Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

For some aspiring to be tech entrepreneurs, I often suggest a two-step process, as I argued in this post that “ The First Startup Founder You Need to Invest in Is You.” The narrative of this discussion is something like this: I meet a 35-40-year-old founder with two kids and mortgage. ” (Warren Buffett).

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Liquidation Preference Silicon Valley IP 150

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 9, 2021

Looking back, I believe that Jeff is one of most iconic, successful founders and CEOs of all time. Jeff is also one of the few founders I know of who sets OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) for his board members. I helped establish the network. I established some of the baseline for the network as a platform.

Leadership 42

Leadership Technical Review Cofounder Later Stage 42

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Why do these founders get to stay around? Because the balance of power has dramatically shifted from investors to founders. VCs competing for unicorn investments have given founders control of the board. A pre-IPO board usually had two founders, two VCs and one “independent” member. Technology Cycles Measured in Years.

Founder 253

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 253

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. Gust takes advantage of the cloud, and you should, too.

Angel Groups 159

Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

Up and Running

AUGUST 17, 2015

Between my experiences as a management consultant, as well as my product and marketing roles at multiple tech companies, I felt that I had enough operational experience to make that leap sooner than later. Additionally, I had already studied Economics and Finance during undergrad, making the academic part of an MBA seem a little redundant.

Entrepreneur 60

Entrepreneur Cofounder Angel Investor eCommerce 60

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

VC Financings: 1. Summit is a hugely respected firm in Silicon Valley and a long-term “institution&# but they’re better known as more of a “private equity&# investor meaning that they do later stage investments in much larger companies that are profitable. I keep meaning to get him drunk to spill the stories.

Venture Capital 270

Venture Capital Cofounder Spain San Diego 270

Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

Much of the VC blogosphere commentary about startups covers venture and angel financing with advice focused on company founders. But most people in the startup game aren’t VCs nor are they founders (yet)… but rather they’re employees of startups. Push yourself hard to ask why not a founder now?

Startup 241

Startup Later Stage Angel Financing Seed Stage 241

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2010

He says they are just as selective on seed investments as they are in later stage deals. Finally, I do want to mention that Mike was the founder of DogPatch Labs , which has facilities in Cambridge, New York and San Francisco. Venture Financings we Discussed. You can hear his full argument in the interview.

San Francisco 230

San Francisco Los Angeles Cofounder SMS 230

Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

Once you’ve figured out whether you want to find a very early stage startup or a late stage one (the topic of my first post in this series ), the real hard work begins. On the early side, it's repeat founders coming together again or early runaway traction in an early beta that generates buzz.

Startup 148

Startup Portfolio Later Stage Hiring 148

View from Seed

APRIL 7, 2015

The reason is that, for an early stage company with relatively few data points, every point of interaction gets placed on the positive or negative side of the ledger. Dirty Secret #2: Feedback from VCs usually sucks (despite how often founders seek it out). Okay, so this isn’t always true.

Early Stage 120

Early Stage Founder Later Stage Engineer 120

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

This essay is part of a series on alternative VC: I: Revenue-Based Investing: a new option for founders who care about control. III: Why are Revenue-Based VCs investing in so many women and underrepresented founders? VI: Revenue-based financing: The next step for private equity and early-stage investment.

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

But, most of use raise capital and source deals the same way people looked for dates 20 years ago: by networking at conferences (or bars). . Tim Friedman, Founder, PE Stack , said, “If I could offer one piece of advice to today’s managers, it would be to take the time to understand the demands of the modern institutional LP.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2019

The reality today is that capital is more available than ever and entrepreneurs have become more sophisticated, so founders are looking for more than just cash from their venture backers. They’re looking for guidance on building the company, the ability to tap into a VC’s network, and help with potential business opportunities.

