Feld Thoughts

APRIL 7, 2010

We’ve been having a running joke within Foundry Group for several years about “stealth mode.” My partner Seth alludes to it in his blog post a few years back titled To stealth or not to stealth. Niel wrote a brilliant post on this titled The Stealth Mode: Trada’s Position on Staying Stealth. You should also.

Stealth 130

Stealth Portfolio Partner Marketing 130

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2016

Create and highlight your intellectual property portfolio. Startups in stealth mode can’t get feedback from real customers and can’t be perceived as experts in their industry. A business needs technical, marketing, financial and many other skills. Simplicity is preferred at this stage.

Angel Investor 120

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Angel Groups 120

K9 Ventures

JANUARY 26, 2016

“ US Navy Sea Shadow stealth craft ” by US Navy employee – [link]. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Stealth is overrated. Today, I have seen it enough times from companies in my portfolio and others that are not in my portfolio that have utilized the “We’re in stealth mode” line.

Stealth 48

Stealth Silicon Valley Cofounder Portfolio 48

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

A large portion of your competitive advantage and your potential value to investors is the size of your intellectual property portfolio. Startups that operate in stealth mode until their solution is perfect usually acquire customers and investors very slowly. Register some intellectual property to provide a barrier to entry.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Preferred Stock Stealth 120

Version One Ventures

MAY 17, 2022

We’re very excited to announce our investment in Inflection.io , as the company comes out of stealth with a $5M seed round. We’re also excited to report that Inflection is the first company to come out of Pienza (also a Version One portfolio company). In years past, the B2B customer experience and buying process were owned by sales.

B2B 107

B2B Product Stealth Marketing 107

VC Cafe

JANUARY 24, 2021

Disclaimer: we have three portfolio companies in the consumer mobile space, still in stealth). First it was Fortnite and Epic, now it’s Facebook and soon other players will team up to reduce the revenue share with app stores. This may also trickle down to Google and Amazon. The Information and VentureBeat have more on this.

Technical Review 207

Technical Review Audio Forecast Social Media 207

Version One Ventures

NOVEMBER 9, 2021

EnPowered closed their initial seed round in February 2020 and have been developing their platform in stealth mode over the past year. EnPowered joins our growing portfolio of energy and climate startups. To learn more, visit www.getenpowered.com or @GetEnPowered.

Stealth 148

Stealth Vertical Portfolio Finance 148

Hunter Walker

JUNE 7, 2014

Not because they’re all operating in stealth or pre-product – in fact some already are earning $1m+ in revenue per annum. And my sense is the trend carries outside of our portfolio these days. Most of the startups we’ve backed at Homebrew don’t rush to announce their funding.

Technical Review 117

Technical Review CTO Hire Finance Stealth 117

VC Adventure

APRIL 8, 2010

Recently Dan Frommer over at the Silicon Alley Insider wrote about the reemergence of “stealth mode ”. With one of our portfolio companies, Trada , recently emerging from 18 months of quiet operations, we’re taking the subject up once again (very timely if Frommer’s post is any indication). Tags: stealth.

Stealth 81

Stealth SEM Portfolio Operations 81

BeyondVC

JANUARY 6, 2018

We were first check leads in 8 founding teams including Wallaroo Labs , MState (fka hyperfab ), blockdaemon , and 5 in stealth. 6 portfolio companies raised Series A financings including Manifold , Hypr , and 4 unannounced, 1 raised a Series B (unannounced), and Security Scorecard raised a $28mm Series C.

Cloud 60

Cloud Cofounder Portfolio Advisory Board 60

BeyondVC

JANUARY 5, 2022

With COVID raging at the beginning and end of the year, it is all the more amazing what our portfolio companies have accomplished the last twelve months. 2021 Recap. Sending and from the boldstart team at the end of a challenging 2021. 1/ We started @boldstartvc in 2010 w/ $1m. Ernest Addison , Associate and formerly at Audax group.

Stealth 78

Stealth Cofounder SQL Open Source 78

VC Cafe

MARCH 17, 2023

The Generative AI gaming landscape Nov 2022 ( source ) In my small data sample (of Israeli gaming startups) a lot of startups in the generative AI gaming space are either missing in this map, or are choosing to remain in stealth until they have a solid demo out. steampunk airships flying in the sky. Generated in [link].

