Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

You might like to think that a bunch of savvy venture capitalists saw a market niche for raising smaller funds or perhaps there was a generational shift where disgruntled junior partners spun out of bigger firms to start their own gigs. But the strangest thing about the decline in the seed stage only happened in the seed stage.

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage IPO 328

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

It occurred to me that although we mentioned our new thematic approach when we raised our last fund in 2017, we haven’t really shared a broader manifesto about how we are approaching the early stage market. It’s been an interesting several years in the early stage venture eco-system, and the sands have shifted considerably.

North America 120

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 120

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 7, 2016

A Startup Lab invests guidance, strategy, and takes equity in a carefully selected collection of early and seed stage startups. With services ranging from branding to technology to marketing, labs also guide the company to a successful investment and ultimately a strong exit.

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Incubator Asia 100

Reid Hoffman

AUGUST 6, 2020

As the Greylock team has learned after decades of partnering with early-stage founders, the best approach is establishing a core set of fundamental questions that can be tailored to each individual company, rather than looking at a rigid set of metrics. HOW DOES GREYLOCK EVALUATE COMPANIES AT THE SEED-STAGE?

Technical Review 69

Technical Review Seed Stage Software Review Early Stage 69

The Next Web

OCTOBER 23, 2013

There aren’t a tonne of funds focused on seed-stage funding worldwide, but we can add a new one to the list today. SparkLabs , the company behind the accelerator program in Korea , is expanding its scope with its first seed-stage fund that will “help great startups go global.”. Asia Entrepreneur Insider News sparklabs'

Seed Stage 139

Seed Stage Asia Silicon Valley 139

SiliconHills

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

Austin-based Perigon has closed on a $5 million seed stage round of financing led by LiveOak Venture Partners. Josh Rickel, co-founder, said the company plans to use the money to hire key employees and further develop its technology.

Austin 71

Austin Seed Stage Cofounder Finance 71

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 9, 2019

*This post is part of our “pitch deck” series where we dissect the seed stage pitch deck and discuss the ideal flow for a pitch. is an education technology company that partners with top colleges & universities to bring their degree programs and credit-bearing courses online.”. What does your company actually do?

Southern California 159

Southern California Phoenix Technical Review Seed Stage 159

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 16, 2021

Out of hundreds of applications, we selected six pre-seed stage teams building companies shaping a brighter collective future by combining software and creativity to drive change in the lives of everyday people — their businesses include everything from empowering local main street businesses to making automobile insurance more accessible.

Seed Stage 285

Seed Stage Programming Finance B2B 285

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. Partners leave the industry. VC will shrink. Oh yes it will.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

Austin Startup

MAY 11, 2017

We make a minority of our investments in new technology areas where deep technical innovation is occurring and where we believe there is will be a large future market opportunity. For these companies, we look for deep technology differentiation plus early market validation or clear opportunity for such.

Private Equity 48

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage 48

David Teten

MARCH 18, 2021

Data from OpenVC shows that VCs typically focus on 2 technology classes. Out of 125 funds in the database, 33 state they invest in 1 type of technology (e.g. software”); 43 invest in 2 types of technology (e.g., software”); 43 invest in 2 types of technology (e.g., Real sees 80% of all seed deals in Canada. .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital Deal Flow 78

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

And from my perspective as an engaged seed stage venture investor, this makes them unfundable. So why do inexperienced (as entrepreneurs), ultra-skilled CTOs fall into the trap of engaging a business partner too early? . … Lack of confidence? Camaraderie? Perhaps all of the above.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Cofounder CTO Hire Founder 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

We’ve also worked with our Partner, Dana Kibler who is also our CFO for nearly 20 years. In fact, we published our strategy some time ago and announced we were moving to a “ barbell strategy ” of funding at the Seed level, mostly avoiding the A/B rounds and then increasing our investments in the earliest phases of technology growth.

