Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Over the past month a colleague ( Chang Xu ) and I sifted through data on the venture capital industry (as we do every year) and made a bunch of calls to VCs and LPs to confirm our hypotheses. As a result of the IPO window shifting we saw a massive inflow of public-market capital into the latest stages of venture.

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage IPO 328

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

I’ve heard a lot of people question whether there is too much money in venture capital chasing too few great deals. Others believe that new business models are emerging that could replace venture capital all together. And finally the best of the best are able to raise “growth funds” to complement their early-stage funds.

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital IPO Early Stage Mezzanine 292

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

I knew that OATV had invested in the company and I typically like to look harder at stuff that they do since I consider them to be very savvy with early stage trends. So when I heard that Google Ventures had invested in OpenCandy and I didn’t even get a look I could only think one word. Read more: TechCrunch.

Venture Capital 270

Venture Capital Cofounder Spain San Diego 270

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

It’s not hard to find people willing to write the narrative that “venture capital is not an asset class” or “venture capital has performed terribly.” Having worked through the data with Glenn I am even more optimistic about venture capital than I was even a year ago.

Venture Capital 362

Venture Capital IPO Jordan LP 362

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

On the phone … Me: So, you raised venture capital? I have never come across a sophisticated A, B or C round venture capitalist who thinks convertible notes are a smart move for entrepreneur or investor. We raised a seed round. About $1 million. Me: At what price? Him: It wasn’t priced. We raised a convertible note.

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Yeah, that was when I changed for me…” “…there was so much positive feedback on demystifying this one element of venture capital. And especially if you are dealing with early stage firms where partners might have different areas of specialization but they might have a lot of connective tissue across things. was starting.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? What Does this Mean for a Venture Capital Firm?

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

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

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2011

In this three-part series I will explore the ways that the Venture Capital industry has changed over the past 5 years that I would argue are a direct result of changes in the software industry, not the other way around. So it’s unsurprising that typical “A rounds&# of venture capital were $5-10 million.

Venture Capital 334

Venture Capital Software PHP Open Source 334

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. I divided success into the phases of venture capital and 18 months into writing my first check here was my view (details on each in the link above). Sourcing high-quality leads : 9/10.

Los Angeles 387

Los Angeles Intellectual Property Venture Capital LP 387

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

There’s a quick litmus-test conversation any early-stage VC will have with the founder and it’s one that you should be as prepared for as your elevator pitch. It’s true that some later-stage private equity firms like to fund “roll ups” (a company that acquires many related companies in it sector), but this is seldom the domain of VCs.

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Dilution 247

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

I hear tons of ideas for early-stage apps. 12m on a $60m for an early-stage business is a not a bet that most LA firms could or would take. Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy were fresh out of college in this generation as was James Bailey who was slightly older but not much. I simply couldn’t see it. I should have.

IPO 214

IPO Los Angeles Technical Review Silicon Valley 214

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

There are very few people in Silicon Valley who have such a precise grasp on what defines success of early-stage startup companies than Eric Ries. I interviewed Eric for an hour for - This Week in Venture Capital. And there are very few people who so consistently exceed my expectations when I hear them speak.

Silicon Valley 301

Silicon Valley Social Media Lean PR 301

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

Santa Monica is the place where the highest concentration of early-stage startups are created if you consider also the contiguous geography of Venice Beach. Perhaps the biggest piece of new news is that after 17 years of operations we’ve changed our name from GRP Partners to Upfront Ventures. What’s up with that?

Los Angeles 343

Los Angeles Las Vegas San Francisco Baltimore 343

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Many observers of the venture capital industry have questioned whether its best days are behind it. Looking ahead at the next decade I am excited by what I believe will be viewed as one of the best and most rational investment periods for venture capital due to seven discrete factors: 1. Morning in VC.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

I talked about this in my social proof post where I gave some suggestions about how to get the early guys off of the fence. Most early-stage entrepreneurs who have worked with me (either as an angel or as a seed VC) know that I don’t rely at all on the social proof of other investors. When I’m in, I’m in.

Finance 286

Finance Term Sheet Technical Review Warrant 286

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

In the Early Days. When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. The functions of an early-stage board are pretty obvious and well understood: Providing introductions to customers, biz dev partners, recruits, the press, other investors, etc.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. VC’s in early rounds will argue that “participation&# is simply downside protection and if you sell for a lower price they should get more of the proceeds. This is a shame.

Valuation 405

Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

One is the “denominator problem&# which says that if an LP invests X% (the denominator) into “alternative investments&# such as venture capital and if their total amount available to invest (the numerator) goes down by 30% then the amount they allocate to VC will by definition need to go down by 30% to stay the same percentage.

