Expert insights. Personalized for you.
I sent a tweet out last week that elicited quite a few responses from both founders and investors: seed funds that don’t invest pre-traction =. — Rob Go (@robgo) November 4, 2019. I could hear the internet nodding in violent agreement. I thought I’d share a few additional thoughts on what may be driving this. First – there are a lot of seed investors out there that don’t actually want to invest in seed. What they really want to do is be a venture capitalist. MORE
One topic of conversation among VC’s over the last few months is how their portfolios are faring during the Covid pandemic. It occurred to me that the message I’m hearing has been pretty consistent but perhaps non-obvious to those outside of the industry. MORE
Student loan is a generational crisis – there are 45 million borrowers in the U.S. on the hook for $1.6 trillion in student loan debt, tripled in the last 10 years. When we think about money in the context of everyday living for the next generation of consumers, it’s impossible to ignore the weight of the student loan burden. . Unlike many other aspects of personal finance, student loan is incredibly complex. MORE
Welcome to the first installment of the NextView Ventures Early Stage Startup Guides. Over the years, we’ve worked with, and talked to thousands of founders just starting out. MORE
One of the most promising trends accelerating in digital health is the verticalization of digital health. Historically, the healthcare market has been regional, limited by the in-person nature of care delivery. MORE
Fundraising for startups is a mix of selling both promise and reality. In some respects, one of the often non-intuitive privileges of a seed stage fundraising process is that the company is so new. There isn’t much history, much reality, to get in the way of a good story. MORE
Since the inception of NextView, we’ve had a reasonably even distribution between backing first time founders and founders who had started a company with success in the past. MORE
In previous blog posts I’ve written about the two main approaches to building a seed round syndicate – the subscription method (where an entrepreneur presets a structure with a convertible note or SAFE and recruits investors who subscribe to the round, all without a term-driving lead investor) and a term-driving lead investor approach. MORE
So many Americans act as caregivers for a loved one. 44 million people spend a substantial amount of their time assisting a chronically ill, disabled, or aging person. Nearly all caregivers are inexperienced family members who lack formal training and aren’t being paid for their help. MORE
A few weeks ago, I published a post on how we make decisions and vote at NextView. Usually when we record our votes, we also score each company based on five attributes. This isn’t used as a “scorecard” where companies need to clear a certain quantitative bar to get through our process. MORE
Advances in technology and changing consumer preferences have long been transforming the way food is created, distributed, and consumed. Now, as COVID-19 revolutionizes much of what was “normal” before March, several trends in foodtech are experiencing tailwinds. MORE
The sudden arrival of the global pandemic has shifted the playbook for founders and venture capitalists. Despite the beginnings of a vaccine rollout, it’s likely that the conditions created by Covid-19 will continue to persist for some time. MORE
One thing I strongly believe is that founders should drive the agenda of a fundraising meeting. This is something that is easy to do, but only happens a minority of the time. What does it mean to not drive the meeting? MORE
I’ve had the privilege to work with many great entrepreneurs, both in my operating days at the start of my career and over the last decade plus on the VC investing side. In my experience founders usually fall into one of three types: mercenaries, missionaries, and crusaders. MORE
One of my more popular posts in recent years was a long write-up on how VC’s get measured. It occurred to me that about 2 years has transpired since that original post and I thought I’d write a follow-up. MORE
We’re in a global pandemic. The simple truth is that all venture capitalists have told their portfolio Founder/CEOs that if they don’t absolutely need to raise capital now that they shouldn’t be out there attempting to do so. Wait until fall. Wait until 2021. Wait until the situation changes. MORE
After building NextView for almost 10 years now, I’ve been having more conversations recently with first time managers looking for some tactical advice. Raising one’s first fund is hard, and there are always a plethora of voices that will tell you that it’s impossible for many different reasons. MORE
Most founders know the value of publicity, but earning press can be a massive headache. The media world is notoriously difficult to navigate from the outside, and working with PR agencies can be even more of a black box. MORE
