VC Adventure

JUNE 14, 2022

Most founders don’t feel they are getting value from their investors, even in areas like follow on rounds where they would hope to see specialized experience. But it certainly highlights the need for a deeper level of conversation between venture investors and their portfolio CEOs about where and how they can truly be helpful.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Due Diligence Portfolio Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

You might like to think that a bunch of savvy venture capitalists saw a market niche for raising smaller funds or perhaps there was a generational shift where disgruntled junior partners spun out of bigger firms to start their own gigs. Well, both of those things happened but they were lagging indicators. Why Has Seed Investing Declined?

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage IPO 328

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. By tying payments to actual revenues, founders and investors remain aligned around the company’s real-time performance, good or bad.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

ReadWriteStart

JULY 15, 2020

Startup founders are trying to figure out how to fundraise through a pandemic and economic crash. New talk of capital efficiency is gratifying, but there was another lesson from pre-COVID-19 valuation struggles. Venture capitalists and early-stage investors have told all of us, founders are critical to a startup’s valuation.

Valuation 91

Valuation South Carolina San Jose Balance Sheet 91

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

I read commentary or Twitter or blogs and realize that there are also strongly held convictions that there are these evil VCs who do terrible things to mostly altruistic founders. Executives run the day-to-day so often the board is more involved as a sparring partner at key intervals. That’s true.

Cofounder 217

Cofounder Stock Options Equity Technical Review 217

VC Cafe

JANUARY 27, 2021

We are taking the screen sharing experience to the next level, so that collaboration doesn’t get in the way of doing great work,” writes CEO and founder Tom Medema. Next47 and American Insight Partners VC, demonstrates growing trust in its current and future business model. Another virtual events platform, Hopin , has hit a 2.1

Vertical 148

Vertical Video Technical Review Europe 148

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

I’m over-paying for every check I write into the VC ecosystem and valuations are being pushed up to absurd levels and many of these valuations and companies won’t hold in the long term. On the one hand, you’re over paying for every investment and valuations aren’t rational. two founders in a garage?—?(HP

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

We’ve also worked with our Partner, Dana Kibler who is also our CFO for nearly 20 years. Photo by Scott Clark for Upfront Ventures Focus on Cash While the headlines in 2020 & 2021 touted many massive fundraising events and heady valuations, we believed that for savvy investors it also represented an opportunity for real financial gains.

San Francisco 408

San Francisco Early Stage Venture Capital Los Angeles 408

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2015

by John Vrionis, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. “And if you have a valuation cap; a higher cap is always better than a lower cap.” The primary terms for these types of transactions are the valuation cap and the conversion discount. Lightspeed is in the business of encouraging entrepreneurship.

Convertible Security 100

Convertible Security IP Technical Review Software Review 100

View from Seed

APRIL 20, 2020

The result is that capital tends to flow towards founders with established VC relationships and away from folks who may be equally talented but are several steps removed from investor networks. We will leverage the standard YC post-money SAFE document with a valuation cap and no discount.

B2B 436

B2B Seed Stage B2C Programming 436

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

This term is currently applied to recent startups who profess a current valuation which exceeds $1 billion. Frothy startup valuations. Ron Conway , of SV Angels, and Reid Hoffman , LinkedIn's founder, are names often mentioned in this category. Prime examples include Uber, Airbnb and Snapchat. Could your startup be the next one?

Software Review 120

Software Review Sweat Equity Accredited Investor Angel Investor 120

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

But in business, you want a lot of partners. In the private equity universe, most Partners have primary training as deal-makers, not as managers. See Bessemer Venture Partners’ A comprehensive guide to security for startups. Cobalt for General Partners helps GPs to optimize their fundraising strategy. 1) Manage the firm

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Small Business Force

AUGUST 31, 2013

Picking a partner or co-founder isn't like finding a new friend. Just like people that tend to jump into marriages, entrepreneurs tend to get starry-eyed and join forces without thinking through the long-term implications of having a partner. How do you pick the right person to partner with for you and your business?

