Feld Thoughts

JULY 13, 2014

I wish he had called it “This Unicorn Thing Is B t For Early Stage Investing” but I think he’s a little more restrained than I am. My original title for this post was “How Can This Be A Billion Dollar Company and other b t VCs ask early stage companies.” I don’t think so.

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Later Stage Early Stage Valuation Seed Stage 195

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

There were a bunch of good comments that caused me to realize that I wrote the post from the perspective of a VC, not an entrepreneur. Early stage VCs are often expected to play at least pro-rata in following rounds. When companies are successful, the early investors often (but not always) back off their pro-rata.

Entrepreneur 133

Entrepreneur Angel Investor Early Stage Pay to Play 133

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 29, 2019

When we started Techstars in 2006 we had one core goal in mind – helping entrepreneurs succeed. A key part of the ethos of Techstars is to always look for more ways to help entrepreneurs succeed whether or not they are part of the Techstars network.

Early Stage 123

Early Stage Austin Sales Venture Capital 123

Feld Thoughts

JULY 30, 2013

The paragraph that caught my attention was: I call this constant advising/mentoring of early stage startups “mentor/investor whiplash” and I think it is a big problem. Not just with the accelerator programs but across the early stage/seed startup landscape. I disagree with Fred. It’s not a big problem.

Early Stage 166

Early Stage Lean Programming Conversion 166

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 1, 2013

We’ve never had an entrepreneurs fund, or a side fund, so we’ve encouraged people to invest in Techstars and other seed funds that we are investors in. Foundry Group ) can create the syndicate in the future, at which point we’ll move the activity over to there.

Syndicate 164

Syndicate Syndication Early Stage Portfolio 164

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 6, 2013

have a hard time agreeing on anything, those on both sides of the aisle seem increasingly keen to support entrepreneurs and their communities. Politicians in our federal government are listening to entrepreneurs, but we very rarely see congressmen personally sit across the table from early-stage tech investors and their founders.

America 151

America Washington Small Business Administration SBA 151

Feld Thoughts

JULY 25, 2011

August 3 and August 4 are busy days in Boulder for entrepreneurs and early stage investors. These two events show off the cream of the crop for new early stage tech companies coming out of the Boulder entrepreneurial ecosystem. On the evening of August 3 is Open Angel Forum #4.

Early Stage 116

Early Stage Email Entrepreneur 116

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 26, 2014

Every year or so my partners and I at Foundry Group create a new company, or start a new project, that we believe had the potential to change the way something works in our world, while simultaneously helping the entrepreneurs we work with, and the entrepreneurs we aspire to work with. For example, in 2006, we co-founded Techstars.

Cofounder 181

Cofounder Alaska Early Stage Curation 181

Feld Thoughts

JULY 31, 2014

I know many entrepreneurs who feel that VCs have played them, gamed them, deceived them, or bullshitted them. But this doesn’t only happen to entrepreneurs. In 2007, when we set out to raise our first Foundry Group fund, early stage tech VC was in the shitter. VCs play this game with VCs all the time.

LP 155

LP Advisory Board Venture Capital Early Stage 155

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 19, 2013

We both started out as entrepreneurs and have spent a lot of time participating in, learning about, and teaching how to create and scale startups. ” I’m taking a positive view – assuming that you are doing this – and adding someone you trust and has a philosophy of helping support the entrepreneur.

Early Stage 143

Early Stage Limited Partner Global Finance 143

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 15, 2013

Entrepreneurs with a compelling track record and approach should be able to easily raise, or even provide this capital. without government funding, being run as entrepreneurial ventures for profit by entrepreneurs. If entrepreneurs can’t figure out how to fund it, why should the government do it?

Government 168

Government United States Global Boston 168

Feld Thoughts

JULY 26, 2011

It’s become an important part of the seed / early stage venture process as very early stage investors pile into companies that their friends, or people they respect, are investing in. However, as one would expect, entrepreneurs focus on taking advantage of every opportunity they have.

