View from Seed

JANUARY 13, 2021

It turns out capital is not a weapon, especially in the early stages of building a business, and even experienced founders who can raise huge sums often realize this and right-size their asks. And yes, a seed fund may have a tougher time holding on to their ownership down the road, and thus get diluted down. But guess what?

Dilution 399

Dilution Later Stage Portfolio Technical Review 399

Agile VC

JULY 11, 2012

Some disgruntled younger partners left to go start a new firm in 1965 called Greylock. Some disgruntled younger partners left in the 90s to form what is now Redpoint Ventures (IT team) and Versant Ventures (healthcare team). Big success was Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), in which ARD invested about $2.1M

Silicon Valley 240

Silicon Valley Carried Interest Cofounder Boston 240

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. Similar to the explosion of seed funds in the past decade, we (and some limited partners too ) believe these Flexible VCs are on the forefront of what will become a major segment of the venture ecosystem. Of the Inc. 5000 companies, only 6.5% return cap.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

Use good judgment, talk to your co-founders/investors/lawyers, and partner with a bank that values transparency and relationships such as SVB.]. Especially in the early stages, so much about the company may change in how they think about product or go-to-market — and change multiple times — before raising an institutional round.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

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. But we weren’t optimizing for dilution – we were building a $1 billion+ company and we wanted the runway to succeed. You need your key negotiating partner and both sets of lawyers.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

thebarefootvc

MAY 8, 2012

If there is an opportunity to bring in a syndicate partner that will add exponential value, it would be foolish to not include them. It is the downturns and bumps that separate the dedicated, long-term investors from passive ones — and entrepreneurs should keep this in mind as they build out their syndicates.

Venture Capital 78

Venture Capital Syndicate Syndication Bandwidth 78

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Seed investors are aplenty and of course they need downstream money to fuel their early-stage bets. I told my friend that I felt that in 2014 too many new VCs feel the pressure to chase deals, to be a part of syndicates with other brand names and to pounce on top of every startup whose numbers are trending up quickly.

Cofounder 374

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 374