Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2020

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

Equity 436

Equity Small Business Administration SBA Syndicate 436

David Teten

FEBRUARY 3, 2014

The venture capital industry is continuing its evolution from an upside-down pyramid (typically 3-10 Partners, plus some administrative support) to a traditional hierarchical pyramid. Investors with dedicated, large-scale sourcing teams are almost all top-quartile performers across stage, vintage, and sector.

Private Equity 114

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Equity 114

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2021

Most entrepreneurs have found by now one or more of the many popular crowdfunding sites , and have the name and contact information for at least one of the big venture capital firms. Each has met legal securities minimums for net worth and professionalism, to reduce the risk to entrepreneurs. Most share expertise as well as money.

Search 317

Search Accredited Investor Angel Investor Venture Capital 317

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

MARCH 14, 2018

My Partners at HOF Capital are younger than I am, which means that we have a half-century horizon for the franchise we are building. – Build out low-cost force multipliers such as scouts , Advisors, Entrepreneurs in Residence, Venture Partners, and so on. So we think about scaling a lot.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Cofounder 60

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2018

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

Entrepreneur 240

Entrepreneur Equity Small Business Administration SBA 240

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. Small investment firms often have interns and entrepreneurs in residence passing through, each of which is a security risk. Most of us want one spouse and we’re done. 2) Market .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2014

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Startup Equity Small Business Administration 283

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

A reminder that it is important for all entrepreneurs is to remember to be careful about “deal drift.” We were trying to optimize around a few criteria: price, size of round, number of syndicate partners and, of course, terms. I’ve offered to fund an early stage company where I promised cash in bank in less than 30 days.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

It occurred to me that although we mentioned our new thematic approach when we raised our last fund in 2017, we haven’t really shared a broader manifesto about how we are approaching the early stage market. It’s been an interesting several years in the early stage venture eco-system, and the sands have shifted considerably.

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North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 36

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

From a company milestones perspective, entrepreneurs who take on venture debt are almost always thinking about raising that next round of capital from other institutions. Use good judgment, talk to your co-founders/investors/lawyers, and partner with a bank that values transparency and relationships such as SVB.].

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

PEVCTech is partnering with Blue Future Partners to run the first large-scale survey of VCs’ technology stack. Johann Kratzer of Blue Future Partners , a fund of funds, observed, “The majority of the hundreds of funds we’ve diligenced rely predominantly on their relationships to source deals. Greylock Partners.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

View from Seed

AUGUST 26, 2015

Just yesterday, Adam Medros , SVP of Global Product at TripAdvisor and an entrepreneur advisor for NextView, just asked about when the next event will be. And although this is written for angel investors, I think entrepreneurs can only benefit by increasing their knowledge around these investors and hope you’ll continue reading if that’s you.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Angel Investor Software Review Silicon Valley 120

View from Seed

AUGUST 26, 2015

Just yesterday, Adam Medros , SVP of Global Product at TripAdvisor and an entrepreneur advisor for NextView, just asked about when the next event will be. And although this is written for angel investors, I think entrepreneurs can only benefit by increasing their knowledge around these investors and hope you’ll continue reading if that’s you.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Angel Investor Software Review Silicon Valley 120

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 19, 2010

I have seen this criticism at various places where this recap is syndicated on a weekly basis, as well as in certain random forums on the internet. Well, I have coached early stage entrepreneurs for a couple of years now - diligently, patiently - and have learned a few things. Please try to understand why.

Silicon Valley 114

Silicon Valley Technical Review Startup Early Stage 114

View from Seed

JUNE 10, 2020

As we’ve shared, we intentionally wanted to flip the traditional Accelerator model on its head and offer a unique offering for entrepreneurs at the earliest of stages. But the emphasis of our program is the direct one-on-one interaction with NextView partners to help push the company forward.

Cofounder 177

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Alabama 177

thebarefootvc

MAY 8, 2012

As an entrepreneur at heart, I often innately grasp the potential of entrepreneurs and ideas that I meet with. These days, I am seeing a large number of first time entrepreneurs with great ideas, which is fantastic to see. There is inherent risk taking when you haven’t done it before, which often leads to true innovation.

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Venture Capital Syndicate Syndication Bandwidth 78

Gust

OCTOBER 20, 2011

million and is established by negotiations between the entrepreneur and the angel investors. Furthermore, angel groups frequently syndicate (co-invest) with neighboring angel organizations in an effort to help fill round of investment for local companies and assist members in diversifying their portfolios with investments in nearby regions.

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Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Intellectual Property Technical Review 146

View from Seed

AUGUST 16, 2019

With the proliferation of multiple seed rounds prior to a Series A, these situations are coming up increasingly in the early stage startup ecosystem. But in many situations my partners and I ask ourselves, are folks here acting out of either fear or greed? Of course, true motivations cannot be entirely divined.

Term Sheet 149

Term Sheet Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 149

Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 12, 2012

Addressing both of those issues can stem from the motivations as to why someone would want to put their hard-earned cash into a risky early-stage startup in the first place. PROS: Industry-insider who serves as a validator for the rest of the investment syndicate, extremely helpful advice and network connections.

Angel Investor 257

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 257

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. Of course these are great places to network with other investors, meet great entrepreneurs and keep your connections strong with senior execs at larger companies like Yahoo!, And there’s conferences. Oh, the conferences.

