Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 25, 2015

Jack Tankersley, a long time mentor of mine, co-founder of Centennial Funds, and co-founder of Meritage Funds, wrote me a very long response. Secondly, the driver of returns for the funds raised in 1978 – 1981 was not their underlying portfolios, at what stage, or in what industries they were built.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital SBIC Technical Review Silicon Valley 70

Agile VC

JANUARY 4, 2012

Today one of our portfolio companies, GrabCAD, announced it’s Series A funding led by Matrix. Founders Hardi Meybaum and Indrek Narusk originally started building the company in their native Estonia before moving to Boston to join the hub of SaaS / CAD software companies located here. How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC.

Community 100

Community Estonia Syndicate Syndication 100

Haystack

DECEMBER 27, 2018

About a year ago, I tracked down a VC who gave a talk I heard about where he referenced the phrase “Your portfolio is your path,” it stuck out in my mind because amid all the noise, it was simple, brief, and yet still open to interpretation. “Your portfolio is your path.” The portfolio is, indeed, your path.

Portfolio 118

Portfolio Syndicate Syndication Flash 118

View from Seed

AUGUST 13, 2014

So to successfully raise a seed round of capital, founders should possess at least a basic understanding of the different types of angel investors they’ll encounter. It can also help founders better approach angels in the first place. The Domain Angel. The Previous-Colleague Angel. The Financial Angel.

Angel Investor 334

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 334

VC Cafe

JANUARY 24, 2021

Disclaimer: we have three portfolio companies in the consumer mobile space, still in stealth). In a world without cookies, we’ll see smart alternatives to targeting that avoid cookies altogether: contextual targeting, time-based targeting, and using syndicated and custom audiences, according to the 2021 media trends and predictions by Kantar.

Technical Review 207

Technical Review Audio Forecast Social Media 207

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. I’ve always respected Bessemer for publishing their “ Anti-Portfolio ” on their website. What’s Your Favorite Future?

Seed Stage 185

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Cofounder Technical Review 185

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

The other day I was with the founders of Vidme – Warren Shaeffer and Alex Benzer – who are two of my most favorite founders to work with almost precisely because their behavior is antithetical to the frenzied market behavior. Across our partnership we will do 10-12 deals per year and with 5.5 I can’t do every deal.

Software Review 150

Software Review Turkey Portfolio Syndicate 150

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Recently, we looked at our own portfolio at NextView Ventures to dig a little deeper on how startups actually raise that next round of financing. Of the NextView-backed founders have have tried to raise this round, over 70% have done so (compared to a mean success rate in the industry of around 27%, according to some sources ).

Syndicate 333

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Startup 333

David Teten

JANUARY 11, 2020

We market to four populations: High-potential founders. High-potential prospective employees of portfolio companies. Executives of large companies which may acquire or become clients of our portfolio companies. Kevin has written over 620 syndicated columns). Missinglettr and Evergreen both help solve this problem. .

Social Media 60

Social Media Technical Review Media Private Equity 60

View from Seed

JUNE 10, 2020

of teams’ online pitch decks and recorded videos, as well as loved the dozens of second-round video conversations which we had with Founders working on quite compelling startups. Many of these Founders we wouldn’t have had an opportunity to connect with if we hadn’t launched this program.

Cofounder 177

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Alabama 177

VC Adventure

JANUARY 19, 2024

Over the course of Foundry, we deliberately structured our work in a way that reflected this goal, keeping our organization small and each of the Foundry partners closer to the portfolio (both the companies each of us was responsible for, but also across the portfolio more broadly).

Portfolio 72

Portfolio Syndicate Syndication Cofounder 72

View from Seed

OCTOBER 21, 2014

On the positive side for a founder, directly stating a high valuation expectation up front can anchor the negotiations to a higher level, assuming that an investor takes the leap of faith to invest. After angels, larger venture firms are probably next in terms of how variable they are when reacting to seed pricing asks by founders.