There is a well-known trope that choosing a VC to partner with is like marriage. This is true. It’s a super important, near permanent relationship, especially for a lead investor that is likely to take a board seat for many years. But in my experience, the metaphor ends there. MORE
After operating quietly for the past year, our portfolio company Jumbo made a couple big announcements yesterday, including the launch of Jumbo 2 as well as their $8M series A financing led by Balderton Capital. MORE
We at NextView Ventures are sensitive to the challenges which all startups face during these times brought upon us by the current Coronavirus crisis. As we have discussed elsewhere, the world of early stage investing is shifting from FOMO ( F ear O f M issing O ut) to FOLD (Fear Of Looking Dumb). MORE
Since we first opened our New York office back in 2015, we have steadily increased our presence over the years ( Melody joined us in 2017 and Dorothy in 2018), and now roughly 40% of our investments are in New York. MORE
For early stage VC ‘s, Syndication is the process of sharing investments with other potential co-investors. The classic scenario is when a VC has a signed term sheet to lead a round, but has left room open for another meaningful investor. MORE
When a founder is raising money, he/she should expect that any serious investor will conduct some level of due diligence before getting to yes. This could look somewhat different depending on the maturity of the business. Seed stage companies will mostly face questions around the team and market. MORE
There are many traits and habits that successful entrepreneurs, especially repeat ones, display. Most of them are correlated to, but don’t directly cause success. And so they’re typically not necessary, nor sufficient conditions, to being or even becoming an exceptional Founder. MORE
One important tactical decision when fundraising is determining the size of “the ask”. Sizing the ask incorrectly is one of the things I see founders get wrong most often, and it ends up having a meaningful impact to the fundraising process overall. MORE
Airbnb’s public S-1 dropped Monday afternoon. One of the most highly anticipated startup IPOs of recent years, we now get a peek inside Airbnb’s business. MORE
In a few months, we are likely to see the annual Forbes Midas list of top performing early stage VC investors. MORE
For the last several years, the early stage investing market was driven largely by the F ear O f M issing O ut, AKA FOMO. MORE
One phrase that I often say is that “traction creates opportunity”. We were talking about this today and realized that I’ve never written a blog post on the topic, although I’ve said it countless times over the years. So here we go. MORE
With the news of our most recent $100M fund , NextView is looking to add a new member of our investment team based in New York. If you or someone that you know might be a great fit for this role, please apply here. MORE
Last spring, we at NextView announced a new, virtual “Everyday Economy” accelerator at the height of the initial pandemic lockdown. It quickly became a success. MORE
At NextView Ventures we have written many pieces about venture capital — how to raise it, build your business, engage with investors, iterate your product, navigate expanding industries, etc. MORE
I’m excited to announce our investment in Carefull. See here for more on the company and check out the product on Android and IOS. Carefull is a beautiful combination of three things that I love into one company, which is why I am so excited to be involved. MORE
The most overrated attribute that some investors look for in founders is “coachability” Do I have your attention? It’s not that founders shouldn’t be coachable. It’s a good attribute. But I think there are two ways that an emphasis on coachability goes wrong. MORE
With the recent announcement of our fourth fund , we are expanding the team at NexView with a new Platform and Operations Associate. This role will be virtual through the end of the pandemic, but will ultimately be based in either our New York or Boston office. From the beginnings of NextView, we have had a commitment to being high-conviction, hands-on, seed stage focused investors. MORE
During the course of a fundraise, founders are likely to encounter a few questions from VC’s that seem awkward or even a bit unfair. MORE
We are pleased to announce that we have closed on NextView IV. This is a fresh $100M fund with the same high-conviction, hands-on seed strategy that we’ve been pursuing since the start of NextView over 10 years ago. MORE
