Ben's Blog

JANUARY 31, 2012

As founding CEO, I remember being quite excited to meet our financial backers and talk about how we could partner to build a great company. That excitement took a sharp downhill turn when one of the top partners said to me, in front of my co-founders, “When are you going to get a real CEO?”. That question tortured me for months.

Venture Capital 78

Venture Capital Portfolio Cofounder Partner 78

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 25, 2016

In the spirit of clearing out some half-formed thoughts, I wanted to share my response to venture LPs who ask about the effect of “so much money” flowing into the seed space and how we think about its competitive impact upon our fund Homebrew.

Seed Stage 74

Seed Stage Cofounder Engineer Reputation 74

Scott Edward Walker

JULY 11, 2015

This week, we present Ben Parr , Co-founder and Managing Partner of DominateFund , a seed-stage venture capital fund, and author of the book “ Captivology: The Science of Capturing People’s Attention ” (which I highly recommend). My favorite quote: “We pay attention to reputable sources.” I hope you enjoy it.

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Seed Stage Cofounder Venture Capital Reputation 40

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 29, 2017

Homebrew’s focus is ~8 or so seed commitments per year, and we’re putting dollars, sweat and reputation behind those companies ongoing. Sometimes we already know the team but what happens when you’re meeting them for the first time on demo day and want to accelerate towards familiarity?

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Founder Incubator Seed Stage Lead Investor 72

Rob Go

JULY 17, 2014

NextView Ventures II is $40M, twice the size of our first fund, and we continue to be exclusively focused on seed-stage companies pursuing internet-enabled innovation. For a seed stage venture capital firm, product/market fit comes down to two questions. 1) How is the portfolio performing?

Seed Stage 69

Seed Stage Early Stage Due Diligence Liquidity Event 69

The Next Web

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

which will help with recruiting employees, finding the best partners, fast-tracking distribution in key countries, and landing marquee customers. Unlike other countries, China’s business environment is quite insular and having the right investors can be the reason you’re able to connect with important potential customers or partners.

Asia 123

Asia Silicon Valley India China 123

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 1, 2010

Sure, if you’re Jack Dorsey, creator of Twitter, you can dictate your terms, but last I checked, most of the entrepreneurs First Round and most of the seed stage firms back don’t have that same kind of track record. The investor water cooler occasionally falls victim to reputation racketeering.

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Equity Term Sheet Seed Stage Angel Investor 104

Hunter Walker

APRIL 6, 2015

We raised our first fund on reputation and history. Invests seed stage in wide variety of companies but special love for true tech based startups. Multi Stage – Ethan Kurzweil. One opinion we have that isn’t universally held by founders is the value of adding an external Director to your Board at seed stage.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Later Stage Venture Capital Valuation 48

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 28, 2012

2) You’re Entitled to Say No – Some entrepreneurs I’ve discussed this topic with feel compelled to speak with VCs, whether partners or junior staff, that reach out to them. This is sometimes a good path to getting the attention of partners in the firm if you don’t have other avenues. Author howerl. Read More ».

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Early Stage Syndicate Syndication Silicon Valley 100

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. The challenge is that most seed funds still make 5+ new investments per year per partner, which seems like too many to fully support founders.

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Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Cap Table 267

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

One of the dangers of taking investment from individual angels,rather than through an angel group or investment firm, is that theyhave less reputation to protect. So seed investors usually care lessabout the idea than the people. This is true of all venture funding,but especially so in the seed stage.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 6, 2012

These events offer opportunities to network with potential business partners, users, venture capitalists and customers, but they can also place a huge demand on a startup’s always scarce resources of time and money. What’s the reputation? So, the natural question is: which events should you attend and/or sponsor?

Las Vegas 135

Las Vegas Seed Stage Silicon Valley Reputation 135

Genuine VC

OCTOBER 11, 2011

Especially at the seed stage, because there are lower barriers to entry for a new firm with a seed stage strategy (because of capital requirements to raise mid-/late- stage specialized fund), a plethora of new firms will continue to be founded. What’s pouring = individual partners matter.

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Venture Capital Seed Stage Entrepreneur LP 150

Hunter Walker

MAY 19, 2014

I don’t have enough data to concretely pronounce this a trend, but I’ll throw some ideas out there about (a) why this might be happening and (b) whether it’s a good option for seed stage founders. In order to go after them, they need to head earlier into seed. Why Are We Seeing More Piggy Rounds? (a)

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication Founder 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I still think it’s best to take money from Dave when you’re also partnered with a more focused, hands-on seed-stage VC who brings different things to the table – like more ability to write larger checks in a downturn (for one) or solving a deep crisis that involves super hands-on involvement.

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Valuation Deal Flow Lead Investor Cofounder 292

Venture Chronicles

MARCH 23, 2010

and be comprised of a majority of partners who are U.S. dollars is a modest amount of capital, for a seed stage company it is a good sized amount of capital and likely to be allocated not at once but over time as the entrepreneur progresses in planning and execution. I could foresee a scenario where this program is used by U.S.

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Venture Capital Accredited Investor Green Offshore 36

David Teten

JUNE 7, 2011

Our session looks at the rise of socially enabled platforms that blend commerce with community, where reputations trump credit ratings, and where hyper-distributed service businesses outgrow traditional monolithic suppliers. In 2004, Roo founded we:nited magazine – a youth politics magazine and website.

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Darfur Sudan Cofounder United Kingdom 122

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Mark Suster GRP Partners Advice. Seed Stage Valuation Guide. Philippe Botteri, Bessemer Venture Partners. Their Partners all come from industry, where each has held senior level executive positions delivering industry-leading products. Lodestone Innovation Partners (IP) Ltd are spin-out specialists.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53