Valuation 336

Valuation Founder Seed Stage Angel Investor 336

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. Every Flexible VC structure allows founders to access immediate risk capital while preserving exit, growth trajectory, and ownership optionality. . Flexible VC 102: Variations.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 5, 2019

Marlo founders Ankith Harathi and John Keck decided to found Marlo in 2018, after meeting as students in the Harvard MS/MBA Program, where they are completing both an MBA and a Masters in Computer Science.

Seed Capital 222

Seed Capital Syndicate Syndication .Net 222

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2023

You can stop making new investments, but it will take years to actually work through your active portfolio companies. It’s been incredibly rewarding to be able to offer relevant advice or a connection at the right time and to see when a founder builds on that key turning point and it leads to success. No more founder pitch meetings.

Later Stage 218

Later Stage Venture Capital Term Sheet Limited Partner 218

Eric Friedman

AUGUST 19, 2020

Software has been eating venture funds by simplifying syndicates, managing SPVs, and even traditional fund management. What rolling funds do not address is traditional portfolio construction that requires a thoughtful capital deployment strategy. How much capital are you reserving for follow on financings?”

Syndicate 88

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Portfolio 88

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

Previously she was Co-Founder and CEO of SNAZZ, a cloud-based event management platform. Her work included heading Nokia’s location-based services business and app portfolio for emerging markets, which she built from a back-of-a-napkin idea to a 100-person organization with over 10 million users.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Technical Review Portfolio 60

Agile VC

JULY 16, 2014

One of our portfolio companies, Plastiq , announced yesterday that they raised a $10M Series B led by Khosla Ventures and are planning to move their headquarters from Boston to San Francisco. And talent flows in many directions (all three co-founders of NextView are all Silicon Valley transplants to Boston).

Boston 208

Boston Silicon Valley San Francisco Cofounder 208

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

I’ve primarily seen quantitative analytic techniques used in origination , filtering , and in portfolio company recruiting , but technology can be used throughout the nine steps of the private company investing process: The 9 Steps of the Private Company Investing Process. 8) Accelerate portfolio company value. 9% (1 / 12).

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

But they are also a tax on your time with portfolio companies, looking for new investments, running your shop and honestly they are a tax on your family life. Co-founder discontent. Reference checking is to confirm or disprove a strong, positive intuition you already have about founders that could lead to an investment or a pass.

Cofounder 374

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 374

Version One Ventures

JULY 6, 2016

Here’s a quick recap of some of this quarter’s news clippings for V1 and our portfolio companies. Portfolio companies in the news. We still like marketplaces (and recently syndicated our marketplace handbook in deck form ), but we’re also looking toward the AI/ML space. Funding announcements. Funding announcements.

San Francisco 104

San Francisco Syndicate Syndication Seattle 104

Hunter Walker

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

They become platforms and the goal/need to look more like a multistage fund plays out in their portfolio model – 20% ownership targets, entering at A round instead of just seed. Or will there be an early stage bifurcation into multi-GP platforms and smaller syndicate-sized funds. In the 2020s will Homebrew be an anomaly?

LP 92

LP Early Stage Syndicate Syndication 92

Rob Go

JANUARY 9, 2012

A year ago, I wrote a post detailing some tidbits about our portfolio. I believe that the best way to understand an investor is to meet the founders that they work with. Second best is to understand their portfolio. So here is an unscientific cut of our portfolio and some commentary below. Repeat Entrepreneur: 6.

Portfolio 46

Portfolio Syndicate Syndication Cofounder 46

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

This is a relatively new term loosely applied to angels who invest their own money in a portfolio of startups (typically 20 or more) and are willing to lead multiple rounds, usually starting with a seed round. Ron Conway , of SV Angels, and Reid Hoffman , LinkedIn's founder, are names often mentioned in this category.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Finance Early Stage Startup 120

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 3, 2014

This goes for founders, employees and investors alike. There are a few obvious investors with great track records of repeat success, but when''s the last time you really tried to value an investor''s portfolio. Would the entrepreneur enthusiastically include them in the syndicate of their next venture? How long ago?

