Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

M y company had raised a seed round of capital in late 1999 even before either of us were full time in the company (ominous side note: on the way to pitch our seed investor, Delta Partners, a man walking right in front of me died of a massive heart attack making me late to the meeting. Tags: Start-up Advice.

Founder 299

Founder Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 299

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 12, 2010

Dan believed that consumer internet entrepreneurs have a choice now: traditional VC vs. super seed investors. Is there a bubble going on in seed investing? Seed stage industry was left for dead over the last decade as VC investors moved later and later as they became risk-averse. Minutes 8 – 10. Minutes 23 – 26.

Seed Stage 232

Seed Stage Valuation Private Equity Venture Capital 232

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010

I see now emerging a new wave of investors, popularly known as “super angels,” micro-VCs, or “super-seed” investors. I conclude that the genesis of this trend seems to come from several forces, including the following: Less investment capital available due to the recession. Being “lifecycle investment partners” has a downside.

Technical Review 215

Technical Review Early Stage Venture Capital Startup 215

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

VC’s don’t invest 100% of their own money. They raise money from institutions who want to have some allocation of their investment dollars in a category known as “alternatives,&# which is supposed to mean higher risk, higher returns. And funds also have investments from the partners of the firm.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Early Stage Software Review 269

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

But in my experience as an entrepreneur and now spending my time amongst investors I can generalize that almost all VC investments in early stage technology & Internet investments come down to just four key factors. If I feel a priori that the CEO can’t cut it I’m highly unlikely to invest.

Early Stage 360

Early Stage Startup Venture Capital Seed Stage 360

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 24, 2010

While those firms are still there (and getting larger), the pool of money that invests risk capital in startups has expanded, and a new class of investors has emerged. In addition to super angels, incubators like Y Combinator , TechStars and the 100+ plus others worldwide like them have begun to formalize seed-investing.

Silicon Valley 335

Silicon Valley United States Venture Capital Software Review 335

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2010

In fact, most investors “require” that you already have some investment from friends and family before they will even step up to the plate. You see, investors invest in people, before they invest in ideas or products. If they won’t do it, they why would I as stranger invest in you? Don’t be one. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 233

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Due Diligence Angel Investor 233

VC Cafe

JULY 5, 2010

A s venture funds struggle to raise money in Israel, seed capital, one of the earliest and riskiest stages of investment, is becoming harder and harder to secure. Secondly, we are selling a fixed investment product – a fixed number of investors, a fixed buy-in and a fixed number of portfolio companies.

Technical Review 106

Technical Review Software Review Seed Stage 106

VC Cafe

JUNE 11, 2010

The 2009 Calpers investment report shows another disappointing year for Israeli venture returns – most funds had negative returns and those with positive returns were extremely low. To date, Calpers has invested $63 million in six Israeli funds including Carmel, Pitango, JVP, Gemini, Israel Seed and Ipax Israel.

South Africa 89

South Africa Product Incubator 89

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

Rustic Canyon is an LA-based, but geography-agnostic VC that is currently investing from a $200 million fund. They were originally founded inside of Times Mirror and had a huge string of major investment success before spinning out as a fully independent fund. The investment will be used for product development initiatives.

Venture Capital 270

Venture Capital Cofounder Spain San Diego 270

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2010

We invested in the plan you sold us on.” That’s why we invested in you.” At the seed stage, microcap funds/ superangels understand that companies are still searching for a business model – they get Pivots. Tags: Customer Development Customer Development Manifesto Durant versus Sloan: Startups Verus Companies.

Business Model 332

Business Model Agile Customer Development Startup 332

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

Professional angels / former entrepreneurs / seed funds – In Silicon Valley there are people like Ron Conway, Jeff Clavier, Mike Maples and many more. They know that the money they invest may be lost. Make sure these people understand the nature of early-stage angel investing. They exist in every town.

Silicon Valley 291

Silicon Valley Ireland Technical Review Valuation 291

Up and Running

JUNE 14, 2010

One thing that came up repeatedly, then, was the impact of steeply declining web development costs on professional investment. VCs needed to invest hundreds of millions of dollars every couple of years, and liked to go into groups and syndications, which meant they wanted deals for a few millions dollars.

