Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. On December 3rd Brad Feld wrote a one paragraph blog post titled “ Raising Venture Capital &# in which he linked to my blog. The Original Post (after the jump): Venture Capital, By Mark Suster (December 2nd, 2006). Thus is venture capital.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Many observers of the venture capital industry have questioned whether its best days are behind it. Looking ahead at the next decade I am excited by what I believe will be viewed as one of the best and most rational investment periods for venture capital due to seven discrete factors: 1.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Pascal's View

AUGUST 28, 2010

6) The most efficient fuel for this IPO engine is venture capital. v) “Since 1999, over 60% of IPOs have been VC-backed. This is an extraordinary percentage considering that only 1/16 th of 1% of all companies are VC-backed.” “… it is highly unlikely that a company that does not take venture capital ends up going public.

Venture Capital 56

Venture Capital America Initial Public Offering IPO 56

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

Greycroft is Alan’s venture capital firm that recently raised its second fund ($130 million) with offices in both New York and LA. Get your product/market fit working before you ramp up your costs (or raise too much money). And market your brand, not your personality. I’m going to save that for a future blog post.

PR 279

PR Technical Review Portfolio Customer Development 279

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

Fortunately I was mostly a technology consultant, which meant that I coded computers, designed databases and planned system integration projects. One of our core tasks was “market analysis,&# which consistent of: market sizing, market forecasts, competitive analysis and then instructing customers on which direction to take.

Investment Bankers 415

Investment Bankers Mobile Software Review Japan 415

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

This is part of my series on Understanding Venture Capital. Some wait 5-7 years but usually this is because it’s proving more difficult to raise a new fund due to market conditions or the lack of returns in their current fund. Tags: Pitching VCs Raising Venture Capital VC Industry.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Early Stage Software Review 269

thebarefootvc

AUGUST 13, 2013

Larger companies such as IBM and SAP that had enterprise-wide deployments would offer some solutions around these pain points, but entrepreneurs claimed that these were not sufficient, and that the emergence of the Web and server technology made some of the legacy software inefficient, inadequate and obsolete. – TIMING. – PEOPLE.

Advisory Board 70

Advisory Board Cloud Venture Capital Vertical 70

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

And without revenue how do we know if we achieved product/market fit to exit Customer Validation?” The first question to ask is: “Does your startup have market risk or is it dominated by technical risk?” Lean Startup /Customer Development is used to find answers to the unknowns about customers and markets.

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

thebarefootvc

DECEMBER 16, 2011

This was the year that the promise of technology to truly change the world and empower individuals (the reason I entered the tech world in 1994) reached global scale. The Power of the Individual: This was the year that the individual, amplified by technology platforms, became empowered to rise against oppressions both large and small.

Technical Review 110

Technical Review India Mobile Hockey Stick 110

The Equity Kicker

MARCH 5, 2018

It’s the biggest European gathering of venture capital fund managers, private equity fund managers and LPs, the institutions that invest in both types of funds. I’ve been going off and on for the last ten years and the good news is that the tide is definitely turning in favour of European venture.

Private Equity 92

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Europe 92

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

As Venture Capital emerged as an industry in the mid 1970’s, investors in venture-funded startups began to give stock options to all their employees. In the 20 th century, the best companies IPO’d in 6-8 years from startup (and in the Dot-Com bubble of 1996-1999 that could be as short as 2-3 years.)

Stock Options 333

Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 333

Seeing Both Sides

APRIL 10, 2011

In May 1996, Open Market completed a successful IPO and more than doubled on the first day of trading, ending with a $1.2 billion market capitalization. The Internet bull market continued to run for four more years after the Open Market IPO, finally ending in the spring of 2000. We had recorded $1.8

IPO 48

IPO IRR Brazil Government 48

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2010

I cannot recommend it enough for people in the technology or media sectors. Many people bandy about the definitions of “disruptive technology&# or “the innovator’s dilemma&# without ever having read the book and almost universally misunderstand the concepts. I’ve characterized it in a chart below.

