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? If all my deals came as intros from trusted connections that I know for years versus at founder pitch events that''s interesting data. If you meet someone at a pitch event, they''ve already got a company and they''re looking to close as quickly as possible.

VC 415

VC pitching networking venture capital 415

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 31, 2014

Even if you haven''t gotten offers yet, your time is valuable and you can''t pitch everyone. You feel like you have a decent shot of successfully raising, so you want to prioritize who to pitch to first. When you pitch, tell a firm how they can be helpful. How did you pick who to pitch? Venture Capital & Technology'

VC 364

VC pitching venture capital capital 364

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2015

So I asked a few founders that I've worked with and they mentioned a word that struck me--because I've never heard any of the hordes of people in my inbox asking for internships, VC job recommendations and advice, etc. I think of venture capital as a service business. mention about themselves. Generosity.

venture capital 363

venture capital capital pitching ventures 363

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2013

And I am often approached by entrepreneurs in cities which don’t have a vibrant VC community. Just ask the people of Portland, Seattle, Boulder, Iowa, Princeton, Dallas or countless other cities that don’t have enough venture capital. It’s a goal to help you understand the life of a VC. Ask SuperCell.

VC 365

VC board communities pitching 365

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 18, 2019

Brooklyn Bridge Ventures , the pre-seed and seed stage VC fund I run in NYC, has invested in 64 companies in the last six and a half years. The diversity is the direct result of our mission—to build the most accessible venture capital fund in NY. Twenty-five of them have at least one female co-founder. Five have LGBTQ+ founders.

venture capital 413

venture capital capital ventures peer-to-peer 413

Dream It

MAY 29, 2019

Startup pitch meetings are pretty predictable. You walk into a venture fund’s conference room or Zoom room (if they’re progressive), pitch the partners, offer to answer their questions, maybe ask them a bland question or two, and then leave the meeting to await a response. Steve Barsh.

pitching 284

pitching VC investing investment 284

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 14, 2014

Brooklyn Bridge Ventures came in first, with a whopping 61%. Lerer Ventures was second, with just under 20%. Take the most widely used number--that way fewer women are getting venture funding than guys. Most companies don''t ever raise venture capital and they do just fine. Well, it''s gotta mean something, right?

founder 378

founder pitching venture capital mix-use 378

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 24, 2014

Not every potentially good VC previously worked for Fred Wilson and Josh Kopelman. Not every VC used to get pitched by VC funds for a living and has seen hundreds and hundreds of VC pitch decks. Venture capitalists play an important role in burgeoning ecosystems. Venture Capital & Technology'

accelerator 355

accelerator mentorship VC incubation 355

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

She was pitching for a pre-seed round of $400k. Founders hit the street with their pitch deck, some make it, and some don’t, but nearly all of them ascribe a lot more human influence over the process than there probably is. Or that venture capital is a meritocracy? I’m a female founder. I don’t have a technical co-founder.

advice 429

advice pitching venture capital VC 429

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. They are venture bankers not investment bankers. They know how to build pitch decks. They know the VCs so they know what interests them. What stage?

VC 347

VC advice pitching entrepreneurs 347

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 23, 2014

It doesn''t help them improve their pitch or adjust their model. It just feels like the VC wasn''t that interested in the first place and so they''re not sure what the interest was in the first place. If an entrepreneur is going to invest their time pitching me or having a meeting--I''ll do my best to invest my time to have an opinion.

pitching 351

pitching VC venture capital opportunity 351

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

It's a story that just hit a milestone--a $4mm round of venture funding that I'm ecstatic to say Brooklyn Bridge Ventures just led. But just because you could see them everywhere doesn't make them an obvious venture bet--nor does it tell the story of how the round even came to be. At least, I thought it was.

venture capital 346

venture capital ventures capital consumer retail 346

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 15, 2020

There have been a lot of calls for VC firms to make more hires from the Black and Brown community, as well as to hire more women. In venture, it’s all about getting an opportunity to make partner and being included in the carry—the economic upside of a fund. Not all hires, however, are made equally.

venture capital 308

venture capital ventures capital mentorship 308

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 1, 2014

We all have our inherent biases and what I am not arguing here is that the venture capital world is a fair playing field for anyone. I repeat: I AM NOT ARGUING THAT VENTURE CAPITAL IS FAIR TO ANYONE. billion went to women-led ventures.". I AM NOT ARGUING THAT WOMEN AREN''T SEEKING VENTURE CAPITAL. Sounds awful, right?

venture capital 295

venture capital capital ventures founder 295

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

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

It got me thinking about the advice that I often give to new VCs. For years I saw myself as the new guy in VC but then you wake up one day and realize that 50% of your peers have been doing it for less time than you and time has moved on. I don’t want any formal pitches. It’s exhausting. Perhaps unsustainable.

peer-to-peer 317

peer-to-peer pitching VC accelerator 317

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

I can't think of a single time when a white man came to pitch me and I told him his fundraising plans weren't aggressive enough. Yet, for some reason, the goals for her pitch were incremental--despite being in an extremely hot space. First off, the vast majority of venture dollars goes to white men. Venture investing is hard.

advice 418

advice founder pitching VC 418

Dream It

MAY 19, 2021

In this Dreamit Dose, Managing Director Adam Dakin presents his view on the right way to answer it after hearing hundreds, if not thousands, of founder pitches. Make the specific amount you are raising and corresponding milestones clear at the beginning of the pitch, and do not give a range. The amount you're raising is your ask.