Early Stage 127

Early Stage Conversion Entrepreneur 127

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

About a year ago David Cohen and I were having a beer together talking about ways to capture all the different things we’d learned about early stage entrepreneurship from running the TechStars program. Over the next six months, we worked with many of the mentors and entrepreneurs that have participated in TechStars.

Early Stage 142

Early Stage Angel Investor Community Programming 142

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 1, 2015

At Foundry Group, we’ve experimented with lots of different things around company creation and early stage investment. Techstars now owns Startup Weekend and Startup Week, which extend Techstars impact on and support of the Entrepreneurs Journey. We have a lot of investments in Seattle.

Seattle 70

Seattle San Francisco Angel Investor Syndicate 70

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 20, 2017

It’s a chance to learn by teaching, and engage with a new generation of entrepreneurs. Today we’re happy to announce a new partnership with AngelList to offer Techstars mentors and alumni an exclusive opportunity to invest early in accelerator companies. AngelList syndicates helps enable seed stage investing at scale.

Syndicate 70

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Vertical 70

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 12, 2011

When we were last with Dick and Jane on Finance Fridays, our fearless entrepreneurs were figuring out how to split up their founders equity and account for an investment from Jane. Feeling overwhelmed, Dick emailed his friend Josh, the CEO of an early-stage startup in Boulder, to see how they figured out all of this stuff.

Balance Sheet 136

Balance Sheet Forecast Cap Table Early Stage 136

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 4, 2010

The streets are crawling with angel and early stage investors – local and from other parts of the country – and the vibe feels great as tomorrow is the big day. No fee to either the entrepreneurs or the angels. No BS, no posturing, no fees for anything – just entrepreneurs and angels doing their thing.

Angel Investor 130

Angel Investor Seed Stage Early Stage Texas 130

Feld Thoughts

JULY 25, 2011

When Jason and I started AsktheVC , one of our goals was to have a place where entrepreneurs could ask us questions and get direct answers. How Much Equity Should an Early Stage COO/CFO Get? For example: How Did We Get Our Idea For Our Startup? How Do You Negotiate a Carve Out With Investors?

Early Stage 124

Early Stage Equity Entrepreneur Startup 124

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 9, 2016

We when started Techstars in 2006, our goal was to change the way early stage company creation and innovation worked. This is not a new issue to me as I’ve been working with various organizations, such as National Center for Women & Information Technology , since 2005.

Matching 70

Matching Early Stage Global Leadership 70

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 2, 2016

It continues to be highly dependent on company, stage, and location. At the early stages, raising the first $2m tends to be straightforward in most geographies that have meaningful startup communities. Since we are early stage investors, it simply doesn’t matter if we are a short term bull or bear.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital Private Equity Early Stage Valuation 70

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 1, 2010

As with many of Fred’s posts, the comment section was as useful as the post, and early-stage investors such as Mark Suster, Charlie O’Donnell, Roger Ehrenberg, and Anonymous Coward weighed in. The super angel is hyper-connected and works closely with the entrepreneurs he/she invests in. Suddenly he/she has 100 investments.

Angel Investor 142

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Early Stage United States 142

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 4, 2019

The two most notable are the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network Colorado and the Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars. 2006 was still the pits for venture capital, although a number of legendary companies (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook) were in their early phases of getting started. They began to worry that the market was overheating.

Private Equity 82

Private Equity Cofounder Equity Venture Capital 82

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 29, 2010

Boston has always had a wide range of early stage companies with unique characteristics, most notably robotics and network and system layer software, so it’s great to entrepreneurs from these segments show up.

Boston 133

Boston Early Stage eCommerce Social Media 133

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 31, 2017

” Hopefully, by the end of this post, it’ll be clearer … Yesterday I talked to several VCs or entrepreneurs considering becoming a VC. For an early stage investment, we only invest in our themes. Amy just walked by, read this over my shoulder, and said: “I don’t know what that means.”

Differentiation 86

Differentiation Early Stage Founder Product 86

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 16, 2015

This is great news for entrepreneurs everywhere. Today Techstars announced that it has acquired UP Global , including the organization’s Startup Weekend , Startup Week , Startup Next , and Startup Digest programs.

