View from Seed

FEBRUARY 4, 2021

It’s a super important, near permanent relationship, especially for a lead investor that is likely to take a board seat for many years. First, unlike in dating, a VC is already an investor in multiple companies when they are considering an investment in a new startup. This is true. But in my experience, the metaphor ends there.

Founder 280

Founder Lead Investor Portfolio Reputation 280

ReadWriteStart

JULY 18, 2011

Jeff Clavier was the first tech investor I ever met; he was introduced to me years ago by some hip engineers in a bar as "one of the few cool VCs." The market just isn't that efficient to truly determine the best. I look for a smart ass team, building a kick ass product, in a big ass market," he said.

Investment Bankers 153

Investment Bankers Technical Review Cofounder Due Diligence 153

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

I’ve written on the expert network industry a fair amount in the past: see How to Earn More Consulting Revenue from Expert Networks and How Executives Can Work with Private Equity and Venture Capital Portfolio Companies. Prabhdeep Singh: GLG Share works in concert with the startup’s investors and VCs however we can.

New York 114

New York Technical Review Networking Advisory Board 114

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 30, 2022

There’s also many wonderful angel/operators and smaller supporting funds with large portfolio strategies. Not for competitive reasons (I don’t believe) but because they are primarily trying to help a startup find a lead investor, and we used to be that for them, but now rarely lead seed rounds.

Cap Table 67

Cap Table Venture Capital Cofounder Portfolio 67

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2021

The majority had dedicated more time to guiding the portfolio companies through the pandemic. . The idea that CEOs must have charisma can lead investors to overlook promising candidates, and to consider others unsuited for the role. What will be the long-term implications of the proliferation of virtual decision making?

Venture Capital 350

Venture Capital Cofounder Early Stage Seed Stage 350

BeyondVC

JULY 7, 2010

We did have some large initial customers but quickly realized that we were far from capital efficient in a market crash and that we would have to refocus and restart. We launched an initial prototype, landed a few customers, and brought in Mission Ventures as a new lead investor for the restart of the company.

Portfolio 109

Portfolio Open Source Architecture Database 109

Genuine VC

JULY 10, 2012

There are essentially two distinct basic strategies for startup entrepreneurs to raise a seed round of capital: Subscription approach – An entrepreneur sets a structure (usually a convertible note) and recruits individual angel investors who subscribe to the round, all without a term-driving lead investor.

Syndicate 207

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Portfolio 207

BeyondVC

JULY 7, 2010

We did have some large initial customers but quickly realized that we were far from capital efficient in a market crash and that we would have to refocus and restart. We launched an initial prototype, landed a few customers, and brought in Mission Ventures as a new lead investor for the restart of the company.

Portfolio 109

Portfolio Architecture Open Source Database 109

View from Seed

OCTOBER 21, 2014

Using NextView as an example, since we both seek to lead the seed round and only lead during this round, I’ve seen this trend manifest in one of two ways: In a priced round, the entrepreneur will often share their valuation ask (or a stated floor) for the pre-money valuation of their company much sooner in the process.

Valuation 336

Valuation Founder Seed Stage Angel Investor 336

Babbling VC

DECEMBER 5, 2010

We overlooked doing extensive market research. More specifically, we did market research in the wrong place. Technically, co-investors would fall under the "People" heading above but here I'm focussing more on the funds themselves and not specific partners or people at that fund. . We never led rounds.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Europe Portfolio Germany 76

www.readwriteweb.com

MARCH 7, 2011

Based on my experience as the co-founder of StartupDigest , I believe that the startup investing industry is quickly being organized more like the public investing market, and what we are seeing now is a battle of two major investment theses: the index approach and the concentrated investment approach. s 500, and the Nasdaq composite Index.

Technical Review 50

Technical Review Due Diligence Startup Angel Investor 50

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2011

If you’re in LA and looking for somebody to do project-based marketing jobs – Jacqui’s your lady (not to mention a fellow UCSD alum!). We’re almost always the lead investor and usually the most active, too. We didn’t want this section to be our recommendations but those of our portfolio. Next I might steal this.