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Partner Technical Review Founder 40

View from Seed

APRIL 2, 2020

Their focus is on talking to founders to understand what their specific business needs are in the immediate future and the coming months. Those companies are the ones that we don’t really worry about and are in the best position that you can be in as a founder right now. Company B wanted to raise capital in 2020.

Partner 156

Partner Marketing Portfolio Early Stage 156

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2021

The sudden arrival of the global pandemic has shifted the playbook for founders and venture capitalists. As high-conviction, seed stage investors, we are inherently relationship-driven, and we value meeting exceptional founders face-to-face. I can have a wider reach and a higher volume of 30 minute meetings with founders.”.

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Cofounder Early Stage Seed Stage 352

Steve Blank

APRIL 5, 2017

Create awareness for fundraising (VC, angels, corporate partners). This is often a tough concept for engineering founders who believe that if we just tell customers about the features that make their product faster, cheaper, etc. Founders ask me all the time whether they should hire a PR agency. they’ll win.).

Marketing 316

Marketing Audience Technical Review PR 316

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 26, 2022

How to Scale Unicorns With Partner David Zhang, TVC. Joining us for this episode is our partner David Zhang, Partner at TCV (( Technology Crossover Ventures ). We’ll have a fun conversation over the next 40-45 minutes. We’ll have a fun conversation over the next 40-45 minutes. Jonathan Siddharth .

Partner 132

Partner Cofounder Retention Acquisition 132

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

By Alan Lobock, co-founder, Worthworm. Sometimes the list of challenges may feel never ending – from writing the business plan to finding the right partner – but one of the single most important challenges entrepreneurs face is calculating a realistic, defensible pre-money valuation. . What valuation methods did you use?

Pre-Money Valuation 133

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Angel Investor Cofounder 133

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

Quoting an inflated valuation. . When your valuation is too high, investors think you are either greedy or you don’t know what you are doing. In both cases, a high valuation can end a conversation. Use relationships in your hometown or the hometowns of your founders to seek investment from other cities and states.

Venture Capital 180

Venture Capital Technical Cofounder Milwaukee Valuation 180

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 12, 2020

That leaves me out raising with two funds under my belt and no big exit and no unicorn valuations. One of my founders texted me, “What are you telling people to do about the Coronavirus?” One just got a seed term sheet for twice the valuation I put in at in the pre-seed and the other is doing $200k/month in revenue.

LP 147

LP Technical Review Software Review Valuation 147

Berkonomics

AUGUST 10, 2023

From the moment such an investor looks seriously at your company, the investor or VC partner is thinking of the end game, the ultimate sale of the company or even of an eventual initial public offering. There is no middle ground. Resetting your priorities Taking money from these sources involves resetting priorities over time.

Liquidity Event 116

Liquidity Event Initial Public Offering Dividend Valuation 116

The Equity Kicker

AUGUST 8, 2017

For those of you who are time poor here’s the tltr: Forward Partners operates a focused investment strategy because it helps us make better investment decisions and provide better support to our companies. For the three and a half years that we’ve been going, Forward Partners has operated a focused investment strategy.

Artificial Inteligence 78

Artificial Inteligence eCommerce Early Stage Algorithm 78

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

Kayak was started here in my backyard of Boston… co-founder & CTO Paul English and the product/engineering team is based here in Concord MA. Co-founder & CEO Steve Hafner and the business team are based in Norwalk, CT. Led by General Catalyst with participation by co-founders Steve Hafner & Paul English.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

View from Seed

AUGUST 30, 2019

One of the key conversations that happens during NextView’s evaluation of an investment is the “debrief” after the partner meeting , where the entire partnership gets the opportunity to interact with the founding team and dive deeper into the business. . During the debrief, we would discuss not only aspects of the company (i.e.

Pre-Money Valuation 175

Pre-Money Valuation Syndicate Syndication Valuation 175

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

It was a “disappearing text app” where the founders told me that they named the company because the idea came from how Tiger Woods got caught cheating on his wife because all of his mistresses had evidence that he cheated because they saved text messages from him. . I didn’t do that. I love this product & the community I’ve formed there.

