Growthink Blog

MAY 14, 2014

All of a sudden, it is boom time again for venture capital funds, with over $10.3 billion in fresh capital raised by 578 funds in the 1st quarter, up 36% from 2012. But for the individual investor, is investing in a venture capital fund really a good idea? Here’s why: Market Efficiency. So what to do?

Venture Capital 101

Venture Capital Disintermediation Technical Review Term Sheet 101

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 21, 2023

This is a question startup founders ask themselves multiple times a week. They encompass the effectiveness of marketing (the startup’s ability to reach and resonate with target customers) and stickiness (the product’s ability to deliver value to customers over time). How are we doing?

Retention 109

Retention Conversion Churn Rate B2C 109

Steve Blank

JANUARY 21, 2015

Just before the holidays I had coffee with Anne, an ex MBA student running a fairly large product group at a search engine company, now out trying to raise money for her own startup. The Columbia Startup Lab is a visible symbol of how the university is making entrepreneurship an integral part of all colleges at the university.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley New York City New York Venture Capital 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

For decades large companies have gone shopping in Silicon Valley for startups. What can companies learn from others’ failed efforts to integrate startups into large companies? The answer - there are two types of integration strategies, and they depend on where the startup is in its lifecycle. The Innovation Portfolio.

Acquisition 332

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 332

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2023

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited angel investors. They fail to realize that the considerations are quite different for each, which can make or break their investment efforts, and ultimately their startup.

Angel Investor 246

Angel Investor IRR Venture Capital Valuation 246

VC Cafe

JUNE 30, 2022

Can we agree on a definition for the Metaverse? I covered various definitions previously on VC Cafe in “ A very short peek into the Metaverse “ The term metaverse doesn’t describe one specific technology, but rather the way we interact with technology. Jonathan Lai, General Partner, A16Z Gaming fund.

Cloud 200

Cloud Venture Capital Cofounder Non-Compete 200

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2023

Most entrepreneurs have found by now one or more of the many popular crowdfunding sites , and have the name and contact information for at least one of the big venture capital firms. contributes more than $25 billion to fund 70,000 startups every year. Their realm fits between crowdfunding and venture capital sources.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Accredited Investor Syndicate Syndication 265

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 22, 2014

Needless to say, I have a fair amount of startup event experience. You''ll get a venture capital analyst from a brand name firm who has just recently taken his job talking about what makes a company successful. Some people have definitively had better experience than others. Some analysts definitely say that.

Venture Capital 140

Venture Capital Cap Table Startup Early Stage 140

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2017

One of the most common complaints I hear from new business owners and startups is about the pain and difficulty raising capital. The “venture capital” model is the only option they know, where they feel they get no mercy, giving up equity and control. Complete and heed fund-raising legal compliance requirements.

Technical Review 220

Technical Review Accredited Investor Due Diligence Equity 220

David Teten

MARCH 5, 2021

What can we learn from the best 40 venture capital investments of all time? This would be easy to detect: among their portfolio companies, do startups with female founders outperform those without? First Round Capital found that among its portfolio companies, startups with female founders outperformed those without by 63%.” .

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 78

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

One of my favorite events last year was attending Startup Grind where I got to interview Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator’s Dilemma. And of course we talked about many of my views of building startups. You didn’t join startups then. You joined a startup if you couldn’t get a real job.

Cofounder 337

Cofounder Technical Cofounder San Diego Startup 337

View from Seed

JANUARY 13, 2021

What has happened is that over the last 10 years, the vast majority of successful startups have raised some sort of a seed round prior to a series A. This expanded the definition of seed to include $5M+ rounds, and you often hear of seed firms now passing on deals because they are “too early”. That year, they invested in Segment.

Dilution 399

Dilution Later Stage Portfolio Technical Review 399

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2014

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Finally I realized that Venture Capital and Angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Surrounded by the right people and track record.

Angel Investor 268

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Early Stage 268

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). and hasn’t abated.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

Recently I wrote a post arguing to make the definition of a Startup more inclusive than that to which Silicon Valley, fueled by Venture Capital return profiles, would sometimes like to attach to the word. Think the next big startup can’t come from Dallas, TX? From startup Rovio in Finland. Think again.

Community 378

Community San Diego Silicon Valley Los Angeles 378

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2021

An underutilized, but valuable resource, every startup should investigate is a formal or informal connection to your alma mater, including any local university. Collaborative efforts with local companies, like Siemens Venture Capital, are available for certain technology and focus areas. Early-stage funding. Legal guidance.

Arizona 432

Arizona Phoenix Intellectual Property Incubator 432

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

At NextView Ventures we have written many pieces about venture capital — how to raise it, build your business, engage with investors, iterate your product, navigate expanding industries, etc. Free Template for Great Startup Pitch Decks, Direct from VCs. ’ like all startups have to, but also “why invest now?'”

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Don’t take my word for it – in the roundup of venture capital predictions for 2017 , I found it to be the top recurring theme. Security will shift from defensive to predictive AI-powered security (Norwest Venture Partners). Chris Rust, Clear Ventures). Some examples: AI will be the new mobile.

Artificial Inteligence 122

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Startup 122

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series of posts and I need to file this one under both Raising Venture Capital and Startup Advice. The last couple of years has also seen the huge initial success of Ycombinator, the Lean Startup and many other product driven approaches to going to market. Do so at your peril. You get the point.