Disintermediation 66

Disintermediation Venture Capital Angel Investor Seed Stage 66

techcrunch.com

SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

There has been no shortage of controversy and criticism around the convertible note, a popular investing vehicle that’s used by seed stage and angel investors. But with many investors in a seed round whose note starts at different times, calculating these interest payments and schedules can be complicated for the startup.

Equity 87

Equity San Francisco Technical Review Angel Investor 87

VC Cafe

MARCH 11, 2010

Maturity : Battery invests in companies at all stages – from seed to later stage private equity buyouts. Geography : The Company invests throughout the world, with most investments are made in North America, Europe, Israel and India. The Israeli office most recently invested in Pursway (see previous coverage).

North America 76

North America Silicon Valley Private Equity 76

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

For example, a recent phone call I had with a young entrepreneur straight out of one of the most prestigious engineering schools in America he asked, “I have an offer for $400,000 in seed money but the VC wants me to agree now to bring in a new CEO.&# This company is doing its SEED round and they already want to bring someone new in.

Pakistan 297

Pakistan India Technical Review Software Review 297

The Next Web

JUNE 7, 2013

The company, comprised of Piers Mummery, Craig Holloway and Christian McGuinness, already has regulatory approval for its first fleet of 25 vehicles from Transport for London and already managed to secure a significant £680,000 seed investment in May this year. Playground Energy .

Internet 120

Internet Bulgaria Portugal Stealth 120

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

I can't take credit for this meme, even though I've already invested in it.twice. The features in Flickr seeded the consumer web gene pool for the following 7 or 8 years--tagging, favoriting, commenting, permalinks direct to content, newsfeeds, social consumption of media, sharing and embedding.

Web 127

Web Curation Open Source Demand 127

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

We spoke about the changes to an “accredited investor&# proposed by Chris Dodd – This would be bad for angel investing. Following Microsoft’s addressable advertising trials with NBC in June 2009, many suspect that Google’s investment may have some defensive motivations, as well. Tags: Start-up Advice.

Stealth 285

Stealth SEC Advertising Accredited Investor 285

VC Cafe

MARCH 8, 2010

In 2010, the capital available for investment in first round and follow on rounds now stands on $1.2 Of that, IVC believes that $400 are already committed for first investments and. These losses have reduced capital available for investments. billion (net management fees and operational expenses).

IRR 74

IRR Venture Capital Institutional Investors 74

techcrunch.com

JUNE 22, 2012

Not to mention, once the founder and advisor have nominally agreed to a relationship, law firms enter the mix and seed the new advisor with a mountain of paperwork — legal agreements, options agreements — documents stuffed with legalese and binding statements. Tags: founder-institute , Startups , equity Sponsored Ads.

Equity 94

Equity San Francisco Startup Silicon Valley 94

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

Sometimes that’s venture capital generally (like last year’s conversation with Reid Hoffman ) and sometimes it’s in a space where I’ve invested (like mobility and city innovation with Bird’s Travis VanderZanden , one of our portfolio founders.) This is an entirely new way of filming Personalization ?—?to But Quibi has raised $1.4

Los Angeles 244

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Mobile Video 244

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My original thinking from Oct ’09 was, while I didn’t (and still don’t) have a crystal ball I worried that: consumers were over-stretched with debt (and make up 77% of the economy), unemployment would continue to rise, which in turn would drive the stock market south and cut the rate of M&A activity and VC investment even further.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Technical Review Balance Sheet Government 298

techcrunch.com

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

AngelList Launches Docs To Help Startups Sign And Close Seed Rounds Online With Low Legal Fees. There’s no doubt that AngelList has evolved into an incredibly powerful (and disruptive) platform in the investing world. Today, AngelList is debuting Docs, which lets seed-stage startups close their round online. Headphones.

Term Sheet 70

Term Sheet San Francisco Technical Review Seed Stage 70

ConversionXL

MARCH 6, 2019

A 6-second video to “seed the idea.” The aforementioned LinkedIn survey suggests that “building brand awareness is the most common driver for investing in B2B video content.” The video has more than 216,000 views on YouTube—a useful (and largely free) testing ground for videos before an investment on LinkedIn. Image source ).

