VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

By contrast, they backed 620 funds in the last three months of 2021 First time fund managers hit hard: In 2022, limited partners backed 141 funds run by first-time managers, a 59% decline from the prior year and the lowest number since 2013 How does the constrained LP environment manifest for funds and startups?

Venture Capital 215

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Institutional Investors 215

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

You have an edge in the highly competitive world of early stage investing that comes from some combination of your experience, industry knowledge, and personal network. NextView is a thematic, seed-stage VC firm focused on the Everyday Economy with $500M+ of capital under management. You act as an “ invited guest.”.

Technical Review 156

Technical Review North America Seed Stage Bandwidth 156

View from Seed

JULY 15, 2020

One topic of conversation among VC’s over the last few months is how their portfolios are faring during the Covid pandemic. So I thought I’d share my observations, informed by what’s going on in our portfolio and from what I can gather from others in the ecosystem. Reshuffling the deck.

Portfolio 215

Portfolio Dilution IRR Distribution 215

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 3, 2021

Google’s internal management approach has sustained and scaled pretty impressively over the years. Underpinning it all are OKRs — Objectives and Key Results — the framework by which individuals, teams and the entire company is managed. Or you could, of course, use this OKR template from Homebrew portfolio company Coda.

Early Stage 145

Early Stage Management Startup Portfolio 145

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

These usually play a role in the very early stage of your business, primarily pre-revenue. Under this category, you have the angel investors who would invest their own money and Venture Capital or VC firms, who manage funds aimed towards specific startup sectors and stages. Early-stage. Debt investors.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

The Innovation Portfolio. Companies manage these three types of innovation with an innovation portfolio – they build innovation internally, they buy it or they partner with resources outside their company. What can companies learn from others’ failed efforts to integrate startups into large companies?

Acquisition 332

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 332

techcrunch.com

AUGUST 12, 2012

Zachary Bogue And Matt Ocko Launch Data Collective, An Early Stage Fund For Big Data Startups. Data Collective has already made 46 investments from its first fund, which it calls “comparable with other seed and early stage funds” (Ocko and Bogue wouldn’t reveal fund size.). Headphones. CrunchBase.

Early Stage 70

Early Stage San Francisco Los Angeles Southern California 70

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

Over the past decade, I’ve (somewhat accidentally) put together on this blog a syllabus on how to launch, manage, and invest a VC fund. For example, we created a pipeline management tool that automatically adds deals along with relevant information (such as attachments received) to our funnel. 5) Manage deal flow.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Private Equity Management Cap Table 60

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. As a content management system we had lots of write activities and went with Postgres. I’m not a big believer in too much hierarchy.

CTO Hire 308

CTO Hire Management Technical Review Part-Time VPE 308

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

Over the past decade, I’ve (somewhat accidentally) put together on this blog a syllabus on how to launch, manage, and invest a VC fund. For example, we created a pipeline management tool that automatically adds deals along with relevant information (such as attachments received) to our funnel. 5) Manage deal flow.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Private Equity Management Cap Table 60

View from Seed

APRIL 27, 2020

We can stay busy by expending time and effort supporting the existing portfolio, which is the right thing to do and a good use of time. Like most VC’s, we’ve been engrossed in helping our portfolio company founders navigate these challenging times while thinking through how we will approach this market going forward. Wait and see.

Cofounder 194

Cofounder Software Review Portfolio Technical Review 194

Board Effect

DECEMBER 19, 2019

Boards and managers don’t agree on everything but they both agree that they need a strategic plan. One thing that they don’t always agree on is how to clarify the role of the board and the role of management in developing and implementing the strategic plan. Clarifying the Board’s Role in Strategic Management.

Management 64

Management Software Review Acquisition Merger 64

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

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). Early-stage Venture Capital firms grow their partnerships in different ways, some hire: partners from other firms. Here’s why.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Early Stage Technical Review Startup 332

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

How do you get your early customers to advocate on your behalf? Most early stage startups don’t have the regulatory domain expertise in-house. Eventually you’ll need to build an in-house team to manage regulatory affairs. Get outside advice at each step. will move the needle.

Washington 271

Washington Government Marketing Silicon Valley 271

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 8, 2017

Although Ginny is new to the team, she has many connections to the NextView family, as she started her career at our portfolio company Shareaholic , and worked closely with both Jay Acunzo (our first head of platform) and Joe Chernov (the VP of Marketing at our portfolio company Insight Squared ).

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Boston Early Stage Portfolio 120

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 8, 2017

Although Ginny is new to the team, she has many connections to the NextView family, as she started her career at our portfolio company Shareaholic , and worked closely with both Jay Acunzo (our first head of platform) and Joe Chernov (the VP of Marketing at our portfolio company Insight Squared ).

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Early Stage Boston Portfolio 120

Steve Blank

JUNE 26, 2015

—– Lean Innovation Management. The first time a few brave corporate innovators tried to overlay the Lean tools and techniques that work in early-stage startups in an existing corporation, the result was chaos, confusion, frustration and ultimately, failure. I’ve been working with large companies and the U.S.

