View from Seed

DECEMBER 6, 2018

They make room for exceptions, and they are very sensitive to when things change in the market. – Saying you will never do a deal in a certain location (eg: never do a deal in Florida. – Discounting entire market segments because they are too hard to make money (eg: music. Except… Chewy). Except… Spotify).

Early Stage 120

Early Stage Florida Deal Flow Venture Capital 120

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2021

The Denominator Effect I recently wrote a post about funding for investors to think about having a diversified portfolio , which I called “shots on goal.” 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. Don’t rush to do deals.

Angel Investor 301

Angel Investor Deal Flow Portfolio Forecast 301

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

The extreme example of this are algorithmic investors in the public markets, who design algorithms which trade on the designer’s behalf, as opposed to making trading decisions directly. High-frequency trading, algorithmic by its nature, is estimated to account for at least 50% of US equity markets trading volume. . 1) Market fund.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Version One Ventures

JANUARY 31, 2024

Since then, I’ve received 200+ inbound leads (and counting). Have backed close to 20 emerging GP's over the past 5 yrs & looking to add 3-4 more to the portfolio this year. — Boris Wertz (@bwertz) January 11, 2024 While I was aware of many emerging GPs raising right now, I didn’t realize just how many were in the market.

LP 73

LP Differentiation Deal Flow India 73

VC Cafe

MAY 18, 2023

Look beyond the spreadsheet and into the team, the product, and the market. Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Deal Flow : It’s easy to get envious of other VCs’ deals. Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness Against Thy Portfolio : Be honest about the performance of your investments.

Venture Capital 78

Venture Capital Due Diligence Exit Strategy Deal Flow 78

VC Cafe

JULY 31, 2020

To be an effective VC, proactivity is part of the job description: Proactively learn about new companies trends and markets Proactively network (deal flow, peers, industry partners) Proactively seek opportunities to help. ” My interpretation for VC has to do with portfolio construction.

Venture Capital 183

Venture Capital Deal Flow Silicon Valley Portfolio 183

Gust

FEBRUARY 22, 2014

This has resulted in a platform with over 150,000 companies actively using Gust for investor relations, over 40,000 Accredited Investors using Gust to manage their deal flow and portfolios…and over a billion dollars of seed and early stage investments tracked through the platform since we started.

Belarus 107

Belarus Kazakhstan Portugal Accredited Investor 107

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 7, 2015

Who is actually building a portfolio whose founders reflect the diversity of the greater population? 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

thebarefootvc

JULY 3, 2017

This tends to reinforce the lack of diversity in deal flow. This is not only about gender or color or ethnicity, it’s also about avoiding groupthink and engaging in a portfolio diversification strategy.

LP 65

LP Technical Review Silicon Valley Limited Partner 65

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 25, 2015

Secondly, the driver of returns for the funds raised in 1978 – 1981 was not their underlying portfolios, at what stage, or in what industries they were built. Instead, the driver was the 1983 bull market. Put a willing and forgiving exit market following any investment period and you get spectacular returns.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital SBIC Technical Review Silicon Valley 70

Haystack

JULY 4, 2019

I spend a good deal of time sharing deal flow up and downstream with Series A and B investors, and when they ask me about opportunities coming down the pipeline in 6-12 months, I usually share what I’ve been told from the founders themselves over email or phone — I become their subtle pitch man. Want to send them?

Early Stage 167

Early Stage Deal Flow Finance Metrics 167

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 21, 2011

The current portfolio ranges from 60 Ghz chip sets (Nitero) to enterprise 2.0 ( InXero ) to family media ( Famigo ) companies. The Assistant Director will manage the deal flow process and lead our due diligence efforts to admit new members.

Technical Review 70

Technical Review Intellectual Property Incubator Due Diligence 70

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

If I was to guess, the demographics of people pitching me are reflective of two things—what my own network looks like and what my portfolio looks like. Given that I have a more diverse portfolio than most I would say that on average my gender pitch split is perhaps about 50/50. Is the market being unfair?