Today I’m excited to announce the relaunch of our most popular resource ever: board meeting deck templates for seed-stage startups, now in conjunction with an investor update email template. Download Board Deck Template . Download Investor Update Email Template. Investor Update Email Template and How & When to Use It. We first released a version of the board meeting deck template template back in 2014 and then a revised version a couple of years later. MORE
One of the toughest things about seed stage investing is knowing that many successful companies started off on the wrong path. Sometimes, the general idea was right, but the company needed to refactor something quite foundational to their model to make things work. MORE
“Be formless, shapeless, like water.” – Bruce Lee. I was on a pitch video call the other day when the founder asked me what the guiding principle for product was at Blue Apron when I was leading the team there, and my response was that consumer product experience should be like water. MORE
This year will mark the 10 th year anniversary of NextView. I’ll be writing a number of posts looking back over the first decade of the life of this firm. In some ways, this feels like an eternity. MORE
When a company is pitching a VC, there is typically one partner who is the advocate for the deal and is shepherding the process. This usually involves one or multiple meetings with the broad investment team, which culminates in a final decision. Although all VC’s tend to consider similar attributes about a potential investment, we each have certain biases or pet areas that we tend to hone-in on. MORE
View from Seed
APRIL 6, 2021
With the news of our most recent $100M fund , NextView is looking to add a new member of our investment team based in New York. If you or someone that you know might be a great fit for this role, please apply here.
View from Seed
NOVEMBER 18, 2020
One important tactical decision when fundraising is determining the size of “the ask”. Sizing the ask incorrectly is one of the things I see founders get wrong most often, and it ends up having a meaningful impact to the fundraising process overall.
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View from Seed
JANUARY 13, 2021
This year will mark the 10 th year anniversary of NextView. I’ll be writing a number of posts looking back over the first decade of the life of this firm. In some ways, this feels like an eternity.
View from Seed
FEBRUARY 16, 2021
Last spring, we at NextView announced a new, virtual “Everyday Economy” accelerator at the height of the initial pandemic lockdown. It quickly became a success.
Speaker: Nick Noreña, Innovation Coach and Advisor, Kromatic
In this webinar, Nick Noreña will walk through an Innovation Ecosystem Model that he and his team at Kromatic have developed to help investors, heads of product, teachers, and executives understand how they can best support innovation in their own ecosystem. He'll also go over metrics we can use to measure the health of our ecosystems as we build more resources for innovators.
View from Seed
FEBRUARY 4, 2021
There is a well-known trope that choosing a VC to partner with is like marriage. This is true. It’s a super important, near permanent relationship, especially for a lead investor that is likely to take a board seat for many years. But in my experience, the metaphor ends there.
View from Seed
FEBRUARY 1, 2021
The most overrated attribute that some investors look for in founders is “coachability” Do I have your attention? It’s not that founders shouldn’t be coachable. It’s a good attribute. But I think there are two ways that an emphasis on coachability goes wrong.
View from Seed
APRIL 20, 2020
We at NextView Ventures are sensitive to the challenges which all startups face during these times brought upon us by the current Coronavirus crisis. As we have discussed elsewhere, the world of early stage investing is shifting from FOMO ( F ear O f M issing O ut) to FOLD (Fear Of Looking Dumb).
View from Seed
NOVEMBER 18, 2020
Airbnb’s public S-1 dropped Monday afternoon. One of the most highly anticipated startup IPOs of recent years, we now get a peek inside Airbnb’s business.
View from Seed
JANUARY 11, 2021
The sudden arrival of the global pandemic has shifted the playbook for founders and venture capitalists. Despite the beginnings of a vaccine rollout, it’s likely that the conditions created by Covid-19 will continue to persist for some time.
View from Seed
MARCH 24, 2021
At NextView Ventures we have written many pieces about venture capital — how to raise it, build your business, engage with investors, iterate your product, navigate expanding industries, etc.
View from Seed
JANUARY 27, 2021
With the recent announcement of our fourth fund , we are expanding the team at NexView with a new Platform and Operations Associate. This role will be virtual through the end of the pandemic, but will ultimately be based in either our New York or Boston office. From the beginnings of NextView, we have had a commitment to being high-conviction, hands-on, seed stage focused investors.
