OnlyOnce

OCTOBER 31, 2013

Fred Wilson has been a venture investor and director in Return Path since 2000, first with Flatiron Partners and then with Union Square Ventures. Here are a few tips for ending up with the best long-term partner as an investor. Look for VC portfolios that have a lot of “like” companies (B2B, B2C, media, tech, etc.).

Valuation 133

Valuation Term Sheet B2C Security 133

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2014

Examples of some leaders in this space include Ron Conway in Silicon Valley and Brian Cohen , chairman of the New York Angels, who each may have over 500 startups in their portfolio. They have too many highly paid partners, fat fees, an aging corporate infrastructure and difficulty raising money from institutions.

Angel Investor 260

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Startup Portfolio 260

Steve Blank

JULY 15, 2010

The Golden Age for Entrepreneurs and VC’s. The two decades from 1979 when pension funds fueled the expansion of venture capital to 2000 when the dot-com bubble burst were the Golden Age for entrepreneurs and venture capital firms. During the decade between 1991 and 2000, nearly 2000 venture backed companies went public.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 299

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

I’m honored to be at a university noted for knowledge, and in a city with 2000 years of history – home of Gaudí one of the 20 th century’s greatest innovators. I like the guy because he’s credited with coining the word entrepreneur. Thank you for the kind introduction. I’d like to start with a request. Now look around.

Private Equity 326

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 326

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

Angel investors are generally former entrepreneurs and/or executives, who invest in privately-held, early-stage companies. To succeed in the space, angels must have a high risk tolerance, a large bank account to weather losses, and most important, a diverse enough portfolio to handle losing money on most of your investments.

Angel Investor 114

Angel Investor Technical Review Venture Capital Pre-Money Valuation 114

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

One of the most common questions that entrepreneurs who meet me for the first time like to ask is, “Do you miss being an entrepreneur? I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. On Being an Entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur 384

Entrepreneur Startup Salary Egypt 384

Ben's Blog

JANUARY 31, 2012

As founding CEO, I remember being quite excited to meet our financial backers and talk about how we could partner to build a great company. That excitement took a sharp downhill turn when one of the top partners said to me, in front of my co-founders, “When are you going to get a real CEO?”. That question tortured me for months.

Venture Capital 78

Venture Capital Portfolio Cofounder Partner 78

The Equity Kicker

FEBRUARY 24, 2014

I’m excited to let you know that David Norris joined us today as my Partner. Today I am proud to join Forward Partners as a VC. Having worked in VC backed growth businesses for many years, I’m now changing seats and changing gear, looking forward to helping the best UK entrepreneurs succeed. Forward Partners, London.

Partner 91

Partner Early Stage Business Model HTML 91

500hats.com

AUGUST 2, 2012

While a flood of new VCs came into existence during the late 90’s internet boom, many had difficulty raising new funds after the crashes of 2000-2001 and 2008 , and as a result significantly fewer fund managers exist now compared to a decade ago. Rise of Y Combinator, 1st Branded Entrepreneur Guild. and no, we didn’t.

Silicon Valley 74

Silicon Valley Early Stage Venture Capital Valuation 74

The Equity Kicker

JULY 8, 2019

From around 2000, and perhaps coinciding with the need to work harder to win deals as opportunities dried up after the internet bubble burst, individual partners at VC firms began adding ‘helping CEOs win’ to their job descriptions. . The most visible symptom of this trend was VCs writing blogs to show just how value add they were.

Portfolio 84

Portfolio LP Venture Capital Partner 84

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2011

One of the most common questions that entrepreneurs who meet me for the first time like to ask is, “Do you miss being an entrepreneur? I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. On Being an Entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur 176

Entrepreneur Startup Salary Egypt 176

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

As in real life – those that rush into marriage often find out what their partner is really like after the fact. How do you then reference check your VC to be sure that you’ve chosen a good firm and partner? First, I would say that most entrepreneurs do almost no reference checks or at least do them very informally.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Term Sheet Cofounder Partner 288

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2014

Mark pointed out that on the one hand 6 months ago one of Silicon Valley’s best known ibankers told him that SaaS public valuations were the most over-valued since the dot com bubble in 2000. While this is temporarily a good thing for entrepreneurs it will turn sour when we go through the next inevitable downturn. And we ended.