Venture Capital 162

Venture Capital Cofounder Deal Flow Later Stage 162

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Over the same 30 years, Venture Capital firms have honed their skills and strategies to match Wall Streets needs to achieve liquidity for their portfolio companies. While there was an occasional bad apple, the public markets rewarded companies with revenue growth and sustainable profits. What Do VC’s Do?

Silicon Valley 217

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 14, 2012

They end up on the calling (now emailing) lists for a bunch of VC firms who have an outbound deal flow program. Recently, I’ve been forwarded a few of these emails from CEOs of companies I’m an investor in with the question “how do I deal with this? I look forward to catching up.

Email 141

Email Deal Flow Portfolio Finance 141

Haystack

AUGUST 18, 2019

If you’ve been following my tweets lately, you’ve read some of my quick musings on the state of the seed market this summer. years is not a long arc – I have not experienced a prolonged down market as a private investor. And if you don’t hit one or two right, you end up with a mediocre portfolio. Granted, 6.5

Seed Stage 108

Seed Stage Cap Table Early Stage Malaysia 108

Haystack

JANUARY 18, 2020

This impacts portfolio construction and possibly returns, though on the flip side, end-markets are larger and outcomes can be greater — look at Datadog, for instance. Acceptance that firms and partners need to actively market themselves. Acceptance that leading companies expect some level of platform services.

Seattle 130

Seattle Seed Stage Deal Flow Vertical 130

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. Flow is a function of reputation and share of mind in target market.

Private Equity 122

Private Equity Deal Flow Equity Developer 122

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 4, 2017

For investors who have come to the table with a history investing in publicly listed companies or the property market, it’s easy to think that backing startups is largely a “set and forget” strategy. Perhaps you know a Marketer, a Developer or Sales Manager that could fill a gap in one of the startups you back. Operational Expertise.

Pre-Money Valuation 187

Pre-Money Valuation Seed Stage IP Deal Flow 187

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

In liquid markets, most of the calories expended on technology and analytics are focused on trade selection, or “ origination ”. I use another live Google doc to maintain my database of companies I’m marketing to other VCs. 2) Market . Many tools designed for B2B marketing in general are also relevant to investors.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Haystack

DECEMBER 18, 2019

This has led to some very competitive financing rounds, which from afar is a signal various groups see the market potential of these models. In particular, I would highlight three red-hot companies in particular: Choco , Rekki , and Faire ( disclosure : Faire is a Lightspeed portfolio company).

B2B 90

B2B North America Malaysia Warrant 90

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

Part 1 – Access to Great Deal Flow – is here. Most people think that being a successful investor is about finding the right deals and nurturing the teams through the difficult times to come out with a great company. It’s an active job throughout the entire life of the portfolio company.

Silicon Valley 280

Silicon Valley Early Stage Portfolio Chad 280

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

I spend tons of time each day on portfolio company issues. I spent a late morning meeting with a product exec at one portfolio company. I spent time talking with 2 senior execs who are separately joining two of my portfolio companies. Marketing. Any of my partners or portfolio companies can attest otherwise.

Email 314

Email Product Term Sheet Portfolio 314

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Techstars provides their accelerator portfolio companies with access to financial, human and intellectual capital to fuel the success of their business. Investors connect with Techstars to gain access to quality deal flow. Techstars’ accelerator portfolio includes more than 1,900 companies with a market cap of $24.7

Austin 62

Austin Curation Startup Dallas 62

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

The best introductions come from people who have brought good deal flows to investors in the past. Initially, you can approach an investor soliciting advice on something specific, such as feedback on your marketing & sales approach, business model, or long-term product vision. Read their blog posts and Twitter stream.

