View from Seed

DECEMBER 4, 2019

One of the things I pointed out in my prior post was that even though the 2007 vintage was 10 years old, the vast majority of the value was still unrealized. If we compare the 2007 vintage data today vs. what we looked at 2 years ago, it gives us a sense of how much liquidity that vintage has enjoyed in the last couple years.

LP 256

LP IRR Distribution Portfolio 256

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

I become a venture capitalist in September 2007 – exactly 6.5 As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. In 2010 somebody posed the question on Quora, “Is Mark Suster a Successful Venture Capitalist?” years ago.

Los Angeles 387

Los Angeles Intellectual Property LP Venture Capital 387

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2017

Every year Upfront Ventures surveys Limited Partners (LPs) who are the main source of capital that invests in VC funds and thus the main source of capital that goes to startups to get an early-warning sense of the year ahead, leaving aside any Black Swans. link] So here are some details (please thank & follow!

LP 286

LP Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup 286

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

There has been much discussion in the past few years of the changing structure of the venture capital industry. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). But it still takes VC to scale a business (thus large capital into industry winners like Uber, Airbnb, SnapChat, etc). Why is this?

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

Feld Thoughts

JULY 28, 2014

On paper, only one is in positive return territory as a fund, but the SBIC leverage is a substantial negative factor for the LP investors in that particular fund. And, in the other two, I don’t expect to ever see any of my capital back because of the SBIC leverage.

SBIC 142

SBIC Venture Capital Colorado SBA 142

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

If you’re reading this you’ll now likely know that I became a VC in 2007 with what is now called Upfront Ventures. I had no idea I’d eventually be boxed out of the SaaS branding by Jason (SaaStr) and the LA branding by my partner Greg Bettinelli with #LongLA ! Wondering how far we could have taken things.

LP 150

LP Technical Review Deal Flow 150

Feld Thoughts

JULY 31, 2014

In addition to being an incredibly supportive investor in us from the beginning, this LP has become an extremely close friend. As I was walking home after dinner, I thought about the person who had introduced us to this LP. In 2007, when we set out to raise our first Foundry Group fund, early stage tech VC was in the shitter.

LP 155

LP Advisory Board Venture Capital Early Stage 155