Valuation 309

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Later Stage Non-Compete 309

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2011

Look more modern than our previous website, which had a very 2000 feel to it. Become a resource for entrepreneurs to have access to the lawyers, accountants, real-estate professionals and other people with whom our entrepreneurs work. We didn’t want this section to be our recommendations but those of our portfolio.

Early Stage 260

Early Stage Lead Investor Portfolio Partner 260

Ben's Blog

DECEMBER 13, 2010

Gaurav Dhillon was one of the great enterprise entrepreneurs of the ‘90s and early 2000s. Ordinarily, we would automatically disqualify an entrepreneur with such a massive financial success from funding, so when he came into pitch us on his new company SnapLogic I was skeptical. Informatica is currently worth over $4B.

Technical Review 77

Technical Review Memphis Software Review Software 77

Mucker Lab

MARCH 8, 2016

In reality, we are scrappy founders, just like the entrepreneurs we serve. Just as entrepreneurs should aspire to raise capital from value-added, “smart money” investors, we, too, have focused on partnering with committed, long-term, institutional limited partners (LPs). For better or worse, we are not those guys.

Burn Rate 60

Burn Rate Limited Partner Bootstrapping Portfolio 60

BeyondVC

JULY 7, 2010

Little do people know that when Dawntreader first funded Dali Media along with Impact Venture Partners and Primedia Ventures that the company was called Dali Media and then Metapa, standing for media to all places. After all these years, I am glad to see that EMC and others have caught on to both of these facts.

Portfolio 109

Portfolio Open Source Architecture Database 109

BeyondVC

JULY 7, 2010

Little do people know that when Dawntreader first funded Dali Media along with Impact Venture Partners and Primedia Ventures that the company was called Dali Media and then Metapa, standing for media to all places. After all these years, I am glad to see that EMC and others have caught on to both of these facts.

Portfolio 109

Portfolio Architecture Open Source Database 109

Agile VC

JULY 19, 2012

First and foremost, it’s worth emphasizing that greatness as a VC firm is derived primarily from helping exceptional entrepreneurs build enduring companies. This is true not only in a firm’s dealings with entrepreneurs but also with it’s limited partners and even within the firm among its partners.

Cofounder 193

Cofounder Limited Partner Early Stage LP 193

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

What a pleasure that I got to spend an hour talking with both Om Malik (whom I’ve always respected his views) and Paul Jozefak , a venture capital partner at Neuhaus Partners in Germany (and formerly the head of Europe for SAP Ventures). industry investors rather than VCs) a good idea for entrepreneurs. 406 Ventures.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Non-Compete Vertical Europe 225

Feld Thoughts

JULY 28, 2014

Each of the SBIC funds were raised in the 2000 – 2002 time period. As a partner in one of the most visible VC firms in Colorado and an LP in many of the Colorado VC firms, I’ve never heard from Matthew or anyone from the SBIC. The US government, however, lost most of the $2 billion it put into SBIC firms.”

SBIC 142

SBIC Venture Capital Colorado SBA 142

Austin Startup

MARCH 7, 2021

It’s like a dam has broken and now there is a flood of new entrepreneurs, investors, and big companies moving to Texas. These are all potential customers and strategic partners for startups. A significant strength of Texas lies in its diversified portfolio of unique cities. they are all chasing talent.

Texas 90

Texas San Antonio Houston Dallas 90

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 23, 2011

Being an entrepreneur isn’t exactly rocket science, but in the case BlogFrog ‘s co-founder Rustin Banks, he literally is one. The 30-year old rocket scientist – he literally designed next-generation imaging systems for satellites – left the aerospace industry in 2009 to be a web entrepreneur. Just Do It.

Community 162

Community United States Colorado Social Media 162

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

A few days ago, Bessemer West Coast SaaS Practice - David Cowan , Byron Deeter and myself, hosted a CFO Dinner for our SaaS portfolio at John Bentleys in Redwood City. Fifteen CFOs participated - about half of them from Bessemer portfolio SaaS companies (Cornerstone On Demand, Intacct. Philippe Botteri Accel Partners London, UK My Bio.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Valuation Portfolio 48

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 5, 2019

As an entrepreneur, you have probably heard or read the “maxim” that only 10% of startups are successful, but is this true? Choosing the wrong team or not including potential partners. And if so, what strategies can you apply with your company so that it is not part of the failures of statistics?

