raising-funding-as-a-first-time-founder 
Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 11, 2022
The browser and thus the WWW and the first Internet businesses were born circa 1994–95 and there was a golden period where anything seemed possible. I started my first company in 1999 and was admittedly swept up in all of this: Magazine covers, fancy conferences, artificial valuations and easy money. What happened? It was 1991.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 15, 2022
First in late-stage tech companies and then it will filter back to Growth and then A and ultimately Seed Rounds. The market was down considerably with public valuations down 53–79% across the four sectors we were reviewing (it is since down even further). ==> Aside, we also have a NEW LA-based partner I’m thrilled to announce: Nick Kim.
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View from Seed
JANUARY 13, 2021
I’ll be writing a number of posts looking back over the first decade of the life of this firm. Like a number of funds of our era, early fundraising was not terribly easy. The objection goes something like this: “yes, I can see rookie founders turning to you for a seed round. In some ways, this feels like an eternity.
View from Seed
APRIL 14, 2020
This led to a number of repercussions that most VC’s have lamented during this time, including higher prices, larger rounds, shoddy due diligence, and many companies raising large sums of venture capital that probably aren’t suited to VC funding. VCs are always founder focused no matter the market environment.
Startup Professionals Musings
SEPTEMBER 16, 2023
But for founders who do their homework, the cost of entry is lower and the opportunity is higher than ever. Excellent detailed resources are everywhere, including a classic book, “ The Startup Checklist ,” by serial entrepreneur and founder of the New York Angels, David S. Just make sure you can fill in all the details.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 9, 2018
This is a very common scenario when entrepreneurs pitch VCs and frankly is a very common scenario when VCs try to raise money from LPs. It’s predictable, there is no reason to get mad about it and with a well-designed play book you can overcome this much of the time. What do I do now? I call it, “Remind me why I love you again?”
Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 26, 2020
and of course a relentless pursuit of helping founders succeed. I’ve become fond of saying “if I had a dollar for every person who told me just how much they loooooved Kara Nortman, I’d have a 10x fund.” So mostly we just had to listen to customer feedback from founders, VCs and LPs. I remember years ago trying to recruit Kara.
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