Vesting 376

Vesting Framework Revenue Technology 376

abovethecrowd.com

OCTOBER 17, 2013

In addition to market concerns, I had the unique experience of working with Dan Nordstrom and the team at Nordstrom.com in August of 1999. Stitch Fix’s personalization technology creates a very similar dynamic within women’s fashion. and John Fleming, previously EVP of Walmart and CEO of Walmart.com. https://stitchfix.com/gifts.

eCommerce 62

eCommerce Technical Review North America San Francisco 62

Pascal's View

AUGUST 12, 2009

First, the National Venture Capital Association has published data revealing that over 90% of the jobs created by venture-backed companies occur AFTER they go public—and this relationship holds over the past 40 years. Investors take risk in order to reap rewards. Share and Enjoy:

IPO 28

IPO Silicon Valley Merger Sweat Equity 28

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

The product development model treats all startups like they are in an Existing Market – an established market with known customers. They never understood Market Type. Why does Market Type matter? Other companies in the 1999 PDA market were Palm, the original innovator, as well Microsoft and Hewlett Packard.

Customer Development 196

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 196

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Technology | Thursdays. Sales & Marketing | Wednesdays. SALES & MARKETING. Online Marketing. TECHNOLOGY. Technology. Bringing Innovation to Market. Science and Technology Technology. Letter of Intent for a Business Venture. Start-up | Mondays. Finance | Tuesdays. Advertising.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

David Teten

APRIL 16, 2012

ff Venture Capital is creating a new, spin-off business from an existing company, and we need a team to take the reins. About ff Venture Capital ( http:/ffvc.com ) : We are one of the most active early-stage investors in New York. Since 1999, our partners have made over 150 investments in over 55 companies.

Cofounder 133

Cofounder New York Venture Capital B2C 133

thebarefootvc

AUGUST 26, 2015

After a tumultuous week in global markets, today the US stock market ended higher on the session. As a former investment banker who followed the markets closely once upon a time (especially when I was in the midst of public market M&A transactions), I now have the luxury of watching from an arm’s length.

Marketing 40

Marketing Investment Bankers Valuation China 40

thebarefootvc

AUGUST 26, 2015

After a tumultuous week in global markets, today the US stock market ended higher on the session. As a former investment banker who followed the markets closely once upon a time (especially when I was in the midst of public market M&A transactions), I now have the luxury of watching from an arm’s length.

Marketing 40

Marketing Investment Bankers Valuation China 40

abovethecrowd.com

JANUARY 24, 2014

Over the past few months, many journalists have begun to ask the question that no one really wants to hear; “Is Silicon Valley in another technology bubble?” Even though things were frothy enough that the head of the federal reserve felt the need to talk down the market, the top was in fact many, many years away. What was it in 2003?

Silicon Valley 74

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Employee Internet 74

thebarefootvc

JULY 26, 2015

After a tumultuous week in global markets, today the US stock market ended higher on the session. As a former investment banker who followed the markets closely once upon a time (especially when I was in the midst of public market M&A transactions), I now have the luxury of watching from an arm’s length.

Marketing 40

Marketing Investment Bankers Valuation China 40

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

Eighty some pages later I realized that a) I had some great war stories as a good marketeer and failed CEO, b) I’d have to pay my wife and kids to read them, c) the three of them were probably the entire total available market, and d) when I looked at what I had done and what other entrepreneurs had done at their startups, that there was a pattern.

Redemption 126

Redemption Silicon Valley RSS California 126

thebarefootvc

FEBRUARY 1, 2011

At the Clinton Global Initiative last September, Pierre Omidyar, co-founder of eBay, announced a commitment from his philanthrocapitalist firm to invest millions of dollars in mobile applications and services, with a focus on developing markets globally. eBay is likely the most efficient “accelerator” to have existed to date.

Silicon Valley 45

Silicon Valley India Africa Burma 45

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

I’m not going to cover in this post the obvious post-show marketing tasks such as following up on all those business cards you grabbed, communicating with all those people who registered at your site and leveraging your new found fame to score venture capital. million … yes that was seed in 1999!)

