Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 25, 2015

In January, Jerry Neumann wrote a long and detailed analysis of his view of the VC industry in the 1980’s titled Heat Death: Venture Capital in the 1980’s. So contrary to the piece, it wasn’t VC were good at early stage technology, it was that they had newfound capital and a big exit window.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital SBIC Technical Review Silicon Valley 70

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund and mutual fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. Sebastian Soler recently launched Knowledge.vc , which uses software and machine learning to enhance deal sourcing and diligence for VC firms. 4) Manage deal flow.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

Every potential early-stage Venture Capitalist should take a year and do it before he or she makes partner. Venture capital as a profession is less than half a century old. Rolodex/deal flow (deal sourcing/ability to make connections for the portfolio). Here’s why. ——-.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Early Stage Technical Review Startup 332

NZ Entrepreneur

MAY 31, 2021

The Angel Association of New Zealand ( AANZ ) is co-hosting with New Zealand Growth Capital Partners ( NZGCP ) a series of workshops on early-stage investment. Jason Graham from Movac provided an early-stage venture capital fund perspective, detailing 35 investments made across 5 funds and 22 years.

Portfolio 81

Portfolio New Zealand Management Technical Review 81

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

I become a venture capitalist in September 2007 – exactly 6.5 I spent my first year developing proprietary deal flow and learning the business and then the Sept 2008 / Lehman Bros collapse / financial meltdown happened. Working with early-stage teams : coaching, mentoring, setting strategy, rolling up sleeves: 9/10.

Los Angeles 387

Los Angeles Intellectual Property LP Venture Capital 387

Haystack

OCTOBER 2, 2019

Those of us in the early-stage tech ecosystem by now well know that saying “there are a LOT of seed and new startups” is a gross understatement. It feels like a tsunami of deal flow , and for me, I’ve outlined how I pay attention to inbound flow in terms of what gets priority.

Deal Flow 106

Deal Flow Cap Table Early Stage Institutional Investors 106

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

Just as with any company, the most important issue is the team; see “ How to Negotiate a Partner Role at a Venture Capital or Private Equity Firm “ . For example, we created a pipeline management tool that automatically adds deals along with relevant information (such as attachments received) to our funnel.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Private Equity Management Cap Table 60

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

Just as with any company, the most important issue is the team; see “ How to Negotiate a Partner Role at a Venture Capital or Private Equity Firm “ . For example, we created a pipeline management tool that automatically adds deals along with relevant information (such as attachments received) to our funnel.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Private Equity Management Cap Table 60

View from Seed

DECEMBER 6, 2018

I’ve been writing checks for 8 years, and was lucky to get my start in the industry with the team at Spark Capital where I was able to witness some amazing early investments as part of that team. Early stage investing is much less efficient than you think, so trust yourself! Except… Spotify). If they match, that’s great.

Early Stage 120

Early Stage Florida Deal Flow Venture Capital 120

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

It occurred to me that although we mentioned our new thematic approach when we raised our last fund in 2017, we haven’t really shared a broader manifesto about how we are approaching the early stage market. It’s been an interesting several years in the early stage venture eco-system, and the sands have shifted considerably.

North America 120

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 120

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

If you track the venture capital industry it would be hard to miss the conversation going on this week over AngelList “Syndicates.” AngelList 101 : As you know, AngelList is a platform where angels can invest in semi-screened tech deals. Helpful to VCs – I can have 40 investors but just one signatory on deals.

Syndicate 356

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Early Stage 356

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 8, 2010

I was on This Week in Venture Capital today with Jason Calacanis talking about the big VC deals at the moment and talking about the VC industry. Talked about the roles of partners, venture partners, associates and principals in a VC. - My blog and what it’s done for my deal flow. - and much more.

Venture Capital 232

Venture Capital IPO Valuation Deal Flow 232

Gust

FEBRUARY 22, 2014

As I’ve discussed elsewhere, Gust’s long-term goal is to serve as the infrastructure platform for the entire global, early stage finance industry. Instead, it is our eight years of indefatigable relationship and customer building with large segments of the world’s early stage finance industry.

Belarus 107

Belarus Kazakhstan Portugal Accredited Investor 107

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2021

The thesis is that before investing in an early-stage startup it is close to impossible to know which of the deals you did will break out to the upside. It’s therefore important to have enough deals in your program to allow for the 15–20% of amazing deals to emerge. This is Venture Capital.

Angel Investor 301

Angel Investor Deal Flow Portfolio Forecast 301

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 27, 2014

It’s probably not too controversial to say that the median level of sophistication of early stage entrepreneurs in Los Angeles is lower than that of Bay Area. The top tier funds see almost all of the best deals. From my experience, it’s not necessarily about “quality,” but rather about “sophistication.”

Los Angeles 138

Los Angeles Southern California Silicon Valley Technical Review 138

thebarefootvc

JULY 3, 2017

Success in early stage investing is about spotting unique talent and collaborating with entrepreneurs to help grow their businesses, not a prescribed method of pattern recognition. They decide which VCs receive capital to invest in entrepreneurs. This tends to reinforce the lack of diversity in deal flow.

LP 65

LP Technical Review Silicon Valley Limited Partner 65

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

It occurred to me that although we mentioned our new thematic approach when we raised our last fund in 2017, we haven’t really shared a broader manifesto about how we are approaching the early stage market. It’s been an interesting several years in the early stage venture eco-system, and the sands have shifted considerably.

North America 36

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 36

David Teten

DECEMBER 12, 2017

As a globally focused LP in early stage VC funds, we at Blue Future Partners have observed a growing trend of firms investing substantially in software tools, whether developing proprietary solutions or adopting off the shelf tools. But what tools are they using themselves to automate their own processes?

