Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

Greycroft is Alan’s venture capital firm that recently raised its second fund ($130 million) with offices in both New York and LA. We’re here for Greycroft’s CEO Summit – a gathering of the CEO’s of their portfolio companies with guest speakers covering topics including how to build your team, PR, customer development, etc.

PR 279

PR Technical Review Portfolio Customer Development 279

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 20, 2020

All while the majority of the economy is driven greatly by boring industries often owned by private equity, not venture capital. If you do, tread lightly and—like any good investor—make the targeting of startups less than 10% of your overall marketing and sales portfolio. Why We Shouldn’t Be In Love With Startups.

Sweat Equity 107

Sweat Equity Non-Compete Startup Azure 107

View from Seed

DECEMBER 6, 2018

I’ve been writing checks for 8 years, and was lucky to get my start in the industry with the team at Spark Capital where I was able to witness some amazing early investments as part of that team. As I start my second 10 years in venture capital, I want to both reflect on some recent learnings that have changed the way I approach the business.

Early Stage 120

Early Stage Florida Deal Flow Venture Capital 120

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2014

Examples of some leaders in this space include Ron Conway in Silicon Valley and Brian Cohen , chairman of the New York Angels, who each may have over 500 startups in their portfolio. Individual angel investors have been filling the gap, and now match VCs in total amount invested. VCs are committed to servicing existing portfolios.

Angel Investor 260

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Startup Portfolio 260

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 20, 2020

All while the majority of the economy is driven greatly by boring industries often owned by private equity, not venture capital. If you do, tread lightly and—like any good investor—make the targeting of startups less than 10% of your overall marketing and sales portfolio.

Sweat Equity 78

Sweat Equity Non-Compete Startup Azure 78

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 8, 2013

I probably get around a dozen e-mails a week asking me how to get into venture capital. On top of that, anytime I talk to anyone who wants to get involved in startups but isn''t sure what they want to do, inevitably, I hear, "And then I was thinking maybe I should look into venture capital, too.". Know thy self.

Venture Capital 167

Venture Capital Early Stage Portfolio Private Equity 167

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Over the same 30 years, Venture Capital firms have honed their skills and strategies to match Wall Streets needs to achieve liquidity for their portfolio companies. One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is misunderstanding the role of venture capital investors. What Do VC’s Do?

Silicon Valley 217

Silicon Valley Technical Review IPO Venture Capital 217

David Teten

MAY 1, 2013

However, they remain key to your email identity, and fundamental to your marketing and even capital-raising. The ff Venture Capital portfolio is evidence of how much we believe this, e.g., our companies Alerts.com , Gobbler.com , Identified.com , Patents.com , Phone.com , and Plated.com. Linguistic Characteristics.

Naming 114

Naming Semantic Venture Capital Startup 114

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

As the venture capital business has come roaring back in the last 5 years, startups are awash in available capital. A company needs innovation policies, innovation processes and innovation incentives to match those it already has for execution. Managers need radically different tools to control and measure innovation.

Private Equity 325

Private Equity Metrics China Business Model 325

VC Cafe

APRIL 8, 2011

VC Cafe asked entrepreneurs to tell us what type of help or support they wish they could get from the venture capital investors. Host workshops and help establish a strong management team within your portfolio. Be proactive about training management teams – people are the most important asset, right?

Technical Review 101

Technical Review Due Diligence Hosting Harvest 101

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 30, 2015

You incorporate expected company returns, mortality rates, and fee structures to try to predict how a venture capital fund works from a cash in, cash out, and NAV standpoint. And no, the numbers don't exactly add up--but they're more than close enough for venture capital. It's also not the "average fund".

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Pre-Money Valuation IRR Valuation 60

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

It is rare to find somebody who matches exactly what I’m looking for in a partner so when you find it you act: Academic rigor (Princeton undergrad, Stanford MBA). As I like to say (and as Kara humbly hates when I do so in front of others) … she has a much better resume to a venture capital partner than I do.

