Feld Thoughts

JULY 15, 2014

We recently funded Blinkfire Analytics using our FG Angels Syndicate. The CEO and founder, Steve Olechowski , was co-founder / COO of FeedBurner, which Google acquired in 2007. So, we were psyched he was willing to do an FG Angels Syndicate with us. Angel Investing angellist blinkfire fg angels syndicate'

Syndicate 148

Syndicate Syndication Cap Table Due Diligence 148

YoungUpstarts

MAY 9, 2014

There are many helpful resources for budding entrepreneurs and small business owners and my first recommendation is to start with the U.S. As an entrepreneur I’ve found the below platforms extremely helpful, and best of all, they’re free. Hootsuite is a great resource for the budding entrepreneur or new business.

Management 167

Management Software Review eCommerce Entrepreneur 167

Haystack

JULY 15, 2018

I understand entrepreneurs would like to know the outcome of a decision at a meeting or soon thereafter — and sometimes that can happen — but sometimes it takes a while for things to take shape. ” Here, the onus is on me to re-engage with the founder and ask for their time. I will meet a founder with great potential.

Founder 60

Founder Syndicate Syndication Deal Flow 60

Steve Blank

JUNE 6, 2016

How to make corporate innovation work and drive success in startups were the topics of discussion with the guests on today’s Entrepreneurs are Everywhere radio show. The show follows the journeys of founders who share what it takes to build a startup – from restaurants to rocket scientists, to online gifts to online groceries and more.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Fractional CTO Analytics 120

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 21, 2014

2014 will be a formative year for new business owners and early-stage entrepreneurs. For those would-be entrepreneurs debating the startup leap? More non-professional investors will become angel investors and entrepreneurs will benefit from their domain expertise. Now, how do we become successful founders? 99 Problems?

Entrepreneur 188

Entrepreneur Startup Balance Sheet Non-Compete 188

View from Seed

OCTOBER 5, 2016

Whether an entrepreneur is raising a smaller (pre-)seed round entirely from individuals or she has a seed-stage or larger VC firm involved in (leading) the seed syndicate, it’s somewhere between necessary and optimal to have multiple individual angel investors involved. First and foremost, angels can provide capital.

Angel Investor 332

Angel Investor Boston Seed Stage Syndicate 332

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 11, 2013

Our syndicate, which we are going to max out at $450,000, is currently right at $300,000 after one week. Geir Freysson, founder of Five Hundred Plus , did a super cool visualization of some of the top syndicates and how the participants in the syndicate relate to each other. . We’ve chosen our first deal to do.

Syndicate 148

Syndicate Syndication SEC Angel Groups 148

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

Most of these rhyme with what we’ve said in the past, but some have also evolved to fit the changing landscape and our own convictions about what really matters for founders and their investors at the seed stage. Instead, it’s more of a Manifesto about the core beliefs that shape our strategy. Belief #1: The best time to invest is early.

North America 120

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 12, 2014

. — Teaching students to think like entrepreneurs not accountants. We wanted to teach our students how to think like entrepreneurs not accountants. For the second startup, we chose a year-old web/mobile startup whose market is college bound teens, with a founder who had skipped the initial customer validation process.

Lean 334

Lean Customer Development Startup Silicon Valley 334

Agile VC

DECEMBER 13, 2011

One of the hardest things for me as a VC remains telling entrepreneurs I like and respect that we’re passing on their investment round. I often tell these entrepreneurs that I genuinely hope they prove us wrong, and are wildly successful with their startup. Im a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur turned East Coast VC.

Seed Stage 185

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Cofounder Technical Review 185

View from Seed

OCTOBER 21, 2014

In short, more and more entrepreneurs are signaling their price expectations earlier in their seed fundraise process. In theory, there are three levels of pricing for an entrepreneur to potentially signal to a prospective investor: 1. Lower-Than-Market Value. This approach is almost never a good idea. Above-Market Value.

Valuation 336

Valuation Founder Seed Stage Angel Investor 336

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 11, 2019

Since the 90s, Toronto-based entrepreneur Eldon Mascoll has been making his mark in the media industry, working in areas that include television production, film, marketing and advertising. We sat down with Eldon Mascoll to get his insight on becoming a successful entrepreneur and what guidance he can provide other aspiring entrepreneurs.