pitching 393

pitching board health VC 393

Dream It

APRIL 12, 2020

During our recent Dreamit Kickoff week, Bullpen Capital Founder and General Partner Paul Martino ( @ahpah ) spoke with our Spring 2020 cohort about the state of the VC ecosystem in the current economic crisis. Will a financial crisis affect how venture funds deploy capital? Startups should know how VCs work.

ventures 334

ventures startup capital board 334

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

If I had to put a number on it I’d say 1 in 20 pitches – maybe 1 in 30 – are by an entrepreneur who comes across as truly passionate about her project. On reflection of the role that I want to play as a VC it is clearly in the camp of passion. I’m a VC. But the two can of course go hand-in-hand.

peer-to-peer 373

peer-to-peer VC pitching entrepreneurs 373

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 10, 2020

VCs are notorious for kicking tires. VCs take a meeting just to learn about an area. If deal flow is slow, a VC will take a meeting if you and your team seem mildly interesting even if your product isn’t. Some VCs have no money left in their funds, but they still like playing VC. Do you have dry powder for this?

VC 396

VC pitching opportunity founder 396

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

And there’s none that makes me happier than to announce that Jordan Hudson has been promoted to a Principal at Upfront Ventures. 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. Portfolio community building.

investing 365

investing investment VC board 365

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 16, 2024

There are more active VCs alive today than have ever existed in the history of modern human existence—and that dates back 300,000 years! Until then, venture investors—GPs, Principals and junior professionals alike—have a lot of lanes to carve out to try to differentiate from each other. The question is what to focus on.

VC 243

VC angel investing networking pitching 243

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 19, 2014

Go pitch a VC with an idea, and they''ll tell you to build it. Venture Capital & Technology' Go to them with a prototype and they''ll tell you to launch it. Launch it, and they''ll tell you to get more users. Get users and they''ll tell you to get paying customers. Let''s remember that, people.

venture capital 378

venture capital pitching health VC 378

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 22, 2014

First, I''ve finished raising the first Brooklyn Bridge Ventures fund--tallying $8.3 These are things that other VCs think about, but founders who come to pitch don''t think about too much. as a VC, sometimes your own website becomes an afterthought. I''m announcing two things today. How many more investments could I do?

pitching 412

pitching board VC opportunity 412

Revolution

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

Since the beginning of modern venture capital investing — a relatively nascent asset class — the industry has been biased toward funding what it knows best: founders with familiar demographics (white, male) in familiar geographies (Silicon Valley).

innovation 264

innovation investing investment pitching 264

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Your goal should be to turn your VCs into extended members of your team to get real value from them. Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. Quiet-as-a-mouse Roger Ehrenberg of IA Ventures.

board 365

board VC advice pitching 365

TechCrunch

JULY 2, 2021

Founder of Unicorn Capital and Minimal Capital, Evan Fisher 's pitching and investor strategy has helped startups raise more than $2.5 Not even a senior VC. The biggest lie in venture capital is: “Yes, I read through your deck.” None of that is effectively transmitted in a cold pitch deck. Evan Fisher. Contributor.

pitching 122

pitching VC venture capital capital 122

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 17, 2014

The first pitch I got was from someone who didn''t intend on staying with the business as an employee. Everyone I''ve ever gotten pitched from can''t wait to quit their other jobs to work on what''s being pitched. I''m a big fan of transparency, but if you''re going to go far and wide on a pitch, organizing your story is key.

pitching 336

pitching consulting VC venture capital 336

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. I do not shy away from approaching these institutions.

VC 98

VC ventures angel investing venture capital 98

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 14, 2019

If you’re lacking for track record as a firm, here’s three exercises you should walk through to help turn your pitch and due diligence meetings from guesswork into something more substantive. Had you actually had your fund in the four years prior to today—which deals would you have legitimately been able to do?

ventures 248

ventures angel investing board advice 248

TechCrunch

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

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. Or will we have to repeat the same conversations about representation failings within VC funds? Funding for Black entrepreneurs in the U.S.

startup ecosystem 129

startup ecosystem ventures founder startup 129

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

I see this time and time again—a founder pitches a VC or an angel and they say to come back when there’s more traction. We create a blind panel of 10 investors from venture funds who rate you anonymized pitch across multiple categories, providing you with a detailed report on how fundable and workable your idea is.

pitching 357

pitching VC opportunity founder 357

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 23, 2012

Venture capital is kind of like a knuckleball. VCs construct stories in their head as to why they invested in this or that, and much of it is based on prior experience, but they're often awful at articulating the real reasons. Try and figure out exactly what a startup had to show at the moment a VC chose to invest in them.

advice 412

advice startup VC strategy 412

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 24, 2021

In the beginning of my venture career, I knew of a firm that was involved in a highly competitive funding round that they ultimately failed to win. For years, he went on to advise other founders about how to generate VC interest, which really could have amounted to, “Be a warm body with a pulse in a sector that firm got shut out of a deal in.”

founder 317

founder pitching VC advice 317

Revolution

AUGUST 2, 2022

What we did: Rise of the Rest Managing Partner, David Hall , and Revolution Ventures Managing Partner, Tige Savage , landed in the Space City for a fireside chat with HX Venture Fund on Revolution’s investment thesis, industry trends, and how Houston fits into the entrepreneurial equation. Where we went: Houston, TX ??

economic growth 344

economic growth innovation communities startup ecosystem 344

Hunter Walk

MARCH 3, 2025

Screendoor has now looked at more than 1,500 venture firms raising funds, backing roughly 1.5% When I’m scanning a pitch deck I’m basically looking to put it into one of two buckets – Traditional or Different. of them, often as their first or second largest investor.

peer-to-peer 88

peer-to-peer VC investing investment 88