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. why the hell has seed financing declined so much in the past 3 years?? This begs the question … Why Has Seed Investing Stagnated?

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Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage IPO 328

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2021

Noting our own experience, we questioned whether the fast proliferation of virtual interaction introduced by the COVID-19 crisis had changed investor decision-making more broadly across the venture capital industry. Following initial decision paralysis, many venture capitalists have returned to pace.

Venture Capital 350

Venture Capital Cofounder Early Stage Seed Stage 350

VC Adventure

JUNE 14, 2022

Companies looking to raise money turn to venture capital for a variety of reasons. Top among them is generally access to capital, but often on the list is the hope that raising capital from experienced (and well-networked) investors will have other positive impacts on their business.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Due Diligence Portfolio Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

VC Financings: 1. Other players such as Obopay have set out to focus on mobile person-to-person cash transfers, mFoundry (a GRP portfolio company) has focused on mobile banking and a mobile wallet and one of my favorite companies m-via is focusing on mobile remittances (right now between the US and Mexico). Read more: TechCrunch.

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Venture Capital Cofounder Spain San Diego 270

View from Seed

JANUARY 13, 2021

First, the winners in most portfolios don’t often have a true recap round. What will be interesting to see if whether seed funds that have raised their “opportunity funds” will use these dollars to defend their existing portfolio if the market turns really sour. There are a few reasons. I think this is a real issue. Then Doordash.

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Dilution Later Stage Portfolio Technical Review 399

View from Seed

DECEMBER 4, 2019

One or two of the best companies may continue to appreciate, but most of a VC’s portfolio has probably been realized, written off, or has maxed out its value. The longer the portfolio maintains the same value without distributing back cash, the worse the fund’s ultimate IRR. This would suggest that TVPI would be performing well.

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LP IRR Distribution Portfolio 256

View from Seed

DECEMBER 11, 2019

But even at the Partner-level, the amount of transition in Venture Capital is much more than you perhaps would expect… especially in a business which should have a long term orientation with portfolio investment-hold periods and Partnerships lasting more than a decade. So why is there so much turnover in Venture Capital?

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Venture Capital Cap Table Partner LP 204

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 alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). The overall trends in our industry have breathed a new life into the venture capital industry. The iPhone was released.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

David Teten

AUGUST 20, 2019

In addition, their portfolios look far more diverse than VC industry norms. I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. I have been impressed by how these venture capitalists are accomplishing a major social impact goal…without even trying to.

Revenue 60

Revenue Cofounder Founder Venture Capital 60

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2013

This post is about the rise of Chinese venture capital and how it helped build the countries entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Rise of Chinese Venture Capital. By 1991, 70% of the Torch funded startups were getting bank financing for expansion and later stages of the new ventures, with local governments acting as guarantors.

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Venture Capital China Offshore SBIR 271

ReadWriteStart

JULY 26, 2022

In addition, it provides support services like integrated banking, finance, embedded logistics, and vetted suppliers. Additionally, it provides trade financing, intelligence, analytics, and ERP integration. According to, Crunchbase, it received an undisclosed sum in unknown series funding from Evonik Venture Capital, Pinpools.

Germany 175

Germany San Jose Technical Review India 175

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

Every potential early-stage Venture Capitalist should take a year and do it before he or she makes partner. Venture capital as a profession is less than half a century old. Rolodex/deal flow (deal sourcing/ability to make connections for the portfolio). venture/operating partners to get them into new industries.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Early Stage Technical Review Startup 332

Version One Ventures

APRIL 30, 2013

Despite the recent media buzz surrounding the hardware revolution and emerging maker space, the overwhelming majority of hardware startups have a hard time attracting financing today. As a result, most venture capitalists are reluctant to touch hardware projects, opting for the lower costs and smaller risks of software.

Venture Capital 128

Venture Capital Software Review Incubator Startup 128

Steve Blank

APRIL 26, 2022

Except, that is, for the bottom feeders of the Venture Capital business – investors who “ cram down ” their companies. For existing investors, sometimes it was a “pay-to-play” i.e. if you don’t participate in the new financing you lose. Other times it was simply a take-it-or-leave-it, here are the new terms. They’re Back.

Cram Down 404

Cram Down Founder Venture Capital Recapitalization 404

Hunter Walker

FEBRUARY 17, 2022

There’s so much context required to really understand portfolio companies, and there’s no real way to learn it without diving in head first. Homebrew: Venture capital is no longer as opaque as it was 10 years ago, but a lot of what gets shared is pro-VC content marketing more than the real day-to-day reality.

Venture Capital 85

Venture Capital San Francisco Portfolio Operations 85

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Similar to the explosion of seed funds in the past decade, we (and some limited partners too ) believe these Flexible VCs are on the forefront of what will become a major segment of the venture ecosystem. We detail below the major categories of VC: VENTURE CAPITAL TYPOLOGY. FLEXIBLE VC VS. OTHER VENTURE CAPITAL MODELS.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Version One Ventures

APRIL 8, 2020

While this is a fine initial use case, I look forward to the development of more p2p lending for productive purposes (think microfinance, small businesses lending, or venture capital), which will help to create actual new wealth and dampen volatility. Exciting times ahead!

Software Review 131

Software Review Venture Capital Open Source Portfolio 131

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2013

This post is about the rise of Chinese venture capital and how it helped build the countries entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Rise of Chinese Venture Capital. By 1991, 70% of the Torch funded startups were getting bank financing for expansion and later stages of the new ventures, with local governments acting as guarantors.

