David Teten

JANUARY 9, 2018

He looked at his resume, and asked just one question: “ What’s your edge? ” My friend got the job because his answer was differentiated, credible, and backed up by a history of investing success. It is unexciting and hard to prove, but in fact “We execute better” is a critical differentiator. THE UNSAID STANDARD ADVANTAGES.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Private Equity Silicon Valley Differentiation 60

David Teten

JANUARY 9, 2018

He looked at his resume, and asked just one question: “ What’s your edge? ” My friend got the job because his answer was differentiated, credible, and backed up by a history of investing success. It is unexciting and hard to prove, but in fact “We execute better” is a critical differentiator. THE UNSAID STANDARD ADVANTAGES.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Private Equity Silicon Valley Differentiation 60

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 24, 2020

Google crawlers can differentiate good links from bad ones and determine the relevancy. In its place, invest in reliable SEO services with glowing reviews, proven track record, and impressive portfolio. Hence, focus on building highly relevant links from authoritative, reliable, and relevant sites within your industry. Conclusion.

SEO 147

SEO Semantic Web Development Engineer 147

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

They want to see that you have some unique advantage that differentiates your company from others in your industry, and they’d prefer that you have some experience in that industry, which gives you legitimate insight into the problem you’re attempting to solve. Draw upon connections to help get an audience. Tailor your pitch deck.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

And while there is a narrative that most LPs only want to invest in the long-standing Silicon Valley brands that have existed for the past 40 years, there is evidence that many LPs understand that it is possible for new entrants in our industry to stake out grounds of differentiation.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital LP Silicon Valley Marketing 150

Version One Ventures

NOVEMBER 7, 2017

But beyond Shopify, virtually any transactional SaaS product out there has added payments – from horizontal solutions like FreshBooks to vertical SaaS products like Clio and Jobber (both V1 portfolio companies ). This fact should scare every undifferentiated payment processor out there. and that’s insurance.

Software Review 116

Software Review Vertical Differentiation Revenue 116

VC Cafe

MARCH 1, 2024

Companionship Differentiated value prop vs. generalist chat products – AI companion products hat specialise in content that mainstream models aren’t good at (or don’t allow), like fictional role plays or erotica. Bitcoin Allocation – Growing the role of bitcoin in investment portfolios.

Artificial Inteligence 176

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Software Review Generative AI 176

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

A few weeks ago, we hosted a small dinner for a number of portfolio company founders, LP’s, and friends of the firm. This is the implied rate of return of a fund based on the value (mostly unrealized) of a portfolio. Part of the reason to do this was just to reconnect after a long time apart.

IRR 205

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 205

Hunter Walker

MARCH 28, 2018

.” I hear, read, see examples every day of investors espousing differentiated theses with regards to why they exist. Your portfolio page. Your portfolio page is your thesis. Your portfolio page is your thesis. And hope to continue adding amazing companies to our portfolio page.

Portfolio 102

Portfolio LP Differentiation Founder 102

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2021

And again, just like in enterprise sales, this is all about differentiation ?—?what what makes you different and complimentary to all the other funds in their portfolio? It’s critical to stand for a firm differentiator and here’s why: it shines a clear spotlight on whether you are or are not a good bet for this LP.

LP 375

LP Southern California Los Angeles Differentiation 375

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 18, 2012

Barriers to entry are no longer created by patents or by tech differentiation alone, but by superior traction in the marketplace. Let’s take my own portfolio as an example. To my knowledge, only 4 out of my 35 portfolio companies have filed for patents. The same logic holds true for most acquiring companies.

IP 163

IP Technical Review B2C Social Network 163

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

A few weeks ago, we hosted a small dinner for a number of portfolio company founders, LP’s, and friends of the firm. This is the implied rate of return of a fund based on the value (mostly unrealized) of a portfolio. Part of the reason to do this was just to reconnect after a long time apart.

