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Why Hearing “No” in a Fund-Raising Process is Actually Healthy

Both Sides of the Table

To go “top down” in all of their campaigns. I once had a potential LP back in 2010 (when fund-raising as a VC was harder for me) tell me that he thought he was a better fit to look at our next fund rather than this one. I had learned that this is a standard line every LP uses to have an “easy no” for VCs. I was relieved.

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Planning Your Fund Raising — “Measure Twice, Cut Once”

Both Sides of the Table

It’s why when you hear that somebody went to Stanford, worked at Google, graduated summa cum laude, played professional tennis or whatever else determines a degree of achievement, competitiveness or success in your mind you start by “leaning in” when you meet that person. I measured twice and cut once. Be humble, sit down.

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VCs eating our own dog food: Using technology and analytics to make better investments

David Teten

We use Google Analytics, HubSpot, and LinkedIn Campaign Manager for the majority of our analytics. Tim Friedman, Founder, PE Stack , said, “If I could offer one piece of advice to today’s managers, it would be to take the time to understand the demands of the modern institutional LP. 3) Raise capital.

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Startups: It’s not Thelma & Louise

Austin Startup

As a boot-strapped founder aka our biggest investor, one of the things I leaned into uncovering was the unknown. Lean into it. Given my background in the data-driven world of political campaigns, I know it’s all about the #s (you win or lose on Election Day given your win #? What did our customers think? Step on the scale.

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An Inside Scoop on the Funding Environment and What it Might Mean for You

Both Sides of the Table

If you want to see what was on my mind – I started foreshadowing change publicly in October 2015 with a forecast of what I expected in 2016 VC funding markets at a presentation I gave at the annual Cendana VC/LP conference hosted by Michael Kim. SaaS valuations had completely reverted to the mean and were now trading at 4.2x

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Here are The Missing Positives of This Election

Both Sides of the Table

I have felt more connected and more bonded and increased my respect for those who have taken moral stands or have put in hours of work for the campaign. When I went to add partners at Upfront I called an LP of mine and told him I was trying to recruit a new partner named Kara Nortman. He actually said that. He actually said that.