Hunter Walker

APRIL 27, 2014

Last week we held our first annual LP meeting, when venture funds get their investors together with updates on operations and results. Over the first year we’ve seen a steady increase in number of opportunities (thank you founders and co-investors!). We love our founders. And we invest in 1.2 companies per month.

LP 97

LP Cofounder Term Sheet Valuation 97

thebarefootvc

FEBRUARY 19, 2014

”, almost exactly 2 years ago to this day at Bloomberg LP’s headquarters in NYC as part of Social Media Week. Many investors and entrepreneurs in the US still have a US-centric view of the world. Jan Koum, one of WhatsApp’s founders, immigrated to the US from Communist Ukraine as a teenager.

India 107

India North America Ukraine Silicon Valley 107

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2017

This followed the firms founder Don Valentine handing leadership early to Mike Moritz and Doug Leone who then entrusted Jim Goetz. Yves didn’t want to step down — he is still as active as any partner on our team — but he wanted me to take responsibility for: Strategy, recruiting, team development, LP relations, financial planning, etc.

Leadership 161

Leadership LP Venture Capital Silicon Valley 161

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

Rolf Winkler wrote a piece in the WSJ about A16Z’s returns in which he says they “lag behind Sequoia, Benchmark and Founders Fund.” Scott Kupor of A16Z responded with a comprehensive overview of valuation methodology in a post that while accurate feels more targeted at sophisticated Limited Partners (LPs) who invest in funds.

LP 264

LP Jordan Cofounder Limited Partner 264

Feld Thoughts

JULY 31, 2014

I know many entrepreneurs who feel that VCs have played them, gamed them, deceived them, or bullshitted them. But this doesn’t only happen to entrepreneurs. In addition to being an incredibly supportive investor in us from the beginning, this LP has become an extremely close friend. But is wasn’t always this way.

LP 155

LP Advisory Board Venture Capital Early Stage 155

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

We make a point of keeping our records updated in the major data-trackers tracking the VC industry, e.g., CB Insights , Crunchbase , Dow Jones , Mattermark , Palico , Preqin , Pitchbook , and ThomsonReuters , since they are a source of data to LPs and to potential co-investors interested in us. . 3) Originate investments.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

Co-founders Laura Behrens Wu (CEO) and Simon Kreuz (CTO) launched Shippo in October 2013 and the company has already seen intense growth since launch. Laura and Simon are first-time entrepreneurs and alumni of 500 Startups (Batch 8). To learn more, visit https://goshippo.com/ or follow @goshippo on Twitter.

API 151

API LP Aggregator Europe 151

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 8, 2017

I’ve become a huge fan of Harry Stebbings, the intrepid entrepreneur turned VC whose age (20) matches the title of his podcast ( The Twenty Minute VC.) 20VC: THE FUNDAMENTALS TO CREATING A SUCCESSFUL VENTURE PARTNERSHIP & THE OPTIMAL INVESTMENT DECISION MAKING PROCESS WITH RYAN MCINTYRE, CO-FOUNDER @ FOUNDRY GROUP.

LP 70

LP Cofounder Australia SEO 70

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 20, 2019

Since then, I’ve been a founder of a number of companies, a CTO of a public company that acquired my first company, an angel investor, a VC in two different firms that I helped start, and an LP in a bunch of VC firms. One of the concluding lines in my dad’s Birth of an Entrepreneur post stood out to me.

LP 108

LP Angel Investor Cofounder Leadership 108

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2016

I joined Upfront Ventures in 2007 and took over as co-Managing Partner in 2011 along with the founder, Yves Sisteron. Build a long-term LP based, anchored by diverse asset types (Universities, Endowments, Family Offices, Pensions, Insurance Companies, Sovereign Wealth Funds & Fund of Funds). He’s a force of nature.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Early Stage LP Partner 150

Agile VC

JULY 19, 2012

First and foremost, it’s worth emphasizing that greatness as a VC firm is derived primarily from helping exceptional entrepreneurs build enduring companies. This is true not only in a firm’s dealings with entrepreneurs but also with it’s limited partners and even within the firm among its partners.

Cofounder 193

Cofounder Limited Partner Early Stage LP 193

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

Co-founders Laura Behrens Wu (CEO) and Simon Kreuz (CTO) launched Shippo in October 2013 and the company has already seen intense growth since launch. Laura and Simon are first-time entrepreneurs and alumni of 500 Startups (Batch 8). To learn more, visit https://goshippo.com/ or follow @goshippo on Twitter.

