natural one. Earlier this week, TechCrunch caught up with Gonzalez-Cadenas over Zoom to learn more about his new role at Index and how he intends to source deals and support founders. CEO at GoCardless], in my journey.

VC 107

VC venture capital entrepreneurs angel investing 107

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2013

Yesterday I wrote a post about “ proprietary dealflow for VCs.” ” In the article I discussed the downside of raising capital at a too high of a price and referred people to a previous article I had written encouraging founders to raise “ At the Top end of Normal ” as opposed to stratospheric prices.

advice 302

advice investment investing VC 302

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 29, 2024

Given the uncertain career paths for VCs, the unique dynamics around partner promotion within and across firms, and lack of clear direction on how to best spend your time on a day to day basis, it felt like investors would benefit from talking to someone who could provide some guidance. After all, it’s something they recommend founders do.

VC 195

VC board venture capital communities 195

TechCrunch

DECEMBER 16, 2022

Over the last several years, VC money has been abundant and relatively cheap. This is mostly discussed by referring to the increased valuations companies were receiving at varying stages, as shown below in Chart B. More posts by this contributor. How to think like an investor: Understanding the actual cost of fundraising.

VC 94

VC founder capital ventures 94

Andreessen Horowitz

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Given the shifting landscape, it’s helpful for you as a CEO and/or founder—or for your finance and capital markets teams, if you have those hires to help you through this process—to know who the key players are at each stage so you can spend your time and energy speaking to the right firms. small business loans for their customers).

founder 129

founder real estate capital finance 129

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

This applies to both founders and to VC’s that work with them. And Finally, a word about VC … We VCs need to be as conscious of dipping & skipping as management teams are. Again, I can’t imagine being a VC and NOT doing this. But I work hard not to “skip&# below the CEO or founders.

startup 308

startup board advice VC 308

Startup Catalyst

MARCH 27, 2018

Some of the top startup accelerators, incubators, co-working spaces, maker spaces, investor groups, and founder support groups are located in San Francisco, making it the ideal location to visit. We also had a number of group workshops and facilitated discussions on every aspect of startup community building and founder support.

communities 140

communities startup incubation accelerator 140