Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2014

Kathryn has been the founding VP of Marketing of Oracle , a successful recruiter, a world class Venture Capitalist, a co-founder of a Venture Capital firm, a great board member, one of my mentors and most importantly a wonderful friend. Or one of the first women co-founders of a VC firm – “I co-founded a great firm.”

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Chicago Cofounder 333

Hunter Walker

APRIL 17, 2021

When it comes to my job, after practicing venture capital for seven years under normal circumstances, it was instructive to get thrown into this new scenario, because I don’t think we’ll ever fully “return to normal.” Working with founders. My 2022 will hopefully include a return to events like these.

Venture Capital 105

Venture Capital San Diego Los Angeles San Francisco 105

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2016

Today is amongst the proudest days I’ve had at Upfront Ventures — getting the chance to announce that Kevin Zhang has been promoted to Partner. years at Upfront has been both a pleasure and also has taught me a lot about venture capital. I mentioned at the start that Kevin has taught me something about Venture Capital.

Partner 150

Partner South Korea Venture Capital Europe 150

YoungUpstarts

JULY 31, 2019

by Anish Sebastian and Juan Pablo Segura, co-founders of Babyscripts. Of course, a certain amount of initial capital without financial performance is absolutely necessary to get a business off the ground, especially in regulated industries. Many would argue that even the most theoretically scalable products in healthcare, i.e

Cofounder 127

Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Cofounder Seed Capital 127

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

Find one that’s on the earlier-stage size or one that raised a long time ago and never scaled and get to know the founder & CEO. This is critical to build a cohesive venture capital firm. Find a portfolio company or two that they’ve invested in. We operate a policy of “no retribution” and “no reciprocity.”

Technical Review 314

Technical Review Due Diligence Partner Term Sheet 314

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2010

I was recently speaking with some founders about their fund raising process. I often tell people that raising venture capital is more difficult than getting married. Not so in venture capital. How do you then reference check your VC to be sure that you’ve chosen a good firm and partner? After Sept 08?

Term Sheet 298

Term Sheet Venture Capital Stealth Cofounder 298

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

At NextView Ventures we have written many pieces about venture capital — how to raise it, build your business, engage with investors, iterate your product, navigate expanding industries, etc. Doing Reference Checks on VCs “Try to speak to at least one founder that the investor has worked with in a failed investment.

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital. Not so in venture capital. How do you then reference check your VC to be sure that you’ve chosen a good firm and partner? First, I would say that most entrepreneurs do almost no reference checks or at least do them very informally.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Term Sheet Cofounder Partner 288

www.xconomy.com

JUNE 9, 2012

Sakti3 Founder Sastry to Step Down From U-M. Co-Founder and CEO, Wetpaint. Founder, DEKA Research and Development Corporation. New San Diego VC Firm Emerges as ‘The Moneyball of Venture Capital’. Venture Capital innovation people. Small is Beautiful in Q1 Venture Deals as VCs Write Lots of Checks.

San Diego 40

San Diego Venture Capital Technical Review San Francisco 40

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

When you look at a deal so much of what you’re trying to understand are the skills, resiliency , work ethic, motivation and team dynamics of the founders. Nothing blows up great opportunities faster than founders who are constantly fighting. And so is venture capital. Commitment. Startups are hard.

Portfolio 364

Portfolio Chicago Sales Incubator 364

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

It included one firm who I asked not to call Salesforce.com as a reference (they were our largest pilot customer) and in their kindness they called Marc Benioff (the CEO) and asked his opinion. Another called Parker Harris, the co-founder and CTO. 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

VC Cafe

AUGUST 2, 2022

As an early stage investor in the world of gaming and metaverse technology at Remagine Ventures, I find these companies have the potential to set the agenda, become the potential platforms for developers building in this space and future acquirers/consolidators of startups building the next generation of the Internet. Here we go! Epic Games.

