David Teten

JANUARY 10, 2012

With a unique vision for starting and successfully managing innovative companies, he is the Managing Partner of Social Leverage, a holding company that invests in early stage web businesses. Mr. Lindzon continues to manage a hedge fund he started in 1998. and Tweetdeck (purchased by Twitter in June 2011).

Technical Review 128

Technical Review Technology North Carolina Switzerland 128

Austin Startup

APRIL 1, 2017

out of state VCs Don’t rush a term sheet In assessing financing terms and interacting with their lead investors, most founders instinctively focus on two core things: economics and control. Do not take that selection lightly. Background Reading: How to avoid “captive” company counsel Local v. Skillset trumps geography.

Term Sheet 48

Term Sheet Institutional Investors Technical Review Lead Investor 48

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Asked to respond to the topic, “What collusion happens with AngelList, if any&# I wrote the following: “Um, let’s not be naive here and not think that a “form of collusion&# doesn’t happen on virtually any financing round. Investors talk to each other. Typical questions: What do you think of management?

Entrepreneur 292

Entrepreneur Technical Review Stealth Valuation 292

www.xconomy.com

JUNE 9, 2012

Managing Director, Enterprise Partners. In fact, by using analytics software that relies on a different way of measuring risk, the San Diego firm is becoming known in some circles as “the Moneyball of venture capital,” according to David Coats, a co-founder and managing partner. President and CEO, Complete Genomics. Dan'l Lewin.

San Diego 40

San Diego Venture Capital Technical Review San Francisco 40

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

Despite advances in cloud infrastructure, many businesses still have fleshy parts—soft underbellies where a human hand is required to keep quality control, stuff something into a box, order inventory, hire enough engineers to keep the site going or manage cash. Scale brings complexity.

Dilution 104

Dilution Equity Hiring Partner 104

Pascal's View

JULY 9, 2017

At its core, this issue points to the lack of understanding about the importance of post-money valuation by both entrepreneurs and investors. When it comes time to convert the notes, these entrepreneurs face ‘sticker shock’ about their post-financing ownership.

Post-Money Valuation 49

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Cap Table Covenant 49

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

You may happen to emphasize the right points that pique an investor’s interest, but you shouldn’t leave your financing up to chance. Second, understand the broader financing climate. In 2004, investors regained interest in the consumer internet again. Steer into your investors’ objections.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

VC Adventure

MAY 21, 2014

A few months ago AngelList announced Syndicates - enabling investors on AngelList to create fund-like groups of investors to invest together in AngelList companies (following a single lead investor). The carry is between Foundry Group and the investor and has no direct impact on the AngelList company.

Syndicate 93

Syndicate Syndication Technical Review Due Diligence 93

OnlyOnce

JULY 26, 2018

Or you negotiate the highest possible valuation from a new lead investor, only to discover that new lead investor, now on your Board, expects you to triple it in four years and is way out of alignment with the rest of your cap table. On the other side, what’s an example of a “good” loss?

Cap Table 61

Cap Table Lead Investor Valuation Reputation 61

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 18, 2017

The opening keynote session will define directions on Aligning the Role of Government Policymakers, Incumbent Banks, FinTech Innovators, Investors, Multilateral Agencies, MNOs and the Private Sector to Create a Dynamic Ecosystem for FinTech in Africa.

Africa 62

Africa Ethiopia Elevator Pitch Technical Review 62

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2021

This approach was echoed by investors at Underscore VC, Bloomberg Beta, Lerer Hippeau, and Upfront Ventures. . While always core to diligence, social validation behind a business and management team became even more critical determinants of fit. Join online networks, reach out to investors over Twitter, and expand your community.”.

Venture Capital 350

Venture Capital Cofounder Early Stage Seed Stage 350

OnlyOnce

JULY 26, 2018

Or you negotiate the highest possible valuation from a new lead investor, only to discover that new lead investor, now on your Board, expects you to triple it in four years and is way out of alignment with the rest of your cap table. On the other side, what’s an example of a “good” loss?

Cap Table 48

Cap Table Lead Investor Valuation Reputation 48

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

We were just about to have a board meeting in another week to talk about raising another round of financing to keep our struggling disaster afloat. Steve, we thought we’d tell you this before the board meeting, but both our firms are going to pass on leading your next round.” Our board meetings were collegial and often fun.

