David Teten

MAY 20, 2016

I’ve also made significant engineering contributions to our two other platforms, Admin (back-end portal for our data team) and Access (LP dashboard). Prior to joining ffVC, I co-founded an early stage fashion messaging startup, and joined a TechStars NYC 2011 company as first engineering employee.

Private Equity 113

Private Equity Equity Cap Table Venture Capital 113

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

Working with early-stage teams : coaching, mentoring, setting strategy, rolling up sleeves: 9/10. Getting Exits / Driving LP Returns: This was always the knock on me. I divided success into the phases of venture capital and 18 months into writing my first check here was my view (details on each in the link above). ” Yup.

Los Angeles 387

Los Angeles Intellectual Property LP Venture Capital 387

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

I had a chance to discuss AngelList Syndicates with Naval at Michael Kim’s Cendana LP/VC conference on a panel with Naval, Roger Ehrenberg (IA Ventures) and Mike Brown, Jr. It should help some entrepreneurs to better access early-stage capital and should allow some angel investors better access to deal flow.

Syndicate 356

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Early Stage 356

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

At first glance, you’d think that all LPs pretty much want to buy the same thing. Every fund pitching an LP is pitching this as a baseline. And yet, LP’s get to “yes” in a few cases and get to “no” in most cases. In addition to thinking about the LP overall, it’s important to think about the decision-maker.

LP 309

LP Customer Early Stage Portfolio 309

K9 Ventures

OCTOBER 21, 2023

I describe this to K9 LPs as this is my opinion and feelings based on what I see from my vantage point as a pre-seed/seed stage investor. LPs and GPs should be aware of this dynamic as they make investment decisions.

Seed Stage 80

Seed Stage LP Early Stage Founder 80

David Teten

MARCH 14, 2018

USC Marshall Professor Noam Wasserman observes in Upside-Down Venture Capitalists and the Transition Toward Pyramidal Firms: Inevitable Progression, or Failed Experiment? : “T he early-stage VC industry was [historically] dominated by small firms composed primarily of senior staff members and only a few junior members.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Cofounder 60

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Any CEO worth his or her salt knows that her investors get an insane amount of emails and often spend 8+ hours / day in meetings (board meetings, pitches, partner meetings, LP meetings, corporate relationship meetings) so often email is done on the run on one’s iPhone or in the early morning / late evening.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Seed-stage compatible: Like traditional equity VC investors, Flexible VCs accomodate early-stage investment risk within their portfolios better than a traditional RBI funder. Early-stage: Cofounder with engineering/ product background from top-tier university or major technology company. Short track record.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

At the other end of the spectrum large funds have gotten even larger in the past few years which has massively increased the amount of consolidation in our industry as 66% of LP money into venture is now concentrated in late-stage or full-cycle VCs. Why is this? Of course strongest industry players don’t stand still.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

In venture capital in particular, early-stage companies are often operating in frontier industries, where the rules are unpredictable and conventional analytic frameworks may be misleading. The Pocket Negotiator is very early-stage attempt to aid in the negotiating process itself. . Accompany focuses on this use case.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Hunter Walker

APRIL 27, 2014

Last week we held our first annual LP meeting, when venture funds get their investors together with updates on operations and results. I’ve written before about our fundraising process and how it very much resembles that of a startup. There were four basic sections: 1) What We Said We’d Do & What We Did.

LP 97

LP Cofounder Term Sheet Valuation 97

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

That’s a reason why some are quick to portend “a new bubble” but this post sets out to show that would be a misunderstanding of the market and in fact by historic levels this may be amongst the best times to invest in seed and early-stage funds. More on that later.

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital IPO Mezzanine Early Stage 292

David Teten

AUGUST 15, 2013

Some corporations emulate this model by creating their own wholly-owned VC entities, typically with one LP: the corporate balance sheet. The most common tactic we’ve seen from large corporations is providing a package of benefits for startups in order to build relationships with early-stage companies. 3) Freebies.