IP 206

IP Cofounder Valuation Acquisition 206

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

This term refers to an initial venture-capital investment, often wrongly sought to seed early product development. These terms refer to a class of professional investors who invest their own money, like angels, but have the larger resources and scope of venture capitalists with other people’s money. Sweat equity.

Software Review 120

Software Review Sweat Equity Accredited Investor Angel Investor 120

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

Frontline Ventures conducted a survey of 206 global startup founders , revealing which factors are the most important to pre-seed and seed founders when choosing between VCs. Understanding of the sector is the most important factor for founders when choosing a VC in seed/pre-seed.

Founder 89

Founder Early Stage Partner Networking 89

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 27, 2018

by Emmanuel de Watteville, co-founder of Blue Ocean Ventures. When anyone considers their own option to invest in a growing project or venture, they immediately think of the financial risks that come with such a business endeavor. It’s essential to dissect marketing and monetization strategies together.

Early Stage 160

Early Stage Cofounder Startup Security 160

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2012

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. Founders with bad credit, active lawsuits, or recent bankruptcies dramatically increase the risk.

Technical Review 237

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Private Equity 237

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2010

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. Founders with bad credit, active lawsuits, or recent bankruptcies dramatically increase the risk.

Technical Review 225

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Private Equity 225

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. Most experienced VCs won’t push you to give up founder control at this stage of the business nor should they. Founder’s perspective. In the Early Days. You’ll get empathy.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

The Next Web

MAY 4, 2013

Previously, he worked in venture capital in Europe. Reference Checks. On top of deciding if the market is big enough, most investors only do one type of due diligence for seed deals: reference check the founders. If you have no mutual connections with the investors and thus no credible references, well.

San Francisco 159

San Francisco Europe Technical Review Due Diligence 159

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

In June of 2013, as I was putting together my thoughts for the K9 Ventures annual meeting, I decided to sit back and reflect on what I thought was happening in “Venture Land”. The risk here is what I refer to as the curse of over-capitalization. Low supply of companies with traction drove the valuations and deal sizes up.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

VC Cafe

JULY 31, 2020

Last year I published on VC Cafe a post titled the 7 habits of highly effective people… in startups , and this time will I apply the book’s principles to the world of Venture Capital. Let’s dive into the 7 habits of highly effective people and how they can be reflected in the world of venture capital.

Venture Capital 184

Venture Capital Deal Flow Silicon Valley Portfolio 184

Gust

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. Founders with bad credit, active lawsuits, or recent bankruptcies dramatically increase the risk.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Private Equity 152

David Teten

JANUARY 23, 2021

The next best move is to build your core team, e.g., recruit an Advisory Board, Venture Partners, and EIRs. For ideas, see How Executives Can Work from Home with Private Equity and Venture Capital Funds. See How Emerging Venture Capital Fund Managers Should Think About Their LP Fundraising Strategies.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review 78

David Teten

OCTOBER 7, 2013

Last week I had a chance to interview Kyle Stalzer, President at Tackk (a portfolio company of my firm, ff Venture Capital ), about an issue that’s top of mind for a lot of our companies: How to Recruit an A-Quality Designer for Your Company. 3. Ask for references. Patterns are far more likely to be accurate.

Design 114

Design Web Hiring Offshore 114

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

Greycroft is Alan’s venture capital firm that recently raised its second fund ($130 million) with offices in both New York and LA. My favorite two quotes of the weekend were: “Never trade your cat for somebody else’s dog” (referring to selling your company for stock to another privately held company – quote was from Alan.

PR 279

PR Technical Review Portfolio Customer Development 279

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 27, 2011

The post “ What I learned from raising venture capital ” by Gabriel Weinberg , the founder of DuckDuckGo is one of them. WHAT TO DO WHEN RAISING VENTURE CAPITAL. Choosing your VC essentially as choosing a co-founder. WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN RAISING VENTURE CAPITAL.

