A Crowded Space

OCTOBER 3, 2018

I remember when I made that first flight out to San Francisco from Boston to meet the team in 2004, the company was down to its last $20K in the bank. Realistically for entrepreneurs, no matter how hard you try, you’re going to make hiring mistakes. That lunch began my career in venture and my focus on marketplace investments.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Bangladesh Ukraine Philippines 60

Genuine VC

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

But the other archetype is a thirty-something entrepreneur who, taking his experience seeing the playbook of success at larger growing startups or even “established” companies, utilizes that domain and functional expertise as unique insight into founding a company. Today the landscape is very different from 2004.

Boston 206

Boston Internet Entrepreneur .Net 206

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

In 2000, I invested via Mobius Venture Capital in The Feld Group and joined the board. The Feld Group grew rapidly during this time period until it was acquired in 2004 by EDS. This took our relationship to a new level.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Boston Internet Venture Capital 150

Scott Edward Walker

JANUARY 23, 2012

zLmdx7 “We pitched investors 348 times before getting a ‘yes’ from Walden Venture Capital in March 2004.” y6fyXN (at 7:56) New vid post >>> Motivational Clips for Entrepreneurs: “The Greatest” bit.ly/xs2La5. If I wind up selling, I’ve failed in some way.” xs2La5. .”

Silicon Valley 45

Silicon Valley Software Engineering RSS Venture Capital 45

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 29, 2015

By the time I co-founded what became Mobius Venture Capital, Softbank (our sponsor – at the time we were called Softbank Venture Capital) was the key investor in Yahoo, E*trade, and a number of other large US-based Internet companies. And very, very little got done.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital Reputation Affiliate Conversion 70

VC Adventure

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

That blog post – which turned into one of my most read posts ever – grew out of a study done by Correlation Ventures showing the distribution of outcomes across over 21,000 financings during the years 2004-2013 as well as some of my own observations. Are ventures outcomes trending higher? Pretty humbling.

Marketing 91

Marketing Venture Capital Finance Portfolio 91

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Selling LowerMyBills: o In 2004 he was getting a lot of call to take more money but was not interested. On Entrepreneurship: What makes a great entrepreneur? Mark’s view: too much money can eliminate discipline. combination of factors –.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

500hats.com

AUGUST 2, 2012

TL:DR : This post aims to recap significant changes in the venture capital industry over the past ten years, and then make some [biased] predictions as to major forces at play in the next five years. However, all three shifts are related and can be summed up simply as: Geeks are Taking Over Venture Capital.

Silicon Valley 74

Silicon Valley Early Stage Venture Capital Valuation 74

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

. × At Greylock , my partners and I are driven by one guiding mission: always help entrepreneurs. It doesn’t matter whether an entrepreneur is in our portfolio, whether we’re considering an investment, or whether we’re casually meeting for the first time. Entrepreneurs often ask me for help with their pitch decks.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2010

This episode of This Week in Venture Capital featured Michael Montgomery, president of Montgomery & Co. For entrepreneurs who want to learn about how to work with investment banks, how to position yourself to be acquired and what the IPO markets look like this is the episode to watch. Acquired by Amazon for $110m.

IPO 242

IPO Venture Capital Private Placement Cofounder 242

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? The rounds were conducted from 2008 to 2010, starting from seed capital. 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

The Equity Kicker

JANUARY 21, 2015

I’m going to quote his definitions in full: 2004 definition. — You’ve seen the pattern here, what used to be Series C is now Series A, what used to be Series B is now seed, and what used to be Series A is now ‘Pre-funding’ All this is being driven by increased capital efficiency. 2014 definition. —

Founder 60

Founder Incubator Venture Capital Angel Investor 60

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 18, 2014

Michael Baum ( @michaelbaum ), whom I first met at LinuxWorld at in 2004, has a charismatic personality and an extraordinary track record, largely unheralded. Instead of launching another startup, however, he’s launching entrepreneurs. The Founder.org sister venture capital fund invested in seven of them.