Lean 120

Lean Management Business Model Customer Development 120

Hunter Walker

NOVEMBER 20, 2020

At Google, when I was managing and/or working with teams across the world, we often would pick opportune points in project lifecycles to come together — kickoffs, planning and milestone celebrations. 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 146

Early Stage Seed Stage Startup Software 146

Version One Ventures

MAY 3, 2023

Version One has made only one investment in the region ( Headout , a fast growing marketplace for travel experiences) and I had written a small LP cheque into an emerging fund manager ( 1947 Rise , run by the awesome Shiva Sangwan ). And I had more than 20 1:1 meetings with founders, angels, emerging fund managers and institutional VC funds.

India 87

India LP Silicon Valley Vertical 87

David Teten

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

Before making the decision to join ff Venture Capital , I did some research on early-stage tech investing as an asset class and how it’s evolving. Although any given early-stage company is quite risky, when aggregated across a large portfolio, returns are very attractive. They’re also inflation-hedged.

Early Stage 148

Early Stage Private Equity Portfolio Aggregator 148

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. I have seen bad behavior from later-stage VCs, believe me. But I have seen equally bad behavior from super early stage investors. As always a balanced perspective is in order.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

David Teten

MAY 20, 2016

As one of the lead engineers at ff Venture Capital , I spend most of my day building custom software solutions that enhance our firm’s process–tools that range from portfolio investment management to co-investor and cap table tracking and more. We posted on our site a more in-depth overview of ff’s Tech Platform.

Private Equity 113

Private Equity Equity Cap Table Venture Capital 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2021

Angel and venture capital money always comes with ownership and management implications, starting with the obvious ones outlined in the term sheet for the deal. In any case, your startup is now part of some investor’s portfolio, so you need to treat the situation like reporting to a new boss, and not like a new freedom.

Term Sheet 433

Term Sheet Advisory Board Liquidation Preference Startup 433

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

by Lu Zhang, founder and managing partner of Fusion Fund. Among these opportunities, the chance to pitch an investor and secure funding is perhaps the greatest of all — at least in the early stages of your startup career — as it can ultimately determine the long-term fate of your company.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 118

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. A major angel group used Influitive , an advocate management tool, to track, activate and motivate their members. 4) Manage deal flow.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

David Teten

MARCH 14, 2018

Managers of VC funds typically want to grow their business aggressively, just like the founders we back. First Round Capital’s forum for portfolio executives is a powerful example of a scaleable resource. This allows a VC to put more capital to work in their past portfolio companies with relatively little extra effort.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Cofounder 60

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

As two fund managers employing Flexible VC, we think it is a healthy addition to the ecosystem and will yield more predictable and stable healthy returns for investors. Too often, investment structures force the management team to make decisions between misaligned growth and investment (return) objectives. Early liquidity.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

David Teten

JANUARY 9, 2018

A friend of mine interviewed for a job with massively successful hedge fund manager Steven A. 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. – Thoughtful fund management. This model certainly makes sense.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Private Equity Silicon Valley Differentiation 60

David Teten

JANUARY 9, 2018

A friend of mine interviewed for a job with massively successful hedge fund manager Steven A. 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. – Thoughtful fund management. This model certainly makes sense.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Private Equity Silicon Valley Differentiation 60

VC Cafe

MAY 29, 2022

Building on my post on ‘ Advice for startups in a downturn (May 2022 edition) ‘, this week I continued to follow with interest the impact of the current correction on startups and venture capital, particularly in early stage. The key messages: “This is not a time to panic. Who is actually pulling back from investing?

Venture Capital 183

Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation Startup 183

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

VC Adventure

APRIL 16, 2018

A key question my post didn’t consider was what the ideal venture portfolio might look like in the face of these data. . The robust dinner conversation we had back in 2006 essentially asked the question: “If venture outcomes are Black Swans, what does the optimal venture portfolio construction look like?”

Portfolio 75

Portfolio Later Stage Early Stage Angel Investor 75

Gust

FEBRUARY 22, 2014

As I’ve discussed elsewhere, Gust’s long-term goal is to serve as the infrastructure platform for the entire global, early stage finance industry. Instead, it is our eight years of indefatigable relationship and customer building with large segments of the world’s early stage finance industry.

Belarus 107

Belarus Kazakhstan Portugal Accredited Investor 107

YoungUpstarts

MAY 7, 2019

If followed, we believe it can help startup teams navigate the critical early stages of development – and avoid joining a majority of early stage companies that end up on the entrepreneurial scrap heap. Read on to discover why successfully traversing the Traction Gap is critical to early stage companies.

Cleveland 196

Cleveland Early Stage Framework Startup 196

The Startup Magazine

APRIL 17, 2019

When you are investing in stocks and shares, you should be constantly thinking about how you can expand your shares portfolio, and not about how you can make short term cash. It is better to accept what your risk tolerance is at an early stage instead of stranding yourself in a constant cycle of worry further down the line.

Stock 90

Stock Early Stage Software Review Equity 90

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 21, 2018

He has spent his career in the financial industry, as a management consultant and, since 2007, as a certified financial planner professional and executive financial consultant. But, for a generation that is on average facing more financial obstacles, having access to financial guidance is crucial. Dwayne Rettinger should know.

Management 189

Management Portfolio Finance Security 189

The Equity Kicker

MAY 3, 2018

In startups things move fast, and once you get beyond the high level metrics like sales it is often difficult to get good data, particularly at the very early stages. Or worse, the proxy metrics are only directionally right and when managed to with precision they result in bad outcomes.

Metrics 87

Metrics CPA Early Stage Retention 87