API 66

API LP Aggregator Europe 66

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. This essay is part of a series on alternative VC: I: Revenue-Based Investing: a new option for founders who care about control. III: Why are Revenue-Based VCs investing in so many women and underrepresented founders?

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

David Teten

JULY 12, 2017

First, a formal definition: According to Capital Dynamics , “Co-investments are direct investments in a company made alongside and on the same terms as a lead [General Partner]. Atish Davda, co-founder of EquityZen , observes, “While there are hundreds of ways to put capital into the ecosystem, taking money out remains harder.

Syndicate 60

Syndicate Syndication Institutional Investors LP 60

David Teten

AUGUST 21, 2019

Most founders who are raising capital look first to traditional equity VCs. RBI normally requires founders to pay back their investors with a fixed percentage of revenue until they have finished providing the investor with a fixed return on capital, which they agree upon in advance. But should they? Less or no dilution.

Revenue 60

Revenue Liquidation Preference Equity Cofounder 60

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 18, 2018

by Solomon Ali, Co-Founder of Revolutionary Concepts. What entrepreneur looking to hit it big isn’t searching for that next “patentable” idea? and Alarmforce LP, SkyBell Technologies, In August Home Inc., Your appetite has probably been whetted just reading that first sentence.

Intellectual Property 157

Intellectual Property Forecast LLC Acquisition 157

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

To learn more about this space, I suggest join an online community I co-founded, PEVCTech. . Small investment firms often have interns and entrepreneurs in residence passing through, each of which is a security risk. We are also seeing technology evaluation as an increasingly important part of LP operational due diligence.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 23, 2015

We had a blast together and as we went out to raise our Foundry 2007 fund, Scott made several introductions which resulted in two wonderful, long term LP relationships. When we started Mobius, we were four founders and two EAs. Instead, we wanted to be extremely close to the entrepreneurs and do all the work ourselves.

Advisory Board 70

Advisory Board Venture Capital LP Seed Stage 70

ithacaVC

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

And on the 8th day God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker for all those entrepreneurs – the crazy ones!” Someone who negotiates carry yet never sees a return, fights for attribution, tames cantankerous LP side-letter requests…. Negotiate a $20 million pre-money with a 19-year-old founder CEO.

Liquidation Preference 55

Liquidation Preference IRR Due Diligence LP 55

thebarefootvc

MARCH 8, 2012

While the initial fund is $120M we will have access to ru-Net’s (the Russian LP) $700M of capital to support growth of portfolio companies and opportunistically invest at later stages where we can add value beyond capital. More importantly, building global networks is key in order to optimize exit opportunities for portfolio companies.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Ghana Venture Capital India 69

Growthink Blog

AUGUST 14, 2010

The best articulation of it comes from Basil Peters, a serial technology entrepreneur, co-Founder of Nexus Engineering, former Canada Entrepreneur of the Year, and Managing Partner at 3 venture capital funds – Fundamental Technologies I and II and the BC Advantage Funds.

Private Equity 67

Private Equity Intellectual Property IPO Venture Capital 67

David Teten

DECEMBER 12, 2017

As a globally focused LP in early stage VC funds, we at Blue Future Partners have observed a growing trend of firms investing substantially in software tools, whether developing proprietary solutions or adopting off the shelf tools. But what tools are they using themselves to automate their own processes?

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 60

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

When you set up a board it is often initially a combination of the founders and the early investors. It can start 2–1 founders to investors and then sometimes moves to 3–2 but sometime around the A, B or C round the idea of “independent” directors comes up. When an entrepreneur takes on investors who take equity (i.e.

Warrant 187

Warrant LP Cofounder Founder 187

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

Cincinnati, like many startup communities in the US over the past 5 years, has revitalized important regions in its urban core, created accelerators, built co-working facilities, pooled together angel capital, attracted VCs, involved educational institutions and solicited the help of important corporations in a more cohesive ecosystem.

Silicon Valley 390

Silicon Valley Kansas City Startup Venture Capital 390

www.quora.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Type to Add and Search Questions; Search Topics and People Startups Startup Compensation Entrepreneurship Compensation Stock Options Major Internet Companies Silicon Valley Why is there such a large founder to early employee equity drop-off? The barrier between entrepreneur and money (incubators, angels, etc.) is lowered.