Founder 60

Founder Entrepreneur North America Startup 60

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2010

One of the most difficult things to do as a first time entrepreneur is to get to know the investors you might be working with if you accept money. He got into the industry through the same traits required for entrepreneurs – persistence & resiliency. This lasted from about 2001-2004. So how did Mike get into VC?

San Francisco 230

San Francisco Los Angeles Cofounder SMS 230

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He didn’t tell it in the video but, ever the entrepreneur, Scott started a business to take couples up on a “mile high club&# flight on airplanes as a way of getting all of his miles logged to get his next class of airplane license that required a certain number of hours logged. It’s part of what makes him so likable.

San Francisco 248

San Francisco Venture Capital Analytics Government 248

VC Cafe

MARCH 4, 2024

Since I’ve started writing about Israeli startups in 2004, there has never been any event like October 7 and the war that followed. Israeli startups deliver #NoMatterWhat I’ve started VC Cafe in December of 2004. Now, 150 days after October 7th, the Israeli startup ecosystem is once again in a tough spot.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital 78

Genuine VC

MARCH 8, 2012

When I first started in the VC business in 2004, I usually shared some reactions with entrepreneurs whenever we passed on pursuing an investment, but I admittedly erred towards communicating generic thoughts that were fairly non-specific but perhaps mildly helpful. Ask any VC and they’ll share a horror story.

Venture Capital 167

Venture Capital Portfolio Conversion Partner 167

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 6, 2014

As exits have been flowing nicely again the past few years, many of the entrepreneurs I work with have experienced their first big exit. I refer to this moment as when you find that you have life changing money in your bank account, which I like to call “f**k you money.”

Alaska 166

Alaska Widget Colorado Angel Investor 166

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 11, 2014

I started reading a great blog called Business Pundit in 2004. I''m proud of the whole team at Backupify and have been really impressed with Rob''s ability to grow and learn as an entrepreneur over time. Venture Capital & Technology' It was written by a guy about my age down in Louisville, Kentucky.

Louisville 102

Louisville Term Sheet Kentucky Ukraine 102

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 21, 2015

When I started blogging in 2004 I think I was the third VC blogger after David Hornik and Fred Wilson (if you were, or know, of another pre-2004 VC blogger, please tell me so I can update my historical recollection.). And, I always remember what I tell entrepreneurs: “It’s just data – and it’s often wrong.”

Web 70

Web Naming Conversion Entrepreneur 70

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 15, 2012

He spotted Facebook in 2004 and Spotify in 2009. Seems to me that New York could use a guy who goes around broadening the visions of New York entrepreneurs. Parker made a huge dent in the web as co-founder of Napster, then built Plaxo up to 20 million users. or would he have been convinced to take a financing round?

New York City 111

New York City New York Cofounder Venture Capital 111

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 24, 2017

We took the opportunity as part of this year’s FUND Conference to get some insights from a couple of influential startup capital providers. Two of the panel participants have different funding perspectives, one venture capital and the other crowdfunding. Rumi Morales. Please tell us what you do Rumi and why you got started. .

Early Stage 69

Early Stage SEC Chicago Venture Capital 69

Genuine VC

MARCH 8, 2012

When I first started in the VC business in 2004, I usually shared some reactions with entrepreneurs whenever we passed on pursuing an investment, but I admittedly erred towards communicating generic thoughts that were fairly non-specific but perhaps mildly helpful. Ask any VC and they’ll share a horror story.

Venture Capital 103

Venture Capital Portfolio Conversion Partner 103

online.wsj.com

SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

SIGNIFICANCE PROMINENT. --> The Venture Capital Secret: 3 Out of 4 Start-Ups Fail. An entrepreneur with a hot technology and venture-capital funding becomes a billionaire in his 20s. The National Venture Capital Association estimates that 25% to 30% of venture-backed businesses fail.

