Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

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.

Technical Review 416

Technical Review Pre-Money Valuation San Francisco Valuation 416

The Equity Kicker

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

We see this all the time at Forward Partners where we invest right from the idea stage and most of the companies get a first version of their product live for less than £30k (that generally includes founder salaries and time spent doing customer research). Forward Partners and Crowdcube are both attacking elements of these problems.

Early Stage 119

Early Stage Development Team Review Technical Review Software Review 119

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2021

Add basic partner contracts or alliances. Using contracts with partners for growth resources (“borrowing”) is best when you can both define the resources clearly and protect them with effective contractual terms. Too much reliance on growth via contracts and alliances makes you vulnerable to partners’ actions and conflicts of interest.

CTO Hire 330

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Merger Non-Compete 330

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2011

In these cases both the entrepreneur and the funding partner are the fools. We can all recount horror stories of families and friendships torn apart by money lost on someone else’s speculative dream. Don’t be one. Marty Zwilling.

Early Stage 247

Early Stage Technical Review Elevator Pitch Due Diligence 247

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2022

For early-stage startups, the goodwill component can easily exceed the size of all the financial elements together, or can just as easily mark a company with good financials as not investable. In the investment community, these leadership elements are often called “goodwill.” Focus on talent and people growth.

Technical Review 323

Technical Review Due Diligence Valuation Leadership 323

TechEmpower

JULY 24, 2023

Still, if you’re a business leader and your developers haven’t asked you these questions, look for a Fractional CTO to help navigate the critical early stage of development. Are there other founders, business leaders, partners, or administrators? The innovator/developer relationship needs to be a conversation.

Developer 520

Developer Technical Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 520

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2022

In addition to being the startup entrepreneur, there are other key roles where Boomers can be a force in driving successful startups, in concert with leaders from Gen-X and Gen-Y: Early-stage angel investors. Supportive co-founder and executive positions.

Advisory Board 368

Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor Cofounder 368

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2023

The next default of waiting until later is equally bad, since partners who bow out early will still expect an equal share of that first billion you make later. That way, if one of the partners disappears, or their role changes, a portion of the equity can be re-captured and reallocated to the other members.

Technical Cofounder 247

Technical Cofounder Equity Distribution Cofounder 247

YoungUpstarts

MAY 1, 2020

by Ash Rust , founder and managing partner of Sterling Road. Given that mindset, it’s only natural that most entrepreneurs jump at the first chance they get to secure early-stage startup funding. Most startups will need a viable product and proof of credibility before they can expect early-stage investors to really bite.

Early Stage 165

Early Stage Security Angel Investor Lead Investor 165

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 13, 2017

Starting out with a clear strategy, vision and mission, will not only make your product more focused; it will also demonstrate competence to an early stage investor by showing that you are willing to do your homework. . Will it change the way people do things? linkedin.com/in/noppornsuppipat. .

Early Stage 62

Early Stage Silicon Valley Thailand Incubator 62

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2020

The next default of waiting until later is equally bad, since partners who bow out early will still expect an equal share of that first billion you make later. That way, if one of the partners disappears, or their role changes, a portion of the equity can be re-captured and reallocated to the other members.

Cofounder 435

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Equity Intellectual Property 435

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

It takes more than one person to build a business, so the lone entrepreneur, without support from any visible team, advisors, partners, or potential customers, will not attract investors. Surrounded by the right people and track record. Of course, previous successes provide more direct evidence of a network of the right people.

Intellectual Property 278

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Early Stage Venture Capital 278

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

The tech market is filled with many stories of early-stage funding. That’s why I’m proud to announce today that HealthDataInsights (founded by Victor Chaltiel), where GRP Partners was a 30% owner, has been acquired for $400 million. These are industries in which our partners have focused for the past 15-20 years.

Partner 285

Partner Las Vegas San Francisco Baltimore 285

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Our guest this week on #TWiVC was Dana Settle , partner at Greycroft Partners , a venture capital firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Greycroft is an early-stage VC. Current round: $35mm in Series C (extension of Series B at higher valuation) from General Atlantic, Matrix Partners. OTHER DEALS: 1.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

As an early-stage company that just closed our seed round at $8.1 So what does an early-stage company do to avoid the doom and gloom plaguing the world of startups? His vision is to create a logistics company that curates trust from its employees to the shippers and carriers they partner with. That includes us.

Early Stage 112

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 112

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 21, 2023

There are a few situations where cutting corners, even in the early stages, can cause big headaches (and significant real money costs) in the future. This will not only be beneficial in terms of investors, it can reassure customers and partners, in turn furthering opportunities for growth, collaboration and even diversification.

Technical Review 111

Technical Review Intellectual Property Due Diligence Early Stage 111

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2020

For early-stage startups, the goodwill component can easily exceed the size of all the financial elements together, or can just as easily mark a company with good financials as not investable. In the investment community, these leadership elements are often called “goodwill.” Focus on talent and people growth.

Valuation 311

Valuation Technical Review Due Diligence Leadership 311

techcrunch.com

AUGUST 12, 2012

Zachary Bogue And Matt Ocko Launch Data Collective, An Early Stage Fund For Big Data Startups. Data Collective has already made 46 investments from its first fund, which it calls “comparable with other seed and early stage funds” (Ocko and Bogue wouldn’t reveal fund size.). Headphones. CrunchBase.

Early Stage 70

Early Stage San Francisco Los Angeles Southern California 70

SiliconHills

APRIL 30, 2020

Silverton Partners, based in Austin, announced this week that it has closed on Fund VI at $144 million, its largest fund to date. The venture capital firm, founded in 2006, focuses on early-stage companies and just in the last two years, its seed-funded startups have exited for a combined $3.2 billion, according to the firm.