Startup 114

Startup Technical Support Venture Capital Balance Sheet 114

View from Seed

OCTOBER 11, 2022

I spent time talking to many mentors and friends, investors and founders alike, about what drives them, what makes an effective partnership, the evolution of early-stage investing, and what’s possible for the future of our industry.

North America 156

North America San Francisco Cap Table Cofounder 156

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2016

During the Q&A I was asked about how I make investment decisions in early-stage businesses. I was asked again in an LP meeting later in the week and then again at a founder breakfast gathering we hosted yesterday. I know that sounds trite but it’s the best way I can describe my early-stage investments.

Early Stage 254

Early Stage Non-Compete LP Later Stage 254

David Teten

DECEMBER 12, 2017

As a globally focused LP in early stage VC funds, we at Blue Future Partners have observed a growing trend of firms investing substantially in software tools, whether developing proprietary solutions or adopting off the shelf tools. But what tools are they using themselves to automate their own processes? Methodology.

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 60

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

I saved it mostly for LP discussions that I had over the past year. to raise “opportunity funds” to fund the prorata participation of their best early-stage investments. Now they are funding & holding. This has led a number of successful traditional VCs (and soon Micro VCs!)

Venture Capital 362

Venture Capital IPO LP Jordan 362

Austin Startup

AUGUST 10, 2017

Josh runs a series of Capital Factory-affiliated venture funds and is the most active early stage investor in Texas since 2013, according to Pitchbook. They helped us establish 2 GP entities, 2 LP entities, and 1 Cayman entity (for international investors) in ~2 months.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Austin 48

Feld Thoughts

JULY 31, 2014

In addition to being an incredibly supportive investor in us from the beginning, this LP has become an extremely close friend. As I was walking home after dinner, I thought about the person who had introduced us to this LP. In 2007, when we set out to raise our first Foundry Group fund, early stage tech VC was in the shitter.

LP 155

LP Advisory Board Venture Capital Early Stage 155

Hunter Walker

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

” A great line uttered at dinner last night by one of the senior GPs at one of the best early stage funds. One question that’s been on my mind since we started Homebrew in early 2013 was whether seed venture would end up being multigenerational or not. Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash.

LP 92

LP Early Stage Syndicate Syndication 92

Hunter Walker

JUNE 14, 2019

The six who didn’t go out for a Series A either (a) shutdown/acquihired prior to this milestone [founder disagreement; lack of product traction], (b) exited due to an early M&A opportunity or (c) in one case, is currently an ongoing concern that hasn’t needed to raise additional capital. Why do I raise this distinction?

LP 100

LP Early Stage Lead Investor Founder 100

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 17, 2018

We invest in the early stages of company creation , leading or participating in pre-seed and seed-rounds with cheque sizes between $500K and $750K. And last but not least, we thank our investors, the LPs. About Fund III. This is where we believe we can have the biggest impact.

Silicon Valley 127

Silicon Valley North America San Francisco LP 127

VC Adventure

MAY 5, 2022

Traditionally LPs have viewed this as positive. The fund is investing profits, the LP is paying fees on what effectively becomes a smaller fund (in my example above, if the fund invests 110% of the fund, LPs were actually paying a 1.8% management fee). Some of those companies will be successful. Many will not. But not now.

IRR 116

IRR Metrics Valuation LP 116

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 3, 2020

By being in a pool of other fund investors, the LP meetings and co-investment calls could be an opportunity to connect with other like-minded or like-situationed investors—but again, it depends on how a fund organizes its community. Access to other investors.

Portfolio 134

Portfolio Syndicate Syndication Deal Flow 134

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2016

Upfront: “Direct, Approachable, Early-Stage, WYSIWYG & Unmistakenly Los Angeles” (Upfront is also a term from the media sector). Move our offices to Santa Monica so we could be closer to the early-stage companies being created in LA. Rebrand with a name that would authentically lay out our values.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Early Stage LP Partner 150

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

The great thing, if you can find them, is that the excitement around early stage investments in New York City is carrying over to a lot of investor interest--and the story of being actively involved as a hands-on investor is one that the market appreciates.

