Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

At the Upfront Summit in early February, we had a chance to have many off-the-record conversations with Limited Partners (LPs) who fund Venture Capital (VC) funds about their views of the market. …But LPs Have Been Putting Out More Money Than They Are Getting Back. That’s money that fuels our startup ecosystems.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital LP Silicon Valley Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2021

Three Rules of Fundraising “Sales” One of the common mistakes I see startups as well as VCs make is spending too much time on top of funnel prospecting. it’s not just startups who do it. Every other conversation will be wasted time, and just like an enterprise startup, wasted time is an existential threat. Why Buy Me?

LP 375

LP Southern California Los Angeles Differentiation 375

Version One Ventures

JULY 24, 2019

Right now, this is a two- to three-year role where our new team member will learn about the business of venture capital and get the opportunity to work with some really interesting startups. Reporting for our investors, including writing quarterly updates and preparing LP advisory board meetings.

Technical Review 125

Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence LP 125

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 24, 2017

Foundry Group is best known for our investments in startups, but our vehicle currently investing in other venture funds, Foundry Group Next, is off to what we believe to be a great start and I wanted to share an update about it by talking about our new investment in a fund managed by Founder Collective.

Founder 75

Founder LP Technical Review Seed Stage 75

David Teten

MAY 20, 2016

As one of the lead engineers at ff Venture Capital , I spend most of my day building custom software solutions that enhance our firm’s process–tools that range from portfolio investment management to co-investor and cap table tracking and more. We posted on our site a more in-depth overview of ff’s Tech Platform.

Private Equity 113

Private Equity Equity Cap Table Venture Capital 113

David Teten

MARCH 14, 2018

First Round Capital’s forum for portfolio executives is a powerful example of a scaleable resource. This allows a VC to put more capital to work in their past portfolio companies with relatively little extra effort. I’ve listed a few more below which require meaningful startup and ongoing costs.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Cofounder 60

Agile VC

OCTOBER 23, 2012

The VC industry (both the GP part and the LP part) pays attention to the sector’s returns, but the broader tech ecosystem only occasionally tunes in. 2) No Synthetic Alternative – If an LP can’t “buy” VC as an index, could they replicate the returns of an index some other way?

LP 176

LP Accredited Investor Carried Interest Portfolio 176

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 14, 2023

Since the middle of last week, there has been extreme stress on founders, startup leaders, and the extended startup community. I had many 1:1 conversations, emails, and messages with our portfolio company CEOs, along with several open Zoom lines where people could ask questions and just commiserate and feel part of a shared community.

Founder 168

Founder Silicon Valley LP Portfolio 168

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

A few weeks ago, we hosted a small dinner for a number of portfolio company founders, LP’s, and friends of the firm. One industry specific example is the strange fascination among some LPs and GPs around term IRR. This is the implied rate of return of a fund based on the value (mostly unrealized) of a portfolio.

IRR 205

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 205

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

It’s why I often advise angel investors to be careful about assuming that being an angel investor is a profitable exercise unless you have the ability to have a wide-enough portfolio to have a few companies doing extraordinarily well plus deep enough pockets to follow your winners. Why prorata rights are being guarded by VCs.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

A few weeks ago, we hosted a small dinner for a number of portfolio company founders, LP’s, and friends of the firm. One industry specific example is the strange fascination among some LPs and GPs around term IRR. This is the implied rate of return of a fund based on the value (mostly unrealized) of a portfolio.

IRR 156

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 156

Eric Friedman

DECEMBER 27, 2021

Operating as a sort of fund-of-funds model there is an economy of scale program for figuring out the GP/LP structure, working out the services providers like legal, audit, and tax handling. There is also a network effect of portfolio companies with early GPs. Startups are more likely to pay mercenaries with expertise (like me!)

Balance Sheet 97

Balance Sheet Stock Private Equity Option Pool 97

Hunter Walker

MARCH 28, 2018

And why a LP should give them theirs. Your portfolio page. Your portfolio page is your thesis. One challenge for seed investors especially is that your portfolio page is a lagging indicator of your interests. And hope to continue adding amazing companies to our portfolio page. Because the portfolio page is real.

