SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

He blogs to 10,000 web entrepreneurs at Software by Rob and co-hosts the podcast Startups for the Rest of Us. Before I get into the details for founders, let me talk about options-hungry employees. While I agree that many VCs are crummy seed investors, I think there are some that are excellent seed investors.

Startup 191

Startup CTO Hire Cofounder Venture Capital 191

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

. × At Greylock , my partners and I are driven by one guiding mission: always help entrepreneurs. It doesn’t matter whether an entrepreneur is in our portfolio, whether we’re considering an investment, or whether we’re casually meeting for the first time. Entrepreneurs often ask me for help with their pitch decks.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

A Crowded Space

OCTOBER 3, 2018

Very shortly after I joined, Greg Gretsch (now my partner at Jackson Square Ventures) co-led oDesk’s Series A along with Venky Ganesan (partner at Menlo Ventures and lead investor in Rev.com). Realistically for entrepreneurs, no matter how hard you try, you’re going to make hiring mistakes.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Bangladesh Ukraine Philippines 60

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 30, 2022

The same can be said of startups and their founders, in the sense that so many things can go wrong in the building of a company to an exit, that success almost seems to be a statistical anomaly [more on how bees fly ]. Side note: I did get ghosted by an entrepreneur on a potential personal angel deal and that stung (bee pun!)

Cap Table 67

Cap Table Venture Capital Cofounder Portfolio 67

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

One of the hardest things about the fund-raising process for entrepreneurs is that you’re trying to raise money from people who have “asymmetric information.” As an entrepreneur it can feel as intimidating as going to buy a car where the dealer knows the price of every make & model of a car and you’re guessing at how much to pay.

Valuation 324

Valuation Post-Money Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Cofounder 324

View from Seed

JANUARY 26, 2016

With that in mind, let’s look at an illustration of these trends below, which demonstrates what’s been happening to early-stage financing rounds over the last 15 years or so. Series A investors invested quite early, often before product/market fit.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Early Stage Cofounder Finance 120

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2015

Pre-money ($8m) + investment ($2m) = Post-money ($10m) and the investors now own 20% of your company $2m / $10m. In the old days there usually weren’t convertible notes on early-stage deals and there weren’t party rounds with 20 angels or 6 seed funds. So how DOES a VC think about financings at early stages?

Pre-Money Valuation 150

Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Post-Money Valuation Dilution 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

I know many super experienced entrepreneurs who don’t understand the basics of how fund size and age can affect them so I thought it was worth establishing a baseline. In a world of The Funded, VentureHacks and entrepreneur blogs this kind of informations spreads like wildfire. Let me explain: 1. Let me give you an example.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Term Sheet Early Stage Silicon Valley 265

Rob Go

JANUARY 9, 2012

I believe that the best way to understand an investor is to meet the founders that they work with. Founders: We invest behind founders from a variety of backgrounds. Broadly speaking, they break down something like this: First Time Founder: 6. Repeat Entrepreneur: 6. Tom Brady Entrepreneur : 4.

Portfolio 46

Portfolio Syndicate Syndication Cofounder 46

The Startup Lawyer

JANUARY 6, 2011

Founder and Partner at AOL Ventures , a few weeks ago. Sure – AOL Ventures is the VC arm of AOL , focused on early stage investing in consumer internet businesses. We also tend to focus on repeat entrepreneurs but are not opposed to funding first time founders who have significant domain expertise.

Early Stage 58

Early Stage LP Later Stage Balance Sheet 58