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Praying to the God of Valuation

Both Sides of the Table

I had realized that I didn’t have it within me to be as good of a player as many of them did but I had the skills to help as mentor, coach, friend, sparing partner and patient capital provider. I suppose if I loved spreadsheets and valuations and benchmarking I would work in the even more lucrative world of late-stage private equity.

Valuation 466
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ESADE Business School Commencement Speech

Steve Blank

Cheered on by finance professors, Wall Street analysts, investors and hedge funds, companies have learned how to make metrics like Internal Rate of Return look great by one; outsourcing everything, two, getting assets off their balance sheet, and three only investing in things that pay off fast.

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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. Partners leave the industry. Here’s my take: 1.

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Conference Notes on Sourcing Deal Flow & Developing New Business for Private Equity

David Teten

I enjoyed participating in last week’s Capital Roundtable Private Equity Masterclass on “ Best Practices for Sourcing Quality Deal Flow & Developing New Business ” (May 26 th , 2011). High Road Capital Partners Deal Sourcing Keynote. Fitzsimmons, High Road Capital Partners. View more presentations.

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Zilliant Raises $13M Series….G?

Austin Startup

The company announced that is just completed $13M in financing from existing investors SMH Private Equity Group, ABS Ventures, Austin Ventures, and Trellis Partners. The cash looks good on the balance sheet, and venture investors want to pile on money at low valuations before the valuation increases by 10x as a public stock.

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The Collapse of the VC Ecosystem & What It Will Look Like Post.

Altgate

I say ecosystem as opposed to industry because it is not just the VC funds themselves that are imploding, instead the collapse includes entrepreneurs and startups that were funded by VCs, angel investors, service providers like lawyers, bankers and accountants as well as limited partner investors in VC funds. So what to do?