LP 112

LP New York City New York Chad 112

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

But the larger funds usually have lower returns because they are often investing bigger dollars at later stages with less risk and therefore lower returns. As you can see in this Cambridge Associates data, early-stage investing beat later stage investing in returns in 70% of the past 30 years. Take for example Accel.

LP 374

LP Later Stage IRR Term Sheet 374

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

Of our early-stage deals we do 33% Seed, 66% A’s) Why recycling is important, but why without exits you might even be forced to stop paying management fees for a while What Will Happen with LPs in this Economic Market? Harry asked me whether I thought LP “defaults” (not funding the VC commitments it made) would go up.

Marketing 263

Marketing Valuation Churn Rate Balance Sheet 263

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 12, 2017

Cindy Revol, Joe Beard and Anurag Jain from Perot Jain, LP We received a warm welcome from Trey Bowles when we first came to Dallas and there have been many others who have opened their arms to us since. Perot Jain, LP is an early stage venture capital firm founded by Ross Perot Jr. Ross Perot, Jr., About Perot Jain, L.P.

Dallas 48

Dallas San Antonio Houston Texas 48

K9 Ventures

AUGUST 14, 2017

It was a conscious decision to maintain the fund size at the same level, despite both market pressure (larger rounds at earlier stages) and demand pressure (lots of LP money entering the stage) to raise a larger fund. K9’s last fund, K9 Ventures II, L.P., was a $40M fund. And yes, I’m presently 42.

Technology 96

Technology LP San Francisco Portfolio 96

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Tim Friedman, Founder, PE Stack , said, “If I could offer one piece of advice to today’s managers, it would be to take the time to understand the demands of the modern institutional LP. We are also seeing technology evaluation as an increasingly important part of LP operational due diligence.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

VC Adventure

OCTOBER 12, 2011

An LP of ours once asked a question that dealt with a similar subject (ironically, although we were in our Boulder office and the LP in question was in jeans, my partners and I were all in sport coats, as we always are when presenting to our investors). Early stage tech is considered somewhat of a young person’s game.

LP 90

LP Venture Capital Early Stage Social Network 90

Hunter Walker

MAY 18, 2015

Over the first two funds we’ve ended up with just that – a group of LPs representing college endowments, foundations and fund of funds who are committed to us and the early stage venture segment. . The James Irvine Foundation joined us in Fund I and has been a great partner since. What would your advice be?

LP 48

LP Portfolio Early Stage Institutional Investors 48

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 24, 2014

Yes, at early stages you want to maximize investment going into company operations and not private pockets but that’s why these conversations should happen openly and with structure (for example, series FF which requires Board approval to liquidate in a financing).

Founder 108

Founder San Francisco Liquidity Event LP 108

Babbling VC

OCTOBER 19, 2013

There is continued discourse about lacking capital (at times in the early stage, then Series A, then growth and back again!) If you want to make VC and early stage investing sexy in this country, you have to attach a tax benefit to it. Further, we hear about the poor quality of the investors who are already active.

Germany 74

Germany LP Early Stage Incubator 74

Agile VC

JULY 19, 2012

Back in the 2000-2001 timeframe, a flood of LP capital was coming into the VC asset class given the strong returns of the mid-late 90s tech boom/bubble. This is true not only in a firm’s dealings with entrepreneurs but also with it’s limited partners and even within the firm among its partners.

Cofounder 193

Cofounder Limited Partner Early Stage LP 193

Seeing Both Sides

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

Thanks to their position as the wolf, founders (and angel investors) can often get liquidity from their late stage investors (particularly through Digital Sky Technologies – a Russian Bear in the transaction mix?). . But the VCs, and in turn their LPs, are left holding an illiquid bag.

IRR 36

IRR IPO Entrepreneur LP 36