Portfolio 102

Portfolio LP Differentiation Founder 102

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 26, 2014

But for now … Every year we run a big VC, LP & Tech Summit in Los Angeles (this year downtown) to showcase the best of our community and invite others from around the country. Our event this year will feature many portfolio companies and also emerging LA tech companies such as Tinder & Whisper. I will tell more.

Los Angeles 290

Los Angeles LP Startup Portfolio 290

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2015

I’ve met many VCs who take fund raising meetings with lots of LPs but struggle to get traction and I believe often the problem is that first meetings are easy but the 28 steps to get each LP to closure take an insane amount of focus, effort, follow through and discipline. Opening is easier than closing.

LP 150

LP Warrant Portfolio Framework 150

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

A few weeks ago, we hosted a small dinner for a number of portfolio company founders, LP’s, and friends of the firm. One industry specific example is the strange fascination among some LPs and GPs around term IRR. This is the implied rate of return of a fund based on the value (mostly unrealized) of a portfolio.

IRR 136

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 136

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 17, 2019

That said, there are two portfolio modeling/management tips that I do think are valuable exercises for every Fund I. If Your Portfolio Model Assumes Outperformance Across Multiple Metrics, I Don’t Believe It: Every VC fundraise has an Excel sheet that forecasts the performance of the fund.

Portfolio 104

Portfolio Forecast Dilution LP 104

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

At the other end of the spectrum large funds have gotten even larger in the past few years which has massively increased the amount of consolidation in our industry as 66% of LP money into venture is now concentrated in late-stage or full-cycle VCs. The “big boom” in startup financing started around March 2009?—?more Why is this?

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

The Equity Kicker

MARCH 19, 2012

The LP Update Meeting. I’m just back from our semi-annual update to the LPs in one of our funds, and I thought I would share the experience with you all. These meetings are the equivalent of board meetings for our portfolio companies. Portfolio update. Then we talk through the key portfolio companies in some detail.

LP 97

LP Europe Portfolio Private Equity 97

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Any CEO worth his or her salt knows that her investors get an insane amount of emails and often spend 8+ hours / day in meetings (board meetings, pitches, partner meetings, LP meetings, corporate relationship meetings) so often email is done on the run on one’s iPhone or in the early morning / late evening. Startup Advice'

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

The only problem that faces startup investors now is how to mine this new data layer efficiently to increase returns.”. For the broader use case of helping startups execute their legal paperwork, Clerky is a focused solution. EShares is an increasingly popular tool in our portfolio for tracking private company cap tables.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2017

Yves didn’t want to step down — he is still as active as any partner on our team — but he wanted me to take responsibility for: Strategy, recruiting, team development, LP relations, financial planning, etc. Lindel is no stranger to thorny venture capital issues — he was arguably amongst the most successful LPs of his generation.

Leadership 161

Leadership LP Venture Capital Silicon Valley 161

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

A caller dialed in to ask us questions about his startup. He was from South America but living in Switzerland and had launched a startup while holding down a day job at a consulting firm (McKinsey if memory serves). I want our associate to have empathy for the customers we serve — our portfolio companies. Why should I be?

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur CTO Hire South America Salary 293

Version One Ventures

JULY 31, 2018

Since 2012, we have made over 40 investments and have been busy building our fund, expanding and deepening our network, and most gratifyingly, working with our portfolio companies in their pursuit to transform their industries and the world. Executing projects of your own direction that help Version One and/or our portfolio companies.

Hiring 166

Hiring San Francisco Advisory Board Due Diligence 166

Hunter Walker

APRIL 27, 2014

I’ve written before about our fundraising process and how it very much resembles that of a startup. Last week we held our first annual LP meeting, when venture funds get their investors together with updates on operations and results. We make available coworking space for free.

