Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2020

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy).

Incubator 429

Incubator Startup Exit Strategy Institutional Investors 429

The Equity Kicker

OCTOBER 14, 2014

Then, if you press them for more detail most will say that for them the team is the most important (although I think they say that at least partly because it’s what entrepreneurs want to hear). Early stage investors like Forward Partners look for a minimum of a great entrepreneur and a great idea. Venture Capital'

Early Stage 123

Early Stage Institutional Investors Venture Capital Startup 123

David Teten

MARCH 28, 2012

Best Practices in Venture Capital Portfolio Company Value Creation. Even the best VCs and entrepreneurs have a painfully high failure rate. Lowering that failure rate would be highly impactful on venture capitalist returns, if we could figure out how to do it. Entrepreneurs please click here.

Portfolio 144

Portfolio Private Equity Venture Capital Early Stage 144

Pascal's View

MARCH 16, 2010

This is the seventh in our series of ten frequently asked questions from investors in venture capital partnerships. Susan Mangiero , CEO of Investment Governance’s Fiduciary X , asked me the following: Question; How should institutional investors contact VC funds? Directly or via an investment consultant?

Institutional Investors 28

Institutional Investors Government Technical Review Due Diligence 28

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 14, 2019

Renata told me that she wanted to do in-depth individual interviews, to both learn and explain the true state of affairs in the venture capital, while celebrating women who best reflect this industry. It is also a valuable resource for male investors interested in increasing diversity.

Venture Capital 177

Venture Capital Institutional Investors Boston Engineer 177

The Next Web

MAY 4, 2013

Previously, he worked in venture capital in Europe. He is a part-time hacker, angel investor, and product advisor, and was selected from more than 300 people to “shadow” Dave McClure at 500 Startups. One of the last entrepreneurs I met on a funding trip, ended up raising a $6M round in Italy.

San Francisco 159

San Francisco Europe Technical Review Due Diligence 159

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

Most of these rhyme with what we’ve said in the past, but some have also evolved to fit the changing landscape and our own convictions about what really matters for founders and their investors at the seed stage. Of the last 15 investments we’ve made, we’ve been the lead or co-lead investor over 80% of the time. .

North America 120

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2013

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). Marty Zwilling.

Incubator 256

Incubator Entrepreneur Exit Strategy Institutional Investors 256

David Teten

JANUARY 9, 2013

Partners for a New Beginning (PNB), a public-private partnership housed at the Aspen Institute, is organizing a Venture Capital, Private Equity and Angel Investor Delegation from the Maghreb. Localisation du Maghreb (Photo credit: Wikipedia). More details. You can view the slides from this presentation here .

Tunisia 114

Tunisia Libya Algeria Mauritania 114

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Prorata investments rights given investors the right to invest in your future fund-raising rounds and maintain their ownership % in your company as your company grows and raises more capital. The number of these groups that did “direct” investments in venture capital used to be relatively small.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2018

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy).

Incubator 236

Incubator Exit Strategy Institutional Investors Angel Investor 236

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 5, 2012

Unlike a venture capital firm that states its criteria on its website and has forms, e-mail addresses, etc to encourage outreach, your site does a lot better job of saying "Go away!". The interesting thing is that being connected to wealth isn't necessarily a driver of good venture capital performance--why would it be?

LP 97

LP Venture Capital Technical Review Nebraska 97

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Money from these sources is relatively easy to come by, and most often comes with no strings as to oversight by a formal board composed of these investors and management. And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup.

Private Equity 118

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 118

Agile VC

OCTOBER 23, 2012

Diversification in that a small investor (by large institutional standards), say a foundation with $25M in assets that wants to commit $1M (4%) of their assets to VC, can get exposure to 10+ individual VC funds through a FoF but might only be able to inveset in 1-2 if they tried to do it directly.

LP 176

LP Accredited Investor Carried Interest Portfolio 176

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Asia has far fewer VC firms and institutional investors, each of which invests a far smaller amount of capital. Many Asian entrepreneurs tell me that they want to raise funds from Silicon Valley firms because they perceive the valuations to be higher. Where are all of the VCs in Asia? Thus, VCs have the upper hand.

Asia 132

Asia Silicon Valley India Term Sheet 132

David Teten

JULY 3, 2013

I hope you can join me for this program, cosponsored by Empire Angels ; HBS Alumni Angels of Greater New York ; and the The Young Venture Capital Society. what you need to know as an early stage investor: best practices in origination, evaluation, structuring and adding value. So You Want to Be an Angel?

Angel Investor 114

Angel Investor New York Accredited Investor New York City 114

Pascal's View

AUGUST 12, 2009

In Silicon Valley, Boston, Austin, and other innovation centers across the country, entrepreneurs and their backers (who are not limited to venture capitalists) are all keenly aware that Washington’s addiction to enacting hasty, one-size-fits–all financial regulation will continue to have far-reaching unintended negative consequences for the U.S.

IPO 28

IPO Silicon Valley Merger Sweat Equity 28

David Teten

JULY 3, 2013

Co-Sponsored by Empire Angels, HBS Alumni Angels of Greater New York, and Young Venture Capital Society. Must be an individual Accredited Investor who plans to make a private investment in 2013. Members include representatives of several VCs, family offices and other institutional investors.

