Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

million from more than 30 investors. After they see a name they trust, everybody wants to invest” It’s called “ social proof ” and it’s a good thing for entrepreneurs. But we’ve gotten the point where ENIFA and they will invest with no information based solely on the name of who else has invested.

Cap Table 150

Cap Table Cofounder Silicon Valley Startup 150

YoungUpstarts

MAY 1, 2020

However, strategy — not speed — is often the name of the game. Most startups will need a viable product and proof of credibility before they can expect early-stage investors to really bite. But the warning still holds: Don’t focus on lead investors exclusively (even if they’re the ideal outcome).

Early Stage 165

Early Stage Security Angel Investor Lead Investor 165

Hippoland

APRIL 9, 2017

But, there are lots of ways to screw it up that you may not even realize that you are doing so: 1) You name-drop and overstate your friendship with a bunch of famous people who don’t know you really well I cannot tell you how many people tell me they are bffs with Dave McClure. If you didn’t go to a name school, people will ask about that.

Cofounder 48

Cofounder Early Stage Software Review Naming 48

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

Also, sharing some flavor (but not necessarily full detailed specifics) of the existing investor-set adds context. For example, stating “angels” is fine, and even highlighting notable names can be useful, but it’s unnecessary to share an exhaustive list. What not to include is directly stating valuation expectations.

Cap Table 211

Cap Table Seed Stage Valuation Dilution 211

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

It’s a tough dance but I would suggest the following: In most cases don’t name an actual price Your job is to “anchor” by giving the VC a general range without saying it. Why shouldn’t most founders just name a price? this is seeking feedback / testing your reponse) Here you’ve set a bunch of signals without naming your price.

Valuation 324

Valuation Post-Money Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Cofounder 324

Gust

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

As such, your public profile should include everything non-confidential about your business that may attract the interest of potential investors, and your private profile should contain complete, accurate information about all the details of the business that will lead investors to request an in-person meeting with you.

Angel Groups 159

Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

David Teten

MARCH 31, 2012

I’m exceptionally excited to announce that I’m now Chairman and lead investor with some other angels in a new company, Spright Governance Inc. Due to the nature of our business, we cannot disclose most client’s names. I can tell you that we have signed an exclusive contract to run most of the operations of a small U.S.

Government 154

Government Singapore New York City Non-Compete 154

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 19, 2023

Is Their Company Name a Core Value Or Marketing Spin You learn a lot when buying a first home. And I learned that the origin of a neighborhood’s name will reveal whether or not it’s descriptively accurate. spoiler, in my case it’s foggy] Hearing a company’s brand name always brings me back to this point. Or was it a feint?

Naming 62

Naming Lead Investor Distribution Technology 62

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

If you have a “lead&# investor agreed then the price is already set and you don’t have to worry about price. I usually say something like, “I know a couple of people over there. If at some point you feel comfortable and if it makes sense I’d be happy to speak with them.&#. Was it collusion?

Entrepreneur 292

Entrepreneur Technical Review Stealth Valuation 292

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." How many seed investors should you take money from? Typically 5 to 15, with a strong lead investor with relevant expertise, passion, time to work with you and a great rolodex.

Investment Bankers 153

Investment Bankers Technical Review Cofounder Due Diligence 153

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Prabhdeep Singh: Ask any entrepreneur about their most valuable resource when they’re making tough decisions, and you’ll hear the name of someone, not something. Over the past 15 years we’ve built this amazing membership to serve our core clients – leading investors, corporations, consulting firms, and nonprofits.

New York 114

New York Technical Review Networking Advisory Board 114

Growthink Blog

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

Since 2005, they have been the two leading investors in Africa, investing $31 billion and $16 billion on the continent, respectively. The concept of The Black Swan was popularized by the great Lebanese thinker and writer Nicholas Taleb in his bestseller of the same name.

Africa 104

Africa Brazil China India 104

View from Seed

AUGUST 12, 2015

Today, Lumos Labs is better known by their product’s name, Lumosity.com, which is used by more than 70M worldwide. In particular, he asked one very clever question of VCs to run a smoother, more effective process, culminating in four term sheets from interested, lead investors.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Marketing Angel Investor Term Sheet 120

View from Seed

AUGUST 12, 2015

Today, Lumos Labs is better known by their product’s name, Lumosity.com, which is used by more than 70M worldwide. In particular, he asked one very clever question of VCs to run a smoother, more effective process, culminating in four term sheets from interested, lead investors.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Marketing Angel Investor Term Sheet 120

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

AngelList – as great and innovative as it is – does not guarantee success for investors. lots of brand names piling on) can lead to group think and price creep. Lead investors and follow investors can both win equally but in each case you know why you personally are writing the check.

Angel Investor 288

Angel Investor Deal Flow Viral Algorithm 288

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you’re raising a round where a new lead investor would invest $5 million the VC fund must have no less than $100 million and if you’re looking for them to write $15–20 million as the lead their fund realistically should be at least $400 million. it must be a named individual that has some reason for you to meet.

Term Sheet 332

Term Sheet Due Diligence Campaign Sales 332

ReadWriteStart

MAY 9, 2018

The company’s growth is largely thanks to its collaborators – Travelport, its first investor and incubator, lead investor 7 Gate Ventures, and Real Venture. It achieved a conversion rate of up to 4.48%, approximately twice as high as the next leading online travel agency (2.4%).

Widget 64

Widget France Canada Aggregator 64

The Next Web

DECEMBER 4, 2012

If you want to apply, you have until the end of the year to submit your name for consideration. million , with its most recent round coming earlier this summer, with the lead investor being iNovia Capital. The company says it will not take equity or a share of any company that emerges from this program.

