Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

The A round was done in February 2000 (end of the bull market) and my B round was done in April 2001 (bear market). But most importantly I lectured founders that you can’t avoid the admin of setting up your ESOP. I explain in the video what happened in my first company (e.g. I eventually needed more money. Do it early.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Term Sheet Valuation Stock Options 282

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

million which closed the first week of March 2000 – a week before the market crashed. Back to BuildOnline, following the staggering decline in public market valuations throughout 2000 we were forced to cut our staff dramatically going from 92 employees to 38 in just one day (and down to 33 a month later). True story.)

Founder 299

Founder Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 299

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2009

My competitors from those days STILL love to talk about how much money we raised in February 2000 (get over it already!). Reach out to the founders, not the staff. Goldman Sachs (an investor in our company) told us we’d IPO within 18 months for $1 billion so not to take any offers. I acknowledge it was a mistake. We were hot.

PR 331

PR Software Review Ireland Germany 331

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. Yet Mark also pointed out that the recent corrections in the public market valuations and the scrutiny new IPOs have undergone is a health sign.

Valuation 309

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Later Stage Non-Compete 309

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

If a company has reached a level of success, has been around for a few years and you believe the company has potential to break out into a much bigger company then you should let the founders take money off of the table. Founders however are asked to take low salaries and never really get back the time they worked for free.

Founder 329

Founder Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Participating Preferred 329

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

Just ask anybody who was trying to close funding the fateful week of September 11, 2001 or even March 2000. No doubt they spent countless hours arguing for reduced burn rates sometimes with founders, sometimes with investors.

Burn Rate 263

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Private Equity 263

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

when you missed your targets, when your co-founder quit, when the competition chose your competitor or when the other investors around the table lost confidence? My chips were down in late 2000 / early 2001. You’d be surprised how many ex-founders and ex-CEO’s you can find this way. When the world was ending?

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Term Sheet Cofounder Partner 288

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. Another called Parker Harris, the co-founder and CTO. I am very grateful to my friend Zoli Erdos for finding this retro posting for me at web.archive.org. I had kept a personal blog for more than a year and was new at keeping a professional blog.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2011

These two trends had a major impact on the computing industry from 2000-2005 but the effects weren’t yet felt by the VC industry. More recently great funds like IA Ventures, Floodgate, Rincon Ventures, Founder Collective, Freestyle Capital and others have raised money to focus on early-stage investing as a strategy.

Venture Capital 334

Venture Capital Software PHP Open Source 334

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

I freely admit this (along with nearly everything between 1999-2000) was a mistake. That said, don’t complicate the topic – If you’re the founder of a company you likely know a lot about things like Liquidation Preferences and how they affect value allocations when the company is sold. And that would be nice.

Stock Options 294

Stock Options Stock Valuation Liquidation Preference 294

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

If you became a principal or a new partner in 2000/01 you had a good salary but as it turns out you were very unlikely to see a large upside “carry” return for quite some time. There are many VCs who have been made partner since 2000 and haven’t previously had an exit of their own. Nobody really talks about this.

Entrepreneur 384

Entrepreneur Startup Salary Egypt 384

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

Founded in April/May 2010 by Diego Berdakin (Ex-Slingshot Labs) and Josh Berman (Ex-Slingshot Labs, MySpace Co-founder) in Santa Monica, CA. Founded in 2000 in New Brunswick, NJ. -Preliminary details: Social e-commerce site, based around celebrity and influencer-curated recommendations. first vertical to launch by 2010 Holiday Season.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Non-Compete Vertical Europe 225

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

In 2000 our industry had more than $100 billion in LP money. I want to challenge the founders view. And if you call any founder I’ve backed – good and bad – they’ll tell you I don’t quit easily. The industry isn’t dying. It is changing. And reinventing itself. And some firms will go under.

LP 374

LP Later Stage IRR Term Sheet 374

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

My Story: The public coming out for my first company, BuildOnline, was in early 2000. I sat next to Irwin Jacobs (founder of Qualcomm) on a bus ride. Fame and adoration corrupts first timers. And if you’re not careful you might start to believe your own hype. million … yes that was seed in 1999!)

South Africa 310

South Africa Europe Disintermediation Poland 310

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2011

If you became a principal or a new partner in 2000/01 you had a good salary but as it turns out you were very unlikely to see a large upside “carry” return for quite some time. There are many VCs who have been made partner since 2000 and haven’t previously had an exit of their own. Nobody really talks about this.

Entrepreneur 176

Entrepreneur Startup Salary Egypt 176

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

Invidi is based in New York and founded in 2000. 5mm in Series A – Investors: GRP (Mark Suster)(lead), Greycroft Partners (Dana Settle), and Matt Coffin (founder of LowerMyBills) – Read more: TechCrunch , SoCalTech. Swipely – Blippy competitor founded by TellMe founder, Angus Davis, in Fall 2009.

Stealth 285

Stealth SEC Advertising Accredited Investor 285

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

My co-founder and other management team members wanted us to hold off and see whether we could get the deal done at a higher price. We moved into the legal process and final due diligence in January and February of 2000. Our final closure was the first week of March 2000. Our final closure was the first week of March 2000.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

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. You need to build genuine relationships with these portfolio startup founders as well as trust with them and the rest will follow. It’s just a part of your ongoing activities as a founder. Always be fund raising.

Developer 366

Developer Silicon Valley PR Las Vegas 366

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2017

The investment partners are Yves Sisteron (the founder), myself, Greg Bettinelli , Kara Nortman , Kobie Fuller & Kevin Zhang. Dating back to Upfront II in 2000 (the single best performing fund in the US for that vintage) 2 of our 3 best returns were driven by companies with female founders / CEOs.

Los Angeles 287

Los Angeles Las Vegas Venture Capital San Francisco 287

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2011

And many of the best women founders. Even more interesting is that at GRP Partners (the VC firm where I’m a partner) our two most successful returns from our previous fund [which is ranked as the top performing fund in the country for its 2000 vintage according to Prequin] were both run by women! Please watch this.

Entrepreneur 341

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Open Source Social Network 341

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2012

I talked to my co-founder Brian Moran (we launched the company in Ireland) about it. 1 week later the market crash of 2000 began and the dot com market began to collapse and financings with it. Now we move to definitive documents (long-form legal docs) and the whole freakin process starts again.

Term Sheet 301

Term Sheet Ireland Cofounder Finance 301

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

They never did any PR or marketing to get their videos to first get shown on the news during the 2000 election. Working with a family member (Evan, the co-founder is his brother)? All viral adoption starts with one thing – great content. That’s what JibJab focused on. I hadn’t seen this before.

Viral 303

Viral Investment Bankers Video Business Model 303

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2016

I also became more aware of the impact of food on my body overall after being diagnosed with acid reflux in 2000. From the stresses of being a startup founder I began to have pain in my chest that I became worried was heart trouble.

Mobile 150

Mobile Partner Entrepreneur Startup 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Investors are the “who’s who” including: Steve Case, Ron Conway, Jack Dorsey, Dave Morin, Betaworks, Founder Collective, AOL Ventures. - $1 million seed round. Founded in January 2000 in Oakland by Tim Westergren; new CFO, Steve Cakebread was previously CFO of Salesforce.com. TechCrunch article.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Los Angeles Oakland Asia 217

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

I’d like to explain as best I can my opinion on what is going on because most of what I hear from entrepreneurs is not only wrong but is reminiscent of what I heard in 1997-2000. Many founders don’t understand why inside rounds are so difficult. What is the True Sentiment of VCs? Why Inside Rounds are Difficult?

Valuation 150

Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150