View from Seed

DECEMBER 17, 2015

I recently chatted with Saurya about how he approaches hiring engineers at Google and what founders can learn. We also talked about how he’d want to be interviewed if approached by a non-technical startup founder. (I’ve How do you position yourself as the latter if you’re a seed-stage startup founder?

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Engineer Software Review Founder 120

Agile VC

DECEMBER 13, 2011

I looked at this founder’s prior startup, which ultimately had a successful exit, and then was happy to connect with him again as he launches a new project. In NextView’s case that’s seed stage internet and software companies. Author howerl. Filed under Uncategorized. Read More ».

Seed Stage 185

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Cofounder Technical Review 185

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

I sent a tweet out last week that elicited quite a few responses from both founders and investors: seed funds that don’t invest pre-traction =. — I could hear the internet nodding in violent agreement. First – there are a lot of seed investors out there that don’t actually want to invest in seed.

Seed Stage 331

Seed Stage Cofounder Retention Founder 331

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

But for a true seed-stage company or for folks just thinking about companies to start or products to build, I think surveys are generally terrible. What should founders do instead? I find that often, founders gravitate quickly towards trying to get evaluative feedback. Talk to people… and listen.

Customer Development 120

Customer Development Developer Customer Seed Stage 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

My internal compass has always steered me strongly toward the belief that founders who can scale with their startup companies are better to back that founders who eventually need to hire a CEO. Very few founder CEOs go into the job ever expecting to give up their seat. We set out to find Jonathan’s “co-founder.”

Technical Review 303

Technical Review Cofounder Analytics Founder 303

Austin Startup

MAY 11, 2017

645 Ventures 645 Ventures makes deeply-researched investments in institutional Seed to Series A rounds for exceptional companies who demonstrate stellar early results in the areas of market validation, product differentiation, team strength, and brand narrative. These sectors generally leverage the Internet or software in a fundamental way.

Private Equity 48

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage 48

Up and Running

DECEMBER 13, 2021

Fundraising isn’t easy for most founders. No longer are founders being asked to drive up and down Sand Hill Road, meet in small coffee shops throughout SF or NYC, or spend a meaningful amount of money getting around to all of these meetings. Don’t interrupt your co-founder or the investor. Know when to stop talking.

Founder 85

Founder Cofounder SMS Seed Stage 85

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Many assume it was a cakewalk, based on the success LinkedIn has enjoyed over time and the current stature of our founder/CEO Reid Hoffman (now Chairman). is the leading consumer internet company with Terry Semel as CEO. Yes… he was a very successful PayPal exec and previously co-founder & VP Product of SocialNet.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

They have totally changed the way you run a VC firm, investing heavily in systems & events for their founders that are pushing the boundaries of the way our industry works. The discussion with Howard Morgan starts off by acknowledging Josh Kopelman as a co-founder of First Round Capital. I'm a huge fan of this innovation.

Pre-Money Valuation 284

Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Cofounder Cram Down 284

Agile VC

JULY 15, 2015

How does physical stuff fit in with NextView’s investment thesis focused on the internet and the broad innovation wave it represents? For starters we take a very, very long term view of internet innovation (more on this below). The internet as we know it is 20ish years old.

Internet 100

Internet Stealth Cofounder Seed Stage 100

Agile VC

JULY 15, 2015

How does physical stuff fit in with NextView’s investment thesis focused on the internet and the broad innovation wave it represents? For starters we take a very, very long term view of internet innovation (more on this below). The internet as we know it is 20ish years old.

Internet 100

Internet Stealth Cofounder Seed Stage 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. Here’s my take: 1.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

More Things became Internetted of. Last year, NextView co-founder and partner David Beisel asked our portfolio startups which service providers they use to make up the nuts and bolts of their businesses, which he published as the first edition of a potentially recurring resource. More Snaps were Chatted.

