Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

Consumers pulled their money out of these risky investments, but when LPs make commitments to VC funds they make 10-year, legally binding commitments. So as of 2008 total LP commitments were still at nearly $250 billion. I was at dinner with a large LP and mentioned that I had heard the industry would shrink by 50%.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

Version One Ventures

JANUARY 31, 2024

The first is the fund that you would ideally raise if LP capital was not a constraining factor. Given this, LPs today are focused on the depth of the investing experience of a new GP and any emerging manager should address this heads-on in their deck and LP communications. Things are much different now.

LP 72

LP Differentiation Deal Flow India 72

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

If you track the venture capital industry it would be hard to miss the conversation going on this week over AngelList “Syndicates.” I had a chance to discuss AngelList Syndicates with Naval at Michael Kim’s Cendana LP/VC conference on a panel with Naval, Roger Ehrenberg (IA Ventures) and Mike Brown, Jr.

Syndicate 356

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Early Stage 356

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

At the other end of the spectrum large funds have gotten even larger in the past few years which has massively increased the amount of consolidation in our industry as 66% of LP money into venture is now concentrated in late-stage or full-cycle VCs. Why is this?

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2017

So it was a timely conversation at this year’s Upfront Summit because the week of the Summit, Sequoia had announced that it was transitioning leadership from Jim Goetz to Roelof Botha (and US operations to Alfred Lin). He did what every LP did, looked at returns, talked to portfolio companies, talked with our competitors and so forth.

Leadership 161

Leadership LP Venture Capital Silicon Valley 161

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap. Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap. As a result, unfounded hockey-stick graphs and unicorn promises give way to financial fluency, realistic expectations, frank conversations about what a business can credibly achieve, and transparency. . Flexible VC: Compensation-based.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 5, 2014

Stage 1 : Either Satya or I are meeting the founders, usually solo, giving them an overview of Homebrew and learning about their startup through direct conversations, using the product (whatever stage it’s at) and doing some background on their industry (if it’s an area new to us). Satya and I use a simple three stage system.

Software Review 102

Software Review Balance Sheet Cofounder Technical Review 102

Austin Startup

AUGUST 10, 2017

As entrepreneurs, Tushar and I immediately knew that when product-market fit hits you in the head, you jump on it. Joshua Baer is a serial entrepreneur and founder/Executive Director of Capital Factory , the largest coworking space and tech incubator in Austin. We began telling our friends about these investments. Factom, Inc.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Austin 48

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

” There are a lot of data points that one can observer to get a sense of the venture capital markets – both LP fundings into venture and VC financings of startups. note: to follow realtime conversations & engage with me on Facebook you can follow me here: https://www.facebook.com/msuster ]. State of the Market.

LP 150

LP Valuation Burn Rate Pre-Money Valuation 150

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 12, 2017

Cindy Revol, Joe Beard and Anurag Jain from Perot Jain, LP We received a warm welcome from Trey Bowles when we first came to Dallas and there have been many others who have opened their arms to us since. About Capital Factory Capital Factory is the center of gravity for entrepreneurs in Austin, the number one startup city in the U.S.

Dallas 48

Dallas San Antonio Houston Texas 48

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

As an entrepreneur I never really knew what to make of VC return data. Here’s what I know: Most entrepreneurs I know would love to work with A16Z. Simple: it is value-added for both entrepreneur and co-investor. What’s an LP to do in deciding which funds to invest in? So LPs are investing in potential. Absolutely.

LP 264

LP Jordan Cofounder Limited Partner 264

Feld Thoughts

JULY 9, 2011

On my run today I was thinking about GP – LP interactions. The interaction was I had with one of my LPs over the last 24 hours. I didn’t know the person, but knew a few people who did, and quickly sent emails getting addition info for my LP. I tried to come up with a rationale for blowing off an LP.