Syndicate 124

Syndicate Syndication Venture Capital Valuation 124

Agile VC

DECEMBER 19, 2013

In addition, investing in startup tech companies turns out to provide only a modest level of diversification… angel investments tend to form a high beta portfolio, with reasonably close correlations to public equity markets. ” But as an angel one can overweight this factor. totally passive strategy won’t teach you much).

Angel Investor 265

Angel Investor Early Stage Syndicate Syndication 265

Haystack

AUGUST 18, 2019

And if you don’t hit one or two right, you end up with a mediocre portfolio. Like VC platforms, these funds could potentially be either as price-insensitive and/or provide more value via portfolio and market insights than a typical seed fund can. If you hit one or two right, you can make a fortune in seed.

Seed Stage 108

Seed Stage Cap Table Early Stage Malaysia 108

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 18, 2014

If the deal is from out of your geography and/or out of your focus area or a deal is being referred by a well-know investor who normally co-invests with similar syndicates – at least ask yourself, “Why am I so lucky to be getting this call.” I’m certain we’ll talk about it soon enough.

Cofounder 337

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Angel Investor 337

OnlyOnce

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

In our prior lives, the Bolster founders worked together to scale up a business called Return Path and also. worked as advisors and mentors to numerous early stage founders and startups. The roots of Bolster Prime and Bolster Ventures pre-date the founding of Bolster. What about the middle?

Silicon Valley 62

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Cap Table Early Stage 62

www.allthingsdistributed.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

When John Brockman ,founder of Edge , interviewed NathanMyhrvold his first question was “ What’s a CTO ”,to which Nathan replied: “Hell if I know. In this pattern the CTO is often a co-founder ofthe business, or one of the first hires. Some time ago I did some digging into the history of the CTOroles and how to best classify them.

CTO 40

CTO CTO Hire Syndicate Syndication 40

View from Seed

JUNE 16, 2015

Our investment size may differ slightly from one company to the next, but it tends to be driven entirely by situation-specific factors (needs of the company, syndicate composition, anticipated reserves, etc) … and not based on our belief.

Boston 120

Boston Syndicate Syndication eCommerce 120

Agile VC

JULY 15, 2015

This company will remain in stealth mode for at least a little while and it isn’t my place to divulge their plans, but we’re very excited about the founding team, market opportunity, and syndicate we will be part of. But we will undoubtedly continue to add more hardware related businesses to our portfolio.

Internet 100

Internet Stealth Cofounder Seed Stage 100

Agile VC

JULY 15, 2015

This company will remain in stealth mode for at least a little while and it isn’t my place to divulge their plans, but we’re very excited about the founding team, market opportunity, and syndicate we will be part of. But we will undoubtedly continue to add more hardware related businesses to our portfolio.

Internet 100

Internet Stealth Cofounder Seed Stage 100

View from Seed

JULY 9, 2015

It’s a common question that every VC fields from founders — and founders field from other founders, and marketers field from founders, and PR people field from founders. In light of that partnership, founders should be proactive about asking them to delay — if that’s your desire.

Startup 120

Startup PR Cofounder Stealth 120

Hunter Walker

APRIL 4, 2014

Part of our presentation will be portfolio financials, which, because we’re relatively new, aren’t exceptionally volatile (LP speak: most of our investments are still carried at original value since no additional fundraising has occurred). Sure, not coal miner hard, not startup founder hard. high net worth individuals.

San Francisco 100

San Francisco Private Equity LP Syndicate 100

Version One Ventures

APRIL 8, 2014

start-up databases/networks like CrunchBase and AngelList ) has led to unparalleled access to investment capital as more seed funds, angels, and syndicates emerge on the scene. In just a few clicks, you can find everything from the company’s tagline to information on founders and investors, number of employees, funding rounds, etc.

Venture Capital 160

Venture Capital Vertical Curation SEC 160

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 25, 2015

.”) But at the end of 2013, when the JOBS Act became official and AngelList created Syndicates, we decided to understand the phenomenon better by participating in it. With Select, we are no longer limited to investing $15 million per company. Matt states in his post: “A company’s values should never really change. .”

Syndicate 70

Syndicate Syndication Limited Partner Finance 70