Boston 331

Boston Seed Stage Portfolio Cofounder 331

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

This is the home of Jason Cohen, software startup founder, bootstrapper, investor, and mentor. His blog is full of personal stories, gentle advice, and guidance that will be useful to any startup founder. David Cohen is the founder and Managing Partner of Techstars, the #1 ranked internet startup accelerator in the world.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Silicon Valley Cofounder 60

www.informationarbitrage.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Main February 23, 2010 Advice for CTO Founders: Dont Let Business Kill the Business Founding a technology company is an amazing thing. Too often, however, I have found CTO / Founders paired with business people who not only don't add value, but frequently detract from the value of the business. So my advice to CTO / Founders?

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire Founder Cap Table Vesting 40

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2011

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. Seed-stage means promising companies that don’t yet have a revenue stream, and may not yet have a proof of concept. Early-stage startup.

Early Stage 231

Early Stage Seed Stage Angel Investor Silicon Valley 231

View from Seed

JANUARY 10, 2022

We’ve also proven that giving new, underrepresented, and geographically diverse founders a dedicated, hands-on chance leads to follow-on funding and additional accelerator success across the board. What happens when you give new, underrepresented, and geographically diverse founders a real chance during a time of economic uncertainty? .

San Diego 156

San Diego San Francisco Alabama Valuation 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2012

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. Seed-stage means promising companies that don’t yet have a revenue stream, and may not yet have a proof of concept. Early-stage startup.

Early Stage 253

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 253

Hippoland

AUGUST 17, 2016

In general, I’m a big fan of convertible notes or convertible securities for seed stage founders. I think my total legal bill for getting my seed round done for LaunchBit was something like < $3000. In contrast, if you do an equity round, you as the founder will often have to pay $20k-$50k in legal bills.

Equity 48

Equity Convertible Security Silicon Valley Technical Review 48

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 9, 2023

As part of Mucker’s ongoing Growth Series Webinars, we recently invited Eric Carrell , founder of DoFollow.io , to dig into the world of SEO, especially in the link-building space. The Importance of Links in Ranking Links are often considered the infrastructure of the internet.

SEO 78

SEO PR Reputation Engineer 78

View from Seed

AUGUST 13, 2014

We at NextView Ventures invest exclusively in a startup’s seed-stage round , meaning that many if not most of our deals are made alongside individual angel investors. It can also help founders better approach angels in the first place. These angels, however, come in many different shapes and sizes. The Super Angel.

Angel Investor 334

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 334

Gust

JULY 8, 2012

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. Seed-stage means promising companies that don’t yet have a revenue stream, and may not yet have a proof of concept. Early-stage startup.

Early Stage 177

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 177

Diego Basch

MARCH 14, 2013

I like to be able to take public transportation and have meetings with founders, sometimes spontaneously. I may find myself having an IM conversation with a founder, and think it would be best to just grab coffee and scribble on a whiteboard. If your seed-stage company fits the criteria above, please contact me.

San Francisco 55

San Francisco Startup Silicon Valley Seed Stage 55

Rob Go

NOVEMBER 12, 2012

This occurs mainly when I just think the founder hasn’t tried at all to make a real connection. We are pretty explicit that we are a dedicated seed stage fund focused on internet-enabled businesses. By the way, most of these emails tend to come from intermediaries of some sort, not the founders themselves.

Portfolio 67

Portfolio Social Media Seed Stage Email 67

View from Seed

DECEMBER 7, 2017

We’ve shared our thoughts on how the internet and associated digital technologies are creating massive shifts in home , apparel , and other categories. As we’ve said before, as seed-stage investors, we think broadly about these opportunities and the interconnectedness of many of them. Next up is the topic of work and money.

Finance 185

Finance Distribution Seed Stage Government 185

Genuine VC

AUGUST 3, 2012

The company’s familiarity is along what we consider to be the three most important criteria for an investment in a seed-stage startup – team, market, and product: Team – Two of the co-founders were well-known to the NextView partnership years before a line of code was even written.

