Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Many observers of the venture capital industry have questioned whether its best days are behind it. Looking ahead at the next decade I am excited by what I believe will be viewed as one of the best and most rational investment periods for venture capital due to seven discrete factors: 1. This never existed a decade ago.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

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SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

At our mid-year offsite our partnership at Upfront Ventures was discussing what the future of venture capital and the startup ecosystem looked like. They say that investors in any market need “edge” … knowing something (thesis) or somebody (access) better than almost any other investor. We also focus heavily on geographies.

Technical Review 416

Technical Review Pre-Money Valuation San Francisco Valuation 416

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

He also nails the reason why venture capital is still necessary to grow large businesses quickly in a world where the costs of running startups have fallen dramatically. After all, growth equals high valuations and loads of venture capital! That leverage technology or drive change. So I like that bit, too.

Silicon Valley 390

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 390

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JULY 23, 2014

There has been much discussion in the past few years of the changing structure of the venture capital industry. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). The overall trends in our industry have breathed a new life into the venture capital industry. The iPhone was released.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened?

Valuation 466

Valuation San Francisco Ratchet Liquidation Preference 466

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APRIL 13, 2011

My initial desire to blog came from something that’s always been my approach to investing – I’m a nerd and I love to play with the technology and part of my approach has really been to understand things both at a user level and at a reasonably deep tentacle level. Brad’s start in Venture Capital. Brad on blogging. was starting.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

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SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

The world around us is being disrupted by the acceleration of technology into more industries and more consumer applications. And the loosening of federal monetary policies, particularly in the US, has pushed more dollars into the venture ecosystems at every stage of financing. how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still?

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

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OCTOBER 19, 2009

On December 3rd Brad Feld wrote a one paragraph blog post titled “ Raising Venture Capital &# in which he linked to my blog. The Original Post (after the jump): Venture Capital, By Mark Suster (December 2nd, 2006). I don’t plan to write the authoritative venture capital blog, just some anecdotes.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series of posts and I need to file this one under both Raising Venture Capital and Startup Advice. I’m not even talking about your 12-page Powerpoint presentation that you need to raise venture capital or to talk with potential biz dev partners.

Business Plan 334

Business Plan AJAX Venture Capital Technical Review 334

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DECEMBER 14, 2016

Today is amongst the proudest days I’ve had at Upfront Ventures — getting the chance to announce that Kevin Zhang has been promoted to Partner. years at Upfront has been both a pleasure and also has taught me a lot about venture capital. I mentioned at the start that Kevin has taught me something about Venture Capital.

Partner 150

Partner South Korea Venture Capital Europe 150

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MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. In 2010 somebody posed the question on Quora, “Is Mark Suster a Successful Venture Capitalist?” That company was Invoca, which just announced a $20 million fund raise led by Accel. 5 years ago.

Los Angeles 387

Los Angeles Intellectual Property LP Venture Capital 387

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

Perhaps the biggest piece of new news is that after 17 years of operations we’ve changed our name from GRP Partners to Upfront Ventures. Well, the venture capital industry has changed a lot in the past 20 years … and we have too. What’s up with that? Our portfolio companies value us as sparring partners.

Los Angeles 343

Los Angeles Las Vegas San Francisco Baltimore 343

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

The role of these investment staff varies firm-to-firm but they often entail: Sourcing deals for partners Helping with initial deal screening with a partner Helping with due diligence (competitive assessments, customer calls, reference checking, market sizing, technology reviews, etc.)

Technical Review 314

Technical Review Due Diligence Partner Term Sheet 314

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

This is part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital. Your CTO and leading technology visionary has just announced he’s quitting. Tags: Entrepreneur Advice Raising Venture Capital Start-up Advice Startup Advice. You’re not happy with your existing investors.

Technical Review 311

Technical Review Venture Capital Due Diligence Partner 311

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OCTOBER 21, 2009

On the third Wednesday of every month I co-chair a meeting called the SoCal VCA (venture capital alliance), which represents participants from all of the top venture capital firms in Southern California as well as prominent members of the Tech Coast Angels (TCA). with only 19% saying they would decrease levels.

Technical Review 241

Technical Review IPO Southern California Venture Capital 241

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OCTOBER 22, 2010

He stood up, grabbed the mic and gave a heartfelt overview of his experiences in experimenting with new technologies to build relationships with his audience, get feedback on his product quality and to market his music all the way to the top of iTunes. He was riveting. To stay the crowed was “wowed&# was an understatement.

Entrepreneur 356

Entrepreneur Los Angeles Norway Audience 356

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OCTOBER 29, 2010

The chosen candidate will probably have worked for a very reputable firm that is either in technology, consulting, investment banking, media or a startup. I love what CAA is doing and it’s a chance to work at the very interesting intersection of media, technology & celebrity. It was nearly identical. Position: Analyst.

Los Angeles 290

Los Angeles Technical Review Due Diligence Venture Capital 290

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

Of course the VC is looking to have specificity in how you plan to spend the money you’re going to raise and plans that show a pie chart that says, “25% on marketing, 30% on technology and R&D, 20% on infrastructure, 25% on G&A” do not get funded. This part of a series to help you raise venture capital ?—?the

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Dilution 247

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FEBRUARY 16, 2017

We are hugely appreciative of their successes because it’s helped grow technology talent in Los Angeles and some time down the line we know the “Snapchat Mafia” will be armed with millions of dollars and fund and create startups all over LA. If you swing at every pitch you’ll end up with a lot more losers. Any other angle is just sour grapes.