Generative AI 195

Generative AI Stealth IP San Francisco 195

Cracking the Code

MARCH 29, 2022

With the elite initial team they’ve assembled, they’ve managed to build their first product in record time and secure large six-figure deals while still in stealth mode.

Cloud 62

Cloud Cofounder Architecture Technical Cofounder 62

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

Last week, one of our most recent portfolio companies, Ten Little , came out of stealth and announced its public launch. . Ten Little was started by Fatma Collins and Julie Rogers , a platform that aims to make finding the perfect fit for your child easy, starting with shoes.

Finder 156

Finder Stealth SMS Portfolio 156

Version One Ventures

JULY 1, 2020

And while these past three months have been far from typical, there was a lot of activity across our portfolio. Cape Privacy emerged from stealth and announced a $5 million seed round , which we co-led with Boldstart Ventures. At the end of every quarter, we publish a quick recap. Here are some of the highlights: . New Investments .

North Carolina 148

North Carolina Raleigh Stealth Seattle 148

View from Seed

DECEMBER 6, 2018

And seed VCs, especially as new firms were being established, were eager to encourage their portfolio startups to plant that flag in the ground publicly. There are legitimate reasons for a startup to be in stealth mode. It seemed like every other TechCrunch post was announcing a startups’s new seed financing round.

Seed Stage 201

Seed Stage Stealth Seed Capital Later Stage 201

Cracking the Code

JANUARY 25, 2021

just months after it came out of stealth. And he and his co-founders Ziv and Ilan made it happen: Melio’s now processing multi-billion dollar payment volumes less than two years after launch. On the back of this momentum, Melio today announced a $110m funding round, rocketing the company to a valuation of $1.3b

B2B 62

B2B Cloud Europe 62

View from Seed

JULY 11, 2019

On Tuesday, one of our most recent portfolio companies, Otis, came out of stealth and announced its public launch. Otis is founded by Michael Karnjanaprakorn, and is focused on creating a marketplace that enables fractional ownership of culturally relevant assets.

Stealth 120

Stealth Portfolio Community Founder 120

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

Mari is now building a new venture in human-machine interaction within the Samsung accelerator, currently in stealth mode. Her work included heading Nokia’s location-based services business and app portfolio for emerging markets, which she built from a back-of-a-napkin idea to a 100-person organization with over 10 million users.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Technical Review Portfolio 60

VC Cafe

AUGUST 3, 2023

Disclosure: a Remagine Ventures portfolio company. While a lot of startups choose to remain in stealth, I’m excited about the new crop of generative AI startups in Israel that are either creating B2C products, or helping other B2C startups scale with the power of AI.

B2C 148

B2C Generative AI Artificial Inteligence 148

genuinevc.com

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

Stealth Mode. I’ve recently been introduced to a number of startups that are operating in “stealth mode,” and have been thinking about what to make of this fact. In a post yesterday, Keith Robinson clearly articulated one of my conclusions, “I’ve heard quite a bit about start-ups and “stealth mode.”

Stealth 40

Stealth HTML Flash Email 40

View from Seed

MARCH 29, 2018

This could include areas like mental health (as in our portfolio company 10% Happier ), dental health (such as Smile Direct ), nutrition and exercise, pain management, and other areas that impact the everyday life of tens of millions of people. 3) Health Data Applications.

Vertical 120

Vertical Stealth Portfolio Seed Capital 120

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 6, 2018

You might have detailed these ideas lovingly in a blog post or elsewhere on your site but almost all the time, your portfolio page helps teams decide if they should reach out to your or not. . When you make an investment, you can put a placeholder slot on your portfolio page which generally describes the company.

Founder 91

Founder Stealth Portfolio Early Stage 91

VC Cafe

APRIL 28, 2021

Creators are also increasingly becoming angel investors in B2C startups, similar to celebrity investments which are also on the rise, leveraging their profile to help their portfolio stand out. We’ve made several investments in the space (some are still in stealth). Finally, a small plug to Remagine Ventures.

Audio 167

Audio Valuation Stealth B2C 167

David Teten

MARCH 12, 2012

We’re filling it with our own team , plus a couple of startups in our portfolio ( Parsely , Phone.com , some in stealth mode). Our portfolio company BetterWorks cites a report by The World Economic Forum: “Employees are eight times more likely to be engaged when wellness is a priority in the workplace.”