Partner 408

Partner Las Vegas Los Angeles Baltimore 408

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 11, 2021

Traditional venture capital models lean into what’s called ‘power laws.’ Basically the idea that you are backing risky new ventures, many of which will stumble along the way, but one or two of the companies you back will be such outsized successes that the investment gains from those will more than offset the others.

Startup 124

Startup Venture Capital Seed Capital Software 124

OnlyOnce

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

On the heels of the announcement we made last month about our Series B financing , we are now announcing the launch of a new program called Bolster Prime and a new venture capital fund called Bolster Ventures. The middle” consists of venture-backed companies that are neither early stage nor mature. What about the middle?

Silicon Valley 62

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Cap Table Early Stage 62

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

The Venture Capital industry as a whole does a terrible job of giving things the right name and so we end up keeping the same name, but changing the meaning out from under it. Valuations are rising to match. Your early stage investment portfolio may no longer really be early stage. Scaling venture capital breaks it.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

So I started introducing him to portfolio companies. And Greg was a perfect match for all of these. His plans are still solidifying but will likely involve some later-stage activities in the eCommerce & retail sectors unrelated to early-stage venture capital. He walked me through both the logic and the math.

Partner 360

Partner Las Vegas Los Angeles San Francisco 360

Steve Blank

JULY 15, 2010

If you take funding from a venture capital firm or angel investor and want to build a large, enduring company (rather than sell it to the highest bidder), this isn’t the decade to do it. The collapse of the IPO market and dysfunctional math in the venture capital community has stacked the odds against you. Here’s why.

Venture Capital 297

Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 297

K9 Ventures

SEPTEMBER 8, 2015

2) New market (less common form, examples are Lyft and eShares) and 3) New business model (least common, non-K9 portfolio examples are PriceLine and SolarCity). What led you to the venture capital world? K9 Ventures II has invested in about 10 companies so far and I expect the final portfolio to be closer to about 20 companies.

San Francisco 48

San Francisco Early Stage Portfolio Software Engineering 48

Genuine VC

JANUARY 22, 2013

About a year ago, I wrote a post about how office space is the face of a startup – it communicates both an outward message and provides insight into what’s going on underneath, as the physical environment in which startup employees work inevitably match the company’s story and culture. In reality, though, that “area” isn’t too large.

Boston 169

Boston Startup Portfolio Green 169

Genuine VC

JULY 10, 2012

Term-driving investor approach – An entrepreneur finds a lead (quasi-)institutional venture investor to price and set the structure/dynamics of the round, working together to bring in additional syndicate partners (either/both other funds and individual angels). We’ve seen it directly in our portfolio companies raising successive rounds.

Syndicate 207

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Portfolio 207

The Equity Kicker

JULY 8, 2019

When I started in venture capital in the late 1990s VCs were regularly lambasted for taking long summer holidays and spending too much time on the golf course. Then from the mid 2000s, value add began moving beyond the partner to the firm as VCs began employing people who’s full time job was helping their portfolio.

Portfolio 84

Portfolio LP Venture Capital Partner 84

VC Adventure

AUGUST 12, 2014

The typical “successful” venture portfolio is often described as having the following outcome: 1/3 of companies fail. 1/3 of companies return capital (or make a small amount of money). But does this heuristic match reality? If they had missed it, they would have failed to return capital after fees. Actually no.

IRR 133

IRR Portfolio Distribution Venture Capital 133

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). Below, I’ll quickly explain the genesis of this initiative and share a few more key details.

Portfolio 100

Portfolio Startup Boston Seed Stage 100

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

Cloud accounting is all about matching revenue and costs to consumption…well, except for professional services! In regards to calculatimg the "Magic Number" - should the amount included as sales and marketing costs match the length of the sales cycle? Portfolio. (3). Venture Capital. (3).

Software Review 48

Software Review Cloud Technical Review Sales Cycle 48

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 2, 2013

In fact, most of the investment criteria I hear, if applied as a filter, wouldn''t work to build a good portfolio--early traction, great team. I''m much more certain about what won''t work--teams that don''t have talent to match the core challenge of what they''re doing, or not playing in big enough spaces.