Early Stage 103

Early Stage Texas Austin Partner 103

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 4, 2019

by Bruce Cleveland, Founding Partner at Wildcat Venture Partners and author of “ Traversing the Traction Gap “ As we continue our exploration of the Traction Gap Framework® – a step-by-step approach that startup teams can use to go from ideation to preparing to scale – I will walk you through the principles.

Framework 127

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 127

SiliconHills

APRIL 9, 2019

LiveOak Venture Partners announced Tuesday that it has closed a $105 million fund, its second fund. Krishna Srinivasan, Venu Shamapant and Ben Scott founded Austin-based LiveOak in 2013 and raised a $100 million fund to invest in early-stage Texas startups. The fund was oversubscribed, according to a news release.

Early Stage 101

Early Stage Texas Partner Austin 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2020

Early stage burn rates over $50K per month, or a runway of less than six months may indicate an inefficient or desperate startup. These questions are the key ones in every due diligence effort, always done by accredited investors, but almost never done by key employees and new partners. Think twice before you jump in.

Technical Review 436

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 436

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

It takes more than one person to build a business, so the lone entrepreneur, without support from any visible team, advisors, partners, or potential customers, will not attract investors. Surrounded by the right people and track record. Of course, previous successes provide more direct evidence of a network of the right people.

Intellectual Property 316

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Early Stage Venture Capital 316

YoungUpstarts

MAY 24, 2019

by Bruce Cleveland, Founding Partner at Wildcat Venture Partners and author of “ Traversing the Traction Gap “ As we continue our exploration of the Traction Gap Framework® – a step-by-step approach that startup teams can use to go from ideation to preparing to scale – I will walk you through the principles.

Framework 113

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 113

abovethecrowd.com

JULY 23, 2014

Today Benchmark announced that Eric Vishria has joined us as a General Partner. Eric is one of the up-and-coming stars in the technology industry, and we are very excited he is becoming our partner. Eric demonstrated a unique passion for startups and entrepreneurship from an early age.

Partner 74

Partner Software Review Technical Review Acquisition 74

NZ Entrepreneur

JUNE 19, 2023

Douché, herself an experienced business founder and startup mentor before joining Callaghan Innovation, shed light on the educational challenges faced by early stage entrepreneurs.

New Zealand 98

New Zealand Technical Cofounder Early Stage Entrepreneur 98

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

Early stage burn rates over $50K per month, or a runway of less than six months may indicate an inefficient or desperate startup. These questions are the key ones in every due diligence effort, always done by accredited investors, but almost never done by key employees and new partners. Think twice before you jump in.

Sweat Equity 207

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 207

Version One Ventures

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

At Version One, we are strong believers that early-stage investing is best done by small teams that are aligned around a differentiated investment thesis and are investing with high conviction. We’re on our fourth fund and second opportunity fund , and we are looking to add a third partner over the course of the next year or so.

Partner 60

Partner Early Stage Angel Investor Differentiation 60

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2020

In addition to being the startup entrepreneur, there are other key roles where Boomers can be a force in driving successful startups, in concert with leaders from Gen-X and Gen-Y: Early-stage angel investors. Supportive co-founder and executive positions.

Advisory Board 312

Advisory Board Startup Dividend Angel Investor 312

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2021

The key here is to create a win-win partner situation for your investors. Don’t waste time talking to VCs for requests less than $1M, or very early stage, and don’t expect professional investors to jump in if you have no “skin in the game.” Lack of understanding of the funding process/rules.

Software Review 307

Software Review Due Diligence Elevator Pitch Early Stage 307

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 27, 2021

Unfortunately, there is no recipe for success and you often hear of startups failing in the early stages after failing to hit the ground running and encountering financial issues. It is hard to hit the ground running with a new business, but hopefully these tips will help you to make an immediate impact and find startup success.

Software Review 172

Software Review Early Stage Startup Community 172

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

Every potential early-stage Venture Capitalist should take a year and do it before he or she makes partner. Over time Venture firms realized that the partners in the firms needs a variety of skills: People skills (ability to recognize patterns of success in individuals and teams). we do not even try to train new partners.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Early Stage Technical Review Startup 332

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

While the rewards may be a boon to their company in the short term, the consequences of accepting outside funding too early can be debilitating. There’s a reason why I refer to early-stage VC funding as vulture capital, and to be honest it’s pretty accurate. Money in Exchange for Control.

Early Stage 85

Early Stage Venture Capital Bootstrapping Pre-Money Valuation 85

SiliconHills

NOVEMBER 17, 2021

A decade ago, Austin-based LiveOak Venture Partners took a few years to put together its first $100 million investment fund. Today, LiveOak Venture Partners announced Fund III, a $210 million oversubscribed fund that took just three months to close.

Partner 148

Partner Early Stage Texas Venture Capital 148

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

You have an edge in the highly competitive world of early stage investing that comes from some combination of your experience, industry knowledge, and personal network. We lead or co-lead most of our investments and invest very early…80% of the unicorns we have backed were pre-product at the time of our investment.

Technical Review 156

Technical Review North America Seed Stage Bandwidth 156

NZ Entrepreneur

MAY 31, 2021

The Angel Association of New Zealand ( AANZ ) is co-hosting with New Zealand Growth Capital Partners ( NZGCP ) a series of workshops on early-stage investment. Jason Graham from Movac provided an early-stage venture capital fund perspective, detailing 35 investments made across 5 funds and 22 years.

Portfolio 81

Portfolio New Zealand Management Technical Review 81

View from Seed

MARCH 4, 2020

In a few months, we are likely to see the annual Forbes Midas list of top performing early stage VC investors. At a firm level, I think that getting multiple partners on the list is a great milestone as well. In 2009 Bessemer had the most Midas List partners with 6 investors. I find this super impressive.

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital China Technical Review Africa 313