Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

Most of these rhyme with what we’ve said in the past, but some have also evolved to fit the changing landscape and our own convictions about what really matters for founders and their investors at the seed stage. We are first and foremost pre-traction investors. Belief #1: The best time to invest is early.

North America 36

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 36

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Prorata investments rights given investors the right to invest in your future fund-raising rounds and maintain their ownership % in your company as your company grows and raises more capital. What would you do as an LP fund if you backed a seed-stage GP who had a position in Twitter, Pinterest, etc.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

Traction is a biweekly podcast where founders share the creative or unusual things they did during the seed stage to make early progress. In the 10th edition of Traction, we hear the story of Vin Vacanti , co-founder/CEO of Yipit.com (daily deals aggregator) and YipitData (analyzes web data for institutional investors).

Framework 120

Framework Cofounder Seed Stage B2C 120

Rob Go

OCTOBER 14, 2012

Early Progress: Performance is a difficult thing to measure as a seed stage fund given the time horizons and the fickleness of private company valuations. We enjoy really great partnerships with other institutional investors that we have either worked with or hope to work with in the future.

New Hampshire 50

New Hampshire Croatia Omaha Portfolio 50

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2011

Meanwhile, the bubble for “seed stage&# startups began when Ron Conway’s Silicon Valley Angels and DST guaranteed every startup out of a YCombinator $150,000. The Russian investment group, DST, is an example, with their $200 million investment in Facebook, at a $10 billion valuation, in 2009.

Silicon Valley 327

Silicon Valley Stealth Valuation Mississippi 327

K9 Ventures

MAY 14, 2011

This is what has led to the current frothiness at the seed stage, because these angels pay up for access to deals. This in theory is very similar to the behavior of institutional investors, however, there is one big difference. Convertible Note or Preferred Stock. Preferred Stock. Preferred Stock. Board Seats.

Preferred Stock 125

Preferred Stock Seed Stage Incubator Early Stage 125

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

We’re thrilled to have among our limited partners a select group of individuals from the startup ecosystem as well as several large institutional investors (including a university endowment, a corporate pension fund, and a multi-family office). As many of you know, NextView is a seed-stage VC fund. Best of luck.

LP 100

LP Seed Stage Silicon Valley Limited Partner 100

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 2, 2014

Non-institutional Leads. I’ve seen a few cases now where a number of very high-quality institutional investors were interested in investing in a company at valuation, but a non-institutional investor was willing to set terms 1.5 – 2X higher than that valuation.

Cram Down 66

Cram Down Institutional Investors Dilution Seed Stage 66

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

We take board seats and want to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with founders at the seed stage to try to make the biggest possible impact. – We are seed investors. And our plan is to continue adding more and more to the resources section where we think it will be helpful to founders at the seed stage. (PS:

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Startup Portfolio Institutional Investors 120

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

You attend annual meetings and hop on investor calls as a means of oversight and to help you decide whether or not to invest in a future fund. For the VC that means if you're returning money to your institutional investors, that's about all you need to worry about. If you're an individual, you've probably put in less money, so.

Limited Partner 60

Limited Partner Venture Capital Partner LP 60

ithacaVC

APRIL 5, 2011

One rule of simple cap tables is to issue “normal” stock to founders (common stock only) and investors (typically preferred stock, but sometimes common stock to early friends and family). A real institutional investor wants to invest $XX,000 in his company.

Common Stock 45

Common Stock Stock Cap Table Preferred Stock 45

K9 Ventures

MARCH 23, 2011

There has been a lot of noise in the Valley lately about how most seed stage deals are now being done as convertible notes. In fact, PG from Y Combinator has proclaimed that that it is how things will be going forward. That might well be so, but I for one am not a fan of convertible notes.

Pre-Money Valuation 132

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Equity Liquidation Preference 132

Rob Go

JANUARY 7, 2013

We focus on investing in seed stage companies. We almost always invest in the first round of institutional capital for these companies, in rounds that range from approximately $500K – $2M. But we behave pretty much exactly the same way in those companies as we do when we are the lead and only institutional investor.

Portfolio 49

Portfolio Seed Stage Cofounder B2B 49

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 6, 2011

Jussi Laakkonen , CEO & founder of Applifie, summarized it well: We recently raised our seed round at Applifier and it was led by a silicon valley seed fund MHS Capital, whose general partner is Mark Sugarman. And what do the investors think? In answer to the question Do Silicon Valley Angels invest in startups overseas?

Silicon Valley 104

Silicon Valley Startup Seed Stage Delaware 104

View from Seed

MAY 29, 2019

Many of us in the seed stage ecosystem have noticed a shift in the way seed rounds are coming together. Historically, seed rounds were syndicated among several different firms. As rounds have gotten bigger, there is often still an opportunity for at least a couple funds to collaborate. Is This is Good or Bad for Founders?

Syndicate 267

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Cap Table 267

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 24, 2012

Venture capitalists are raising money from other investors, institutional investors who expect certain returns from us. So VCs invest in different stages. You have seed stage, A round, B round, C round, D round. And to get those returns, we need very big wins. What Vcs are investing?

Silicon Valley 204

Silicon Valley Software Review Internet Technical Review 204

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 17, 2016

Plus, if the business doesn’t raise enough the capital in the first round to become self-sustaining, the crowdfunding round’s cap table and/or terms may make the deal unattractive or not doable for follow-on, institutional investors. It is often seed stage investors who help open the doors to all these types of relationships.

Equity 100

Equity United Kingdom Cap Table Oklahoma 100

Austin Startup

MAY 17, 2017

It also can just be logistically cumbersome for a seed stage company to keep track of who gets to attend meetings, who has to be notified of what, etc. Giving seed stage investors Board seats is not the norm. Do not dish out Board observer rights lightly. Take it seriously.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Startup Cap Table Angel Investor 48

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 21, 2014

17 core investments have been made, I’d say our investment model was, and continues to be, consistent with the type of firm we want to build but if you’re not constantly evaluating how to get better and serve entrepreneurs, you won’t last very long in the early stage venture business.

Cofounder 102

Cofounder Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication 102

Rob Go

OCTOBER 22, 2015

We take board seats and want to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with founders at the seed stage to try to make the biggest possible impact. – We are seed investors. And our plan is to continue adding more and more to the resources section where we think it will be helpful to founders at the seed stage. (PS:

Seed Stage 28

Seed Stage Portfolio Institutional Investors Later Stage 28

Rob Go

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

I was surprised to find that it has been more than two years since my post summarizing the state of the seed stage market, and trying to bring a balanced view on the rise of Super Angels and Micro-VC’s. The venture capital market continues to be in transition, and a lot of changes have occurred in the early stages of the market.

Seed Stage 55

Seed Stage Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Early Stage 55

grasshopperherder.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

As such, you should make sure to think of the proposals as an investor and get a reasonable term sheet. Please note: I am not an institutional investor and I am not a consultant although I occasionally dabble/consult in projects I find particularly interesting. Here are some of my favorite things to avoid.

Sweat Equity 41

Sweat Equity Equity Cofounder Non-Compete 41