Business Plan 334

Business Plan AJAX Venture Capital Technical Review 334

David Teten

AUGUST 20, 2019

I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. I have been impressed by how these venture capitalists are accomplishing a major social impact goal…without even trying to. I contacted every RBI venture capital investor I could identify, and learned: .

Revenue 60

Revenue Cofounder Founder Venture Capital 60

Duct Tape Marketing

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

Building An Effective Board For Your Startup written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Prior to co-founding Foundry, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and is also a co-founder of Techstars. 12:15] Are there things that need to be in place if you’re a startup company before building a board? [13:45]

Startup 86

Startup Cofounder Early Stage Founder 86

www.geekwire.com

JULY 10, 2012

Startup Resources. Posts Comments Startups. STARTUP SPOTLIGHT. VENTURE CAPITAL. You are here: Home / Startups / Bad returns be damned: Venture capital fundraising jumps 31 percent in U.S. Bad returns be damned: Venture capital fundraising jumps 31 percent in U.S. GeekWire Events.

Venture Capital 42

Venture Capital Seattle Cofounder Software Engineering 42

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

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.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 21, 2014

For those would-be entrepreneurs debating the startup leap? And finally, in Darwinian fashion, competition for market share amongst the venture capitalists as a result of increased numbers of angel investment syndicates will clear the decks of the low-value add venture capital dollars. There is no time like the present.

Entrepreneur 210

Entrepreneur Startup Balance Sheet Non-Compete 210

Hunter Walker

APRIL 17, 2021

When it comes to my job, after practicing venture capital for seven years under normal circumstances, it was instructive to get thrown into this new scenario, because I don’t think we’ll ever fully “return to normal.” I do miss being near my business partner Satya. My 2022 will hopefully include a return to events like these.

Venture Capital 105

Venture Capital San Diego Los Angeles San Francisco 105

Agile VC

OCTOBER 29, 2014

Most folks reading this will know that many startups were built in part with the help of venture capital. However, many folks probably don’t think about exactly where those VC dollars that help fund startups actually come from. So I wanted to dive a little deeper into what I call the startup capital supply chain.

Venture Capital 279

Venture Capital LP Private Equity Institutional Investors 279

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2023

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. The first is to be more precise in your definition and understanding of where you are, and how the money will be spent. Commercial product prototypes. Expanding the product line.

Angel Investor 256

Angel Investor Early Stage Incubator Government 256

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2021

Most entrepreneurs have found by now one or more of the many popular crowdfunding sites , and have the name and contact information for at least one of the big venture capital firms. contributes more than $25 billion to fund 70,000 startups every year. Their realm fits between crowdfunding and venture capital sources.

Search 317

Search Accredited Investor Angel Investor Venture Capital 317

Genuine VC

MAY 20, 2013

Compared to most other areas of finance, venture capital is practiced as more of an art, as opposed to a science. The art of venture capital also means that for entrepreneurs raising it, there isn’t one definitive playbook which can be used as a guide. MYTH: The venture capital model is broken.

Venture Capital 244

Venture Capital Cap Table Portfolio Early Stage 244

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2022

By definition, most entrepreneurs are thought leaders. In reality, a successful startup can be built by a thought leader, but growing a successful business requires a business leader. That’s why venture capital investors often replace startup CEOs as a condition of their scale-up investment.

Leadership 368

Leadership Venture Capital Hiring Entrepreneur 368

Austin Startup

JUNE 27, 2017

Looking for Funds in All the Right Places: The Definitive Guide to Austin Capital By David Altounian and Stephen Straus OVERVIEW For entrepreneurs: We’ve compiled a definitive list of sources of capital in Austin to help focus your fundraising efforts.

Venture Capital 54

Venture Capital Austin Texas Private Equity 54

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2021

In my role as advisor to many startups, I try to prepare them for the inevitable bumps in the road ahead, as well as to provide practical guidance on how to build and maintain the traction needed to survive and prosper. You don’t have enough control over your time, investors, the market, or your startup. It’s very frustrating.

Entrepreneur 436

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Operations Social Media 436

The Equity Kicker

JUNE 9, 2014

There’s definitely a feeling out there that businesses with a $1m revenue run rate are well-established and thus have a growth risk profile rather than a venture risk profile. Startup general interest Venture Capital'

Entrepreneur 143

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Europe Revenue 143

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

Everyone has their own definition of momentum (user numbers, revenue, channel partners, biz dev deals, whatever). If you save the punch line that you’re from the industry, did CS at MIT, worked for 3 startups, whatever, then they don’t have that powerful knowledge as part of their evaluation set.

Early Stage 360

Early Stage Startup Venture Capital Seed Stage 360

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? By definition?—?I’m Of course we can’t. What Has Changed in Financing?

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

However the Customer Development Model and the Lean Startup work equally well for startups on the web. Union Square Ventures The next morning I got to spend time with Brad Burnham , partner at Union Square Ventures talking about their investment strategy and insights about web-based businesses.

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

The Next Web

JANUARY 16, 2014

This was the national news story that greeted me when I first arrived back in my home city of Melbourne for a Christmas visit, after spending the past three of five years overseas working towards building a vibrant startup ecosystem in London with my own community organisation 3beards. and RealEstate.com.au Companies to watch. 99designs.

Australia 146

Australia San Francisco IPO Cofounder 146