Venture Capital 109

Venture Capital Term Sheet Angel Investor Due Diligence 109

Austin Startup

JUNE 27, 2017

Austin-Based Venture Capital Firms There are a eleven venture capital firms based in Austin that are actively investing today, six of which are first funds. VC Firms Actively investing in Austin Companies Finally, there are a group of venture capital firms that are not based in Austin that are active investors here.

Venture Capital 54

Venture Capital Austin Texas Private Equity 54

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 22, 2019

The question of venture capitalist versus angel investor often arises. Venture capital and angel investments offer excellent options to startup businesses. Most venture capital firms focus on targeted sectors of the business world, such as software, or on a specific geographical area when entertaining possible investments.

Angel Investor 123

Angel Investor Venture Capital Accredited Investor Equity 123

David Teten

MAY 1, 2013

The ff Venture Capital portfolio is evidence of how much we believe this, e.g., our companies Alerts.com , Gobbler.com , Identified.com , Patents.com , Phone.com , and Plated.com. I was formerly Founder/CEO of a domain name investment bank , and still own about a hundred domain names personally.

Naming 114

Naming Semantic Venture Capital Startup 114

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 3, 2022

Carolyn serves as the co-founder and CEO of Hello Alice. 2:20] Why the Lewis Carroll reference? [2:59] 6:09] Do you refer to yourself as a marketplace almost or more of a membership organization? She serves as the co-founder and CEO of Hello Alice. And why the Lewis Carroll reference? John Jantsch (02:20): Ways.

Entrepreneur 80

Entrepreneur Technical Review Networking Community 80

Ben's Blog

MARCH 1, 2011

In my career, I have never seen a position in any industry with more varying criteria than General Partner at a venture capital firm. When we started Andreessen Horowitz, our vision was to build the kind of venture capital firm that we would have wanted to take money from. One night on my knees, here it comes, the prayer.

Partner 78

Partner Technical Review Venture Capital Cofounder 78

www.cscyphers.com

MARCH 8, 2012

Tutorial Day At #RailsConf » Why Trying To Find A Technical Co-Founder Will Almost Always Fail. Last night, I went to a local “find a co-founder” meetup for RE. What It Takes To Recruit A Technical Co-Founder. Particularly if she is at what is essentially a co-founder speed dating event.

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Technical Review Founder Software Review 40

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 1, 2020

All of these are lofty goals for the venture capital firm, to be sure. He was clearly very smart, so his parents tasked him with performing a lot of the jobs that we now refer to as “outbound marketing” ? Based on that criteria, the venture capital firm offers funding as low as $500,000 and as high as $15 million.

China 115

China Venture Capital United States Early Stage 115

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 10, 2022

I love working with great people and as a venture capitalist, am fortunate the number of founders I’m impressed by far exceeds our investment capacity. Here’s an example of a founder that I’ve known for a while who recently raised a seed round with different firms than ours. HW: Ok, we’re really going inside baseball now.

Cofounder 89

Cofounder Founder Acquisition Startup 89

Up and Running

MAY 9, 2017

It can be tempting to skip over the process of thoroughly evaluating references; after all, it’s time-consuming work, and it can be difficult to determine exactly how a prospective employee’s interactions with previous coworkers will map onto your business and the open position. Vet them appropriately. Don’t hyperfocus on their past.

Hiring 105

Hiring Employee Matching Software Review 105

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

Most startups view venture capital funding as a blessing from above — eager to take it as soon as they can get it. Tempted by large sums of money and the perceived validation that comes along with being funded, founders turn to venture capitalists to accelerate their company’s growth. It is a luxury, but also a danger.

Early Stage 85

Early Stage Venture Capital Bootstrapping Pre-Money Valuation 85

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

As David Sacks from All in put it: On aggregate, a lot of funding was also deployed to startups in the application layer – investing in founders leveraging generative AI to either solve narrow tasks, or bring automation to tasks to reduce costs, increase accuracy, speed etc.

Generative AI 78

Generative AI ChatGPT Artificial Inteligence Cofounder 78