Lean 108

Lean Venture Capital Conversion IPO 108

Up and Running

JANUARY 30, 2014

Accelerators focus on early-stage startups, while incubators are geared toward later-stage startups. Some accelerators have themes or focus on certain business sectors such as education, healthcare, or finance. Those founders all have different experiences and backgrounds. Accelators.

Incubator 105

Incubator New York City Venture Capital Startup 105

Austin Startup

MARCH 7, 2021

It seems like every day there is a new headline about an exceptional startup founder, investor, or corporate headquarters moving to Texas. Today, startup founders focus on the fundamental challenges of our time with energy, life sciences and industrial technologies dominating Houston’s tech scene. Joe Lonsdale. Drew Houston.

Texas 90

Texas San Antonio Houston Dallas 90

Rob Go

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

But, looking further downstream, the later stage funding landscape has been incredibly robust. Both late stage VCs as well as non-traditional investors are searching for growth anywhere they can find it in the capital markets. Our prediction in October was that this is not a sustainable situation for the early stage market.

Later Stage 28

Later Stage Marketing Early Stage Ratchet 28

K9 Ventures

MAY 14, 2011

The incubators and accelerators are investing $15-$50K in a large number of early stage teams (the current YC class has 60+ teams !). The founders of these uVC funds are entrepreneurs in their own right – either as people who have founded successful startups before, or as the founders of their own venture funds – which are also startups.

Preferred Stock 125

Preferred Stock Seed Stage Incubator Early Stage 125

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 3, 2018

by Shishir Dubey , founder and CEO of ChromeInfotech. Then you figure out all the finances. And lastly summarise all the above points for easy referencing at later stages. Lastly you check the network performance of your app. Mobile app development is not just about developing an app for either android or IOS.

Mobile 113

Mobile Developer Social Media Later Stage 113

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 26, 2011

Credit cards "just work" and peer to peer transactions just aren't big enough to bootstrap a network. Wesabe taught us that social doesn't necessarily make managing finances online more appealing--and given Facebook's propensity to change privacy settings, I'm not sure a lot of people are going to want to manage their money on Facebook.

Technology 128

Technology Valuation Community Restful 128

Reid Hoffman

JUNE 11, 2020

So I met Jeff at a dinner organized by Adam Lashinsky , and a few weeks later, we met for a late lunch and talked for a couple of hours. Jeff was responsible for the Yahoo Network and many of the company’s consumer-facing properties. This is so important that I wrote an essay on how to hire a CEO as a later-stage co-founder.

Cofounder 36

Cofounder Leadership Metrics Later Stage 36

Austin Startup

JUNE 26, 2019

Many people have reached out sharing knowing and kind words about our journey and choice to wind down our venture, as well as their appreciation for my choice to pull back the curtain on what is statistically a common road for many founders. It details a landscape founders like me are excited to sink their teeth into? Of course not!

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup B2C Sweat Equity 54

Genuine VC

MAY 20, 2013

Compared to most other areas of finance, venture capital is practiced as more of an art, as opposed to a science. Otherwise, what I’d call a “credible introduction” is sufficient provided there’s also an additional piece of information (key founder background, specific space, etc.)

Venture Capital 244

Venture Capital Cap Table Portfolio Early Stage 244

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 14, 2019

We felt that we were seeing something that others didn’t (specifically, the value of a professional social network), and understood that it would take a long time for the world to come around. Frequently, founders are told to focus on building a world-class team. In contrast, LinkedIn’s culture was far more collaborative and patient.

Silicon Valley 28

Silicon Valley Early Stage Hiring Employee 28

philipsmith.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

True founders - the gritty, enthusiastic, determined, change-the-world, passionate types - will do this for a long time, including well after they start paying others on staff some real cash. Someone in my network forwarded an email to me from a recruiting firm that is quite active in the Valley. A must read! startupcto

Silicon Valley 40

Silicon Valley Equity Technical Review Recapitalization 40

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Social networking finally came of age connected the planet and leading to enormous wealth creation for Facebook employees and investors. So the multiples paid by publics matter and when they drop, the late-stage markets drop, too. Why Financing in Falling Markets is So Damn Difficult. They had no such motive and no such power.