San Francisco 408

San Francisco Early Stage Venture Capital Los Angeles 408

ReadWriteStart

MAY 22, 2023

Instead, the technology has been limited to niche operators and start-ups, such as Finland’s Varjo, which makes high-end headphones, and Estonia’s Ready Player Me, a cross-game avatar platform. Talent retention is one of the biggest challenges facing Europe’s Metaverse industry.

Finland 187

Finland Europe Estonia Silicon Valley 187

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

Luckily, I teach with two great VCs, Mar Hershenson of Pear Ventures and Jeff Epstein of Bessemer Venture Partners who both put together presentations unraveling the mysteries of how and why startups raise money. What are your unique insights about technology, economics, change in market, etc. Pre-seed Round of Funding.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

Feld Thoughts

MAY 6, 2021

The program has been running in Colorado supporting pre-seed to post-seed stage startups at the intersection of conservation and technology since 2018. Amy and I have been supporters of TNC for over 30 years and Amy serves on their global board of directors.

Seed Stage 240

Seed Stage Colorado Early Stage Programming 240

rapidrollout.wordpress.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Web Startup Lessons Advice from a CTO and Entrepreneur Home About Finding a Technical Partner for Your Startup Today I received an inquiry from a student at an Ivy League university who wants to launch a web startup. You can find a technologist to join you as a partner, for half of the company’s equity.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Fractional CTO Partner CTO Hire 40

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 27, 2014

At the time, LA and Santa Clara were both the epicenter of the technology industry due to the significant overlap between the aerospace/military industry (Los Angeles) and the computing business (Silicon Valley). At the same time, the consumerization of the technology business made Silicon Valley the de facto capital of all things tech.

Los Angeles 138

Los Angeles Southern California Silicon Valley Technical Review 138

View from Seed

APRIL 20, 2020

The program will be 100% virtual for now, replacing the diffuse mentorship model of most programs with a focus on few companies that get much more hands-on engagement with the NextView partners and our close knit set of advisors. THE GOAL : The culmination of this accelerator program ISN’T a demo day or a big show.

B2B 436

B2B Seed Stage B2C Programming 436

VC Cafe

JULY 5, 2010

Janvest , a new seed fund of $5 million backed by American angel investors and chaired by the former head of the Mossad (Danny Yatom), saw an opportunity to fill the gap by making offering US-based angel investors the opportunity to tap into the Israeli startup industry. VCs are investing in later stage companies.

Technical Review 106

Technical Review Software Review Seed Stage 106

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. Similar to the explosion of seed funds in the past decade, we (and some limited partners too ) believe these Flexible VCs are on the forefront of what will become a major segment of the venture ecosystem. Of the Inc. 5000 companies, only 6.5%

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

BeyondVC

JANUARY 3, 2019

We had another solid year filled with learning, growth, laughter, and new projects and partners. Thanks to all of the amazing founders, advisors, co-investors, corporate partners, and others that helped make 2018 an amazing year. Welcome to our annual boldstart recap and enterprise predictions letter. First check to Series B?—?congrats

Stealth 79

Stealth Advisory Board Cloud Virginia 79

Agile VC

JULY 11, 2012

Some disgruntled younger partners left to go start a new firm in 1965 called Greylock. Some disgruntled younger partners left in the 90s to form what is now Redpoint Ventures (IT team) and Versant Ventures (healthcare team). Big success was Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), in which ARD invested about $2.1M

Silicon Valley 240

Silicon Valley Carried Interest Cofounder Boston 240

Haystack

JULY 20, 2018

Will the next company to raise $100M in financing just poach from decent seed-stage companies and pay triple the amount to lock up talent? I caught a glimpse of this energy during my Venture Partner tenure with the folks at GGV Capital , who’ve been successfully investing exclusively across China and the U.S.

San Francisco 116

San Francisco Silicon Valley Seattle Venture Capital 116

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

It occurred to me that although we mentioned our new thematic approach when we raised our last fund in 2017, we haven’t really shared a broader manifesto about how we are approaching the early stage market. It’s been an interesting several years in the early stage venture eco-system, and the sands have shifted considerably.

