Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

Running a company is distinctly different from simply having operating experience – (working in bus dev, sales or marketing.) Every potential early-stage Venture Capitalist should take a year and do it before he or she makes partner. Rolodex/deal flow (deal sourcing/ability to make connections for the portfolio).

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Early Stage Technical Review Startup 332

Hunter Walker

NOVEMBER 20, 2020

But the nature of early startup work does lend itself to enough of the in-person conditions discussed above for me to believe that having meaningful time together *is* a competitive advantage. This does err towards founders in the same city and if not, then founders who have worked together before and know how to manage the distance.

Early Stage 147

Early Stage Seed Stage Startup Software 147

View from Seed

DECEMBER 17, 2015

Portfolio companies can contact us to learn more.) I recently chatted with Saurya about how he approaches hiring engineers at Google and what founders can learn. We also talked about how he’d want to be interviewed if approached by a non-technical startup founder. (I’ve office, right in the heart of MIT.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Engineer Software Review Founder 120

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

We then help surround founders with other talent who want to join important causes but don’t have the startup idea themselves. We help founders through difficult moments, we help coach, we act as sparring partners, we help them resolve conflicts when they’re fighting with co-founders and we help them deal with adversity as well as successes.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Fractional CTO Cofounder Early Stage 150

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. Every Flexible VC structure allows founders to access immediate risk capital while preserving exit, growth trajectory, and ownership optionality. . Payments are commonly delayed for a grace period of 12-36 months.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

David Teten

MARCH 14, 2018

Managers of VC funds typically want to grow their business aggressively, just like the founders we back. I’ve listed them below in *very* roughly descending order of efficiency, measured by increased dollars one can put to work, divided by the operational dollars required to implement each strategy. .

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Cofounder 60

Version One Ventures

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Our portfolio company Top Hat just closed a $22.5M (USD) Series C round. As such, Top Hat can provide key lessons for early-stage companies: 1. Top Hat co-founder and CEO Mike Silagadze said: “Most people we talked to were very skeptical about our marketing approach; they thought it wouldn’t work. They hustle.

Vertical 132

Vertical Technical Review Cofounder Sales Cycle 132

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

In recent years, cannabis has emerged as a legal industry, and thus, companies operating in this new market have often had to find or build new software stacks in order to operate their businesses. We were excited to get to know Dispense’s co-founder & CEO Kyla Moore earlier this year.

Cofounder 234

Cofounder B2B Early Stage Software 234

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

RBI normally requires founders to pay back their investors with a fixed percentage of revenue until they have finished providing the investor with a fixed return on capital, which they agree upon in advance. For background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control. Decathlon Capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 21, 2013

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the unsung hero of many start-ups: the other founder. A lot has been written about the founder/CEO and her growth and evolution as a company grows. Larry Page is the other founder. The other founder usually begins with a particular range of responsibilities that comliment the founder.

Cofounder 45

Cofounder Founder Part-Time VPE Portfolio 45

David Teten

JANUARY 9, 2018

That said, one limitation in early-stage investing particularly is that 2022’s growth sectors probably don’t fit neatly into a vertical we can define today. Some VCs have identified a number of new advantages that distinguish them in the marketplace: – Portfolio acceleration. – Portfolio company diversity.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Private Equity Silicon Valley Differentiation 60

David Teten

JANUARY 9, 2018

That said, one limitation in early-stage investing particularly is that 2022’s growth sectors probably don’t fit neatly into a vertical we can define today. Some VCs have identified a number of new advantages that distinguish them in the marketplace: – Portfolio acceleration. – Portfolio company diversity.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Private Equity Silicon Valley Differentiation 60

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

In venture capital in particular, early-stage companies are often operating in frontier industries, where the rules are unpredictable and conventional analytic frameworks may be misleading. Signal is a fundraising tool for founders run by NFX Guild, which identifies the most relevant VCs for you. . 9% (1 / 12).