Equity 40

Equity Employee Founder Cofounder 40

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

In a discussion I had with Fred Wilson at the Invesco LP meeting Fred said the same about the influence of Clayton. We talked about how business school historically hasn’t positioned entrepreneurs well for success. I wrote about that before in a post about “ whether MBAs are necessary for entrepreneurs.

Bankruptcy 403

Bankruptcy Offshore Liquidation Preference Balance Sheet 403

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

For those who aren’t familiar, Mobius was a VC fund with offices in Silicon Valley and Boulder CO and at it’s peak Mobius had $2B+ under management. the Sequoia’s and Greylock’s of the world) or sometimes its based on the entrepreneurial successes of the founders of new firms (e.g.

LP 154

LP Portfolio Venture Capital IRR 154

The Equity Kicker

JANUARY 19, 2016

Fortunately Steve Schlenker, co-founder of DN Capital has captured most of them in his Quora answer to the question: How hard is it to be a venture capitalist. I’ve seen that happen to angels, entrepreneurs, and corporate VCs. I agree with him, but the reasons are complex.

Europe 60

Europe IPO LP Venture Capital 60

K9 Ventures

DECEMBER 10, 2011

I must admit that I do also have some exceptions to this rule – LucidChart is based in Provo, UT, and Occipital is presently in Boulder, CO. They wake up earlier than a lot of entrepreneurs do, and, I get a lot of late night emails from VCs working through their email inboxes late at night. Don’t get me wrong.

Silicon Valley 124

Silicon Valley San Jose Portfolio Cofounder 124

K9 Ventures

DECEMBER 10, 2011

I must admit that I do also have some exceptions to this rule – LucidChart is based in Provo, UT, and Occipital is presently in Boulder, CO. They wake up earlier than a lot of entrepreneurs do, and, I get a lot of late night emails from VCs working through their email inboxes late at night. Don’t get me wrong.

Silicon Valley 112

Silicon Valley San Jose Portfolio Cofounder 112

David Cohen

JANUARY 28, 2015

After that random day meeting, Brad became a co-founder of Techstars along with me, Jared Polis, and David Brown. I consider him a co-founder of Techstars, even if that’s not how the way back machine will necessarily tell the story. So many great founders. So many great partners.

Boston 48

Boston Cofounder LP Partner 48

David Teten

MARCH 18, 2021

(co-written with Stephane Nasser , co-founder of OpenVC , an open-source initiative to collect and analyze all VC theses.). OpenVC is a new, open-source initiative to collect and analyze all publicly available VC theses, to help founders more efficiently find the right investors, and vice-versa. Technical founders .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital Deal Flow 78

The Startup Lawyer

JANUARY 6, 2011

Founder and Partner at AOL Ventures , a few weeks ago. We also tend to focus on repeat entrepreneurs but are not opposed to funding first time founders who have significant domain expertise. That really depends on how involved the entrepreneur wants us to be. I had the chance to chat with Mike Brown Jr.,

Early Stage 58

Early Stage LP Later Stage Balance Sheet 58

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 4, 2021

Just before the IPO, I had a far-reaching conversation with co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong as he approached this major milestone for the company he co-founded back in 2012. As you'll hear, BA became an entrepreneur without expecting to have to address such questions, but that's not how it's turned out.

IPO 113

IPO Cofounder Technical Review Government 113

Start Up Blog

APRIL 29, 2013

The Co-Commerce Revolution – Well it isn’t really a revolution, more of a devolution. The co-commerce era is here and defined by the 3 C’s – Collaboration, Conversations and Creativity. So I thought I might pull all these thoughts together in a new edition of Soundbites from the Future – The 2013 edition.

Uruguay 123

Uruguay Technical Review Vertical Las Vegas 123

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 30, 2016

I have been evangelizing to founders for years to be more thoughtful about how startups update investors and run board meetings so I would be pretty hypocritical if I wasn’t willing to try and be more effective myself. Before making this change I called our LPs to ask for advice and input. So we planned a Technology Summit.

Community 150

Community Los Angeles LP Portfolio 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2017

So LPs are looking for a combination of “established top tier” and “new managers with differentiation.” This is key because in a permanently low-interest-rate environment parking large pools of capital in assets that benefit from interest is not possible so LPs seek “higher yield.”

LP 286

LP Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup 286