Paul G. Silva

FEBRUARY 11, 2025

Breaking the “Impossible” at VVM When I was at Valley Venture Mentors, we set this BHAG: “In ten years, catalyze entrepreneurs to change the economy of Western Massachusetts by generating $1 billion in cumulative revenue and investment.” ” At the time, we were running a startup accelerator for 6 companies. .”

innovation 130

innovation accelerator angel investing entrepreneurship 130

Dream It

MARCH 6, 2020

Berman comes from a real estate background, and he co-founded Camber Creek after realizing an opportunity to “create a double alpha situation,” both investing in high-growth startups and using those startups to improve the operations of his own real estate portfolio. Mitchell Schear was President of Vornado/Charles E.

real estate 406

real estate pitching VC opportunity 406

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

Today we’re announcing that my partner Kara Nortman is becoming Co-Managing Partner at Upfront Ventures and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to welcome her to her new role. I’ve become fond of saying “if I had a dollar for every person who told me just how much they loooooved Kara Nortman, I’d have a 10x fund.”

ventures 361

ventures leadership mentorship venture capital 361

The Seraf Compass

OCTOBER 16, 2024

But as I moved into investing, I quickly realized that this new world required a different mindset. But as I moved into investing, I quickly realized that this new world required a different mindset. The journey has been a learning experience, one that has shaped how I approach portfolio management and long-term wealth building.

startup founder 163

startup founder founder startup investing 163

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

I’ve made over 100 investments in my career and nearly half of those went into diverse teams. I’ll be the first to back up the notion that diverse founders have just as much ambition, drive, intellectual horsepower, creativity—you name it—than anyone else. It also provides a built-in set of advisors that can be called upon along the way.

ventures 435

ventures networking creativity entrepreneurship 435

Entrepreneurs' Organization

OCTOBER 15, 2024

Organizations celebrate those who can generate new and groundbreaking concepts, often overlooking the subtler art of idea curation. However, the rapid advancement of generative AI is poised to fundamentally shift this equation. Newer models that haven’t yet been evaluated on such tests, such as GPT-4o, will undoubtedly do even better.

creativity 175

creativity innovation collaboration consulting 175

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 1, 2018

Year after year, educators and those invested in education love to speculate about what will take off in the near future. And as far as riveting news goes, nothing quite peaks the interest like new trends that have the potential to fundamentally change learning. 2018 promises to be a year that epitomizes the term “transformational.”

education 400

education media investment investing 400

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 17, 2024

Yet, everyone’s got an opinion about how a company measures up, especially the founder. ( So, how do you know what truth is? I wrote about how “ both things can be true ” here. Today, I want to write about how to measure how likely you are to get funded, especially when compared to other companies.

startup 410

startup micromobility consulting hospitality 410

Revolution

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

When Revolution Growth first invested in Sweetgreen in 2013, the whisperings of food and wellness were present but sparse, and the bulk of lunchtime options focused more on convenience than ingredients. the first a 560-square-foot shack in our backyard. What did we see in the then-regional salad company?

investment 363

investment investing transportation disruption 363

Entrepreneurs' Organization

APRIL 1, 2020

How long can you support your team? As EO CEO Carrie Santos observes , “Entrepreneurs do not catch up on news and wonder how they will face the COVID-19 crisis. Let go of how you operated last week and consider what might make sense in this new reality. How to take care of your restaurant staff during a health crisis. •

peer-to-peer 339

peer-to-peer health entrepreneurs support 339

American Entrepreneurship

JANUARY 8, 2025

In a world where mental acuity is increasingly recognized as an important part of overall health, Pisons cutting-edge technology is set to redefine how we monitor and enhance cognitive performance. The company announced it has received a strategic equity investment from Samsung Ventures Investment Corporation (Samsung Ventures).

technology 98

technology ventures investment investing 98

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

<== Our conclusion was that this isn’t a temporary blip that will swiftly trend-back up in a V-shaped recovery of valuations but rather represented a new normal on how the market will price these companies somewhat permanently. When you look at how much median valuations were driven up in the past 5 years alone it’s bananas.

VC 416

VC strategy investment investing 416

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

No matter how bad things got, it didn’t seem to occur to anyone, not even to that one pair of outspoken investors, that perhaps the CEO should get tossed—or at least they weren’t willing to say it. The company’s bad behavior was nothing new. They got worse. Some people don’t like to take responsibility for their own s. The second reason?

coworking spaces 545

coworking spaces hospitality culture coworking 545

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 21, 2025

I cant tell you how many times I got announced as a successful VC when I was introduced on a panel or sat across the room from a potential limited partner telling them I was. One helpful bit of context is that until very recently, I hadnt been to the dentist since 1998. Heres what happened I never had a cavity growing up. I couldnt.