Angel Investor 114

Angel Investor New York Accredited Investor New York City 114

Pascal's View

MARCH 10, 2010

This is the third in our series of ten frequently asked questions from investors in venture capital partnerships. Answer: You are asking a fundamental question here about trust, which relates to your prior question. Will they work 24/7 to get the job done? Share and Enjoy:

Government 28

Government Technical Review Due Diligence Institutional Investors 28

Gust

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

To begin with, it is important to understand some basic facts about the world of entrepreneurial finance: There are many more entrepreneurs than there are investors, with the result that only one company out of every 400 that seeks venture funding actually receives it.

Angel Groups 159

Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2016

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy).

Incubator 120

Incubator Startup Exit Strategy Institutional Investors 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2012

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy).

Incubator 237

Incubator Startup Exit Strategy Institutional Investors 237

David Teten

APRIL 7, 2017

This is a generalizable principle: you get higher returns where other investors are not. Because of that insight, we co-founded the Venture Capital Access Program , focused on helping women and minority entrepreneurs raise capital from HBS Alumni Angels. Kashmir, Board Member and Screening Co-Chair of HBSAANY.

New York 60

New York Africa Cofounder Egypt 60

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

I’ve written on the expert network industry a fair amount in the past: see How to Earn More Consulting Revenue from Expert Networks and How Executives Can Work with Private Equity and Venture Capital Portfolio Companies. David Teten: What is GLG Share, and why did you launch it?

New York 114

New York Technical Review Networking Advisory Board 114

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2011

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy).

Incubator 230

Incubator Startup Exit Strategy Institutional Investors 230

Austin Startup

JANUARY 2, 2021

He was the first institutional investor in Facebook and also an early-stage investor in groundbreaking companies like Etsy, Spotify, C3.AI, Breyer Capital’s Chinese partner IDG Capital, where Jim is Co-Chairman, led some of the first investments in Chinese companies Tencent, Baidu, and Xiaomi. Why Jim Breyer?

Silicon Valley 100

Silicon Valley Austin Texas Raleigh 100

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

Most of these rhyme with what we’ve said in the past, but some have also evolved to fit the changing landscape and our own convictions about what really matters for founders and their investors at the seed stage. Of the last 15 investments we’ve made, we’ve been the lead or co-lead investor over 80% of the time. .

North America 36

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 36

The Equity Kicker

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Normal termsheets, by contrast, take a position that is favourable to the investor with the expectation that they will be negotiated down. I’ve found myself explaining that to entrepreneurs a lot recently (including today) and so I thought I would write it down here so that next time I can simply send a link to this post.

Founder Vesting 92

Founder Vesting Vesting Option Pool Institutional Investors 92

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

Often when startups who have raised venture capital need another round of financing they will turn to their existing investors to give them money before raising from outsiders. There is a primary reason that inside investors give companies convertible debt rather than just giving you the money as equity. And it adds up.

Startup 290

Startup Burn Rate Warrant Bankruptcy 290

View from Seed

MARCH 26, 2015

Much digital ink has been spilled about what dollar amount constitutes a pre-seed and how that might affect a startup’s ability to go raise a “normal” seed round from institutional investors. This conversation is about optimizing fundraising “optics,” which shouldn’t be a primary focus for entrepreneurs.

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Institutional Investors Venture Capital Partner 120

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

For the institutional investor, it’s a set of bets. Even so, venture capital has a horrible record in the past ten years — most funds don’t make good money. Even so, venture capital has a horrible record in the past ten years — most funds don’t make good money.

Institutional Investors 240

Institutional Investors India China Viral 240

The Equity Kicker

JANUARY 11, 2013

I was chatting with a friend last night about the lack of institutional investor (LP) interest in European venture capital as an asset class.

LP 143

LP Europe Institutional Investors Venture Capital 143

The Equity Kicker

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Normal termsheets, by contrast, take a position that is favourable to the investor with the expectation that they will be negotiated down. I’ve found myself explaining that to entrepreneurs a lot recently (including today) and so I thought I would write it down here so that next time I can simply send a link to this post.

Founder Vesting 68

Founder Vesting Vesting Option Pool Institutional Investors 68

David Teten

AUGUST 21, 2019

Should you raise venture capital from a traditional equity VC or a Revenue-Based Investing VC? Like traditional lenders, RBI investors usually don’t take board seats. RBI investors usually don’t take equity. These entrepreneurs want to maintain two major options: 1) To raise VC later (or not), and/or. Optionality.

Revenue 60

Revenue Liquidation Preference Equity Cofounder 60

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

composed of these investors and management. However, most often, these funds are solicited by a well-meaning entrepreneur from investors who are not qualified as accredited investors under the law (currently requiring a proved income of $200,000 a year or $1 million in net worth for an individual investor).

Private Equity 106

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 106

K9 Ventures

MAY 14, 2011

This is probably the very first group that an entrepreneur who is starting out may approach for some funding for his or her idea. These are “investors” who are investing in you, i.e. not on the basis of your idea or the merits of your investment, but on the basis of a personal relationship with you. However, there is a difference.

Preferred Stock 125

Preferred Stock Seed Stage Incubator Early Stage 125

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

This post highlights some of the reasons why the market is moving again and what entrepreneurs should do about this. So what is driving the new energy in the remaining venture capital firms when we kept hearing how much the whole industry was “against the ropes?&# … 1. So get out there and start raising your capital!

IPO 255

IPO Investment Bankers Venture Capital Marketing 255