The Equity Kicker

JULY 16, 2012

The rest of startups should size their fundraisings to allow their investors to make a decent return at an exit valuation commensurate with the opportunity size which can be credibly defended at the time of investment. This advice isn’t always terribly popular.

LP 105

LP Early Stage Valuation Differentiation 105

Hunter Walker

MAY 18, 2015

We triangulate with investors, entrepreneurs and large company operators to assess probability of success and ability to attract in-demand entrepreneurs. Given the abundance of capital in today’s market, we want to feel that an entrepreneur will pick this team to sit with at the table.

LP 48

LP Portfolio Early Stage Institutional Investors 48

Agile VC

JULY 19, 2012

First and foremost, it’s worth emphasizing that greatness as a VC firm is derived primarily from helping exceptional entrepreneurs build enduring companies. This is true not only in a firm’s dealings with entrepreneurs but also with it’s limited partners and even within the firm among its partners.

Cofounder 193

Cofounder Limited Partner Early Stage LP 193

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

The movie, “The Social Network” might have had more of an impact on creating future entrepreneurs than any other event of the past 5 years. They need a combination of capital and experience to separate from the rest of the pack – the low cost of starting a business means it is even more vital to become the market leader more quickly.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Babbling VC

JULY 21, 2011

This time, triggered by an entrepreneur " throwing the Euro VC landscape under a bus." There have been responses to this from both VC's and entrepreneurs. Whether you like it or not it will happen and it's not necessarily beneficial to the entrepreneur. . Tier 1 VC's have established themselves and then you have the rest.

Europe 74

Europe LP Venture Capital Restful 74

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 10, 2011

These are questions for financial analysts and investors, people with their ears (and attention) much lower to the market-ground than entrepreneurs can afford. The LP's that fund booms are, after all, pension, municipal, and sovereign wealth funds. Entrepreneurs should be prepared. We've enjoyed these years of summer.

LP 168

LP Incubator New York Programming 168

Feld Thoughts

MAY 8, 2012

This is an awesome situation – for us and for entrepreneurs – and something I’m extremely excited about. We summarize this as saying to entrepreneurs that if you’ve raised less than $3m so far, we are a target for you; if not, we aren’t.

Seed Stage 138

Seed Stage LP Warrant Syndicate 138

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 9, 2012

This is what movie studios and the rest of the SOPA supporters need to do. Well, Senator, a group of 83 prominent internet investors and engineers wrote an anti-SOPA letter to you and the rest of Congress in December. Technology and the internet is inherently pro-consumer, because it empowers us and gives us more choices.

IP 131

IP New York LP Internet 131

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

I attended the annual LP meeting for a venture capital firm this week and got into a discussion about the above question. At a high level, I definitely agree that being an entrepreneur and being in school dont necessarily mix. Entrepreneurship can be taught, but the jury is out on whether you can teach someone to be an entrepreneur.

San Jose 43

San Jose Silicon Valley Las Vegas Venture Capital 43

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 28, 2015

I’m in for $100,000 so you’ve got your first LP. We made a bunch of intros for David and he reached out to a number of the successful entrepreneurs and a few investors (as individuals) around the Techstars network that existed in 2009. .” David: “Do you really think I can do that?” million lined up.

LP 70

LP Seattle Angel Investor Partner 70

Babbling VC

NOVEMBER 28, 2011

Fundraising (be it as an entrepreneur or a fund). You're a VC and LP's can't make up their minds and keep telling you to come back once you can show more? The market is hyper-competitive and you have to outshine the rest. Get shit done fast. If it can't get done fast, skip it. Move on to the next thing. .

LP 71

LP Valuation Aggregator Venture Capital 71

Rob Go

JULY 25, 2011

After raising this sort of round, it’s usually the first time an entrepreneur has to think about putting some structure of investor updates and communications. Of our 13 portfolio companies, 10 had/have formal boards during the seed stage, and the rest had a more informal structure. . Give assignments and follow up.

Due Diligence 38

Due Diligence LP Seed Stage Portfolio 38

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. I never suggest that entrepreneurs just randomly pitch VCs. You’ll never make a great entrepreneur. So your journey to fund raising begins by strengthening your relationships with other entrepreneurs.

Developer 366

Developer Silicon Valley PR Las Vegas 366

Hunter Walker

MAY 2, 2016

I’ve written before about our LP meetings – if you want to check those out before hearing about 2016’s version, here you go: Homebrew Annual Meeting 2014. Homebrew does this not by telling entrepreneurs why they shouldn’t take someone else’s money, but why we want to be their choice.

Advisory Board 48

Advisory Board LP Institutional Investors Portfolio 48

Hunter Walker

MAY 2, 2016

I’ve written before about our LP meetings – if you want to check those out before hearing about 2016’s version, here you go: Homebrew Annual Meeting 2014. Homebrew does this not by telling entrepreneurs why they shouldn’t take someone else’s money, but why we want to be their choice.

Advisory Board 48

Advisory Board LP Institutional Investors Portfolio 48

K9 Ventures

DECEMBER 10, 2011

They wake up earlier than a lot of entrepreneurs do, and, I get a lot of late night emails from VCs working through their email inboxes late at night. There are more venture capital funds, micro-VCs, super-angels, angels and incubators in the valley than probably in the rest of the world combined (exaggerating to make a point).

Silicon Valley 124

Silicon Valley San Jose Portfolio Cofounder 124

K9 Ventures

DECEMBER 10, 2011

They wake up earlier than a lot of entrepreneurs do, and, I get a lot of late night emails from VCs working through their email inboxes late at night. There are more venture capital funds, micro-VCs, super-angels, angels and incubators in the valley than probably in the rest of the world combined (exaggerating to make a point).

Silicon Valley 112

Silicon Valley San Jose Portfolio Cofounder 112

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

I know, because those people all used to pitch me as an institutional LP back in the day. Your time as an entrepreneur is probably best spent elsewhere as well--and that's the most valuable investment of all. Some of this thinking is also driven by folks who aren't well connected to the rest of the later stage venture community.

Later Stage 99

Later Stage Down Round Pre-Money Valuation Early Stage 99

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 18, 2015

Technology riches yield bumper crops in venture capital with new firms and new largesses – the rewards of LPs rediscovering our asset class. Are LPs to blame? Or the influx of massive new amounts of entrepreneurs and wantrepreneurs seeking fortune and fame? I spoke last week at the annual Cendana VC/LP conference.

IPO 150

IPO Venture Capital LP SEC 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2017

This is key because in a permanently low-interest-rate environment parking large pools of capital in assets that benefit from interest is not possible so LPs seek “higher yield.” Here is the entire survey, which can also be downloaded and shared. If you need the original keynote slides for any reason — just ask.

LP 286

LP Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup 286

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 4, 2021

As you'll hear, BA became an entrepreneur without expecting to have to address such questions, but that's not how it's turned out. ER : And the rest, as they say, is history. Due to their bylaws and LP agreements and things, they can only hold public securities, like in the traditional sense. That's not their skillset.

IPO 113

IPO Cofounder Technical Review Government 113