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What Does the Post Crash VC Market Look Like?

Both Sides of the Table

The market was down considerably with public valuations down 53–79% across the four sectors we were reviewing (it is since down even further). ==> Aside, we also have a NEW LA-based partner I’m thrilled to announce: Nick Kim. To that end I’m really excited to share that Nick Kim has joined Upfront as a Partner based out of our LA offices.

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Which Fundraising Round Should You Skip?

View from Seed

The reality is that if a founder raised every one of these rounds, and lead investors always got their “target” ownership, the level of dilution would be ridiculous. No good investor would want the founder/CEO of a company to have insufficient ownership by the series A, and every founder I know is sensitive to taking too much dilution.

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How the pre-seed round made a comeback in 2024

VC Cafe

While the answers are somewhat semantic, the pre-seed funding round is making a comeback in 2024 startup financing. To reduce the impact of dilution, the expectation is that startup valuation should more or less double between the pre-seed to the seed, and seed to series A (ideally backed by reasonable traction/ revenue multiples).

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The Road Less Traveled: Non-Standard Early Stage Funding Paths

View from Seed

The challenge with pre-seed rounds is that pricing will sometimes be pretty dilutive. My experience is that YC partners tend to encourage founders to hold off on taking more money shortly after getting into YC, arguing that their value will increase significantly in just a few months. The Pre-YC Pre-Seed.

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Why LP’s Passed on Seed Funds 10 Years Ago (And What’s Happened Since)

View from Seed

And yes, a seed fund may have a tougher time holding on to their ownership down the road, and thus get diluted down. We’ve had multiple companies in our early funds that hit bumps and had to raise flat rounds, which hurts from a dilution standpoint but doesn’t wipe out our position. So yes, seed funds will own less. But guess what?

Dilution 399
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Remind Me Why I Love You? (Why “In Person” is Everything)

Both Sides of the Table

You race back to the office to tell everybody how well it went and you wait for the follow-up call to have a partners’ meeting or talk about term sheets or at least dip into due diligence. That way when my partners in are in …. there is a reason for us to re-engage because they never met that partner before. What do I do now?

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Who Should be on Your Startup Board?

Both Sides of the Table

just having a sparring partner with a vested interest in your success can be useful. A-round venture capital firms will almost certainly make it a requirement that they get a board seat upon financing. The Limited Partners (LPs) who back funds don’t expect their dollars to be passive. If you get a smart person on the board?—?just