View from Seed

JANUARY 27, 2021

. $100M is a meaningful increase from our $50M third fund, though it’s still quite small in the grand scheme of venture, especially amid the recent wave of late stage financings and SPACs. We believe that this fund is the perfect size for us to be the best possible partners to early-stage entrepreneurs today.

LP 411

LP Early Stage Seed Stage Venture Capital 411

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

Thus your startup maturity and growth stage is the primary key to success with potential funding sources. Different types of investors tend to specialize in capitalizing on businesses at different stages. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product.

Angel Investor 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

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

Women Entrepreneurs Can

NOVEMBER 19, 2022

A Venture Capital Firm is a firm that invests in startups and early-stage companies. However, not all firms are venture capital firms. Early-Stage Investments vs. Mid-Stage Investments. Investing in a startup company carries a high degree of risk, particularly at the early stage.

Venture Capital 52

Venture Capital Early Stage Liquidity Event SEC 52

ReadWriteStart

MAY 22, 2023

Governments may be able to provide support in these areas by removing barriers to growth and spurring venture capital to help Europe’s fledgling Metaverse ecosystem. Talent retention is one of the biggest challenges facing Europe’s Metaverse industry.

Finland 187

Finland Europe Estonia Silicon Valley 187

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 “micro VCs” or seed-stage funds. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). On the surface the narratives have been. The iPhone was released.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

Austin Startup

MAY 11, 2017

645 Ventures: A New Era of Venture Capital Investing Arena Growth Partners We help great leaders build great businesses. Our unique approach to investing, coupled with a pioneering spirit, provides the vision to guide early stage growth companies beyond today and toward future success.

Private Equity 48

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage 48

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

Thus your startup maturity and growth stage is the primary key to success with potential funding sources. Different types of investors tend to specialize in capitalizing on businesses at different stages. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product.

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

This is part of my series on Understanding Venture Capital. And funds also have investments from the partners of the firm. For example, my firm, GRP Partners, has a $200 million fund that was closed in March 2009 and we have 4 investment partners. So VCs often raise money every 3-5 years if they can.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Early Stage Software Review 269

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. Here’s what you need to know.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

Almost two years ago, in a private/closed meeting with K9 Ventures’ LPs only, I claimed that: What was being referred to in the press as the “Series A Crunch” was not because fewer Series A deals were being done, but because there were too many Seed deals being done. The risk here is what I refer to as the curse of over-capitalization.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 27, 2014

For the last couple of years, I’ve been investing in startups as a partner at Mucker, while spending a lot of time in the Valley working with potential co-investors and partners. I regularly come across companies who happen to have the #1 paid app in the App Store fly under the radar for years before raising venture capital.

Los Angeles 138

Los Angeles Southern California Silicon Valley Technical Review 138

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

. “Yes&# was given to me by one of my favorite angel investor / seed VC’s to work with – John Greathouse of Rincon Venture Partners and author of the blog InfoChachkie that you should check out because it is filled with great info from a guy who has been a very successful operator. Go get your anchors.

Silicon Valley 293

Silicon Valley Technical Review Southern California Angel Investor 293

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

It occurred to me that although we mentioned our new thematic approach when we raised our last fund in 2017, we haven’t really shared a broader manifesto about how we are approaching the early stage market. It’s been an interesting several years in the early stage venture eco-system, and the sands have shifted considerably.

North America 36

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 36

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 2, 2016

This quarter they interviewed me as part of it on Quarterly VC Update: Brad Feld on the State of Venture Capital Investing. 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.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital Private Equity Early Stage Valuation 70

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2018

Thus your startup maturity and growth stage is the primary key to success with potential funding sources. Different types of investors tend to specialize in capitalizing on businesses at different stages. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product.

Angel Investor 184

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 184

BeyondVC

JANUARY 3, 2019

We had another solid year filled with learning, growth, laughter, and new projects and partners. Thanks to all of the amazing founders, advisors, co-investors, corporate partners, and others that helped make 2018 an amazing year. Welcome to our annual boldstart recap and enterprise predictions letter. First check to Series B?—?congrats

Stealth 79

Stealth Advisory Board Cloud Virginia 79

David Teten

DECEMBER 12, 2017

(written by Philipp von dem Knesebeck , Managing Partner, Blue Future Partners (bluefp.com, @bluefutureteam ), and David Teten ). Based on this paper, Blue Future Partners and PEVCTech recently completed a large-scale survey to find out which tools are most commonly used by venture capital firms.

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 60

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

What’s the difference between an angel round and pre-seed round and why do I believe we’ll see more pre-seed rounds taking place in 2024? While the answers are somewhat semantic, the pre-seed funding round is making a comeback in 2024 startup financing.

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

Reid Hoffman

SEPTEMBER 28, 2021

“It is deeply telling that the vocabulary of venture capital begins with ‘the friends and family round’,” she writes. But inequitable access to seed-stage capital is a pervasive structural issue. The more risk you can take, the more likely you are to get wealthier.

Technical Review 28

Technical Review America Government Silicon Valley 28

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

Thus your startup maturity and growth stage is the primary key to success with potential funding sources. Different types of investors tend to specialize in capitalizing on businesses at different stages. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product.