IRR 156

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 156

Version One Ventures

APRIL 30, 2013

While my portfolio is primarily centered around consumer internet as well as enterprise SaaS startups, I typically talk to two to three hardware startups each week. Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and my portfolio company Indiegogo are helping fill the financing void for hardware projects. Patents versus traction.

Venture Capital 128

Venture Capital Software Review Incubator Startup 128

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2013

VCs are finding that they don’t need the “large” funds of $100M to $500M to support a portfolio, if they focus on early-stage startups. Due to the struggling economy as well, traditional individual Angel investors haven’t been able to fill the gap. New “up-and-comer” VCs focus on early-stage companies.

Angel Investor 231

Angel Investor Entrepreneur Early Stage Silicon Valley 231

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. Investing felt very easy during that time; investment pacing, portfolio construction and follow-on decisions didn’t seem to matter. DM's open.

LP 73

LP Differentiation Deal Flow India 73

Brandanew

AUGUST 19, 2016

Effective usage differentiates you from those who fail to get productive results. This enables you to keep the sidebar and header from the portfolio page as well as the portfolio posts. The most amazing part is that you do not have to know HTML in order to edit website content. Initial settings after having installed WordPress.

PHP 100

PHP Widget HTML Portfolio 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

For some of my more skeptical portfolio companies I simply asked them to run a trial of inbound sales calls and they were shocked. In the end I know the only true differentiator in venture capital is the company you keep. For some companies it is now > 70% of the deals they’re closing and they’ve seen it as their secret weapon.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Fractional CTO Cofounder Early Stage 150

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

A few weeks ago, we hosted a small dinner for a number of portfolio company founders, LP’s, and friends of the firm. This is the implied rate of return of a fund based on the value (mostly unrealized) of a portfolio. Part of the reason to do this was just to reconnect after a long time apart.

IRR 136

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 136

Austin Startup

MAY 11, 2017

645 Ventures 645 Ventures makes deeply-researched investments in institutional Seed to Series A rounds for exceptional companies who demonstrate stellar early results in the areas of market validation, product differentiation, team strength, and brand narrative. These sectors generally leverage the Internet or software in a fundamental way.

Private Equity 48

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage 48

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Smart is simply not a differentiator. I would call their portfolio companies and ask how helpful or not they’ve been. look at their portfolio list. It’s insanely competitive to get into our industry so most have degrees from institutions like Stanford, Harvard, Wharton and University of Chicago (blatant plug ;-).

Portfolio 364

Portfolio Chicago Sales Incubator 364

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

They literally can’t respond to our core differentiator. Our portfolio company Ring had a new “security doorbell” which is truly a new market. That’s why Ring is amongst the fastest growing company in our portfolio. Know your planned sources of differentiation and adjust as you learn. Competition.

Startup 150

Startup Seed Money DC Software Review 150

VC Cafe

AUGUST 17, 2023

The process taught me the value of differentiation, client relationships, time management, and personal responsibility. Remagine continued to invest in AI (represented in about half of their portfolio companies ) and established itself as the prominent VC investing in Israeli genAI.

Generative AI 78

Generative AI Venture Capital ChatGPT 78

VC Cafe

APRIL 27, 2011

10 things VCs can do to differentiate themselves and provide more value to potential investments – based on feedback from dozens of entrepreneurs. Despite the VC’s obvious disadvantage in the early stages, marketing and differentiation of venture capital funds is limited today. what about all those portfolio companies?

Venture Capital 90

Venture Capital Differentiation Incubator Angel Investor 90

VC Cafe

MAY 29, 2022

Sequoia’s “Adapting to Endure” Sequoia presented this deck to a group of portfolio founders and it quickly spread online to founders worldwide. We may see many VC funds increase their reserves strategies to triage their portfolio through this high-bar Series A environment.

Venture Capital 183

Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation Startup 183

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010

VCs are finding that they don’t need the “large” funds of $100M to $500M to support a portfolio, if they focus on early-stage startups. Due to the economy as well, traditional individual angel investors haven’t been able to fill the gap. New “up-and-comer” VCs focus on early-stage companies.