Technical Review 311

Technical Review LP Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2011

He and I once took different sides of an debate about whether “VC signaling&# in early-stage deals is a serious problem or not. This week I sat down with Chris Dixon, co-founder / CEO of Hunch and Partner at Founder Collective in the most recent installment of This Week in Venture Capital.

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Cofounder API 281

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

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 8, 2010

I was on This Week in Venture Capital today with Jason Calacanis talking about the big VC deals at the moment and talking about the VC industry. Talked about the roles of partners, venture partners, associates and principals in a VC. - We discussed some of the recent IPOs. My blog and what it’s done for my deal flow. -

Venture Capital 232

Venture Capital IPO Valuation Deal Flow 232

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 3, 2009

This is part of my ongoing Raising Venture Capital (VC) series. When people refer to a strategic investor they are usually talking about an investor that comes from the industry you serve as opposed to an independent venture capital investor. The reality is that their core business is not venture capital.

Strategic Investors 279

Strategic Investors Venture Capital Due Diligence Early Stage 279

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

If you track the venture capital industry it would be hard to miss the conversation going on this week over AngelList “Syndicates.” It should help some entrepreneurs to better access early-stage capital and should allow some angel investors better access to deal flow. ” This is my guess, too.

Syndicate 356

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Early Stage 356

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

So I believe that now is the perfect time to build a company and the perfect time for early-stage investors to bet on innovation. Please do not read that I think an early-stage company with limited product and only beta customers should go straight for a $5 million fund raising.

Technical Review 269

Technical Review Stock Hawaii Early Stage 269

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

This is part of my series on Understanding Venture Capital. A fund size of $25 – $100 million in normally an “early stage&# fund that is likely to do seed investments and/or smaller A round investments. Tags: Pitching VCs Raising Venture Capital VC Industry.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Early Stage Software Review 269

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. So what are you waiting for?

Silicon Valley 293

Silicon Valley Technical Review Southern California Angel Investor 293

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2019

A Short Presentation I was invited to do a keynote presentation at the Khosla Ventures CEO Summit this week in Sausalito. It was an amazing gathering of some of the most ambitious early-stage CEO’s looking to make a dent in fields related to healthcare, biology, AI and other transformative fields.

Management 234

Management Startup Dividend Early Stage 234

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

Recently I wrote a post arguing to make the definition of a Startup more inclusive than that to which Silicon Valley, fueled by Venture Capital return profiles, would sometimes like to attach to the word. If you’re working with early-stage companies you need to be spending quality time with them which means you need to be nearby.

Community 378

Community San Diego Silicon Valley Los Angeles 378

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

In product business it is often measured over multiple purchases and assumptions are made about the repeat rates and in the enterprise or services world LTV can be based on churn rates, which are notoriously hard to predict in an early-stage business. Poorly calculated LTVs can become BVs (bankruptcy values).

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2021

The thesis is that before investing in an early-stage startup it is close to impossible to know which of the deals you did will break out to the upside. This is Venture Capital. It’s therefore important to have enough deals in your program to allow for the 15–20% of amazing deals to emerge.

Angel Investor 301

Angel Investor Deal Flow Portfolio Forecast 301

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

The biggest difference I cite is that Venture Capital often feels like an “individual sport” while startups are a “team sport.” Early Stage. It was more hedge fund than venture capital. We thought about what we wanted to stand for: Direct, blunt, real feedback. Transparent.

San Francisco 150

San Francisco Jordan Technical Review Los Angeles 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Generally speaking in venture capital financings the legal documents will specify that only “major investors” (a threshold set in the agreement – which can be $500,000 investor or more). There are now so many new early stage investors and many of these are new it’s not so obvious whom you can trust.

SEC 352

SEC Venture Capital Early Stage Cofounder 352

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Our guest this week on #TWiVC was Dana Settle , partner at Greycroft Partners , a venture capital firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Greycroft is an early-stage VC. When the show has been processed it will be available here (estimated 8pm PDT).

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2017

Early stage tech startups aren’t public companies so you don’t need to obsess with “having your books formally closed” or scheduling the board meeting only after the end of the quarter. Maybe 2 hours.

Early Stage 212

Early Stage Technical Review Email Valuation 212

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

He then went on the create an early-stage VC that I track closely?—? Entrada Ventures? —?that Photo by Aaron Andrew Ang on Unsplash Playing the Long Game in Venture Capital was originally published in Both Sides of the Table on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital LP Valuation Later Stage 363

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

Early-stage venture capital is about extreme winners. Since our funds are around $300 million each this returns 2–4x the fund if we do it right. Another 3–5 could return in aggregate $300–500 million. The remaining 31 deals will likely return less than 20% of all returns.

Bankruptcy 294

Bankruptcy Bridge Financing Portfolio Angel Investor 294