Early Stage 260

Early Stage Lead Investor Portfolio Partner 260

Hunter Walker

APRIL 20, 2018

Like we do at the seed stage, USV almost always plays the role of “ lead investor.” ” And later: “The truth about these situations is a few seed investors will massively over deliver and the rest will massively disappoint.” But it often is not.”

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Lead Investor Portfolio Reputation 48

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. I always tell founders … “An investors job is to deploy capital and make a return. I think there’s some truth in this. remember: Qualify, qualify, qualify.

Term Sheet 332

Term Sheet Due Diligence Campaign Sales 332

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

In the future, angel rounds will less often be for specific amountsor have a lead investor. forstartups was to find one angel to act as the lead investor. Youdnegotiate a round size and valuation with the lead, whod supplysome but not all of the money. Then the startup and the lead wouldcooperate to find the rest.

Startup 93

Startup Valuation Non-Compete Deal Flow 93

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 10, 2022

In industry terms, I’d call this a “miss/loss,” which VCs tend to not write about for obvious reasons (I’ve got a whole other rant on the fake performative anti-portfolio lists — Bessemer’s aside). The seed round gets done with a surplus of demand — I mean you’re a second time founder working in an area of expertise that is a huge market.

Cofounder 89

Cofounder Founder Acquisition Startup 89

David Teten

JULY 12, 2017

When I meet with other VCs, family offices, and other institutional investors, the most common question I get is: “What are the highest-potential companies in your portfolio which are raising now?” If I can reduce a portfolio company’s time burden, I create value for them. Market Insight. Fundraising is burdensome.

Syndicate 60

Syndicate Syndication Institutional Investors LP 60

Rob Go

JULY 17, 2014

It shows that things are working and there is product/market fit, but there is a long way to go towards building an enduring company of great consequence. For a seed stage venture capital firm, product/market fit comes down to two questions. 1) How is the portfolio performing? This leads to the second factor. Twitter ).

Seed Stage 69

Seed Stage Early Stage Due Diligence Liquidity Event 69

Feld Thoughts

JULY 28, 2014

When I first heard about VC firms in the late 1980s, and my first company (Feld Technologies) started writing portfolio management software for some Boston-based VC firms, many of them had funds with SBIC leverage, although even by the late 1980s this was changing and many of them had shifted away from the SBIC.

SBIC 142

SBIC Venture Capital Colorado SBA 142

ithacaVC

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

You evaluate the team, product, market and other variables – then, make a general guess. Market size. A big market determines the upside potential. In a world where only the 1000x companies make back portfolios, this is really important. [2] The valuation only exists if investors validate it. Upside risk. [3]

Valuation 69

Valuation Startup Down Round Early Stage 69

Reid Hoffman

JANUARY 26, 2021

This is one of the reasons why the best practice for a startup is to raise investment rounds from different lead investors rather than simply doing internal rounds, even if an internal round requires less work. You always have choices, but the results may depend on external factors like competition or market.

Startup 36

Startup Equity Early Stage Green 36

View from Seed

AUGUST 26, 2015

Maybe you’ll do better as an angel since you are investing smaller dollars which is easier to deploy in this segment of the market, but maybe not. Favor investment rounds with strong leads that haven’t raised millions of dollars before you. If you are investing with strong leads, pricing will be reasonably close to market prices.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Angel Investor Software Review Silicon Valley 120

View from Seed

AUGUST 26, 2015

Maybe you’ll do better as an angel since you are investing smaller dollars which is easier to deploy in this segment of the market, but maybe not. Favor investment rounds with strong leads that haven’t raised millions of dollars before you. If you are investing with strong leads, pricing will be reasonably close to market prices.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Angel Investor Software Review Silicon Valley 120

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 1, 2021

Construction is a trillion-dollar market, but planning remains complicated and inaccurate. ICAS® can then be scaled up across the customer’s portfolio bringing enterprise-wide benefits. She’s also our lead investor interface, and great at articulating our vision to investors and partners alike.

Technical Review 110

Technical Review Founder Saudi Arabia Cofounder 110

View from Seed

MAY 29, 2019

Today, we are seeing less syndication of seed rounds and sharper elbows among many of the funds in the market. This post will try to describe why this is happening and what repercussions are for founders and investors. Similarly, the seed market is beginning to look like this too. These two forces go hand in hand.