Valuation 150

Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2012

Generally, the same criteria applies to venture capital investors, although they invest other people’s money, at a later stage, in larger amounts. This is definitely the space for bootstrapping and personal networking. Angel groups almost never supply financing for real estate purchases, or personal loans. Real estate.

Angel Groups 237

Angel Groups Angel Investor Early Stage Startup 237

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2011

Generally, the same criteria applies to venture capital investors, although they invest other people’s money, at a later stage, in larger amounts. This is definitely the space for bootstrapping and personal networking. Angel groups almost never supply financing for real estate purchases, or personal loans. Real estate.

Angel Investor 217

Angel Investor Angel Groups Early Stage Startup 217

Gust

JULY 1, 2012

Generally, the same criteria applies to venture capital investors, although they invest other people’s money, at a later stage, in larger amounts. This is definitely the space for bootstrapping and personal networking. Angel groups almost never supply financing for real estate purchases, or personal loans. Real estate.

Angel Groups 143

Angel Groups Angel Investor Early Stage Startup 143

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 3, 2010

Generally, the same criteria applies to venture capital investors, although they invest other people’s money, at a later stage, in larger amounts. This is definitely the space for bootstrapping and personal networking. Angel groups almost never supply financing for real estate purchases, or personal loans. Real estate.

Angel Groups 121

Angel Groups Angel Investor Early Stage Later Stage 121

David Teten

MARCH 18, 2021

(co-written with Stephane Nasser , co-founder of OpenVC , an open-source initiative to collect and analyze all VC theses.). OpenVC is a new, open-source initiative to collect and analyze all publicly available VC theses, to help founders more efficiently find the right investors, and vice-versa. Technical founders .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital Deal Flow 78

David Teten

JANUARY 13, 2015

I’m speaking on a panel this afternoon on fundraising for minority founders at the Rainbow PUSH Wall Street Project. Fundraising is always difficult for all founders; the median PE/VC fund sources and reviews 87 companies before investing in 1. This young, talented girl is given no chance of being the founder of the next Facebook.”. “I

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Advisory Board Greece Cofounder 60

Up and Running

DECEMBER 9, 2014

They cover funding for small businesses from the initial funding stage to later stages of growth, and other areas in between. Bates: Good morning and welcome to our CEO panel, “How to Fine-Tune Your Small Business Finances From Funding to Growth” which I think is the direction that we would all like to be going.

Small Business 95

Small Business Finance Forecast Metrics 95

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Tweet View Comments Sarah Lacy Feb 19, 2010 Pepperdine has a new study out that attempts to shed some light on the clubby, shadowy world of private finance. Paglia, Pepperdiine’s Denney Academic Chair and Associate Professor of Finance. The internet business is a game of scale (network externalities). Think Again.

Venture Capital 62

Venture Capital Technical Review Sweat Equity Valuation 62

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

The founders were simply wrong about their assumptions about customer needs. It turns out the term “visionary founder” was usually a synonym for someone who was hallucinating. Founders Need to Run the Company Longer. So, almost like clockwork 20 th century startups fired the innovators/founders when they scaled.

Restful 228

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 228

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 30, 2016

I have been evangelizing to founders for years to be more thoughtful about how startups update investors and run board meetings so I would be pretty hypocritical if I wasn’t willing to try and be more effective myself. And of course we put a few portfolio companies on stage each year to present to us and inspire us.

Community 150

Community Los Angeles LP Portfolio 150

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

I recently went to a networking event for one of the seed funds that invested in PandoDaily, and I’ve never seen such worry on the faces of the entrepreneurs. But at a macro level, widespread failure this early is far less painful than if it came at later stages. Sarah Lacy is the founder and editor-in-chief of PandoDaily.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93