Video 129

Video B2B Technical Review Campaign 129

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

A VC listening to your presentation is thinking, “Are you going to blow my initial investment, or are you going to make me a ton of money? What VC’s Really Want But Don’t Know How to Ask For or Get Mike Maples at Maples Investments observes that the quality of pitches from entrepreneurs get better as you climb the “Hierarchy of Proof.”

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

www.seriesseed.com

MARCH 2, 2010

SeriesSeed.com Series Seed Financing Documents Blog Home Documents Blog Archives Subscribe 09/02/2010 Version 2.0 and why Series Seed Documents are better than capped convertible notes “First they ignore you. of the Series Seed Documents as well as a red-line showing the changes I’ve made from the original set. 

Finance 58

Finance Term Sheet Equity Aggregator 58

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

First Growth Venture Network formed to mentor high potential seed and early stage companies. First Round Capital makes 11 new investments in NYC, hires me to be here fulltime, and announces a new NYC office in Union Square. NYC Seed announces a summer incubator for 2010 that includes 20k investments.

New York City 69

New York City New York Angel Investor Early Stage 69

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There has been much discussion about VCs doing seed funding in the past year. I’ve written about it myself (Is VC Seed Funding Dead?) and (Is There Really a Signaling Problem with VC Seed Funding?). There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2. Short summary of my posts: 1.

Post-Money Valuation 298

Post-Money Valuation Term Sheet Warrant Partner 298

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 17, 2010

I also know that everyone I invest in values any kind of feedback – both good and bad – and they work especially hard to delight their customers so any kind of feedback will make them better. Earlier today, Alan wrote an article on Standing Cloud titled Seeding the Cloud with Open Source, Standing Cloud Makes It Easy. Keep it up Alan!

Open Source 94

Open Source Cloud Portfolio Technical Review 94

www.businessinsider.com

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

According to Graham, Google Ventures, a venture-capital firm backed by the tech giant, has systematically been offering to make seed investments in recent Y Combinator graduates, but only on substantially more favorable terms than other investors received. Then GV says theyre interested and wants to invest at a cap of $x/2.

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup Valuation Venture Capital 54

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

This dynamic births serial entrepreneurs and motivates angels and venture capitalists to pull their friends into investment deals. For the first-time entrepreneur or founder looking for seed stage funding, this circle can be especially difficult to penetrate. He also sits on the board of the Mozilla Foundation and created Second Life.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Is it because there are more worthy companies for investment all of a sudden, or are VCs driven by the need to deploy some of their capital before the end of the calendar year? million Series B financing round led by Carmel Ventures with follow-on investment from existing investors Baytech Ventures (Germany).

Technical Review 79

Technical Review Matching Venture Capital 79

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Is it because there are more worthy companies for investment all of a sudden, or are VCs driven by the need to deploy some of their capital before the end of the calendar year? million Series B financing round led by Carmel Ventures with follow-on investment from existing investors Baytech Ventures (Germany).

Technical Review 79

Technical Review Matching Venture Capital 79

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Is it because there are more worthy companies for investment all of a sudden, or are VCs driven by the need to deploy some of their capital before the end of the calendar year? million Series B financing round led by Carmel Ventures with follow-on investment from existing investors Baytech Ventures (Germany).

Technical Review 79

Technical Review Matching Venture Capital 79

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Is it because there are more worthy companies for investment all of a sudden, or are VCs driven by the need to deploy some of their capital before the end of the calendar year? million Series B financing round led by Carmel Ventures with follow-on investment from existing investors Baytech Ventures (Germany).

Technical Review 79

Technical Review Venture Capital Matching 79

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Jelli - I went on record saying that I wanted to invest and that I think this company will create a big success. Tags: Start-up Advice. Current round: $11mm in Series B by Accel (lead), Khosla Ventures, Trilogy Partnership. Total raised: $16.5mm. Read more: VentureBeat. OTHER DEALS (Cont): 5. Total raised: $15.0mm.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240