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

And experiencing an outlier company – as a founder, as a team member, as an investor – is an absolutely incomparable professional thrill. You know that a portfolio will include a number of wonderful people who didn’t get to work on their company for as long as they hoped. SMB Accounts Payable.

Founder 91

Founder Startup Early Stage Portfolio 91

VC Cafe

AUGUST 2, 2022

As an early stage investor in the world of gaming and metaverse technology at Remagine Ventures, I find these companies have the potential to set the agenda, become the potential platforms for developers building in this space and future acquirers/consolidators of startups building the next generation of the Internet. Here we go!

IP 206

IP Cofounder Valuation Acquisition 206

Version One Ventures

DECEMBER 14, 2016

This can set up a perfect storm if early-stage companies don’t manage their expectations and reality properly. Mattermark (a portfolio company) looked at the matriculation rates for a class of startups. Likewise, early-stage investors may not appreciate just how much follow-on support their portfolio companies will need.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Early Stage Portfolio Valuation 60

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

He has grown our US operations from 1 employee (him) to a global organization of 75 employees that will finish the year with 8-digit revenues (90+% recurring) and more than 350% year-over-year growth. Growth like this, this early in a company’s lifecycle rarely happens. VCs crave the ability to help portfolio companies.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

ReadWriteStart

JULY 19, 2023

Big Sky Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm , has recently announced the launch of its inaugural fund, with $20 million in capital commitments. Jahn Karsybaev and Adil Nurgozhin, the founders of Big Sky Capital , crossed paths while studying at the University of Montana.

Kazakhstan 92

Kazakhstan Montana Venture Capital Miami 92

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

In recent years, cannabis has emerged as a legal industry, and thus, companies operating in this new market have often had to find or build new software stacks in order to operate their businesses. We were excited to get to know Dispense’s co-founder & CEO Kyla Moore earlier this year.

Cofounder 202

Cofounder B2B Early Stage Software 202

Hunter Walker

MARCH 25, 2015

Firm founder Kirsten Green has an amazing analytical mind combined with empathy for the consumer. At the time, no one was investing in early stage consumer companies — it wasn’t a “thing” yet. How do you convey to founders why your backgrounds are valuable to them? EK: It’s a great question.

Naming 48

Naming Technical Review Early Stage Green 48

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Matt Blumberg, who runs one of Fred’s portfolio companies, Return Path, follows up with an additional three : Don’t be a bottleneck (make sure you aren’t holding up people’s work). This is the failure of many early-stage companies when they try to scale. Makes sure there is always enough cash in the bank.

Ireland 319

Ireland Sales Bankruptcy Germany 319

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

by Michael Woolf that is worth any startup founder reading to get a sense of perspective on the reality warp that is startup world during a frothy market such as 1997-1999, 2005-2007 or 2012-2014. Plus, most early-stage M&A fails so this isn’t likely a good use of capital for a young company).

Burn Rate 383

Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net Valuation 383

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

In recent years, cannabis has emerged as a legal industry, and thus, companies operating in this new market have often had to find or build new software stacks in order to operate their businesses. We were excited to get to know Dispense’s co-founder & CEO Kyla Moore earlier this year.

Cofounder 156

Cofounder B2B Early Stage Software 156

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 25, 2015

Jack Tankersley, a long time mentor of mine, co-founder of Centennial Funds, and co-founder of Meritage Funds, wrote me a very long response. 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.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital SBIC Technical Review Silicon Valley 70

View from Seed

JANUARY 24, 2018

When we create new platform initiatives, our team tries to think about how we can be the most impactful with our portfolio companies. Today, we’re thrilled to announce a new program that we hope will help our portfolio companies with two of these bullets. We’re calling them NextView Operator Guilds. .

Operations 176

Operations Cofounder Technical Review Angel Investor 176

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

A good early-stage CEO needs to be accessible, to be accountable for producing results and should be establishing the cultural norms of the company through direct leadership at all levels. This applies to both founders and to VC’s that work with them. But I work hard not to “skip&# below the CEO or founders.