Seed Stage 199

Seed Stage Cofounder Portfolio Curation 199

Genuine VC

JULY 8, 2010

With the support and encouragement of my Venrock colleagues, I am pleased to share that I am moving on to co-found a new Micro VC firm focused on seed internet investments. We too are entrepreneurs at the very earliest stages of starting; as things coalesce we’ll announce the details and launch.

Silicon Valley 154

Silicon Valley Seed Stage Cofounder Venture Capital 154

View from Seed

MARCH 16, 2016

How about Jana , which brings internet access to the developing world and boasts 30 million global users? These companies have a long way to go until global dominance in many cases, but they are all growing, hiring, and strengthening the local community right now. Want businesses with massive reach and international presence?

Boston 215

Boston Early Stage Artificial Inteligence Semantic 215

Agile VC

JUNE 5, 2011

Even for those who don’t care to dive into the numbers, it’s worth a quick glance because co-founder/CEO Andrew Mason wrote a letter which forms the preamble of the full document. I co-founded NextView Ventures , a seed-stage VC firm based in Boston, in 2010. Pingback: Iphone Android App. Read More ».

North America 100

North America Chicago Boston Silicon Valley 100

Agile VC

MAY 16, 2012

At NextView we’ve intentionally taken an approach which combines both thematic and opportunistic investing for a couple reasons: 1) Our Overall Strategy is Highly Focused - We’re a dedicated seed VC fund, so we invest in startups exclusively at the seed stage. Pingback: watch inception online. Pingback: [link].

Seed Stage 124

Seed Stage Silicon Valley B2B Syndicate 124

The Equity Kicker

JUNE 26, 2014

We invest in 1-2 companies per quarter that join us for a year long programme, and we invest in late-seed stage companies too. Examples include Forward Partners , Science Inc , aspects of Betaworks , and maybe Rocket Internet. Nick sets these definitions out and provides more detail in a very helpful blog post.

eCommerce 98

eCommerce Partner Incubator Early Stage 98

Rob Go

OCTOBER 21, 2014

The goal was to mobilize and educate the angel community in Boston to become more comfortable and more active investing in early stage internet, mobile, and software companies. What to make of crowd funding, from the founder of Funders Club and a board member of Angelist.

Silicon Valley 48

Silicon Valley Seed Stage Boston Cofounder 48

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 23, 2015

When we started Mobius, we were four founders and two EAs. Or that it would have worked great if only the Internet bubble hadn’t collapsed. We deeply believe that the way companies are created and funded, especially at the seed stage, is radically changing on a permanent basis. Or that we completely f *d it up.

Advisory Board 70

Advisory Board Venture Capital LP Seed Stage 70

Rob Go

NOVEMBER 6, 2011

The gist of the story is that there has been a significant increase in seed stage investments activity over the last 2 years, and many companies are now coming back into to the market for their next round of financing. Active seed investors have also known that this was going to be coming.

Seed Stage 49

Seed Stage .Net Portfolio Valuation 49

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I would point readers to Martin Kleppmann’s useful blog post with graphs illustrating the effects of a valuation cap on entrepreneurs, seed investors and later-round (typically VC) investors. Valuation caps can come into play in settings other than seed-stage convertible note financing rounds.

Valuation 98

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

We’ll look at the model stage-by-stage. Concept and Seed Stage In the Concept and Seed Stage, founders capture their passion and vision for the new company and turn them into a set of key ideas, which quickly becomes a business plan, sometimes on the back of the proverbial napkin.

Silicon Valley 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 16, 2021

Out of hundreds of applications, we selected six pre-seed stage teams building companies shaping a brighter collective future by combining software and creativity to drive change in the lives of everyday people — their businesses include everything from empowering local main street businesses to making automobile insurance more accessible.

Seed Stage 285

Seed Stage Programming Finance B2B 285