Venture Capital 107

Venture Capital Software Review Rhode Island North Dakota 107

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 19, 2019

Tim O’Reilly’s recent article, “ The fundamental problem with Silicon Valley’s favorite growth strategy ,” makes an impassioned argument that the ideas in our book, Blitzscaling , encourage entrepreneurs to behave in ways that are irresponsible or even dangerous in the pursuit of what he characterizes as “runaway growth.”

Cofounder 28

Cofounder Business Model IPO Non-Compete 28

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2011

Historically the dream of many entrepreneurs has been to go public. In 2009, Barry was a category winner of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, a winner of Crain’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award and was included on Treasury & Risk’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in Finance.

Private Equity 68

Private Equity Merger IPO Equity 68

Both Sides of the Table

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

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Entrepreneurs and investors who have spent any time dealing with convertible debt seed financing transactions are likely to have encountered the subject of valuation caps. Intermix was in a turnaround situation when I arrived in mid-2004, having been delisted from Nasdaq and nearly bankrupt.

Valuation 98

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

My company had raised venture capital in April 2001 but we were told that there may never be any more coming. I was paid less in salary in 2004 than I was paid at the job I quit in 1999 (a job I had held 8+ years). So how did I come to work in the world of venture capital? We built a long-term relationship.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Hiring Software Review Stock Options 285

Bryce Dot VC

DECEMBER 12, 2012

So, I’ve decided to break one of Brad’s golden rules of startup communities and start a new series for local founders and entrepreneurs I’m calling Sessions @ The Leonardo. . My hope with Sessions is to create an event I wished were around when I was just getting started as a career-long entrepreneur.

Utah 56

Utah Silicon Valley India Cofounder 56

ConversionXL

JULY 29, 2015

Education plays a major role in venture capital. And they want to be seen displaying compassion because they want to be loved themselves.” ( West, 2004 ). Even though most people chose KIA projects, AON projects were more successful: Why are AON projects more successful? Describe Your Education and Past Successes.

Campaign 48

Campaign Reputation Metrics Naming 48

Altgate

JANUARY 27, 2009

@altgate Startups, Venture Capital & Everything In Between Skip to content Home Furqan Nazeeri (fn@altgate.com) ← How to Fail Successfully What is the World’s Largest Fraud? The full interview is less than 10 minutes and is worth a view for entrepreneurs and investors alike (note this interview was done in 2004).

Venture Capital 40

Venture Capital Partner Entrepreneur Startup 40

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

A friend of mine is a serial entrepreneur and is running a high-profile, early stage company in NorCal. We exchanged ideas when I was an entrepreneur along side him in NorCal in 05-07 and my point-of-view on founder / VC relationships hasn’t shifted even 1% since I went to the dark side. I believe this is wrong.

Founder 329

Founder Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Participating Preferred 329

Seeing Both Sides

APRIL 12, 2012

When I first entered the venture capital business 10 years ago after being an entrepereneur, my partners warned me that "my bar" for new investments would get higher over time. The entrepreneurs I speak to are feeling it every day. But there's something very new going on in the last few years - something very striking.

IPO 44

IPO Metrics Venture Capital Social Media 44

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 9, 2015

Emmanuel Macron during the workshop in Versailles In this context I was invited, together with a large dozen of foreign investors, to participate in a workshop to discuss what France could to do to attract more venture capital from global firms.

Netherlands 48

Netherlands France Salary Spain 48

Professor VC

JUNE 20, 2011

Since the iControl system chronicles all meetings, I was able to find the automatic picture snapped from my first meeting with the founders, Reza Raji and Chris Stevens on April 22, 2004. I took a look back at our original financial model we presented to VCs in 2004. The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic.

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Term Sheet Venture Capital 28

thebarefootvc

JULY 3, 2016

Like any motivated entrepreneur, I started a company (in this case, an investment platform), to fill the gaps – which I also believed FPV was uniquely capable of filling. I am thankful to all of FPV’s early LPs, advisors and entrepreneurs who are an indispensable part of FPV’s mission and success to date. Below is a recap.

North America 40

North America Early Stage New York City Portfolio 40