Technical Review 215

Technical Review Early Stage Venture Capital Startup 215

Cracking the Code

MAY 2, 2019

To get an insight into how successful start-ups approach team building, we spoke to Sylvain Utard, employee number 1 and VP of Engineering at Algolia, an Accel portfolio company. Sylvain: Because we don’t have the visibility of a consumer brand or a well-established enterprise company, we focus on what differentiates us.

Part-Time VPE 48

Part-Time VPE Engineer Retention API 48

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2011

I called a bunch of portfolio companies and asked them to check it out. And even more pertinent to you specifically at your startup … The number of companies I talk to (or even portfolio companies) who are dismissive of their competitors is enormous. I think that’s pretty cool in the way Pandora helps me explore new music.

Startup 313

Startup Guerilla Silicon Valley Portfolio 313

Transformify

JANUARY 21, 2020

Although freelancing may be hard at the beginning, once freelancers build trust and a portfolio of satisfied clients likely to refer even more customers to them, freelancing becomes a source of steady and predictable cash flow. Another differentiating factor is the type of assignments each freelance platform is focused on.

Philippines 90

Philippines North Korea Cuba Bangladesh 90

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

In fact, a recommendation from a founder we passed on is one of our best performing portfolio companies! as our portfolio shows ). We all know it’s important to differentiate ourselves individually and not just as a fund. Be a generalist and a specialist. It’s just difficult to be everything to everyone on the outside.

Cofounder 182

Cofounder Portfolio Capital Gains Vertical 182

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

portfolios. If you plan to charge more than them I need to know how your product will differentiate to command a premium. Unfortunately this was reinforced by the many conferences that rushed to espouse the benefits of Web 2.0 and the subsequent acquisition sprees of companies like Google, Yahoo!, Going to charge less?

Business Plan 334

Business Plan AJAX Venture Capital Technical Review 334

Version One Ventures

JULY 21, 2020

However, most businesses are looking for network effects, so they are less of a differentiator than they were a decade ago. Amazing, mission-driven founders are found throughout our portfolio. Fast forward to today. We still think that network effects are incredibly valuable.

Founder 213

Founder Vertical Differentiation Portfolio 213

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 14, 2021

While traditional finance offers few options for product differentiation, decentralized finance (DeFI) is the opposite. We’ve had the pleasure of working with both of them at our portfolio company Top Hat. Gadze is joining our growing DeFi portfolio ( Defined , Nexus Mutual , Opyn & Uniswap ).

Finance 78

Finance Portfolio Open Source Differentiation 78

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services, and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative, and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world.”. The key words in this mission statement are “entertainment” and “experiences.”

Differentiation 217

Differentiation Portfolio Matching Operations 217

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

VCs crave the ability to help portfolio companies. He sets goals for MRR (monthly recurring revenue) to differentiate from one-time revenue, license revenue, services revenue and other. ” and this morning, “Mark, I sent intro to [redacted], she is in LA. Please meet her while she’s there.”

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

View from Seed

JULY 19, 2019

And additionally, my partners and I use other, more differentiated, lenses like asking if a startup has an “ unfair distribution advantage.” has become a mantra here at NextView over the past few years after we were introduced to the concept by one of our portfolio CEOs. Asking “Is it JDCC?” Go (re)read that post.

Boston 149

Boston B2B Early Stage Portfolio 149

Hunter Walker

MARCH 25, 2015

In today’s world where product and access are largely ubiquitous, and price is a terrible thing to compete on, we stand by our motto that customer experience is the last frontier to differentiate on to become a leading brand and a lasting company. Second to that is – why are you uniquely qualified to solve THIS problem.

Naming 48

Naming Technical Review Early Stage Green 48

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

” The pioneering fund of funds realize that their source of differentiation is much more about the latter than the former. Many prominent LPs have also recognized the “prorata opportunity” and have set up “direct investment vehicles” themselves to take prorata stakes in their managers portfolio companies.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398