Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

Much of the VC blogosphere commentary about startups covers venture and angel financing with advice focused on company founders. But most people in the startup game aren’t VCs nor are they founders (yet)… but rather they’re employees of startups. “I want to work for a startup.”

Startup 241

Startup Later Stage Angel Financing Seed Stage 241

Genuine VC

JANUARY 17, 2012

Your office space is the face of your startup. Not only does it communicate an outward message, but like a face, a startup office provides insight into what’s going on underneath the surface.

Startup 196

Startup Employee Founder 196

Genuine VC

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

When Chad Pytel introduced me to Bryan Helmkamp , CEO/Co-founder of Code Climate , I knew that I had to pay attention. Chad is the CEO of thoughtbot, a consulting firm that makes web + mobile apps for early-stage startups.

Software Review 191

Software Review Chad Ruby PHP 191

Genuine VC

MAY 5, 2015

Today, I’m thrilled to publicly announce NextView’s Talent Exchange, a program helping both top talent and NextView-backed startups connect with each other more easily, beginning with Boston companies (which make up just over half our portfolio). For our startups, we knew we could help them source better and move faster.

Portfolio 100

Portfolio Startup Boston Seed Stage 100

Genuine VC

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

Everything in startups is selling. Recruiting new employees is one of the most important selling jobs that a Founder/CEO does in the first couple years of a startup’s life (and subsequently for that matter). Selling to financiers. Selling to customers.

Startup 123

Startup Cofounder Employee Hiring 123

Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Given communication tools and an array of online services which foster and empower remote working, many startups are successfully building and creating product with teams all around the world. Fairly often I hear entrepreneurs pitch that their startup doesn’t have a headquarters – everyone works remotely and it works.

Estonia 130

Estonia Startup Distribution Chicago 130

Genuine VC

JULY 19, 2010

Initial investment in a company is among the first non-founder capital raised. In the sector of internet-enabled services where a majority of the Micro VC investment has transpired, startups can fundamentally do more with less. The capital deployment velocity is notably higher than a traditional 1-2 investment per partner per year.

Seed Stage 175

Seed Stage Technical Review Dilution Offshore 175

Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Given communication tools and an array of online services which foster and empower remote working, many startups are successfully building and creating product with teams all around the world. Fairly often I hear entrepreneurs pitch that their startup doesn’t have a headquarters – everyone works remotely and it works.

Estonia 100

Estonia Startup Distribution Chicago 100

Genuine VC

JUNE 12, 2012

A few weeks ago, a very good friend who works at a growing startup emailed me with the following question (in which I’ve masked just a few of the identifying details): What does it mean when almost all of a startup’s early employees have left the company? By almost any measure, [our company] is doing phenomenally well.

Vesting 112

Vesting Silicon Valley Startup New York 112

Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

Once you’ve figured out whether you want to find a very early stage startup or a late stage one (the topic of my first post in this series ), the real hard work begins. Whether it’s early or late, there are always a certain set of startups within a particular ecosystem that are generating all of the talk in the community.

Startup 148

Startup Portfolio Later Stage Hiring 148

Genuine VC

JULY 9, 2013

Recently, we surveyed our Boston-based NextView portfolio Founder/CEOs asking them about which service provider firms they’ve been using. Although these startups are very diverse businesses themselves, they face similar requirements (especially in that they’re currently all in the seed to Series B range of company stage).

Early Stage 246

Early Stage Boston Portfolio Silicon Valley 246

Genuine VC

MARCH 16, 2015

A couple weeks ago my colleague Dimitri Dadiomov published a post on NextView’s “View From Seed” blog which answered the question “Should we take Harvard MBAs Seriously as Startup Founders?” From the group, over 260 founders have launched around 90 startups, raising more than $2.5B in capital. Quite the contrary.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Stealth Warrant Venture Capital 100

Genuine VC

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

Like a lot of students, I went into business school a decade ago with a set plan to start a company coming straight after graduation in co-founding an internet startup (… again ). Go outside the business school to meet co-founders. Recruit” your co-founders there; it’s more difficult, but that’s the point.