IPO 214

IPO Los Angeles Technical Review Silicon Valley 214

Cracking the Code

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

As the company announces its $530 million Series F at a valuation of $8.5 What was your approach to picking co-founders, and what advice would you give entrepreneurs on this? I think having a co-founder is very important. You need close partners in that journey and you get many sorts of partners - investors, employees etc. -

Community 62

Community Cofounder Security Open Source 62

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

We were trying to optimize around a few criteria: price, size of round, number of syndicate partners and, of course, terms. million at a $15 million pre-money valuation. My co-founder and other management team members wanted us to hold off and see whether we could get the deal done at a higher price. Yes, this was stupid.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

Austin Startup

JULY 22, 2021

Any software, hardware, or CPG startup in Texas with a female founder or co-founder can apply to participate. We’ve helped winners connect with customers, mentors, and secure millions of dollars in capital from partners like Google Black Founders Fund, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Fund, Backstage Capital, and many other VC investors.

San Antonio 107

San Antonio Dallas Houston Founder 107

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Of partner? Nothing blows up great opportunities faster than founders who are constantly fighting. I’ve watched VCs help with valuation support (spreadsheets, comps) on next round financing, participate in M&A meetings, interview senior job candidates – even help terminate tricky senior hires. Reputation of firm?

Portfolio 364

Portfolio Chicago Sales Incubator 364

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Many assume it was a cakewalk, based on the success LinkedIn has enjoyed over time and the current stature of our founder/CEO Reid Hoffman (now Chairman). Yes… he was a very successful PayPal exec and previously co-founder & VP Product of SocialNet. It was a pretty good valuation for the time. It was a $4.7M

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

To draw titular inspiration from a New York Magazine article entitled Ellen Pao and the Sexism You Can’t Quite Prove (we’ll talk more about Pao later on), I entered into this topic less with the desire to try to “prove” a specific point, but rather to explore an issue that continues to rise to the top of conversation in the entrepreneurial space.

Venture Capital 82

Venture Capital Lean Cofounder Technical Review 82

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

Biggest Advice I Give to Portfolio Founders? A seed deal hasn’t already been “priced up” to a range where a new investor might be concerned about the valuation relative to performance. Optimize for a 1 not a 0 more than exact valuations now. Paying close attention to the psychology of founders. Raise when you can.

Marketing 263

Marketing Valuation Churn Rate Balance Sheet 263

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 5, 2014

Meeting new founders while collaborating, recruiting, analyzing, doing whatever it takes, to help our current founders build strong companies. ” That means the founders are currently fundraising and we are at some stage of mutually getting to know each other. Doing what excites me and gives energy.

Software Review 102

Software Review Balance Sheet Cofounder Technical Review 102

Austin Startup

JULY 18, 2018

It leads to better products, better strategy, better marketing, bigger valuations and faster growth. Of our 61 Accelerator startups in 2017, 8% had at least one Black founder, 13% had at least one Female founder, 16% had at least one Asian founder, 21% had at least one LatinX founder.

Technical Review 56

Technical Review San Antonio Houston Software Review 56

Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

During that conversation, we talked about some of my favorite philosophers and how I’ve applied their ideas to my own career. Notice that I didn’t say I wouldn’t invest in a founder with an MBA; there are many amazing entrepreneurs and investors with MBAs, such as my friend Aneel Bhusri of Workday. TOP DRAWBACKS OF AN MBA PROGRAM.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

During that conversation, we talked about some of my favorite philosophers and how I’ve applied their ideas to my own career. Notice that I didn’t say I wouldn’t invest in a founder with an MBA; there are many amazing entrepreneurs and investors with MBAs, such as my friend Aneel Bhusri of Workday. TOP DRAWBACKS OF AN MBA PROGRAM.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

View from Seed

JUNE 10, 2020

of teams’ online pitch decks and recorded videos, as well as loved the dozens of second-round video conversations which we had with Founders working on quite compelling startups. Many of these Founders we wouldn’t have had an opportunity to connect with if we hadn’t launched this program.

Cofounder 178

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Alabama 178