LP 97

LP Cofounder Term Sheet Valuation 97

VC Cafe

JULY 4, 2022

Another impact of the meltdown of the public markets is on performance, in LP and VC books which resulted in 68% of funds estimated to have marked down companies in their portfolio. Narrative violation: VC investment in EMEA startups reached an all-time high in the first half of 2022. billion in June 2021. Source: The Economist.

Venture Capital 167

Venture Capital Valuation Private Equity LP 167

Austin Startup

AUGUST 10, 2017

3) Rebalancing — we rebalance portfolios monthly. They helped us establish 2 GP entities, 2 LP entities, and 1 Cayman entity (for international investors) in ~2 months. This is exponentially more arduous when combined with cold storage. PPPS, we’re also hiring a blockchain engineer.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Austin 48

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2014

Last week displayed the best of LA last week for a gala event of all of Upfront’s portfolio companies + the CEOs of many of LA’s top technology companies + 75 VC firms from LA, SF, NY & Boston + 25 LP Funds + the Chairman of Yahoo! Startup Lessons' And I’m proud of that, too.

Los Angeles 318

Los Angeles Silicon Valley LP Warrant 318

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Yes, VC / Startup Funding is up Massively If you look at how much VC firms have raised from Limited Partners (LPs) over the past 2 decades you’ll see that we’ve returned to a level that we haven’t seen since 1999. If you want the whole deck you can find it on SlideShare but I’ve written up a short summary with commentary below.

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital IPO Mezzanine Early Stage 292

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

We talked about what startup CEOs should do in these situations and how to think about these renegotiations. Biggest Advice I Give to Portfolio Founders? But when a fund writes checks into a portfolio company it typically “reserves” money to invest in future rounds. This is not a 2-month v-shaped correction.

Marketing 263

Marketing Valuation Churn Rate Balance Sheet 263

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

” There are a lot of data points that one can observer to get a sense of the venture capital markets – both LP fundings into venture and VC financings of startups. We surveyed 73 LP firms to get their views on the market. times the dollars went into venture-backed startups as went the money that poured into venture.

LP 150

LP Valuation Burn Rate Pre-Money Valuation 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2016

I was speaking recently to the team at NuOrder , an LA-based company we’re an investor in about “realism in startups” — an impromptu talk I have given to any of our portfolio companies who ask. I was asked again in an LP meeting later in the week and then again at a founder breakfast gathering we hosted yesterday.

Early Stage 254

Early Stage Non-Compete LP Later Stage 254

Haystack

MAY 5, 2018

You are your own LP and GP. Angels have been critical to startups’ initial funding for decades. New investors can build their portfolio this way. New investors can build their portfolio this way. New investors can build their portfolio this way. Note, everything comes with a catch… Angel Investing.

Salary 76

Salary LP Portfolio Venture Capital 76

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

More and more startups are pursuing Revenue-Based VCs , but “RBI” doesn’t fit everyone. Seed-stage compatible: Like traditional equity VC investors, Flexible VCs accomodate early-stage investment risk within their portfolios better than a traditional RBI funder. of startups raise VC. Of the Inc. 5000 companies, only 6.5%

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

However, in private markets, there is more room to optimize across all 11 steps of the investing process: firm management , marketing, fundraising , origination , manage relationships, due diligence, negotiation, monitoring, portfolio acceleration , reporting, and. 2) Market .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Version One Ventures

JUNE 3, 2013

The analyst position is a two- to three-year role where you will learn about what the venture capital business is all about and get the chance to work with some interesting startups. Helping with reporting for our investors, including writing quarterly updates and preparing LP advisory board meetings. Good Excel modeling skills.

Hiring 156

Hiring North America Los Angeles Advisory Board 156

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

The same kind of tasks that a startup team has. I spend tons of time each day on portfolio company issues. I spent a late morning meeting with a product exec at one portfolio company. I spent a late morning meeting with a product exec at one portfolio company. I had lunch with an LP. He has a startup.

Email 314

Email Product Term Sheet Portfolio 314