Cofounder 256

Cofounder Portfolio Venture Capital Reputation 256

Genuine VC

MARCH 24, 2014

A couple years ago, my partner Lee penned a blog post about the milestone benchmarks for startups raising a Series A round of financing. There really isn’t a hard and fast prescription for start-ups to follow after they’ve raised their Seed round, so what’s a startup to do? Just plow ahead blindly and hope for the best?

Seed Capital 212

Seed Capital Metrics Cofounder Revenue 212

Genuine VC

JUNE 18, 2013

As a startup-tech industry, we’ve been talking about it coming right around the corner for well over a decade. And we’re thematically making new investments in startups which ride this momentous wave, like our two most-recently announced ones in Sunrise and tapCommerce. As it’s a salient one for any and all startups in our space.

Mobile 131

Mobile Web Boston Distribution 131

Genuine VC

APRIL 12, 2012

Subtly behind that question is often one about the experience-level of the founders. For founders who have more working experience in large companies or at startups, those who resonate with authenticity are most often those who are addressing problems/opportunities which they have observed first-hand.

Vertical 144

Vertical Portfolio Search Internet 144

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

JUNE 28, 2011

But particularly in a startup, where time is of the essence, those reference calls fall to the bottom of the to-do list, and often are never made. All of that being said, it surprises me how infrequently startups, and especially startup founders, make diligence calls to pressure-test their decisions. 80/20 is key.

Due Diligence 159

Due Diligence Green Conversion Founder 159

Genuine VC

MARCH 25, 2014

In his Boston-based career, he’s also worked for Google and local startup Dailybreak, in addition to co-founding the community group Boston Content which has grown to hundreds of members. My startup is part of the NextView portfolio. I don’t work for a NextView-backed startup. What does this mean for us? Why should I care?

Boston 123

Boston Early Stage Portfolio Cofounder 123

Genuine VC

MAY 18, 2011

I excited not only about becoming an investor, but also about joining the company’s board to work together with the Founder & CEO Jason Gracilieri to revolutionize how contemporary art is enjoyed in the home and office. Of course, like any startup there is quite a bit of work to be done.

Cofounder 118

Cofounder Boston Angel Investor Founder 118

Genuine VC

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

There are a couple classic archetypes of internet/software founders, including the genius college student cooking up something quirky but ultimately disruptive in his dorm room who launches his company straight out of undergrad. Plus, on top of it all, with accelerator programs we’re net importing kick-ass founders from all over the world.

Boston 206

Boston Internet Entrepreneur .Net 206

Genuine VC

MAY 1, 2014

Just about fifteen years ago, Josh Schanker and I, along with our co-founders Elliot Shmukler and Tammy O’Neil Bolduc started Sombasa Media together. Our company offered a series of consumer-facing properties, including our flagship property BargainDog, which was an early e-commerce daily deals email newsletter.

Cofounder 118

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Social Network 118

Genuine VC

OCTOBER 23, 2012

A few days ago, a friend who works at a growing startup emailed me with the following question (in which I’ve masked just a few of the identifying details): I caught up with a friend of mine from high school that has started a new company where my skills are very pertinent. We’re close to formalizing some sort of relationship.

Equity 116

Equity Cofounder Early Stage Framework 116

Genuine VC

JANUARY 31, 2012

The answer narrates how founders meet and eventually come together, how the idea for the current incarnation of the business emerged, and how the (inevitably) winding road of the initial days given rise to the current perspective and approach. This question is my absolute favorite to ask when I first meet a team who is fundraising.

Forecast 215

Forecast Framework Conversion Founder 215

Genuine VC

APRIL 12, 2012

Subtly behind that question is often one about the experience-level of the founders. For founders who have more working experience in large companies or at startups, those who resonate with authenticity are most often those who are addressing problems/opportunities which they have observed first-hand.

