Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Others may not have the experience you want and they fill up a seat that makes retaining founder control more difficult if you ultimately raise large rounds of venture capital in the future. What happens at the A-round of venture capital? It is ultimately a negotiation but I don’t think founders should fear having boards.

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Startup Angel Investor Silicon Valley 236

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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

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

It was only a year ago that many in the Venture Capital industry were predicting that “winter was coming” and to be fair the author of this post was chief amongst them. While this it total FDI as opposed to just venture, it should give you an indication of the international trend. Baidu alone raised $3.2

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Saudi Arabia Kuwait Burn Rate 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened?

Valuation 466

Valuation San Francisco Ratchet Liquidation Preference 466

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). 5 years ago. Sourcing high-quality leads : 9/10.

Los Angeles 387

Los Angeles Intellectual Property LP Venture Capital 387

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

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

He also nails the reason why venture capital is still necessary to grow large businesses quickly in a world where the costs of running startups have fallen dramatically. After all, growth equals high valuations and loads of venture capital! It’s ok to raise venture capital and try to build a monster business.

Silicon Valley 390

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 390

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

Most VCs lead one round of financing in your company and are looking for other VCs to lead subsequent rounds. Will these milestones be enough that a VC would pay a higher price in the next round of financing? This part of a series to help you raise venture capital ?—?the Summary Raising money is a daunting process.

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Dilution 247

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

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

And the loosening of federal monetary policies, particularly in the US, has pushed more dollars into the venture ecosystems at every stage of financing. how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? What Has Changed in Financing? What Does this Mean for a Venture Capital Firm?

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

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OCTOBER 19, 2009

On December 3rd Brad Feld wrote a one paragraph blog post titled “ Raising Venture Capital &# in which he linked to my blog. The Original Post (after the jump): Venture Capital, By Mark Suster (December 2nd, 2006). I don’t plan to write the authoritative venture capital blog, just some anecdotes.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

In addition to the P2P deals covered below, on the show we also talked about some of my favorite financing startups ( Wonga in the UK run by Errol Damelin , who is a superstar) and Affordit.com run by serial (and I mean serial!) Tags: This Week in Venture Capital VC Industry. Do you know more about any of these deals?

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Social Network Angel Investor Chad 265

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2010

If you want to raise venture capital more easily the advice could be quite practical and counter-intuitive. Many companies that are raising B or C venture capital rounds right now raised their initial money in 2005-2008. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Raising Venture Capital Start-up Advice Startup Advice.

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Common Stock Dividend 289

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

The key to being able to run a business that isn’t yet profitable (on operating margin) is availability of capital to finance losses and preferably at a cost that isn’t too punitive to the founders and employees. Sustaining short-term losses is all predicated on ability to finance the losses through venture capital or other means.

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

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.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

Or worse yet they may never get financed. Raise at “ the top end of normal &# but not so high that future financings in a corrected market become impossible. An obvious example is Google who may have gotten less market attention if there would have been 8 well-financed competitors during the 2001-2005 timeframe.

Saudi Arabia 309

Saudi Arabia Valuation IPO Technical Review 309

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

This “overnight success” was first financed in 2004. LPs Haven’t Yet Grokked the Long Game While the VC community realized 5ish years ago that short-termism in venture capital didn’t make sense and has capitalized on the scale advantages of letting companies go long, the LP community by and large hasn’t totally grokked this.

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital LP Valuation Later Stage 363

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 12, 2010

In the technology world there are a few websites that most startups track to keep up with the latest financings, acquisitions, product announcements and gossip: BusinessInsider, TechCrunch, Mashable, GigaOm, etc. Tags: This Week in Venture Capital. That’s thanks to Dan Primack , founding editor. Minutes 36- 38.

Seed Stage 232

Seed Stage Valuation Private Equity Venture Capital 232

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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.” lack of traction, lack of downstream financing availability. founder fighting. existential threats (Apple announced they are competing directly with you). strategic direction.

Syndicate 356

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Early Stage 356

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. I would gladly work with you on a $50 million late-stage, complex financing. It was a fun period for me because everything was new and I was curious. What kind of deals should I be doing? What stage? What price? With which other investors?

Early Stage 361

Early Stage Deal Flow Investment Bankers Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 6, 2013

He wanted to work in venture capital and I was new to the industry and in no position to hire anybody. He turned to Mike Jones at Science who was newly set up as an accelerator of sorts or a venture studio. I’ll leave the year out. We got along and shared stories about the startup market.