Angel Investor 232

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 232

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 30, 2015

You incorporate expected company returns, mortality rates, and fee structures to try to predict how a venture capital fund works from a cash in, cash out, and NAV standpoint. And no, the numbers don't exactly add up--but they're more than close enough for venture capital. It's also not the "average fund".

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Pre-Money Valuation IRR Valuation 60

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2016

Thus your startup maturity and growth stage is the primary key to success with potential funding sources. Different types of investors tend to specialize in capitalizing on businesses at different stages. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product.

Matching 120

Matching Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers 120

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 14, 2010

In addition, I think that a “peace treaty&# between early-stage investors and startup companies on standard terms (at least at a term sheet level) is a step in the right direction. If you don’t, please educate yourself on this site, Venture Hacks and the term sheet series by Brad Feld/Jason Mendelson, among other places.

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70

K9 Ventures

MAY 14, 2011

In my view the terminology being used for early stage investors by the press and the media is not as clear as it should be. I’ve talked about this on several occasions when I’ve been at conference and on panels, but I figured it would make sense to do a post explaining my taxonomy of the early-stage investing world.

Preferred Stock 125

Preferred Stock Seed Stage Incubator Early Stage 125

Professor VC

JANUARY 27, 2011

I strongly believe (at least for very early stage technology ventures) that you will get diminishing returns and arguably negative returns once you get past an initial threshold of team, product, market and financial diligence. The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic. I immediately jumped up and called "b t".

Technical Review 31

Technical Review Due Diligence Silicon Valley San Jose 31

Hearpreneur

MAY 4, 2019

In the same way an MBA program teaches a form of management for administering and growing existing businesses, entrepreneurship and venture capital are, together, a form of management for discovering and building new businesses. And this is crucial: enterprises need both. It is the toolkit of the New to Big machine.

Cofounder 66

Cofounder Founder Entrepreneur Venture Capital 66

Genuine VC

JANUARY 17, 2011

Last summer, I along with my partners announced that we were forming a new micro venture capital firm. ” First and foremost, we are dedicated seed-stage investors focused on investments in internet-enabled startups. We’ve clearly articulated our motivations for starting the firm on a dedicated page.

Seed Stage 125

Seed Stage Boston Early Stage New York 125

Rob Go

JULY 17, 2014

NextView Ventures II is $40M, twice the size of our first fund, and we continue to be exclusively focused on seed-stage companies pursuing internet-enabled innovation. We’ve often explained to entrepreneurs that the second fund of a venture firm is very much like the series A for an early stage company.

Seed Stage 69

Seed Stage Early Stage Due Diligence Liquidity Event 69

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 13, 2012

He is on the board of the Angel Resource Institute, and is a partner with Montlake Capital (a late stage growth capital fund) and with Revenue Capital Management (a royalty based lender). Conventional wisdom dictated that they made reckless investments in very early-stage ventures mostly doomed to fail.

Angel Investor 103

Angel Investor Venture Capital Seed Stage Silicon Valley 103

Early Growth Financial Services

JANUARY 20, 2014

As an early-stage venture capital investor with a keen emphasis on the seed stage, I spend a lot of time at startup accelerators working with first-time entrepreneurs. A venture investor’s goal is to help startups grow into large and profitable businesses. By Marlon Nichols.

Seed Stage 52

Seed Stage Venture Capital Limited Partner Early Stage 52

Rob Go

JULY 7, 2014

Today, we’re excited to officially launch our new blog, The View From Seed , providing insights and inspiration for seed-stage startups, founders, and entrepreneurs, from idea phase through raising Series A. For NextView, our one thing is seed-stage innovation.

Seed Stage 46

Seed Stage Early Stage Venture Capital Portfolio 46

Feld Thoughts

MAY 8, 2012

Yesterday I sent emails out passing on participating in two seed rounds for companies I really like. They had lots of investors trying to invest and each company was competitive with two other seed stage companies we’ve seen in the past 30 days. Finally, we believe strongly in active engagement as a seed investor.

Seed Stage 138

Seed Stage LP Warrant Syndicate 138

Rob Go

JUNE 3, 2014

Raising venture capital is not an end to itself. Capital is an enabler. Not every great company needs to raise outside capital to be successful, but some do, and that’s the world that we participate in as venture capitalists. But beyond the seed stage, capital is primarily about winning and winning big.

Seed Stage 75

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Networking 75

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

We’ve also worked with our Partner, Dana Kibler who is also our CFO for nearly 20 years. Obviously the funding environment has changed considerably in 2022 but as early-stage investors our daily jobs stay largely unchanged. That was a question I had been asked by LPs in 2015 when we began our Early Growth program.

San Francisco 408

San Francisco Early Stage Venture Capital Los Angeles 408

K9 Ventures

AUGUST 14, 2017

The investing strategy for K9 stands in stark contrast to most “early-stage” (incubators, accelerators, pre-seed and seed stage) investing. The new $42M fund is backed by several high quality institutional partners, including university endowments, fund of funds, family offices, and key individuals.

Technology 96

Technology LP San Francisco Portfolio 96

Agile VC

JULY 11, 2012

I happen to be fascinated by the history of the VC industry, and one of the things we discussed at a recent offsite are the common threads behind the rise and fall of great venture capital firms. Some disgruntled younger partners left to go start a new firm in 1965 called Greylock.

Silicon Valley 240

Silicon Valley Carried Interest Cofounder Boston 240