Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2011

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. It won’t work, it costs time and money, and hurts your credibility for when you need them later. They are not trying to make money, but simply to recoup their costs over time.

Incubator 230

Incubator Startup Exit Strategy Institutional Investors 230

Pascal's View

AUGUST 12, 2009

In Silicon Valley, Boston, Austin, and other innovation centers across the country, entrepreneurs and their backers (who are not limited to venture capitalists) are all keenly aware that Washington’s addiction to enacting hasty, one-size-fits–all financial regulation will continue to have far-reaching unintended negative consequences for the U.S.

IPO 28

IPO Silicon Valley Merger Sweat Equity 28

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 12, 2009

C corps, LLCs, and S corps differ significantly in the areas of taxation, ownership, fundraising, governance and structure, and employee compensation. Any company that raises venture financing will need to be a C corp in order to issue preferred stock. Such inflexible features are typically unattractive to venture investors.

LLC 61

LLC Stock Options Preferred Stock Stock 61

David Teten

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

I’ve recently met with several universities, nonprofits, and government employees who’ve all asked the same question: how can we promote entrepreneurship? By contrast, as a venture capitalist, I can report that almost all of our portfolio companies are desperate to hire talented software engineers, and eager to hire in a range of other roles.

Government 146

Government Technical Review New York Offshore 146

Agile VC

OCTOBER 29, 2014

Most folks reading this will know that many startups were built in part with the help of venture capital. Many large institutions from the list above invest directly in VC funds, but others from the same categories will invest indirectly through a range of different intermediaries. The first is a staff constraint.

Venture Capital 279

Venture Capital LP Private Equity Institutional Investors 279

View from Seed

OCTOBER 29, 2014

Most folks reading this will know that many startups were built in part with the help of venture capital. Many large institutions from the list above invest directly in VC funds, but others from the same categories will invest indirectly through a range of different intermediaries. Subscribe here for more.

LP 335

LP Private Equity Institutional Investors Venture Capital 335

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 5, 2012

This from Kate Mitchell, the former chair of the National Venture Capital Association, and current Managing Director of Scale Venture Partners. The survey learned that the average cost that companies sustain just to go public was $2.5 "A lot of the noise in the market right now is about bringing back irresponsible IPOs.

IPO 118

IPO SEC Silicon Valley Startup 118

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 26, 2009

Yet one of the most remarkable things about the boom in microwave and silicon startups occurring in the 1950’s and 60’s was that it was done without venture capital. These technology startups had no risk capital – just customers/purchase orders from government/military/intelligence agencies. There was none. Whitney Co.

Silicon Valley 159

Silicon Valley Securities and Exchange Commission Venture Capital RSS 159

Austin Startup

APRIL 1, 2017

TL;DR Nutshell : There are few governance-related decisions with a more outsized impact on a company’s power structure than the selection of an independent director. But institutional investors have a job to do, and it’s not to be your BFF. Do not take that selection lightly. They will educate you, off the record.

Term Sheet 48

Term Sheet Institutional Investors Technical Review Lead Investor 48

abovethecrowd.com

JUNE 2, 2021

According to an interview with Elon Musk, this campaign cost Paypal about $60 million , which most Silicon Valley historians would consider money well spent. It would cost a tremendous amount of money to run such a program. Many, many more investors are locked-out of the process than are invited to participate.

IPO 82

IPO Customer Matching Silicon Valley 82