North America 36

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 36

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

In the early 80’s he left academia to work on venture capital investing with Jim Simons, Renaissance Technologies. They chose the name First Round Capital because they thought capital would be deployed most efficiently at smaller seed stage rounds considering the cost to build an internet business had come down drastically.

Pre-Money Valuation 284

Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Cofounder Cram Down 284

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The rise of “micro VCs” or seed-stage funds. Limited Partners or LPs (the people who invest into VC funds) have taken notice as 2014 is by all accounts the busiest year for LPs since the Great Recession began. From a technology perspective our journey is nowhere near over.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

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. Another Area of Concern is in the Seed Investor Class. We’ve also become very adept at partnering with seed funds.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital LP Silicon Valley Marketing 150

K9 Ventures

JULY 19, 2012

– A $40M technology-focused micro-VC fund. which was a $6.25M fund designed to be deployed over 3-4 years, making initial investments between $100K – $250K in concept and seed stage technology companies located in the San Francisco Bay Area. I am pleased to announce the formation of K9 Ventures II, L.P.

Technology 132

Technology Seed Stage San Francisco Limited Partner 132

K9 Ventures

JULY 19, 2012

– A $40M technology-focused micro-VC fund. which was a $6.25M fund designed to be deployed over 3-4 years, making initial investments between $100K – $250K in concept and seed stage technology companies located in the San Francisco Bay Area. I am pleased to announce the formation of K9 Ventures II, L.P.

Technology 132

Technology Seed Stage San Francisco Limited Partner 132

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

And funds also have investments from the partners of the firm. For example, my firm, GRP Partners, has a $200 million fund that was closed in March 2009 and we have 4 investment partners. A fund size of $100 million – $200 million is likely to either be an A round investor or “stage agnostic&#.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Early Stage Software Review 269

David Teten

DECEMBER 12, 2017

(written by Philipp von dem Knesebeck , Managing Partner, Blue Future Partners (bluefp.com, @bluefutureteam ), and David Teten ). VCs are at the forefront of technological disruption, funding many of the latest cutting edge productivity tools. But what tools are they using themselves to automate their own processes?

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 60

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Two year-old TaKaDu , a SaaS product for water utility companies to monitor water infrastructure, has raised an undisclosed second round of funding led by Emerald Technology ventures and joined by existing investors Giza Venture Capital and Gemini Israel Funds [ Zdnet ]. Funding news. Realmatch was started in 2007 by Gal Almog. [ Source ].

Technical Review 79

Technical Review Venture Capital Matching 79

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

And, there’s a good reason why; it includes back-to-back essays on mobile, high-growth startups and technology. The Andreesen Horowitz blog is the work of the famous VC firm’s partners and covers all things software in Silicon Valley and beyond. Hunter is a partner at Homebrew and previously led consumer product management at YouTube.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Silicon Valley Cofounder 60

K9 Ventures

APRIL 28, 2010

– a seed-stage fund. is a $6.25M fund that is designed to do concept and seed-stage investments in technology companies. Personally, I prefer just saying a seed stage fund, but as some folks have pointed out a super-angel sounds a lot better than a micro-VC ! ) K9 Ventures, L.P.

Seed Stage 61

Seed Stage San Francisco IP Portfolio 61

Gust

OCTOBER 20, 2011

We also have data points for VC investments in seed/startup companies (but not necessarily pre-revenue companies). The following chart from Dow Jones VentureSource shows very little variation in pre-money valuation of VC seed stage deals over the past decade. Product/Technology. Experience in sales or technology.

Valuation 146

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Intellectual Property Technical Review 146

K9 Ventures

AUGUST 14, 2017

a $42M technology-focused Pre-Seed fund. It was a conscious decision to maintain the fund size at the same level, despite both market pressure (larger rounds at earlier stages) and demand pressure (lots of LP money entering the stage) to raise a larger fund. K9’s last fund, K9 Ventures II, L.P., was a $40M fund.

Technology 96

Technology LP San Francisco Portfolio 96