View from Seed
JANUARY 5, 2021
I’ve had the privilege to work with many great entrepreneurs, both in my operating days at the start of my career and over the last decade plus on the VC investing side. In my experience founders usually fall into one of three types: mercenaries, missionaries, and crusaders.
View from Seed
JULY 8, 2020
Today I’m excited to announce the relaunch of our most popular resource ever: board meeting deck templates for seed-stage startups, now in conjunction with an investor update email template. Download Board Deck Template . Download Investor Update Email Template. Investor Update Email Template and How & When to Use It. We first released a version of the board meeting deck template template back in 2014 and then a revised version a couple of years later.
View from Seed
FEBRUARY 12, 2020
During the course of a fundraise, founders are likely to encounter a few questions from VC’s that seem awkward or even a bit unfair.
View from Seed
FEBRUARY 23, 2021
For early stage VC ‘s, Syndication is the process of sharing investments with other potential co-investors. The classic scenario is when a VC has a signed term sheet to lead a round, but has left room open for another meaningful investor.
View from Seed
JUNE 23, 2020
“Be formless, shapeless, like water.” – Bruce Lee. I was on a pitch video call the other day when the founder asked me what the guiding principle for product was at Blue Apron when I was leading the team there, and my response was that consumer product experience should be like water.
View from Seed
FEBRUARY 22, 2021
One of the toughest things about seed stage investing is knowing that many successful companies started off on the wrong path. Sometimes, the general idea was right, but the company needed to refactor something quite foundational to their model to make things work.
View from Seed
SEPTEMBER 23, 2020
After building NextView for almost 10 years now, I’ve been having more conversations recently with first time managers looking for some tactical advice. Raising one’s first fund is hard, and there are always a plethora of voices that will tell you that it’s impossible for many different reasons.
View from Seed
FEBRUARY 24, 2021
One of the most promising trends accelerating in digital health is the verticalization of digital health. Historically, the healthcare market has been regional, limited by the in-person nature of care delivery.
View from Seed
FEBRUARY 17, 2021
I’m excited to announce our investment in Carefull. See here for more on the company and check out the product on Android and IOS. Carefull is a beautiful combination of three things that I love into one company, which is why I am so excited to be involved.
View from Seed
MARCH 4, 2020
In a few months, we are likely to see the annual Forbes Midas list of top performing early stage VC investors.
View from Seed
APRIL 14, 2020
For the last several years, the early stage investing market was driven largely by the F ear O f M issing O ut, AKA FOMO.
View from Seed
SEPTEMBER 16, 2020
A few weeks ago, I published a post on how we make decisions and vote at NextView. Usually when we record our votes, we also score each company based on five attributes. This isn’t used as a “scorecard” where companies need to clear a certain quantitative bar to get through our process.
View from Seed
MAY 21, 2020
Fundraising for startups is a mix of selling both promise and reality. In some respects, one of the often non-intuitive privileges of a seed stage fundraising process is that the company is so new. There isn’t much history, much reality, to get in the way of a good story.
View from Seed
NOVEMBER 14, 2019
I sent a tweet out last week that elicited quite a few responses from both founders and investors: seed funds that don’t invest pre-traction =. — Rob Go (@robgo) November 4, 2019. I could hear the internet nodding in violent agreement. I thought I’d share a few additional thoughts on what may be driving this. First – there are a lot of seed investors out there that don’t actually want to invest in seed. What they really want to do is be a venture capitalist.
View from Seed
MARCH 11, 2020
When a founder is raising money, he/she should expect that any serious investor will conduct some level of due diligence before getting to yes. This could look somewhat different depending on the maturity of the business. Seed stage companies will mostly face questions around the team and market.