Venture Capital 77

Venture Capital Cofounder Finance United States 77

Hunter Walker

APRIL 10, 2014

I’m not focused on making a log of noise but honestly it wasn’t too surprising to me when you consider: my [angel] portfolio is up 5x cash-on-cash. most of my peers from the early 2000 days of angel investing are now VC’s (Reid Hoffman, Peter Thiel, Josh Kopelman, Jeff Clavier, Mike Maples, Dave Whorton, etc).

Syndicate 122

Syndicate Syndication Hiring Cofounder 122

The Equity Kicker

AUGUST 25, 2015

On the one hand you have the ‘entrepreneurs should just do their thing and not pay attention to the markets’ folk and then on the other hand there are plenty of observers saying that a bubble has burst. I saw that in 2000 and then again in 2008. There’s a lot of contradictory advice out there at the moment.

Valuation 60

Valuation Startup Stock Portfolio 60

The Equity Kicker

MARCH 17, 2015

As you probably know, Forward Partners bundles help from our startup team, our proven methodologies and office space with our cash investment so I will be talking my own book tomorrow and hence here. The second reason is that entrepreneurs looking to rapidly build traction without raising much money need more help.

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Venture Capital San Francisco Silicon Valley 60

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

JUNE 14, 2011

It’s an emotion most of us feel for different things – but that can be deadly and dangerous for an entrepreneur to feel about business. Being willing, even eager, to embrace and adapt to change is a serious competitive edge for any entrepreneur. Smart entrepreneurs will always adapt and compete efficiently.

Entrepreneur 90

Entrepreneur Non-Compete Internet Dilution 90

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. And I also now have to raise money myself, but this time from bigger institutions that our industry calls LPs (limited partners). Partners make investment decisions. Meet in person. They’re buying you.

Developer 366

Developer Silicon Valley PR Las Vegas 366

Growthink Blog

DECEMBER 5, 2011

For a sense of the extent of how bad this problem is, a partner I know at a prominent venture capital firm estimates that of the 30+ companies that his firm has invested in since 2000, only two of them have consistently met or exceeded their financial projections. Are the entrepreneurs just not ready for prime time?

Forecast 79

Forecast Intellectual Property Venture Capital .Net 79

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 13, 2012

He is on the board of the Angel Resource Institute, and is a partner with Montlake Capital (a late stage growth capital fund) and with Revenue Capital Management (a royalty based lender). Second, a portfolio of investments, even in angel investing, is a great approach. He’s c0-authored two books and many academic articles. It is risky.

Angel Investor 103

Angel Investor Venture Capital Seed Stage Silicon Valley 103

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 12, 2012

Accel has already invested over $60 million in French start-ups and we would like to invest more – but will there be enough entrepreneurs left if the new Tax laws are voted in? In our portfolio, we have companies with founding CEOs who own less than 10% of their companies for some of the reasons I just listed.

France 71

France Europe Capital Gains Dilution 71

Seeing Both Sides

MAY 13, 2011

One of my portfolio company CEOs, Will Tumulty of Ready Financial , is a former Navy SEAL (1990-1995). Brendan went on to HBS and McKinsey after the SEALs and then started his own hedge fund with a partner, so he had an interesting, multi-faceted perspective. The discussion was wide-ranging and entertaining.

Pakistan 55

Pakistan Entrepreneur Cofounder Europe 55

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2011

Historically the dream of many entrepreneurs has been to go public. Peter Lehrman, CEO, AxialMarket Daniel Confino, Founder, MergerID ( a Financial Times business) Dan Burstein, Managing Partner, Millennium Technology Value Partners. He serves as a Managing Partner of both funds. Click here to make a reservation.

Private Equity 68

Private Equity Merger IPO Equity 68

BeyondVC

JUNE 3, 2006

I recently sat in a presentation which a portfolio company CEO gave for a potential strategic partner. I wasn’t sure if that prospective partner really got it and before we knew it, the CEO said it was much easier to just dive into the demo to explain.

Portfolio 60

Portfolio Early Stage Differentiation Revenue 60

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 12, 2008

While spending time with the entrepreneurs and championing the deal through the group, you tend to become emotionally attached. Once the point is reached where you want to move ahead, we put the sales hat on and convince our partners about the incredible opportunity that we are lucky enough to be able to invest on the ground floor.

San Jose 31

San Jose Technical Review Venture Capital Angel Investor 31