Product 166

Product Portfolio Venture Capital Vesting 166

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 29, 2019

However, a diversified investment portfolio is recommended especially for new investors who want to test the waters. It’s a globally accepted currency and unlike some cryptocurrencies, this does not operate on stealth mode. Diversifying your investment portfolio with at least 2% to 10% of gold is a good number.

Stealth 127

Stealth Portfolio Demand Global 127

BeyondVC

DECEMBER 29, 2016

Before diving into the standard year-end predictions on the enterprise, I thought I would share some data on our firm and our founding teams from 2016: we welcomed 9 new enterprise founding teams to the portfolio including Workrails (started by venture partner Jeff Leventhal), BigID , Hypr , Init.ai , and 5 stealth companies.

Stealth 60

Stealth Canada Azure Architecture 60

SVPG

OCTOBER 13, 2011

Portfolio Thinking = Portfolio Grooming. A head start is rarely large enough to matter, and time spent in stealth mode-away from customers-is unlikely to provide a head start. Value Capture = Monetization Strategy. Small Batch = Incremental/Continuous Development and Deployment. Large Batch = Big Bang/Waterfall. ” Amen.

Lean 63

Lean Stealth Portfolio Engineer 63

Haystack

JANUARY 14, 2019

5/ Copycat Culture And Stealth Mode Back En Vogue: I’ve alluded to this above and below, but now when a category gets hot, founders and capital flood it. And, many of these firms would love nothing better than to cherry pick from the portfolios of the best venture brands out there.

Cap Table 123

Cap Table Private Equity Stealth Portfolio 123

Lightspeed Venture Partners

DECEMBER 10, 2014

We had seen Lightspeed portfolio company Nicira disrupt networking layers 2-3 with an architecture that consisted of highly distributed scale out software elements coupled with centralized control, culminating in an acquisition by VMWare for $1.25B in the summer of 2012.

Architecture 113

Architecture Stealth Agile Distribution 113

Agile VC

JULY 15, 2015

This company will remain in stealth mode for at least a little while and it isn’t my place to divulge their plans, but we’re very excited about the founding team, market opportunity, and syndicate we will be part of. But we will undoubtedly continue to add more hardware related businesses to our portfolio.

Internet 100

Internet Stealth Cofounder Seed Stage 100

Agile VC

JULY 15, 2015

This company will remain in stealth mode for at least a little while and it isn’t my place to divulge their plans, but we’re very excited about the founding team, market opportunity, and syndicate we will be part of. But we will undoubtedly continue to add more hardware related businesses to our portfolio.

Internet 100

Internet Stealth Cofounder Seed Stage 100

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Kapor Capital’s expansive portfolio includes Bit.ly The firm’s portfolio includes the likes of Gist , Lijit , Brightleaf, Memeo, SimpleGeo , StockTwits and Zynga. Gary Vaynerchuk: Personal branding master and creator of Wine Library TV, Gary Vaynerchuk is also an angel investor with an expanding portfolio of companies.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

These are 20 th century relics of the lack of data available from each team and the lack of comparative data across a cohort and portfolio. Last September Andy Sack , Jerry Engel and I taught our first stealth class for incubator/accelerator managers who wanted to learn how to play Moneyball. Those days are over. Lessons Learned.

Oakland 326

Oakland Incubator Lean Metrics 326

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 27, 2012

Today one of our portfolio companies, LinkSmart , has come out of stealth mode and unveiled its product, Total Link Management and $4.7M in financing led by Foundry Group. My partner Seth Levine sits on the board and wrote about his view of LinkSmart.

Web 130

Web Stealth SEO HTML 130

BeyondVC

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

We kicked it off Sunday night with a boldstart founders and execs dinner where we talked about what’s next in cybersecurity with some of our portfolio companies like security scorecard , bigid , snyk , stealth co and many friends from the industry representing strategic partners and IT buyers.

Security 74

Security Artificial Inteligence Stealth SEC 74

BeyondVC

FEBRUARY 12, 2014

While this sounds simple, there is a ton of work that goes into helping our portfolio companies get to a successful Series A. Finally, we try to prewire the Series A investment by getting our portfolio companies to meet with the right partners at the right firms early on before they even need money.

Seed Stage 110

Seed Stage Agile Viral API 110