CTO Hire 308

CTO Hire Management Technical Review Part-Time VPE 308

View from Seed

JULY 24, 2015

The invite-only event was attended by 300 of the area’s best tech leaders, founders, product managers, designers, developers, investors, engineers, salesmen and women, and more, all of whom are hard at work in consumer tech. Still others point to the collective sensibility and logic of New Englanders as an operating philosophy.

Boston 120

Boston Cofounder B2C PR 120

Hippoland

AUGUST 21, 2016

Portfolio founder: There’s an investor who wants to invest about $500k. Portfolio founder: That’s the problem. I have this conversation all the time with portfolio companies. That being said, even if the prospective investor is not able to provide operational help, that can also be ok. me: Oh great!

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Due Diligence Silicon Valley Portfolio 48

Version One Ventures

JANUARY 26, 2021

An alum of the HAX hardware accelerator and Founders Factory program, Preemadonna has raised $5.6M At first glance, Preemadonna with its consumer hardware and beauty products, doesn’t seem like the typical startup in the Version One portfolio.

Cofounder 116

Cofounder Early Stage Portfolio Hosting 116

Mucker Lab

OCTOBER 12, 2016

Following the inevitable ups and downs of the VC investment cycle, and what founders can do when it all turns cold. As a result, any public market downturn will immediately impact unrealized returns of the fund they are managing due to the late and growth stage companies in their portfolio. The road ahead for entrepreneurs.

Harvest 60

Harvest Vertical IPO Early Stage 60

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2015

A major reason for incorporating is to have the founders assign their IP to the company; it is far easier for a business to contract with a startup when the IP is owned by one entity. Incorporation also protects the founders from a liability standpoint. In addition, John is the founder of Lightspeed’s Summer Fellowship Program.

Convertible Security 100

Convertible Security IP Technical Review Software Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

I think you have to listen to the queue’s.” “…if you look at a lot of the early stage investors, whether it be Union Square Ventures or First Round or Jeff Clavier at Softtech or Dave McClure – we want to try the product, we want to experience the product, we want to get a sense of how the entrepreneur is thinking about it.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

Eric Friedman

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

I decided to leave my recent role and get back to doing what I love – advising founders. For now, this means advising early stage teams and offering myself as a “COO in a box” – consulting for companies that need operational excellence and trusted help.

Early Stage 122

Early Stage Framework Portfolio Operations 122

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 26, 2022

I’m an Ashley Mayer superfan so beyond the affinity, have been fortunate enough to also bring her into Homebrew as an advisor to our portfolio companies, and invest in Coalition , a venture firm she founded along with three other amazing female operators. I tried to get hired at Better Place and failed. Enter Box.

IPO 91

IPO Cofounder Early Stage Portfolio 91

View from Seed

AUGUST 13, 2014

So to successfully raise a seed round of capital, founders should possess at least a basic understanding of the different types of angel investors they’ll encounter. It can also help founders better approach angels in the first place. The Domain Angel. The Previous-Colleague Angel. The Grouped Angels. The Financial Angel.

Angel Investor 334

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 334

View from Seed

AUGUST 10, 2021

We first invested in co-founders Ben Forgan & Pat Wilbur in early 2015, when NextView led a $1.3M Here in 2021 startups operate in a more distributed fashion earlier in their lifecycle, a trend which preceded COVID but certainly was accelerated by the remote work environment for knowledge workers brought on by the pandemic.

Chicago 156

Chicago Cofounder Miami B2B 156

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

Dave Kerpen, founder and CEO of Likeable Local , just published an interview with me on Linkedin, which I’ve included below. Angel investors are generally former entrepreneurs and/or executives, who invest in privately-held, early-stage companies. Enter Dave: Angel investing is a great way to make a lot of money.

Angel Investor 114

Angel Investor Technical Review Venture Capital Pre-Money Valuation 114