View from Seed
SEPTEMBER 30, 2020
Welcome to the first installment of the NextView Ventures Early Stage Startup Guides. Over the years, we’ve worked with, and talked to thousands of founders just starting out.
View from Seed
JULY 6, 2020
Since we first opened our New York office back in 2015, we have steadily increased our presence over the years ( Melody joined us in 2017 and Dorothy in 2018), and now roughly 40% of our investments are in New York.
View from Seed
JULY 22, 2020
One phrase that I often say is that “traction creates opportunity”. We were talking about this today and realized that I’ve never written a blog post on the topic, although I’ve said it countless times over the years. So here we go.
View from Seed
DECEMBER 7, 2020
Most founders know the value of publicity, but earning press can be a massive headache. The media world is notoriously difficult to navigate from the outside, and working with PR agencies can be even more of a black box.
View from Seed
OCTOBER 13, 2020
One thing I strongly believe is that founders should drive the agenda of a fundraising meeting. This is something that is easy to do, but only happens a minority of the time. What does it mean to not drive the meeting?
View from Seed
MAY 28, 2020
Advances in technology and changing consumer preferences have long been transforming the way food is created, distributed, and consumed. Now, as COVID-19 revolutionizes much of what was “normal” before March, several trends in foodtech are experiencing tailwinds.
View from Seed
OCTOBER 22, 2020
Since the inception of NextView, we’ve had a reasonably even distribution between backing first time founders and founders who had started a company with success in the past.
View from Seed
JANUARY 6, 2021
When a company is pitching a VC, there is typically one partner who is the advocate for the deal and is shepherding the process. This usually involves one or multiple meetings with the broad investment team, which culminates in a final decision. Although all VC’s tend to consider similar attributes about a potential investment, we each have certain biases or pet areas that we tend to hone-in on.
View from Seed
FEBRUARY 26, 2020
In previous blog posts I’ve written about the two main approaches to building a seed round syndicate – the subscription method (where an entrepreneur presets a structure with a convertible note or SAFE and recruits investors who subscribe to the round, all without a term-driving lead investor) and a term-driving lead investor approach.
View from Seed
JULY 15, 2020
One topic of conversation among VC’s over the last few months is how their portfolios are faring during the Covid pandemic. It occurred to me that the message I’m hearing has been pretty consistent but perhaps non-obvious to those outside of the industry.
View from Seed
SEPTEMBER 10, 2020
There are many traits and habits that successful entrepreneurs, especially repeat ones, display. Most of them are correlated to, but don’t directly cause success. And so they’re typically not necessary, nor sufficient conditions, to being or even becoming an exceptional Founder.
View from Seed
JUNE 24, 2020
After operating quietly for the past year, our portfolio company Jumbo made a couple big announcements yesterday, including the launch of Jumbo 2 as well as their $8M series A financing led by Balderton Capital.
View from Seed
DECEMBER 4, 2019
One of my more popular posts in recent years was a long write-up on how VC’s get measured. It occurred to me that about 2 years has transpired since that original post and I thought I’d write a follow-up.
View from Seed
JUNE 16, 2020
We’re in a global pandemic. The simple truth is that all venture capitalists have told their portfolio Founder/CEOs that if they don’t absolutely need to raise capital now that they shouldn’t be out there attempting to do so. Wait until fall. Wait until 2021. Wait until the situation changes.
View from Seed
SEPTEMBER 26, 2019
Student loan is a generational crisis – there are 45 million borrowers in the U.S. on the hook for $1.6 trillion in student loan debt, tripled in the last 10 years. When we think about money in the context of everyday living for the next generation of consumers, it’s impossible to ignore the weight of the student loan burden. . Unlike many other aspects of personal finance, student loan is incredibly complex.
View from Seed
SEPTEMBER 2, 2020
So many Americans act as caregivers for a loved one. 44 million people spend a substantial amount of their time assisting a chronically ill, disabled, or aging person. Nearly all caregivers are inexperienced family members who lack formal training and aren’t being paid for their help.
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