Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

An obvious example is Google who may have gotten less market attention if there would have been 8 well-financed competitors during the 2001-2005 timeframe. It’s what I love about entrepreneurship and about venture capital. Those with strong business models suddenly stand out when the tide goes out.

Saudi Arabia 309

Saudi Arabia Valuation IPO Technical Review 309

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital. Recently I’ve been debating with a number of young startup companies that are raising money in the next few months, “what is the right about of capital to raise at a startup?&#. It’s a tricky question with no clear answer. There are trade offs.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Startup Silicon Valley Warrant 319

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JUNE 28, 2010

This lasted from about 2001-2004. Since then Mike his built his career by investing in early-stage companies (seed or series A), which is remarkable given that Polaris Ventures is a $1 billion fund. -Example of publishers include: moviefone, Fandango, Jingle, SayNow, and voice blogs. Founded in Sunnyvale, CA in 2001.

San Francisco 230

San Francisco Los Angeles Cofounder SMS 230

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital. Not so in venture capital. My chips were down in late 2000 / early 2001. I often tell people that raising money is worse than getting married. I have to be careful in how that sounds because I love my wife and am happily married. My story briefly.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Term Sheet Cofounder Partner 288

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OCTOBER 14, 2015

One of the points I tried to make is that as venture capital investors as an industry we seem to have a healthy disdain for public market investors. We have an entire generation of startup founders who don’t have muscle memory from getting their burn rates back into shape from 2008/09 or 2001-2005. Others will follow.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate San Francisco Private Equity LP 150

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APRIL 27, 2010

Most of what I learned about operating startups I learned from the really tough years at my first company from 2001-2003. My company had raised venture capital in April 2001 but we were told that there may never be any more coming. So how did I come to work in the world of venture capital?

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Hiring Software Review Stock Options 285

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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. 2001-2004 were very humbling but we built a real company.

South Africa 310

South Africa Europe Disintermediation Poland 310

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AUGUST 24, 2015

I’ve seen friends (and family members) lose much of their savings that way over the years because “Black Swans” happen and in 1987, 2001, 2003 & 2008 (just to name a few from my memory) huge market gyrations caused much financial distress to people seeking short-term gains. At least later stage investors.

Stock 150

Stock Finance Marketing Valuation 150

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SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

There are real changes in the venture capital industry and it would have been fun to talk about them. 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. Answer: Not much. It’s a shame.

Liquidity Event 308

Liquidity Event Silicon Valley Seed Stage Finance 308

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FEBRUARY 25, 2010

It quickly became impossible to raise venture capital. I lived through this again September 2001. It isn’t even a story about raising venture capital or M&A. Don’t over shop – If the deal you’re involved with involves raising venture capital or selling your company you naturally want some competition.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

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SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

In my first company I had to raise money in April 2001 or die. Tags: Pitching VCs Start-up Advice VC Industry startup technology vc venture capital. And importantly you start thinking about your next gig. That’s when the VC has lost. I know because I’ve been there. Tweet This Post Facebook.

Founder 329

Founder Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Participating Preferred 329

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JANUARY 16, 2012

I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. So why would raising venture capital be any different. I’ve raised in boom markets and when everybody thought the Internet was a fraud. I’ve raised seed rounds and A-D rounds.

Developer 366

Developer Silicon Valley PR Las Vegas 366

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JANUARY 31, 2010

We raised a seed round of capital in 1999 and our first venture capital round was the first week of March 2000 (e.g. We found a way to make our venture capital last when it shouldn’t have, at around the same time one of my all time favorite New Yorker cartoons was published on this topic.

Entrepreneur 308

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley San Diego Non-Compete 308

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MAY 7, 2011

Lesson: Joel had been building a community of readers since 2001. With StackOverflow, Joel raised money through venture capital. The software is not difficult to build and the hosting element has become a commodity; the hard part is building a community. Jeff Atwood had a community of people built up from his blog.

Software Review 285

Software Review Software St. Louis API 285