VC 268

VC consulting health enablement 268

NZ Entrepreneur

NOVEMBER 19, 2024

It impacts your tax obligations such as how much tax you’ll pay and when to pay them, as well as your ability to raise funding. While spreadsheets might seem sufficient in the early days, investing in a proper accounting system from the start can save you countless headaches down the line. Sue de Bievre, Beany Founder.

startup 105

startup consulting sustainability frameworks 105

Paul G. Silva

JANUARY 21, 2025

Making Vision Work: A Real Story Let me share how vision transformed an organization I helped build. When we hit our quarterly goals, instead of celebrating and relaxing, we asked, “How can we do more to change our region’s economy? How will we know we’ve succeeded? What timeline makes sense for our goals?

leadership 130

leadership entrepreneurship startup accelerator entrepreneurs 130

The Seraf Compass

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

Have you ever been in a situation where you are negotiating an investment with an entrepreneur and you can’t agree on the pre-money valuation? Any early stage investor who makes more than one or two investments will certainly run into this issue.

capital 297

capital education entrepreneurs investing 297

Revolution

MAY 11, 2023

We named this summit after a report we wrote with Pitchbook at the end of 2021 to explore the impact of the pandemic on investment patterns. The soundbite: “The way to go fishing is by going where the fish are — we need to open source where federal funding is headed and how to get a piece of the clean energy and infrastructure pie.”

real estate 296

real estate energy innovation VC 296

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

JUNE 1, 2021

When I look at all of the opportunities we are currently considering plus all of the investments we have made this year to date, what stands out most to me is the location of the founders and teams. And very little of it is in western Europe where most of our non-US investing has been for the last decade. And we are doing exactly that.

venture capital 279

venture capital capital investment investing 279

Dream It

FEBRUARY 1, 2022

Mistake #1: Not Answering the Question Mistake #2: Blabbery Mistake #3: Misunderstanding the Question and Not Asking for Clarification Mistake #4: The Pile-On Mistake #5: Treating Q&A as a One-Way Street Not Answering the Question You would be surprised how many founders struggle to directly answer the question that’s being posed.

VC 513

VC pitching health founder 513

American Entrepreneurship

DECEMBER 20, 2024

Poddar previously was Head of Machine Learning Engineering at investment platform Robinhood following his position as Data Scientist at Meta. This funding is not just a milestone for Parafin but an investment in the future of small businesses. The products include access to capital, spend management, and savings tools.

finance 98

finance financing incumbents construction 98

Dream It

JULY 12, 2021

Be clear on the basic terms & key items of notes & SAFEs Before we can start talking about how to set the terms, including cap, let’s quickly review some definitions related to convertible notes and SAFEs. Raising early-stage funding? You’ll need to know the ins and outs of convertible notes and SAFEs.

founder 397

founder financing finance angel investing 397

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 11, 2022

No matter how good the pitch is, the fact that you decided to break it out like it was written on an index card without actually interacting with me like a person comes off so cold and transactional. A few years ago, I was at Techcrunch Disrupt and this guy taps me on the shoulder as I was chatting in a group. My name is Alan. He walked off.

VC 408

VC pitching communities creativity 408

American Entrepreneurship

DECEMBER 4, 2024

Recognizing this, The Veteran Fund announced the winner of its $100,000 Veteran Pitch Competition and the recent closing of its inaugural oversubscribed investment Fund I. With one click of a smartphone’s camera, building owners and service providers gain much-needed insight in 50 to 80% less time and cash invested.

leadership 97

leadership startup accelerator mentorship entrepreneurship 97

A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC

MAY 22, 2022

Back in February of last year, I wrote a blog post with the same title and said this about the asset price bubble we were living in and investing in over the last few years: The big question is how does this end? Well now the markets have hit the brakes and the new question is how that ends. And we need to be patient.

investment 343

investment investing VC technology 343

Revolution

MARCH 10, 2025

Cambium s model is exactly thatredefining how supply chains function, starting withlumber. Now, as we double down on our investment, we know that this model isnt just a clever ideaits a necessary reimagining of American supplychains. At Rise of the Rest, we back companies building solutions that are both transformational and tangible.

construction 130

construction sustainability disruption board 130

Startup Blogpost

OCTOBER 14, 2024

The focus on digital marketing came naturally as the landscape shifted online, and I saw how data-driven strategies could give startups a competitive edge, especially in industries like wellness, which require a deep understanding of consumer needs and trust-building. Parenting has been another important part of my journey.

media 105

media financing finance founder 105

Hunter Walk

FEBRUARY 22, 2025

Most strategies are some combination of innovation and best practices along the classic five steps of venture investing: See, Pick, Win, Service, Exit. Most strategies are some combination of innovation and best practices along the classic five steps of venture investing: See, Pick, Win, Service, Exit. This post is about ‘seeing.’

startup 97

startup VC strategy leadership 97

Paul G. Silva

JANUARY 28, 2025

Understanding Luck in Business Ever notice how some teams seem to “get lucky” more often than others? Preparing Strategically Invest in your team’s capabilities Build and maintain professional networks Create a culture ready to seize opportunities 3. Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0). In BE 2.0,

entrepreneurship 130

entrepreneurship opportunity culture networking 130

American Entrepreneurship

JANUARY 28, 2025

Learn what investors want to hear that triggers their investment decisions. ” Andreese n provides insight into how an entrepreneur pitching for funding should approach investors. .” ” Andreese n provides insight into how an entrepreneur pitching for funding should approach investors.

pitching 68

pitching investment investing startup 68