Incubator 119

Incubator Engineer Developer San Francisco 119

Babbling VC

DECEMBER 5, 2010

Without naming the name of the companies, I clearly made two investments convinced of the product and that people would love it. Running around Europe trying to find lead investors for these businesses was priority number 1. Unfortunately I made the mistake of thinking I knew the customer or user.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Europe Portfolio Germany 76

View from Seed

JANUARY 26, 2016

At NextView, we prefer to think in terms of a startup’s actual business progression rather than round names. They are either repeat successful founders or first-time founders who are still well-known and well-respected individuals by the lead investor. These tend to be cases where founders are proven.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Early Stage Cofounder Finance 120

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 20, 2014

Weston Bergmann is the founder and lead investor in a business incubator in Kansas City called BetaBlox. He’s lived in ten different countries and his dog’s name is Bootstrap. He’s acquired part of over 60 startups in the last two years alone. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

Kansas City 70

Kansas City Due Diligence Arizona Kansas 70

Rob Go

JULY 17, 2014

We want to be able to comfortably lead these rounds and speak for 1/3 – 1/2 of the capital or more. Our new fund size allows us to do that and continue to play the part of the lead investor. This leads to the second factor. In most ways however, Fund II is a carbon copy of fund I.

Seed Stage 69

Seed Stage Early Stage Due Diligence Liquidity Event 69

BeyondVC

JULY 7, 2010

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. A few months after closing that round, we changed the name to Greenplum. We bought that company in 2003 and invested some more capital.

Portfolio 109

Portfolio Architecture Open Source Database 109

BeyondVC

JULY 7, 2010

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. A few months after closing that round, we changed the name to Greenplum. We bought that company in 2003 and invested some more capital.

Portfolio 109

Portfolio Open Source Architecture Database 109

Growthink Blog

JULY 23, 2012

Since 2005, they have been the two leading investors in Africa, investing $31 billion and $16 billion on the continent, respectively. The concept of The Black Swan was popularized by the great Lebanese thinker and writer Nicholas Taleb in his bestseller of the same name.

Africa 76

Africa Brazil India China 76

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

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. While I agree that many VCs are crummy seed investors, I think there are some that are excellent seed investors.

Startup 191

Startup CTO Hire Cofounder Venture Capital 191

Bryce Dot VC

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

We don’t have a clever acronym or name for this instrument yet, but I’m sure we’ll come up with something great. The equity element will only become a factor if the participating company chooses to raise a round of financing or sell out to an acquiring company.

San Francisco 40

San Francisco Distribution Equity Delaware 40

The Next Web

OCTOBER 7, 2013

You might assume the lead investor wants a 20 percent stake and 15 percent option pool each time there’s a Series ‘Blah’ every 12 to 18 months, but this is admittedly too simple. Here’s an eye opener: Wilson’s quick and dirty analysis reveals teams will see between 80 to 90 percent dilution when all’s said and done.

Engineer 129

Engineer Dilution Option Pool Vesting 129

David Teten

JANUARY 10, 2012

He is an active angel with many successful angel investments including: Rent.com, (purchased by Ebay in 2005 for $415 million), Golfnow.com (purchased by Comcast in June 2008), and Lifelock (lead investors include Bessemer Venture Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers). and Tweetdeck (purchased by Twitter in June 2011).

Technical Review 128

Technical Review Technology North Carolina Switzerland 128

VC Adventure

MAY 21, 2014

A few months ago AngelList announced Syndicates - enabling investors on AngelList to create fund-like groups of investors to invest together in AngelList companies (following a single lead investor). We were the first formal venture fund to do this. And they do look at terms so structuring a fair deal is important.

Syndicate 93

Syndicate Syndication Technical Review Due Diligence 93

VC Adventure

MAY 21, 2014

A few months ago AngelList announced Syndicates – enabling investors on AngelList to create fund-like groups of investors to invest together in AngelList companies (following a single lead investor). We were the first formal venture fund to do this.

Syndicate 48

Syndicate Syndication Technical Review Due Diligence 48

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I sent out a teaser Tweet without releasing his name. I ask Naval about the importance of a lead investor. My opinion is that it’s very important to raise money from someone who is helpful and reputable and is willing to bring in the same types of investors. What if nobody stands up as a lead investor?

Valuation 292

Valuation Deal Flow Lead Investor Cofounder 292

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 2, 2011

If you can name drop big customers, do that too — you want your profile to look impressive. Look for Your Lead Investor. First you’ll want to find a lead investor — someone many other investors will recognize and respect. This list of top angel investors is a good start. Include numbers.

Social Media 80

Social Media Startup Angel Investor RSS 80

Up and Running

JANUARY 25, 2017

The lead investor, the individual that seemed the most optimistic about our pitch, was surprised to hear from me so soon. I was surprised he answered the phone; most investors don’t want to take follow-up calls from people that have recently pitched them. But I was too upset to sleep.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Cofounder Security Partner 60

Austin Startup

MAY 17, 2017

At a minimum, the lead investor(s) of the round get Board seats; although they shouldn’t get Board control. Giving someone a seat on your Board of Directors is 100x more consequential to the company than naming them an advisor. Less has been written about what startup boards tend to look like before a Series A round.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Startup Cap Table Angel Investor 48

Gust

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

Instead it came down to the simple question of “how can you get angel investors and venture capital funds to join and use the platform?” With that challenge in mind, we started market development over seven years ago, under the brand name of Angelsoft, focused single-mindedly on servicing the emerging world of organized angel investors.

Angel Investor 79

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Venture Capital Finance 79

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

Even though we glossed over those slides, investors knew they could come back to those slides later and dig into them if necessary. By this point in the presentation, our goal was to lead investors to believe: A network-empowered people search application could be really valuable.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111