Venture Capital 103

Venture Capital Portfolio Matching Technology 103

The Equity Kicker

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

The consensus is definitely negative, but one thing that has buoyed my optimism about the prospects for our portfolio is the number of new funds raised in London recently. There’s been a lot of talk recently about what will happen to startup financing in 2016, including here on this blog.

Marketing 60

Marketing Institutional Investors Venture Capital Later Stage 60

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2013

So then when I wanted to go into venture capital, they said, “You can’t do that, you need to be in EIR.” So when I got into venture capital, I thought, “Well, what can I do that’s different?” ” “Okay, well you can be an operating partner or a venture partner.”

Cofounder 337

Cofounder Technical Cofounder San Diego Startup 337

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

V: Should you raise venture capital from a traditional equity VC or a Revenue-Based Investing VC? If the company sells or raises enough capital, the investment converts into an agreed-upon percentage of equity. GCVF is pioneering the future of venture capital and high growth startups for all small communities.

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 14, 2012

It connects them to all the companies they've met, invested in, the bigger companies that could acquire their companies and hundreds if not thousands of employees that have worked within their portfolio. They also meet a ton of press. Government and academic professionals also seek them out to get connected to the startup ecosystem.

Community 124

Community Detroit Chicago Government 124

Seeing Both Sides

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Our unemployment rate is high, yet the job boards of local venture-capital firms show hundreds of job listings across their portfolios. How do we galvanize the public-university system to produce skilled workers that more closely match our innovation economy’s needs?

Massachusetts 33

Massachusetts Silicon Valley Washington Boston 33

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 29, 2011

You may decide that where you are now compared to where you'll be in three months isn't a good time, and that's fine, but let's not pretend that you're not a tech entrepreneur in the office of a venture capital firm. That's kind like when people meet in *those* sections of Craigslist tell you they've never done this before.

Technical Review 114

Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence Venture Capital 114

The Equity Kicker

AUGUST 19, 2015

Now that the YC portfolio is worth over $30bn (a number they put on their homepage ) acquihires don’t move the needle. To have more confidence that their investments match their new found levels of ambition I imagine the YC partners are drawn towards companies that have more validation of their market size.

Later Stage 60

Later Stage Private Equity Venture Capital Valuation 60

genylabs.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Even the best venture capital firms have a lot of failures and few successes. Also, because I have equity in multiple tech start-ups I gain portfolio diversification benefits (meaning Im more likely to get lucky). The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. venture capital. Please try again.

Equity 40

Equity Technical Review San Jose Stock 40

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2013

Since Angel investors put money into 60 times as many companies as venture capital funds, according to Wikipedia, early-stage startups need to focus first on the key thresholds that drive these investment decisions. The same hold true for venture capital investors. Marty Zwilling.

Cram Down 269

Cram Down Angel Investor Venture Capital Intellectual Property 269

www.readwriteweb.com

MARCH 7, 2011

The reasoning behind investing in an index fund is that it closely matches the overall market - and it?s Instead of investors holding onto proprietary connections and introductions for their portfolio companies, these relationships are being displaced by the dominate social networks ( Facebook , Linkedin , Quora ). startupcto

Technical Review 50

Technical Review Due Diligence Startup Angel Investor 50

www.kernelmag.com

MARCH 8, 2012

They tend to have a multitude of side projects, Github portfolios and hacking workshops on the go at once. So, while you’re slaving away on your customer development while keeping an eye out for your technical match, you could do worse than read Paul Graham’s 2007 essay, How not to die. Nic Brisbourne on venture capital.

Cofounder 43

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Founder Coder 43

David Teten

APRIL 25, 2012

Enter Danni: David’s RFP included: upgrading Teten.com and TheVirtualHandshake.com to the latest version of WordPress, modernising the design of both sites, making both sites mobile and social-media friendly , changing the commenting system from DISQUS to Livefyre (ff Venture Capital portfolio company) , migrating from AWeber to MailChimp , and.

XML 122

XML Database Social Media SEO 122