Media 104

Media Los Angeles Artificial Inteligence New York City 104

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. Every Flexible VC structure allows founders to access immediate risk capital while preserving exit, growth trajectory, and ownership optionality. . Flexible VC 102: Variations.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

One of my favorite entrepreneur-Twitterer weighed in, “You want to keep tapping into their collective intelligence so you keep saying ‘Thank you for the feedback’ and they keep sending it,” Ms. Another founder … “When I pitched the idea to Adam, he was super on board,” Mr. Sloyan said. Morrill said.

Cap Table 150

Cap Table Cofounder Silicon Valley Startup 150

David Teten

MARCH 14, 2018

Managers of VC funds typically want to grow their business aggressively, just like the founders we back. Among the sites we have found most helpful with practical guides for founders: Biztree , First Search , Foundersuite , Goodwin Founders Workbench , Guides.co , Inc.com , and StartupRocket. .

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Cofounder 60

Hunter Walker

APRIL 10, 2014

But he’s raised the largest syndicate on AngelList , turning himself effectively into a one-man fund for, if not the masses, at least the 270 people who have already committed nearly $3.4m AngelList syndicate has surprised some people, you’ve been angel investing for quite a while, right? penchina#syndicate.

Syndicate 121

Syndicate Syndication Hiring Cofounder 121

David Teten

JULY 12, 2017

Alpha Venture Partners’ and Correlation Ventures’ founders all have strong operational backgrounds; that said, they don’t typically serve on boards and don’t get as involved in company management as many other VCs. This is primarily an advantage for the underlying investor in the company, not the VC leading the syndicate. .

Syndicate 60

Syndicate Syndication Institutional Investors LP 60

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 25, 2015

Jack Tankersley, a long time mentor of mine, co-founder of Centennial Funds, and co-founder of Meritage Funds, wrote me a very long response. Take a look at the founding syndicates of each: Masstor Sytems (5/1979). Quantum Corporation (6/1980). CIVC. $ 250,000. CIVC. $ 200,000. Taking all five at once is crazy.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital SBIC Technical Review Silicon Valley 70

View from Seed

AUGUST 13, 2014

So to successfully raise a seed round of capital, founders should possess at least a basic understanding of the different types of angel investors they’ll encounter. Doing so can help entrepreneurs not only secure funding in general but better recognize the pros and cons of taking money from certain types of individuals.

Angel Investor 334

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 334

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 10, 2014

Founder and CEO of Appsbar, Scott Hirsch, is a noted entrepreneur and expert in mobile marketing. Scott pioneered many of the most utilized concepts in online media including opt-in data collection, email to postal data appending, affiliate marketing, web syndication, internet reality shows and internet pay per view.

Mobile 160

Mobile Application Development Syndicate Syndication 160

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

I rarely talk to any startup entrepreneur or VC who doesn’t feel it and somehow long for simpler times despite the benefits we all enjoy from increased enthusiasm for our sector. For entrepreneurs there’s too much money sloshing around. And it’s true that I still take a whole lot of first meetings with entrepreneurs.

Software Review 150

Software Review Turkey Portfolio Syndicate 150

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 16, 2014

It''s also not the best way to create a helpful syndicate of investors that share the founder''s vision for the company. If all my deals came as intros from trusted connections that I know for years versus at founder pitch events that''s interesting data. Fear not, founders. The first thing I did was trace my sources.

Venture Capital 162

Venture Capital Syndicate Syndication Founder 162

Agile VC

JANUARY 4, 2012

Founders Hardi Meybaum and Indrek Narusk originally started building the company in their native Estonia before moving to Boston to join the hub of SaaS / CAD software companies located here. In addition to compelling founders, we were drawn to the company by their vision for a professional community for mechanical engineers and designers.

Community 100

Community Estonia Syndicate Syndication 100

View from Seed

MAY 3, 2022

The company has recruited a network of tens of thousands of small online resellers, frequently individual stay-at-home entrepreneurs, onto its platform. Flyp’s workflow automation capabilities and AI-driven inventory matching system empower these entrepreneurs to develop and scale their at-home reseller businesses.