Cofounder 374

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 374

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

I also joke with Reid Hoffman that this was back in the days before he was “Reid” Reid’s an incredible entrepreneur, startup investor, and human being. It’s truly a privilege to have known him for more than a decade as my mentor, boss, and friend going back to the early PayPal days. link] leehower.

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Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Women Entrepreneurs Can

MARCH 18, 2023

They also serve as mentors and provide valuable advice to help entrepreneurs overcome any hurdles they might face. VCs have invested in dozens of startup companies, and they can offer entrepreneurs tips from their own experience. Venture capitalists usually help startups in their early stages, called seed funding.

Artificial Inteligence 52

Artificial Inteligence Startup Early Stage Syndicate 52

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 1, 2013

This morning my partners at Foundry Group and I announced that we are going to make 50 seed investments of $50,000 each on AngelList between now and the end of 2014. Foundry Group ) can create the syndicate in the future, at which point we’ll move the activity over to there. When we learn, we’ll share what we learn.

Syndicate 164

Syndicate Syndication Early Stage Portfolio 164

Agile VC

DECEMBER 19, 2013

Angel investing, particularly for entrepreneurs and others who’ve chosen a startup career path, can be rewarding in many different ways. 2) Gain Market Insight – Another reason to invest in early stage tech startups is to gain additional market insight and connections to the entrepreneurial community.

Angel Investor 265

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View from Seed

OCTOBER 21, 2014

As the seed-stage startup fundraise process has received more transparency in recent years, ranging from published advice on how to raise seed capital to increased availability through AngelList, Funders Club, and various accelerator programs, I’ve noticed another trend emerging. Lower-Than-Market Value. Above-Market Value.

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Valuation Founder Seed Stage Angel Investor 336

OnlyOnce

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

worked as advisors and mentors to numerous early stage founders and startups. I’ve never written before about those other “potential business opportunities” that our team was exploring along with our prior investment syndicate, Fred Wilson from Union Square Ventures, Greg Sands from Costanoa Ventures, and Brad Feld from Foundry.

Silicon Valley 62

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Cap Table Early Stage 62

View from Seed

AUGUST 20, 2014

It seems like a high-class problem for an entrepreneur to be able to influence round composition, and it is. How should an entrepreneur think about the different types of investors affecting their seed and Series A rounds? Lots of credibility, even at a very early stage. Definition: This is the case when a large VC (i.e.

Startup 301

Startup Syndicate Syndication Boston 301

Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 12, 2012

Addressing both of those issues can stem from the motivations as to why someone would want to put their hard-earned cash into a risky early-stage startup in the first place. PROS: Industry-insider who serves as a validator for the rest of the investment syndicate, extremely helpful advice and network connections.

Angel Investor 128

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 128

Hippoland

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

As an early stage investor, I know that if I can invest in a team that fits exactly what Ellen describes (OR MIT / Stanford, OR Facebook / Google, etc), I’ll win in the short term. Just a couple of years ago, AngelList announced their syndicate feature. But syndicates are logistically challenging.

Silicon Valley 48

Silicon Valley Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 48

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 6, 2011

Jussi Laakkonen , CEO & founder of Applifie, summarized it well: We recently raised our seed round at Applifier and it was led by a silicon valley seed fund MHS Capital, whose general partner is Mark Sugarman. If you are in the very early stages with your company and there are no major reasons (e.g. If not, raise locally.

Silicon Valley 104

Silicon Valley Startup Seed Stage Delaware 104

Hippoland

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

As an early stage investor, I know that if I can invest in a team that fits exactly what Ellen describes (OR MIT / Stanford, OR Facebook / Google, etc), I’ll win in the short term. Just a couple of years ago, AngelList announced their syndicate feature. But syndicates are logistically challenging.

Silicon Valley 48

Silicon Valley Syndicate Syndication Angel Investor 48

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

Equity 120

Equity Small Business Administration SBA Syndicate 120

David Teten

JUNE 12, 2012

In the article, I discuss why we think that smart early-stage investors should target women and diverse entrepreneurs, and why we think HBS Alumni Angels in particular is well positioned to be very successful. NAIC ‘s involvement in VCAP© insures that a robust pipeline of diverse entrepreneurs will participate.

Private Equity 133

Private Equity Syndicate Syndication Angel Investor 133

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

We’ve written before on how to research partners , how to pitch the right investor at a given firm, and how to raise seed capital , generally speaking. Good VCs try to pass as quickly as possible once they decide on that outcome, in order to be respectful of an entrepreneur’s time.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Due Diligence Seed Stage Seed Capital 120

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 1, 2015

At Foundry Group, we’ve experimented with lots of different things around company creation and early stage investment. Techstars now owns Startup Weekend and Startup Week, which extend Techstars impact on and support of the Entrepreneurs Journey. We have a lot of investments in Seattle.

Seattle 70

Seattle San Francisco Angel Investor Syndicate 70

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

Most entrepreneurs have found by now one or more of the many popular crowdfunding sites , and have the name and contact information for at least one of the big venture capital firms. Each has met legal securities minimums for net worth and professionalism, to reduce the risk to entrepreneurs. Most share expertise as well as money.

Angel Investor 120

Angel Investor Accredited Investor Venture Capital Startup 120