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 60

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 3, 2020

Having a better overall portfolio of venture capital by adding funds into the mix. Are investors allowed to come into deals that the fund does side by side with the fund? This creates a source of deal flow for investors who aren’t out there full time creating opportunities. Access to the partner.

Portfolio 134

Portfolio Syndicate Syndication Deal Flow 134

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

Since our industry has been so heavily dominated by male leadership in both tech and venture capital for so long, this “inclusion” is something that would benefit us all in making better decisions. I think these deals are less exciting than the ones you proactive seek out.

Founder 256

Founder San Francisco Deal Flow Los Angeles 256

Haystack

JULY 4, 2019

Most folks who are not close to early-stage startups and new company formation would be surprised to discover that a high number of companies, after receiving funding from individuals or institutions, do not send updates to their investors. For me, I am pretty zen about this after six years of early-stage startup investment.

Early Stage 167

Early Stage Deal Flow Finance Metrics 167

Haystack

JULY 15, 2018

Recently on this blog, I’ve been attempting to unpack how an investor can sort through deal flow and potential investment opportunities. After writing about “ the quick kill ” to discard of inbound flow, next I wrote about what actually captures my attention and graduates to a meeting.

Founder 60

Founder Syndicate Syndication Deal Flow 60

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 7, 2015

After checking out The Information's "open dataset" on diversity in venture capital , I felt pretty disappointed. I went back and calculated the number of companies in the first Brooklyn Bridge Ventures portfolio who have at least one founder who is female, from an underrepresented minority group, or LGBT.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Portfolio Deal Flow Curation 60

Gust

APRIL 23, 2014

The result is that nearly $2 billion has been invested directly as primary investments into more companies than in total are traded on the NYSE and NASDAQ combined.

Angel Groups 127

Angel Groups Accredited Investor Private Equity Deal Flow 127

Gust

JANUARY 22, 2014

Gust is the infrastructure that underlies much of the professional world of early stage finance. Above is a screen shot I just took of my Gust investor dashboard.

Angel Investor 150

Angel Investor Angel Groups Accredited Investor Early Stage 150

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 13, 2011

The investment analysts at CB Insights have released their quarterly report on venture capital activity, and in terms of deal-flow and funding levels, the news is good. According to the deals tracked by CB Insights, 738 deals were funded in the first quarter, with a total of some $7.5

Illinois 124

Illinois Massachusetts Deal Flow California 124

Haystack

AUGUST 18, 2019

On this dimension, most seed funds can’t even compete on network, brand, or the cost of capital. 4/ Orthogonal Competition – I recently tweeted about a new breed of early-stage technology investor that has its roots in public equities (hedge funds, long/short, etc.)

Seed Stage 108

Seed Stage Cap Table Early Stage Malaysia 108

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

Is it no accident, then, that one of the founding fathers of venture capital, Don Valentine of Sequoia, also came from Fordham? Maybe a key to being in venture is a desire to help others? To be a good VC, you're going to offer up a lot of time to companies that may never pay back a dime--or even to deals you never wind up doing.

Venture Capital 107

Venture Capital Deal Flow Europe Early Stage 107

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. . She answered, ‘We see a lot of deals.’ I said we had a lot of deal flow. The Pocket Negotiator is very early-stage attempt to aid in the negotiating process itself.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Haystack

DECEMBER 27, 2018

It’s not popular to admit, but I believe there’s really no way for very early-stage investors to control what deals they ultimately see. Deal flow, then, is often a random walk.

Portfolio 118

Portfolio Syndicate Syndication Flash 118

Gust

JANUARY 22, 2014

Gust is the infrastructure that underlies much of the professional world of early stage finance. Above is a screen shot I just took of my Gust investor dashboard.

Angel Investor 89

Angel Investor Angel Groups Accredited Investor Early Stage 89

David Teten

JUNE 1, 2011

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. Prestegaard, High Road Capital Partners.

Private Equity 122

Private Equity Deal Flow Equity Developer 122

K9 Ventures

MAY 14, 2011

In my view the terminology being used for early stage investors by the press and the media is not as clear as it should be. I’ve talked about this on several occasions when I’ve been at conference and on panels, but I figured it would make sense to do a post explaining my taxonomy of the early-stage investing world.

Preferred Stock 125

Preferred Stock Seed Stage Incubator Early Stage 125

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 19, 2018

Earlier this year at the FUND Conference in Austin, Texas, over 100 startups presented their early-stage companies in front of hundreds of investors and industry leaders. FUND is a national connector of entrepreneurs, VCs, angel investors, and industry experts with a focus on deal flow and making connections.

Texas 74

Texas Advisory Board Startup Angel Investor 74

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 28, 2019

You should come along for the ride if you are interested in investing more in Texas technology and disruptive commerce companies and want to develop relationships with local investors who can be your deal flow. Venture Capitalists and Family Offices from around the U.S. and around the world.

Texas 50

Texas San Antonio Houston Dallas 50

VC Cafe

APRIL 24, 2024

Early-Stage Deals Pick Up Steam In Q1 2024, $265 million was invested globally into early-stage gaming startup rounds. Josh Chapman of Konvoy Ventures sees this as a return to pre-pandemic norms. billion was deployed into early-stage gaming deals in a single quarter (much attributed to Covid lockdowns etc).

IP 135

IP Artificial Inteligence Early Stage IPO 135

Haystack

JULY 12, 2019

That’s pretty common practice, given so much of early-stage investing is a people-driven business. Now that there are so many new companies started, so much money in the ecosystem, and new types of funds out there, deal velocity is increasing. What does that mean for founders and early-stage companies?

Early Stage 72

Early Stage Deal Flow Technical Review Social Media 72