Syndicate 156

Syndicate Syndication IPO Matching 156

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 16, 2014

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, small business owner, or you just have an idea for an app, you’re first course of action should be to determine whether or not there is market demand for your app, and you can do this through your own primary research with little to no cost incurred save for the effort you devote to educating yourself.

Developer 162

Developer Application Development Syndicate Syndication 162

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 10, 2022

Sometimes, given your syndicate configuration, you have no choice but to take structure in a new round. But if you can do a clean financing at a lower price, I always think that’s a better option for everyone (founders, employees, and existing investors.). So, as an entrepreneur, I encourage you to deal with reality.

Down Round 162

Down Round Ratchet Liquidation Preference Participating Preferred 162

View from Seed

JUNE 10, 2020

of teams’ online pitch decks and recorded videos, as well as loved the dozens of second-round video conversations which we had with Founders working on quite compelling startups. Many of these Founders we wouldn’t have had an opportunity to connect with if we hadn’t launched this program.

Cofounder 177

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Alabama 177

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

What is it, and how should founders think about it? 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. At NextView, for instance, one of our more popular posts centers on atypical seed rounds to know.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Of the NextView-backed founders have have tried to raise this round, over 70% have done so (compared to a mean success rate in the industry of around 27%, according to some sources ). Startups with large, lifecycle VCs included in the seed round syndicate did not reach Series A faster than those who did not. average versus $4.9M

Syndicate 333

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Startup 333

Pascal's View

JULY 9, 2017

Andrew Krowne and I recently co-wrote an article in Tech Crunch , Why SAFE Notes Are Not Safe for Entrepreneurs. At its core, this issue points to the lack of understanding about the importance of post-money valuation by both entrepreneurs and investors. Many entrepreneurs lose track of what they have been cooking up in the cap table.

Post-Money Valuation 49

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Cap Table Covenant 49

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

Most of these rhyme with what we’ve said in the past, but some have also evolved to fit the changing landscape and our own convictions about what really matters for founders and their investors at the seed stage. Instead, it’s more of a Manifesto about the core beliefs that shape our strategy. Belief #1: The best time to invest is early.

North America 36

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 36

View from Seed

AUGUST 16, 2019

Is a Founder raising a new round well in advance of cash-out date because she sees an opportunity to put more gas in the tank ahead of what current underlying business metrics would suggest (i.e. One of the questions which we often ask out loud at NextView is if a person or firm is motivated by “fear or greed?”

Term Sheet 149

Term Sheet Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 149

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

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!, Co-founder discontent. What would this founder do if he got an offer to be acquihired quickly by Facebook? And there’s conferences. Web Summit.

Cofounder 374

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 374

K9 Ventures

APRIL 27, 2011

I have confirmed with the founders that none of the information contained herein is deemed confidential and is therefore fair game for me to share in this post. The founders of the company — Arlo Faria and AJ Shankar — were PhD students in Computer Science at UC Berkeley. In April 2008, I was introduced to Ugmode, Inc.

Software Review 134

Software Review Technical Review IP Finance 134

Agile VC

JANUARY 18, 2012

Seven Reasons to Become a Founding Entrepreneur. I think there are tons of reasons to be a founding entrepreneur… some good, some bad, some ultimately inconsequential. Being a startup founder isn’t for everyone ultimately, in fact it probably isn’t for most people. AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Cofounder Silicon Valley Seed Stage 100

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

Kayak was started here in my backyard of Boston… co-founder & CTO Paul English and the product/engineering team is based here in Concord MA. Co-founder & CEO Steve Hafner and the business team are based in Norwalk, CT. Led by General Catalyst with participation by co-founders Steve Hafner & Paul English.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

Agile VC

JULY 16, 2014

We’re thrilled for the company to have a great investment partner joining the syndicate and one with deep payments expertise having backed companies like Square, Stripe, Fundbox, and others. And talent flows in many directions (all three co-founders of NextView are all Silicon Valley transplants to Boston).

Boston 208

Boston Silicon Valley San Francisco Cofounder 208