Syndicate 267

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Cap Table 267

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

They don’t mind being the lead investor on deals that they seeded. Their entrepreneurs are evangelical about how great it is to be part of True’s portfolio. And more to the point – if you hit a major economic down cycle (like September 2008) you’ll have tough times with all investors. Seeds deals.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Term Sheet Early Stage Silicon Valley 265

David Teten

JANUARY 10, 2012

The first panel will focus on public markets and will discuss the use and effectiveness of social media tools and data mining technologies in harnessing the wisdom of crowds to generate investment ideas. Howard Lindzon is Co-Founder and CEO of StockTwits, a social network for traders and investors to share real-time ideas and information.

Technical Review 128

Technical Review Technology North Carolina Switzerland 128

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

We were co-lead investors in Grove’s seed round and actually doubled down in an intermediate round prior to this challenging series A process. When I think of all the value drivers in our portfolio, every single one faced at least one if not several crucible moments like this. The second is customer obsession and market focus.

Founder 153

Founder Cofounder Seed Stage Portfolio 153

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Last night at the NY Tech Meetup, John Britton of our portfolio company Twilio showed how it is done. How I Think About Seed Investing As A VC - Feld Thoughts , August 2, 2010 Last week saw an explosion of discussion around seed investing, including plenty of negative comments around VCs as seed investors. twenty in your wallet?

Startup 191

Startup CTO Hire Cofounder Venture Capital 191

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

In some ways it’s ALWAYS to an investor’s benefit to suggest a potential new investment wouldn’t be competitive to an existing portfolio company, and it’s ALWAYS to the current portfolio company’s benefit to suggest it might be. Why do I care about how investors at other firms get paid? So what’s a founder to do?

Early Stage 114

Early Stage Cofounder Vertical Portfolio 114

David Teten

FEBRUARY 3, 2014

Out of 5,923 investment professionals in our dataset, 916 (15.5%) were focused primarily on origination and marketing. Leading Late-Stage Technology Investors’ Portfolio by Geography, 2001-1Q2010. By analogy, look at a middle market private equity firms such as the Riverside Company.

Private Equity 114

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Equity 114

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

It doesn’t matter whether an entrepreneur is in our portfolio, whether we’re considering an investment, or whether we’re casually meeting for the first time. we weren’t the natural leader of a market or technology trend that everyone was paying attention to, we didn’t have substantial organic growth, and. we had no revenue.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

One day I got a call from my two investors, “Hey Steve, we’re both going to be up in San Francisco, lets grab lunch.” I liked my two investors. Steve, we thought we’d tell you this before the board meeting, but both our firms are going to pass on leading your next round.” Our board meetings were collegial and often fun.

San Francisco 331

San Francisco Silicon Valley Limited Partner Venture Capital 331

Professor VC

JANUARY 20, 2009

From first hand experience, we certainly felt the market conditions and the funding process was much more difficult than anticipated. Evaluate Business and Financing Needs - We initially went out seeking $10 million in financing, but listened to the prospective investors and watched the market. Same principle here.

Venture Capital 28

Venture Capital Silicon Valley San Jose Bootstrapping 28

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

He was raising money initially in the worst market in a decade (we met in 2008), he’s in his mid-40′s, is doing a mom’s site (he has no kids) and he has a JewFro. I think how hard it is for me to be hands-on with a handful of portfolio companies. I argue there is simply no substitute for experienced investors.

Valuation 292

Valuation Deal Flow Lead Investor Cofounder 292

K9 Ventures

OCTOBER 19, 2015

I know very little about public markets and in fact, actively try to avoid most things in public markets. ” That is precisely how things seems to be operating in late stage private markets. ” That is precisely how things seems to be operating in late stage private markets. It’s not my thing.

Venture Capital 48

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Portfolio 48

Austin Startup

JUNE 4, 2017

Lead Investor : The person or firm who defines the terms of the round. That summary provided a very high-level overview of what we were doing, who we were, and a bit more about the market. The bottom line though is that cold prospecting for investors really doesn’t work. Facts I tracked my raise using HubSpot’s free CRM.

Austin 54

Austin Institutional Investors Angel Groups Deal Flow 54