Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

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. This only becomes noticeable in down markets.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

BeyondVC

JANUARY 3, 2019

Look at 2001 and 2008’s Lehman collapse and Sequoia RIP Good Times deck for lessons learned. Seed funds back to basics in 2019: We highlighted the barbelling of VC in the year-end 2017 update and see this continuing in 2019. Consider this a back to basics approach the way VC used to be in the Arthur Rock days.

Stealth 79

Stealth Advisory Board Cloud Virginia 79

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2017

I was an early employee at PayPal and back in the 2000-2001 timeframe, and we ended up taking a fairly significant amount of strategic investment (tens of millions of $) from various banks in the US, Europe, and Asia. Normally I would counsel seed stage companies not to take strategic investment but that wasn’t the case here.

Strategic Investors 120

Strategic Investors Post-Money Valuation Seed Stage Cofounder 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 13, 2013

Several VC’s mentioned that there’s a funding gap for seed stage investments. The Angel/Seed network in Beijing feels fragmented and mostly inexperienced (as are a good number of the China VC’s). Car sales in China went from 1 million in 2001 to 14 million in 2011.

Silicon Valley 269

Silicon Valley China Venture Capital Merger 269

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 13, 2010

Within a year, by late 2000 / early 2001 consulting firms were firing people en masse. On July 27th, 2001 Accenture IPO’s and many of the partners grew fabulously wealthy. “Reality is, at the seed stage, most rocketships look more like the cardboard variety you’d make as a kid than something NASA developed.

Turkey 302

Turkey Differentiation IP Technical Review 302

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

Now we can call you a seed-stage VC or a micro VC. I discussed it in my post on the topic linked above. ** One small note: many VCs who got into the industry in 2001 or later have never seen a “carry&# check. .&# If you’re investing other people’s money you’re a professional money manager.

Liquidity Event 308

Liquidity Event Silicon Valley Seed Stage Finance 308

Steve Blank

APRIL 13, 2013

Several VC’s mentioned that there’s a funding gap for seed stage investments. The Angel/Seed network in Beijing feels fragmented and mostly inexperienced (as are a good number of the China VC’s). Car sales in China went from 1 million in 2001 to 14 million in 2011.

Silicon Valley 161

Silicon Valley China Venture Capital Merger 161