South Africa 310

South Africa Europe Disintermediation Poland 310

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Great content again in September that meets at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. Shortly after we sold Opsware to Hewlett-Packard, I had a conversation with the legendary venture capitalist Doug Leone of Sequoia Capital. How To Pick A Co-Founder , by Naval Ravikant (Venture Hacks).

Technology 191

Technology Product San Francisco CTO Hire 191

Steve Blank

APRIL 11, 2013

The previous post described how China built its science and technology infrastructure. This post is about the how the Chinese government engineered technology clusters. Torch has four major parts: Innovation Clusters , Technology Business Incubators (TBIs), Seed Funding (Innofund) and Venture Guiding Fund.

Programming 278

Programming Technical Review SBIR China 278

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 23, 2009

Our startup was venture funded in 1999 and we didn’t pay enough attention to this advice! I also like the segment on characterizing your market. and I am not sure if that is (a) a new market or (b) a segment of the existing market for energy. I like your comment on “get liquid in a bubble&#.

Customer Development 212

Customer Development Developer Silicon Valley Customer 212

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 26, 2012

For a technology startup company to launch an initial product and survive long enough to gauge its success, requires two-orders-of-magnitude less money today than at the start of the previous decade. They all went away; they got rolled up in 1999 and 2000 into these too-big-to-fail banking operations," Davidson tells us. Number of U.S.

IPO 115

IPO Stock San Francisco Lean 115

David Teten

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

David Teten, Partner, ff Venture Capital ; Chairman, HBS Alumni Angels of Greater New York. Karen Bantuveris has 15 years experience as a consultant in customer centric- leadership development, marketing strategy and business process design. Karen Bantuveris, CEO of VolunteerSpot ( ff VC and angel-backed startup with 2.5m

Private Equity 114

Private Equity North America Cofounder Angel Groups 114

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2009

If you’re thinking about joining as the director of marketing, product management manager, senior architect, international business development lead, etc. It was 1999. I usually pull the old trick of answering a question with a question. My reply is usually, “is it time for you to earn or to learn?&#.

Stock Options 418

Stock Options Stock Liquidation Preference Option Pool 418

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

This is a story of one of the risks of venture capital. But some companies have entrepreneurs that seem talented on paper, are in a space that seems interesting to investors and are able to raise venture capital early in the company’s existence. We built 4 products simultaneously with no market feedback.

Founder 299

Founder Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 299

Steve Blank

MAY 17, 2011

For a guy who loved technology, I was certainly in the right place. As it turned out, rather than run me out of town on a rail, the two venture capital firms that had lost $12 million in my failed startup actually asked me to work with them. My third story is about Failure and Redemption. I was always learning.

Philadelphia 335

Philadelphia Miami Thailand Silicon Valley 335

VC Adventure

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

In the latest lob into the morass that has become somewhat of a sport amongst journalists and those that follow the venture capital industry, Carl Schramm and Harold Bradley write in BusinessWeek about “ How Venture Capital Lost Its Way ”. Venture capital funding is down - from an “astonishing” 1.1%

Venture Capital 48

Venture Capital Technology Advertising Internet 48

Steve Blank

APRIL 11, 2013

The previous post described how China built its science and technology infrastructure. This post is about the how the Chinese government engineered technology clusters. Torch has four major parts: Innovation Clusters , Technology Business Incubators (TBIs), Seed Funding (Innofund) and Venture Guiding Fund.

Programming 170

Programming Technical Review SBIR China 170

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 12, 2011

I'm sorry that I missed yesterday's Glamour Magazine panel on women in tech --if nothing else because it featured two of my favorite women in technology, Hilary Mason and Kara Swisher. Kara helped foster my interest in the business of technology. I followed her writing and bought her AOL book back in 1999. Not in the slightest.

Silicon Valley 112

Silicon Valley Cofounder Venture Capital Valuation 112

Campus Entrepreneurship

MARCH 19, 2012

Nick DeSantis of the Chronicle of Higher Education writes about the incredible surge in investing in education technology start-ups. I was at the University of Chicago when a bunch distinguished professors created UNext.com during the late 1990s — BIG BUST just like the startup I joined in 1999).

Indiana 54

Indiana Cofounder Chicago Venture Capital 54