Due Diligence 161

Due Diligence Venture Capital Deal Flow Social Media 161

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Angelrounds are their whole business, as online video was for YouTube.Whereas VCs who make angel investments mostly do it as a way togenerate deal flow for series A rounds. [ It seems probable that investors have till nowon average been overcontrolling their portfolio companies. In this case the super-angels are the invaders.

Startup 93

Startup Valuation Non-Compete Deal Flow 93

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 20, 2012

Today’s venture capital deal flow to innovative new companies looks a lot like a fat man trying to squeeze into a slim Italian suit. Today, venture capital deal flow has slowed to a relative trickle, just $28.4 It just doesn’t fit. In 2000, venture capitalists poured a staggering $112.2 Slimmer Pickings.

Venture Capital 127

Venture Capital San Francisco Deal Flow Atlanta 127

Rob Go

MARCH 10, 2012

My friend Jordan Cooper wrote an interesting post a few days ago about some of his predictions of the venture market in 2012. Really smart people end up writing thoughtful posts on the future of the venture market pretty much every year – and I often agree with many of them like I do Jordan’s. Syndicate diversification.

Seed Stage 49

Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication Marketing 49

Austin Startup

JANUARY 28, 2020

that’s a full third of our deal flow in our first full year of operation. The money is flowing in Dallas too?—?our applies to our startup portfolio. Entrepreneurs in Houston will get access to the financial, retail and travel markets in Dallas and the tech talent and venture capital and booming defense industry in Austin.

Houston 86

Houston San Antonio Fort Worth Dallas 86

Genuine VC

JULY 26, 2010

While traditional VCs sometimes have a love/hate relationship with their syndicate partners (often depending on how well their mutual portfolio companies are performing), it seems as though in the Micro VC arena all of the players speak and act like best friends. What’s the reasoning for all of this chummy behavior?

Syndicate 128

Syndicate Syndication Due Diligence Seed Stage 128

David Teten

DECEMBER 12, 2017

First, we asked VCs about their motivations for improving their technology stack (multiple replies were possible in all questions): What tools do VCs use to market their fund? Creating content and sending it out via newsletters has been one of the most popular ways for VC funds to market themselves.

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 60

Austin Startup

AUGUST 30, 2019

Schwartzfarb describes “Sell More Faster” as the indispensable guide for entrepreneurs seeking product-market fit, building their sales team, developing a growth strategy and chasing accelerated, repeatable selling success. “I Early stage sales and product-market fit are topics that I love talking about,” said Schwartzfarb.

Austin 48

Austin Management Los Angeles New York City 48

Haystack

JULY 12, 2019

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. To find signal in all the noise of that deal flow stream, “who” the source is certainly matters. But, then again, introductions can be a dime a dozen.

Early Stage 72

Early Stage Deal Flow Technical Review Social Media 72

Seeing Both Sides

JULY 10, 2012

This entry in my "deal flow" journal records my first, inauspicious impressions of Twitter when I initially heard about it. If your company is operating in a massive, massive market area, with plenty of interesting adjacent markets, then you know you are pursuing something that could be really big. Probably not.

Lean 53

Lean Jordan Deal Flow Artificial Inteligence 53

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

portfolio operator VCs, e.g., Andreessen Horowitz, ff Venture Capital, First Round Capital, Google Ventures. I’ve been looking for suggestions for an initial deal structure that is appropriate for the theoretical case of a trusted dev shop putting in $100k in market-value of services over a 6 month period in time. The discounts?

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

On the other hand, it’s a whole universe and you’d need an interesting perspective on why you should go attack that market and face all that competition and noise and everything that’s in the market. So when you’re thinking about marketing positioning to me, that side of it is the interesting side of it.

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

Austin Startup

MAY 19, 2018

Explain conflict rationale A handful of really great VCs declined to invest in my company and they had the courtesy of telling me that they felt like Company X in their portfolio would be a conflict. That imagined conflict may actually be a great partnership opportunity for two portfolio companies to collaborate.

Founder 75

Founder Early Stage Software Review Deal Flow 75