LP 120

LP Email Conversion Entrepreneur 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2016

I was asked again in an LP meeting later in the week and then again at a founder breakfast gathering we hosted yesterday. How I Invest was originally published in Both Sides of the Table on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story. Read the responses to this story on Medium.

Early Stage 254

Early Stage Non-Compete LP Later Stage 254

The Equity Kicker

NOVEMBER 26, 2013

LPs, the investors in VC funds, have a difficult job to do, largely because they have to work with poor quality data and only a small fraction of VCs deliver the returns that make them worth investing in. Discipline also helps to keeps a venture fund’s loss ratio low which is important as they are ultimately stewards of LP investment funding.”

LP 154

LP Venture Capital Portfolio Reputation 154

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

But the reality is that “global warming” massively blunted the effects of winter and my prognosis for VC fundings of entrepreneurs in 2017–2018 is now very sunny indeed. We will also be publishing the full VC Survey and LP Survey over the course of the next couple of weeks. Unless of course something Trump’s our good weather.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Saudi Arabia Kuwait Burn Rate 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

Of our early-stage deals we do 33% Seed, 66% A’s) Why recycling is important, but why without exits you might even be forced to stop paying management fees for a while What Will Happen with LPs in this Economic Market? Harry asked me whether I thought LP “defaults” (not funding the VC commitments it made) would go up. Yes, critical.

Marketing 263

Marketing Valuation Churn Rate Balance Sheet 263

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

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 10, 2013

Much of the conversation was personal, as in addition to being one of our largest investors, Jamey has become an incredibly close friend. I was struggling with my depression so we talked some about that, but that merely served as a launch point for a deeper conversation. I remembered my conversation with Jamey.

LP 152

LP Venture Capital Conversion Restful 152

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2018

Conversely if you’re raising $20 million in a C round then you probably shouldn’t be targeting an $80 million fund because they aren’t likely a good fit. As an investor I can tell you that when I meet an entrepreneur who knows very little about our fund or me as an individual it’s a huge turn off. I measured twice and cut once.

LP 215

LP San Francisco Minneapolis Partner 215

Babbling VC

JANUARY 7, 2011

You could say the entrepreneurs aren't thinking big enough and hence aren't selling a vision worth financing with larger rounds. Conversely you could blame the LP's (limited partners: the investors in venture funds) and say they are the one's not risking it enough. Unfortunately, all ships do not rise with the tide.

Finance 76

Finance LP Europe Valuation 76

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Small investment firms often have interns and entrepreneurs in residence passing through, each of which is a security risk. 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. 2) Market .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

David Teten

JULY 12, 2017

GPs strategically invite trusted [Limited Partners and others] to co-invest, often based on the LP’s ability to add value or when the amount of capital required to complete an attractive transaction is larger than they are able to invest alone.”.

Syndicate 60

Syndicate Syndication Institutional Investors LP 60

The Equity Kicker

JULY 8, 2019

Capital is a commodity, a truism that the VC industry was largely able to ignore in the early days due to lack of capital in the market and scarcity of information for entrepreneurs. The GP-LP structure used by most funds is a brake on innovation here too.

Portfolio 84

Portfolio LP Venture Capital Partner 84

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 28, 2015

Here’s what I remember the conversation being. I’m in for $100,000 so you’ve got your first LP. Shortly after that conversation (either the same day or the following day) my partners at Foundry Group (Seth, Jason, and Ryan) all committed to invest in the fund. One day in 2009 David Cohen and I were talking.

LP 70

LP Seattle Angel Investor Partner 70

David Teten

AUGUST 21, 2019

These entrepreneurs want to maintain two major options: 1) To raise VC later (or not), and/or. So you’re stuck selling mid-term, which is frequently sub-optimal for the entrepreneur. “. BK Landland observed, “At Lighter, most entrepreneurs we fund spend 10 total hours of work over 3-6 weeks to get funding. Optionality.