San Diego 344

San Diego Technical Review Seed Capital Sacramento 344

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MARCH 21, 2013

It also is a great way to finance your business without facing dilution before you actually raise venture capital and when the valuation you might get from angels is less than you’d want. By year 2 I’d like to see PS at 50% maximum, which is still high.

Software Review 321

Software Review Software IP Technical Review 321

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AUGUST 24, 2015

I’m not saying I’m not investing – just that I’m generally aware that the market does drive venture capital fundings and I’m very interested to see how September plays out. It will make follow-on financings much harder and people will have to consider whether or not to do inside rounds.

Stock 150

Stock Finance Marketing Valuation 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). Does he blog about venture capital and try to advise entrepreneurs? Has written a book on venture capital.

SEC 352

SEC Venture Capital Early Stage Cofounder 352

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. I would gladly work with you on a $50 million late-stage, complex financing. It was a fun period for me because everything was new and I was curious. What kind of deals should I be doing? What stage? What price? With which other investors?

Deal Flow 347

Deal Flow Early Stage Investment Bankers Technical Review 347

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 29, 2016

GOAT just announced it raised $5 million in venture capital led by our friends at Matrix Partners. GOAT (“Greatest of All Time) is a sneakerhead marketplace that is en fuego, but we led the company’s last financing round in 2012 (yes, four years ago) when they were an application for letting people join group dinners.

Venture Capital 199

Venture Capital Partner Finance Conversion 199

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

I’ve watched VCs help with valuation support (spreadsheets, comps) on next round financing, participate in M&A meetings, interview senior job candidates – even help terminate tricky senior hires. And so is venture capital. I’ve seen other VCs who seem to never have time to get their hands dirty. Commitment.

Portfolio 364

Portfolio Chicago Sales Incubator 364

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

In the old days there weren’t many fights about whether angels would take their prorata rights in financing rounds. The number of these groups that did “direct” investments in venture capital used to be relatively small. Thus begins the dance. Why prorata rights used to be less of a big deal to angels.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

We’ve had two companies where we had to bridge finance them several times before they eventually IPO’d We had a portfolio company turn-down a $350 million acquisition because they wanted at least $400 million. Early-stage venture capital is about extreme winners. It sold to Amazon for > $1 billion.

Bankruptcy 294

Bankruptcy Bridge Financing Portfolio Angel Investor 294

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. And somebody who isn’t thinking necessarily thinking about how to maximize their ownership in your next round of financing. In the Early Days. Experience. Relationships. Founder’s perspective.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2017

If you assume 4–6 months to raise your next round then with a year of runway you really only have 6–8 months to show progress on your previous round of financing, which is why I prefer an 18-month runway. If you burn $200k / month you’ll be out of cash in a year. years of cash runway, which is too much for a startup. million for 18 months.

Burn Rate 212

Burn Rate Startup .Net Venture Capital 212

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2019

Venture Capital “Plus 1's” ?—?Many There are actually several type and I’m going to make the case that if you can avoid board observers you generally should and when you do have them you should be thoughtful about how you manage them. Note: This is part of a series on Startup Boards. The full lists of posts is on the link.

Strategic Investors 255

Strategic Investors Startup Stock Options Venture Capital 255

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APRIL 27, 2013

They often ask whether they have to move to SF, NY or LA to get financed. ” I’m trying to get a feel for their commitment to local community versus being in a place where financing is easiest. If you don’t live in a major VC zone, I have some tips for how to make it easier to raise Venture Capital.

Kansas City 365

Kansas City San Diego Kansas Dallas 365

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

Why they raised so much initial funding As I said in the interview, we at Upfront come from the land of small first rounds of financing. Every year, a personal Upfront Summit highlight is getting to sit down with experts in a field I care about. But Quibi has raised $1.4 Meg shared their reasoning that Quibi would face two big challenges.

Los Angeles 244

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Mobile Video 244

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JUNE 28, 2018

Until recently it was headquartered 2 blocks from our offices in Santa Monica so we literally saw it emerge under our feet and we proudly invested in the last 3 rounds of financing. Today the company officially announced its most recent round of capital ?—?having having raised $300 million?—?less

San Francisco 256

San Francisco Valuation Technical Review Los Angeles 256

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. a loan) that is later converted to equity at the time of the next financing. It starts as a debt instrument (e.g.

Startup 290

Startup Burn Rate Warrant Bankruptcy 290

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2013

Because the videos show exactly what life would be like if a young Elon Musk came to pitch VCs today and said I want to transform P2P finance, get people driving electric cars and send a man to mars in our lifetime. The first time I met Andy Dunn he was working for the venture capital firm Maveron. They are also sad.

Silicon Valley 315

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Cofounder Video 315