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Praying to the God of Valuation

Both Sides of the Table

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened? There was no money train.

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7 Attributes of An Entrepreneur's Startup Dream Team

Startup Professionals Musings

Building a startup business is not the same as corporate executive experience, so prior titles in a big business may actually be seen as a negative. On the other hand, having failed in an earlier startup may be an advantage, if positioned properly, and some learning is evident. Focus on prior results, not titles.

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What’s Really Going on in the VC Industry? What Does it Mean for Startups?

Both Sides of the Table

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. Importantly, what does this all mean for startups?

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The Changing Venture Landscape

Both Sides of the Table

And the loosening of federal monetary policies, particularly in the US, has pushed more dollars into the venture ecosystems at every stage of financing. What Has Changed in Financing? Today you have funders focused exclusively on “Day 0” startups or ones that aren’t even created yet. Of course we can’t.

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Be Careful not to be Penny Wise, Pound Foolish

Both Sides of the Table

It’s a great topic, his post is well written and given that he’s going through it right now in his startup it’s worth reading his point of view on the topic. Startups often make this mistake. Like everything, I screwed this up in my first startup. I was too much Accenture, not enough Startup.

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Rally Software Acquired By CA Technologies for $480 Million

Feld Thoughts

For example, from a post in 2008 about Rally’s $16.85m financing , I riffed on the origins of the company. I remember my friend Ryan Martens sitting down with me and Chris Wand around 2001 and walking us through his idea for changing the how he approached managing the software development process.

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On Bubbles … And Why We’ll Be Just Fine

Both Sides of the Table

For others it feels like a two-speed economy, where rules apply to hot tech startups that don’t apply elsewhere. Or worse yet they may never get financed. Raise at “ the top end of normal &# but not so high that future financings in a corrected market become impossible. That’s a fact. Have a cushion.