Revenue 60

Revenue Liquidation Preference Equity Cofounder 60

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 10, 2016

The last thing this entrepreneur needed was to make waves. These investors are never going to fund them directly, and it probably helps in some way for the LPs in the funds who backed you to keep pouring money into those funds--regardless of how little the VC might have been helpful. So far, we've gotten great feedback.

Cap Table 60

Cap Table Limited Partner LP Reputation 60

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2017

Every LP I speak with these days tells me, “We need to have coverage in Los Angeles — we know that” and it’s no coincidence that we’ve seen the explosion in emerging managers covering the Seed and A-round investment scene in LA. They always ask whether I see this as threatening as Upfront Ventures. Are you kidding me? And this is true.

IPO 191

IPO Los Angeles South Korea Armenia 191

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

I recently read a blog post by Beezer Clarkson, Managing Director of Sapphire Ventures about why entrepreneurs should care about from whom their VC funds raise their capital. There are a lot of things I think entrepreneurs should care about when raising from a VC: How big or small their fund is? I could go on for a long time.

LP 150

LP Entrepreneur United States Venture Capital 150

Rob Go

JULY 25, 2011

After raising this sort of round, it’s usually the first time an entrepreneur has to think about putting some structure of investor updates and communications. ” Remember, we all tell our LP’s that we are immensely helpful to our portfolio companies, so make us follow through on that!

Due Diligence 38

Due Diligence LP Seed Stage Portfolio 38

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2014

I then got my MBA at University of Chicago so I secretly pull for local entrepreneurs as long as they don’t make me visit in the Winter any more. I went to see several LP funds in Boston. At least twice I had conversations that went like this, “Yes. But no community can become complacent with the wins that it has.

Community 369

Community Silicon Valley Chicago Boston 369

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

When an entrepreneur takes on investors who take equity (i.e. While it’s true that they are investing LP money from a fund, it’s also true that the VCs are required to write large checks into their funds so every time they do a “capital call” (request money from an LP to fund you) they are also having to wire their own money into the deal.

Warrant 187

Warrant LP Cofounder Founder 187

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 3, 2021

The other day, my wife Aja Singer and I were having a conversation about being more intentional with our time, especially when it comes to working. What we found was that doing this exercise together created the space for really productive conversations about how we spend our time.

Management 120

Management Portfolio LP Social Media 120

Agile VC

DECEMBER 6, 2012

I was talking with an entrepreneur recently about this phenomenon. If Acme Ventures III, LP invests in Startup X then typically Acme Ventures IV, LP would not. 1) LP Bases Change Over Time – Most healthy VC firms tend to have stable relationships with the limited partners investing with them. Why is this?

LP 178

LP Balance Sheet Differentiation Limited Partner 178

Austin Startup

JUNE 26, 2019

Even though most of this message was already drafted, we also had a Hail Mary of a final acquisition conversation that closed the following morning. The Whole Enchilada For those of you interested in more than The Skinny, keep reading… Countless conversations have been had with key users, customers, advisors, mentors, family and friends.

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup B2C Sweat Equity 54

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 31, 2015

I believe many entrepreneurs have ADD. Typically one would have – Distractibility – If I start getting bored with a task, meeting, movie or conversation I immediately start to notice other things to shift my attention to. Essentially – it’s just the way your brain is wired. Embrace it. I have ADD.

LP 150

LP Lean Chicago Video 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2016

I remember when seed funds first started (they were being incorrectly called “super angels” and then Micro VCs before Seed Funds stuck) and every LP (who invest in VCs) told me they weren’t convinced about Seed Funds (too small, too hard to pick winners, would they be able to follow on?). Explosion in Seed Funds. VC Infighting. Choose wisely.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Burn Rate LP 150

www.quora.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

The barrier between entrepreneur and money (incubators, angels, etc.) Connections seems to make the most sense with serial entrepreneurs (or someone who had prior success). Many startups these days are first-time entrepreneurs. They are not even investing with their own money, but with their LP's money. is lowered.

Equity 40

Equity Employee Founder Cofounder 40