IPO 214

IPO Los Angeles Technical Review Silicon Valley 214

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Venture Capital is a tricky industry. One such theme was “water conservation” and we morphed it into a broader theme of agriculture technology or “ag tech” for short. Apeel Technologies. When Fred Wilson funded Twitter I guarantee you it wasn’t obvious that it was a billion dollar idea.

Technical Review 362

Technical Review America Partner United States 362

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MAY 24, 2021

LPs Haven’t Yet Grokked the Long Game While the VC community realized 5ish years ago that short-termism in venture capital didn’t make sense and has capitalized on the scale advantages of letting companies go long, the LP community by and large hasn’t totally grokked this. And the fifth?—?society?—?also

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital LP Valuation Later Stage 363

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

Recently I wrote a post arguing to make the definition of a Startup more inclusive than that to which Silicon Valley, fueled by Venture Capital return profiles, would sometimes like to attach to the word. A local tech winner really creates a generational technology opportunity in the way nothing else can. Maker Studios.

Community 378

Community San Diego Silicon Valley Los Angeles 378

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OCTOBER 1, 2009

It’s my job to invest wisely in entrepreneurs who are capital efficient, who innovate in ways that pay off economically in good markets or bad and who plan for worst-case scenarios. Tags: Pitching VCs Start-up Advice VC Industry startup technology vc venture capital.

Technical Review 269

Technical Review Stock Hawaii Early Stage 269

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

This is part of my series on Understanding Venture Capital. I’m happy to say that in 2006-2008 we has some good exits including BillMeLater, DealerTrack, UGO Networks and PrePay Technologies to name a few. Tags: Pitching VCs Raising Venture Capital VC Industry.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Early Stage Software Review 269

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Let me start with the obvious baseline that most people probably know instinctively: Los Angeles is the 3rd largest technology startup ecosystem in the US. Given how efficient markets are when a large market like LA starts to blossom it attracts capital pretty quickly. billion (Upfront Ventures was an early Overture backer).

Los Angeles 376

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Seattle 376

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AUGUST 12, 2010

In the technology world there are a few websites that most startups track to keep up with the latest financings, acquisitions, product announcements and gossip: BusinessInsider, TechCrunch, Mashable, GigaOm, etc. Tags: This Week in Venture Capital. That’s thanks to Dan Primack , founding editor. Minutes 36- 38.

Seed Stage 232

Seed Stage Valuation Private Equity Venture Capital 232

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MARCH 17, 2010

And we’re left with a city with idyllic weather, major commerce, the media center of the world, and a great emerging technology scene. But we have a great city for building technology companies. Funding is different – In Silicon Valley you have mega venture capital funds and many of them. You don’t.

Silicon Valley 290

Silicon Valley Technology Los Angeles Southern California 290

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

Tags: Start-up Advice startup technology vc venture capital.

Venture Capital 247

Venture Capital Campaign Software Review Technical Review 247

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

Tags: Pitching VCs Start-up Advice startup technology vc venture capital.

Technical Review 309

Technical Review Term Sheet Venture Capital Revenue 309

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

If you spent the 3 years perfecting some hugely differentiated technology IP that may also be different. They raised $5 million in venture capital to fund growth. The company would have had to raise at least $35 million in venture capital to have funded operations like this. ” Harsh, but reality.

Startup 418

Startup Revenue Technical Review Flash 418

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NOVEMBER 19, 2015

The biggest difference I cite is that Venture Capital often feels like an “individual sport” while startups are a “team sport.” It was more hedge fund than venture capital. So Silicon Valley massively shifted to San Francisco. It was stunning but sterile. We wandered 6 blocks East.

San Francisco 150

San Francisco Jordan Los Angeles Technical Review 150

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APRIL 20, 2011

In the early 80’s he left academia to work on venture capital investing with Jim Simons, Renaissance Technologies. The discussion with Howard Morgan starts off by acknowledging Josh Kopelman as a co-founder of First Round Capital. Through his research he helped bring ARPANET to Philadelphia in 1973. and Half.com.

Pre-Money Valuation 284

Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Cofounder Cram Down 284

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JULY 16, 2010

But VC is an “illiquid asset&# so funds didn’t disappear quickly - In 2000/01 the stock market quickly adjusted punishing investors in the NASDAQ and in individual public technology stocks. After all, most people don’t understand that “venture capital is a get rich slowly&# scheme.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

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JULY 26, 2010

Social Proof in Action … Yesterday I wrote about the benefits of using social proof and authority in raising venture capital. The book popularized the technology adoption lifecycle curve that originally came out of Iowa State University shown below. It influenced a generation of tech marketers.

Customer 294

Customer Marketing Technical Review Iowa 294

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JUNE 8, 2010

Greycroft is Alan’s venture capital firm that recently raised its second fund ($130 million) with offices in both New York and LA. With all the external presenters, the ones I enjoyed the most were Dan Senor who wrote the book Startup Nation (an examination of the Israeli technology scene).

PR 279

PR Technical Review Portfolio Customer Development 279

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JUNE 27, 2021

Shots on Goal Being great as a startup technology investor of course requires a lot of things to come together: You need to have strong insights into where technology markets are heading and where value in the future will be created and sustained You need be perfect with your market timing. On Funding?—?Shots

Bankruptcy 294

Bankruptcy Bridge Financing Portfolio Angel Investor 294

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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.) That includes things like: Structure of the “turnstile” content?

Los Angeles 244

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Mobile Video 244