Vertical 109

Vertical Portfolio Search Internet 109

Genuine VC

JANUARY 23, 2012

And along the way we’ve met with or observed a larger number of seed-stage startups attempting to start them. What are the best practices for going from zero to sixty with a marketplace startup? One way to jump-start a marketplace with sellers is to attract them to a platform with carrots other than buyer demand.

Engineer 201

Engineer Vertical Portfolio Seed Stage 201

Genuine VC

MARCH 8, 2012

In many situations, a startup pitch just lacks that one additional compelling factor that empowers an investor to take that leap of faith… and it’s challenging to crystallize what’s exactly missing. We enter meetings with entrepreneurs not looking for reasons to say no, but rather with the hope of hearing a story which is truly exciting.

Venture Capital 167

Venture Capital Portfolio Conversion Partner 167

Genuine VC

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

We’ve observed it repeatedly in our portfolio as Founder/CEOs seek additional rounds of financing: the engaged skeptics just never quite get there, but the entrepreneurs who cast the nets wide enough find someone who believes. The company has spoken with literally multiple dozens of VC firms.

Search 143

Search Seed Stage Forecast .Net 143

Genuine VC

MARCH 25, 2010

That situation sounds very positive in theory, but the problem is that this founder wasn’t ready for this interest and is trying to play catch up in other capital raising discussions (with both angels and VCs). Like most things, knowing who, when, how much, about what, and how often to talk to VCs about your startup is not clear-cut.

Early Stage 123

Early Stage Venture Capital Term Sheet Conversion 123

Genuine VC

MARCH 25, 2010

That situation sounds very positive in theory, but the problem is that this founder wasn’t ready for this interest and is trying to play catch up in other capital raising discussions (with both angels and VCs). Like most things, knowing who, when, how much, about what, and how often to talk to VCs about your startup is not clear-cut.

Early Stage 121

Early Stage Venture Capital Term Sheet Conversion 121

Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 9, 2011

Evaluating a startup as a prospective employee is tough, especially when you compare to VCs. Plus, VCs often will have met the Founder/CEOs of many of a particular startup’s competitors, so they’ll have an even richer understand of the market landscape. Is it shooting for a big market?

Startup 146

Startup Burn Rate Technical Review Down Round 146

Genuine VC

DECEMBER 17, 2012

However, there is typically (and should be plenty of) time for founders to ask VCs questions about their approach and working-style to help determine if there’s a mutual fit.

Venture Capital 196

Venture Capital Conversion Search Entrepreneur 196

Genuine VC

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

Continuing this thesis, yesterday it was announced that we at NextView made an investment in Cambridge-based CustomMade along with Google Ventures, First Round Capital, Founder Collective, Launch Capital, and angels.

Web 134

Web Portfolio Security Engineer 134

Genuine VC

JULY 1, 2014

In every single venture investment I’m involved with here at NextView Ventures, I learn a lot from the Founders of their company. It’s easy to say that you’ll prioritize strategic revenue, but it’s much much tougher to do in practice, especially at a startup. Of course you want the founding team to get along. That’s a given.

Founder 142

Founder Syndicate Syndication Mobile 142

Genuine VC

MARCH 4, 2013

With all of our seed stage investments here at NextView, we both look at the market opportunity as well as the team behind the startup.

Seed Stage 124

Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication Cofounder 124

Genuine VC

MARCH 8, 2012

In many situations, a startup pitch just lacks that one additional compelling factor that empowers an investor to take that leap of faith… and it’s challenging to crystallize what’s exactly missing. We enter meetings with entrepreneurs not looking for reasons to say no, but rather with the hope of hearing a story which is truly exciting.

Venture Capital 103

Venture Capital Portfolio Conversion Partner 103

Genuine VC

JANUARY 31, 2012

The answer narrates how founders meet and eventually come together, how the idea for the current incarnation of the business emerged, and how the (inevitably) winding road of the initial days given rise to the current perspective and approach. This question is my absolute favorite to ask when I first meet a team who is fundraising.

Forecast 100

Forecast Framework Conversion Founder 100