Venture Capital 163

Venture Capital China Offshore SBIR 163

www.xconomy.com

JUNE 9, 2012

New San Diego VC Firm Emerges as ‘The Moneyball of Venture Capital’. Here’s some big news for San Diego’s innovation economy: There’s a new venture capital firm in town—and its investment methodology represents a fundamentally different approach to the conventional business model for venture investing.

San Diego 40

San Diego Venture Capital Technical Review San Francisco 40

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. Brad’s start in Venture Capital. Venture Capital in Boulder and other smaller communities. “So I owe ya’ a 20 minute call (or in person next time I’m in San Diego).

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

You’ll notice that Harvard lost 30% of the entire value of its portfolio. After all, most people don’t understand that “venture capital is a get rich slowly&# scheme. He then profiled his portfolio company FourSquare who started with a very small investment. Fred Wilson wrote a great piece on this.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. Since 2017 we’ve managed $3 million in revenue-based financing, which helps cash-strapped technology companies grow. Bigfoot Capital. We’re also regularly following-on for existing portfolio companies.”.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

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. The Exit Problem.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

David Teten

NOVEMBER 26, 2019

So here’s the solution I have recommended to some of my portfolio companies: “ agile budgeting ”, i.e., monitoring a few key variables while giving managers significant flexibility. Finance teams need real-time visibility into spend, so they can course correct immediately rather than waiting until after month-end close.

Agile 60

Agile Management Forecast Silicon Valley 60

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 18, 2021

Every investor, no matter how big or small, should know how to create a profitable portfolio. Since not every investment will be a winner all the time, Suraj Kumar Rajwani believes that it is necessary to balance your portfolio to cushion yourself against periodic changes in the market. Balancing Your Portfolio.

Portfolio 130

Portfolio Stock Security Partner 130

The Equity Kicker

FEBRUARY 28, 2014

I’ve just re-read the a 2012 report by the Kauffman Foundation about the contractual relationship between venture capital funds (often called GPs, short for General Partner) and their investors (often called LPs, short for Limited Partners). Venture Capital' Transparency and alignment. Both very important.

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Venture Capital Limited Partner Portfolio Partner 108

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

Under this category, you have the angel investors who would invest their own money and Venture Capital or VC firms, who manage funds aimed towards specific startup sectors and stages. If you are facing any problem you can always check out this: Business Loan vs. Equity Financing. Investors usually carry a portfolio of startups.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 5, 2014

About seven years ago, I wrote a post on breaking into venture capital and I continue to point the five or six people a week who ask me how to break into venture. If you can''t walk into a firm and tout a specific skill that is a benefit to portfolio companies, you''re going to have a very tough time getting in.

Venture Capital 114

Venture Capital Early Stage Cofounder Angel Groups 114

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 9, 2014

David is also the CEO of Gust , which is an online platform for startup financing used by over 50,000 accredited angel investors, 1000 angel groups and venture capital funds, and 250,000 entrepreneurs. I just finished a new book, “ Angel Investing ,” by a friend and one of the most active angel investors in New York, David S.

Angel Investor 278

Angel Investor Angel Groups Accredited Investor IRR 278

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 20, 2020

Construction, utilities, transportation, retail, finance, insurance and real estate startups are industries that hit hardest on startups with an average failure rate among them of 40%. All while the majority of the economy is driven greatly by boring industries often owned by private equity, not venture capital.

Sweat Equity 107

Sweat Equity Non-Compete Startup Azure 107

Austin Startup

MARCH 20, 2017

Since the field’s estimated beginnings in 2009 , subsegments like “feminomics” and “inclusive finance” have spun off, but at it’s core gender lens investing is: incorporating gender as a factor to guide investment strategies. Contrasted with an average VC fund size of $30M… there is a mismatch.

Private Equity 54

Private Equity Venture Capital United States Equity 54

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

When you’ve been playing the game a bit longer or when you have responsibilities at the fund level you start thinking more about “portfolio construction.” So if you truly want to be great at investing you need all the right skills and access AND a diversified portfolio. You’re thinking about one bullet at a time.

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Bankruptcy Bridge Financing Portfolio Angel Investor 294

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2013

So when I meet with GRP portfolio companies that do enterprise sales I try to emphasize the following: 1. Another rule I outline with our portfolio companies who sell enterprise solutions is that I don’t want them to become a distraction for management. [it's all in this article if you want the details].

Software Review 321

Software Review Software IP Technical Review 321

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. David Teten, HBS 98, Partner, ff Venture Capital, will discuss his research study on VC portfolio operations, recently featured in Forbes ).

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Tunisia Libya Algeria Mauritania 114

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 3, 2020

Having a better overall portfolio of venture capital by adding funds into the mix. Diversification Finance 101 would tell you that, in the public market, you want to be in at least 20-30 names to eliminate a good chunk of the risk (as defined by the standard deviation of return) that you don’t actually get paid for.

Portfolio 134

Portfolio Syndicate Syndication Deal Flow 134

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 20, 2012

Today’s venture capital deal flow to innovative new companies looks a lot like a fat man trying to squeeze into a slim Italian suit. In 2000, venture capitalists poured a staggering $112.2 Today, venture capital deal flow has slowed to a relative trickle, just $28.4 Venture Capital ? Slimmer Pickings.

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Venture Capital San Francisco Deal Flow Atlanta 127

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 20, 2020

All while the majority of the economy is driven greatly by boring industries often owned by private equity, not venture capital. If you do, tread lightly and—like any good investor—make the targeting of startups less than 10% of your overall marketing and sales portfolio.

Sweat Equity 78

Sweat Equity Non-Compete Startup Azure 78