Global 70

Global Merger Community Early Stage 70

Feld Thoughts

JULY 26, 2010

This rant bugs me as I think it’s incorrect and isn’t very helpful to entrepreneurs. As I read through them, they started feeling like statements of “hey entrepreneur, trust me, I’m just trying to save you from Mr. Evil VC and here’s the answer, the answer is me.&#.

Angel Investor 122

Angel Investor Early Stage Seed Stage Cofounder 122

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 2, 2010

I’ll include a handful of early stage investors (both VCs and angels) in this effort. Let’s end this madness (which I’ve been dealing with for 16 years and an angel and VC investor) once and for all – the entrepreneurs that we work with deserve better from us.

Finance 133

Finance Term Sheet Angel Investor Early Stage 133

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 6, 2011

Startup Summer, a new program from Startup Colorado , will bring hard working, passionate college-age entrepreneurs to Boulder to work as summer interns for startup companies. In return, Startup Summer will commit to you: The selection of the most passionate young would-be entrepreneurs in Colorado.

Colorado 138

Colorado Startup Early Stage Matching 138

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 31, 2010

The first was to energize the early stage software/Internet entrepreneurial community in Boulder. The second was to get new first-time entrepreneurs involved more deeply in the Boulder entrepreneurial community. You need to take the next step and create real events that have entrepreneurs work together on a regular basis.

Community 171

Community Silicon Valley United States Boston 171

Feld Thoughts

JULY 15, 2011

I’ve worked with many entrepreneurs who have spent an enormous amount of time thrashing with the issues of competition. I’ll try to stay out of politics in the upcoming posts since I don’t think entrepreneurs can do much, especially at the early stages of their companies, about these externalities.

Early Stage 138

Early Stage Government Internet Software 138

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

A month or so later Jason Calacanis picked up the mantle and started a Jihad against the idea of angel groups charging entrepreneurs to pitch to them. About 20 active (at least four investments in the past year) early stage investors (angels and seed stage VCs) attended. The result is the Open Angel Forum.

Angel Investor 110

Angel Investor San Francisco New York City Colorado 110

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 3, 2011

When we reflect on the 37 companies we’ve invested in since we raised our first Foundry Group fund in 2007 , we’re delighted with the mix of companies and entrepreneurs we are working with. At dinner we zoned in on all of the current activity in early stage tech. We decided last night to look for a lot more of it.

Syndicate 129

Syndicate Syndication Distribution Early Stage 129

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 22, 2011

Both Eric and Steve have must read blogs and Eric’s new book will join Steve’s as a critical book for any entrepreneur working on a tech startup.

Lean 136

Lean Startup IPO Early Stage 136

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 10, 2010

Create a cabinet position (Secretary Newco) that is focused on pushing through initiatives that help startups and unleash millions of entrepreneurs. Create a meaningful entrepreneurs visa. Staple a green card to the diploma of every foreign student who graduates from a US university. Cut capital gains taxes to 1% for startups.

DC 123

DC Silicon Valley Colorado .Net 123

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

I wish I had titled it what was in my mind when I wrote it, which was “How Can This Be A Billion Dollar Company and other b t VCs ask early stage companies” – that would have been more fun to see in my Twitter feed. Since I wrote it in the summer of 2014, it must have been picked up somewhere and hit a new chord.

Silicon Valley 70

Silicon Valley Term Sheet Early Stage New York 70

Feld Thoughts

MAY 8, 2012

This is an awesome situation – for us and for entrepreneurs – and something I’m extremely excited about. But it forces us to think about our strategy, especially at the seed stage, and make sure we are comfortable with it. This translates into about a dozen new investments a year plus or minus a few.

Seed Stage 138

Seed Stage LP Warrant Syndicate 138

Feld Thoughts

MAY 18, 2012

All fit in the context of continuous communications as I believe three things about early stage companies and their boards. The best entrepreneurs I know communicate regularly with everyone in the company and have a structured update process of some sort. Provide regular weekly CEO updates, to all board members.

Balance Sheet 139

Balance Sheet Early Stage Email Management 139