article thumbnail

Launching a Portfolio Acceleration Platform at a Venture Capital or Private Equity Fund

David Teten

I’ve recently advised a number of emerging private equity and VC funds who are wrestling with the question: What are the highest impact steps they can take to support their portfolio companies? . Almost every private equity and venture capital investor now advertises that they have a platform to support their portfolio companies.

article thumbnail

Requests for Startups in 2024

VC Cafe

Companionship Differentiated value prop vs. generalist chat products – AI companion products hat specialise in content that mainstream models aren’t good at (or don’t allow), like fictional role plays or erotica. Bitcoin Allocation – Growing the role of bitcoin in investment portfolios.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Vertical Markets 2: Customer/Market Risk versus Invention Risk.

Steve Blank

Steve,&# he said, “you’re missing the most interesting part of vertical markets. Our firm has a portfolio of companies across a broad range of markets and the way we look at it is pretty simple – the deals fall into two types: those with customer/market risk and those with invention risk.”

Vertical 144
article thumbnail

Who will be the Stripe for insurance?

Version One Ventures

But beyond Shopify, virtually any transactional SaaS product out there has added payments – from horizontal solutions like FreshBooks to vertical SaaS products like Clio and Jobber (both V1 portfolio companies ). This fact should scare every undifferentiated payment processor out there.

article thumbnail

How to Get Superior Returns in Venture Capital

David Teten

He looked at his resume, and asked just one question: “ What’s your edge? ” My friend got the job because his answer was differentiated, credible, and backed up by a history of investing success. Many VCs focus on specific verticals, usually based on the sector in which a VC initially made her reputation. – Execution.

article thumbnail

How to Get Superior Returns in Venture Capital

David Teten

He looked at his resume, and asked just one question: “ What’s your edge? ” My friend got the job because his answer was differentiated, credible, and backed up by a history of investing success. Many VCs focus on specific verticals, usually based on the sector in which a VC initially made her reputation. – Execution.

article thumbnail

An update on Version One’s thesis: backing mission-driven founders

Version One Ventures

However, most businesses are looking for network effects, so they are less of a differentiator than they were a decade ago. No matter the vertical, geography, business model, macro or micro trends, entrepreneurs form the nucleus of a generational company. Amazing, mission-driven founders are found throughout our portfolio.

Founder 213