San Francisco 331

San Francisco Silicon Valley Limited Partner Venture Capital 331

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2015

I am reminded of this problem every time my firm does a financing where a note went before us but more specifically I was reminded by this great post by Brad Feld to talk about the pre-money vs. post-money conversion issue. So you can see why this leads to a lot of tension and misunderstanding. It’s very simple.

Pre-Money Valuation 150

Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Post-Money Valuation Dilution 150

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 15, 2016

Instead, there is no formal board, or no formalism around the board, so it’s just a free for all between the collection of early investors (angels and pre-seed/seed VCs) and the founders. This can be fine, but often isn’t when there are challenging issues that involve founders, financing, execution, or conflicts.

Sales 70

Sales Seed Stage Early Stage Finance 70

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 2, 2011

I use a service like Tout to manage my email templates for quickly replies. Look for Your Lead Investor. First you’ll want to find a lead investor — someone many other investors will recognize and respect. This list of top angel investors is a good start. Money and Finance Lists.

Social Media 80

Social Media Startup Angel Investor RSS 80

VC Adventure

MAY 21, 2014

A few months ago AngelList announced Syndicates – enabling investors on AngelList to create fund-like groups of investors to invest together in AngelList companies (following a single lead investor). The carry is between Foundry Group and the investor and has no direct impact on the AngelList company.

Syndicate 48

Syndicate Syndication Technical Review Due Diligence 48

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. I always tell founders … “An investors job is to deploy capital and make a return. an investment in your company. This is where most founders err.

Term Sheet 332

Term Sheet Due Diligence Campaign Sales 332

Hunter Walker

APRIL 20, 2018

Like we do at the seed stage, USV almost always plays the role of “ lead investor.” ” And later: “The truth about these situations is a few seed investors will massively over deliver and the rest will massively disappoint.” But it often is not.”

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Lead Investor Portfolio Reputation 48

Professor VC

APRIL 1, 2010

One comment made by Jason was that angels tend to be less sensitive than VCs on valuation and can potentially make it difficult to get a venture financing done at acceptable valuation. While this may certainly be the case with unsophisticated angels (much less of these now) or in cases with no lead investor, Id argue the opposite.

Term Sheet 32

Term Sheet Angel Investor San Jose Venture Capital 32

Reid Hoffman

JANUARY 26, 2021

In many cases, the CEO is the only member of management who serves on the board. As an entrepreneur, the basic question you must ask yourself is whether the prospective board member can help you achieve the upside – and also manage the downside. You can listen to the podcast here, or search for Greymatter Podcast in your podcatcher.

Startup 36

Startup Equity Early Stage Green 36

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

In these cases we proactively offer to lead their next round of financing. If we can come to an agreement we will either lead the round ourselves or partner with other investors. The investor strategy is really determined by the management team. Ask their strategy.

Post-Money Valuation 298

Post-Money Valuation Term Sheet Warrant Partner 298

Austin Startup

OCTOBER 13, 2010

StoredIQ , a leading provider of Intelligent Information Management solutions for eDiscovery, records and compliance management, today announced that it has closed $10 million in new investment financing and expanded its management team in preparation for accelerated growth.

Vertical 59

Vertical Early Stage Cofounder Channel 59

Babbling VC

DECEMBER 5, 2010

We often think we can change people, even managers. They kept changing the responsible investment manager for the deal as well hence we never really knew whom to speak to when we needed something. Ultimately, money ran out again and this fund decided not to participate in a further financing round. This cost me money!

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Europe Portfolio Germany 76

ithacaVC

JANUARY 14, 2014

” To which the Series B potential lead investor says “hey, your post-money is not my problem – why should I invest at higher revenue multiples than what the industry is seeing? Dealing with VCs Management Startup Life' If I do, then I am taking a huge risk that my return will stink.”

Pre-Money Valuation 58

Pre-Money Valuation Post-Money Valuation Valuation Term Sheet 58

Austin Startup

AUGUST 16, 2010

The company has been making steady progress, culminating in a huge round of financing. The company announced it is raising $48 million from a unique syndicate of investors comprising industry leading venture capital firms and semiconductor innovators. Power consumption matters more than ever.

Syndicate 54

Syndicate Syndication Venture Capital Texas 54

Professor VC

JULY 7, 2015

I decided to rejoin at the beginning of this year as I missed hanging out with many of the members as well as the opportunity to be the lead investor in financings, which was something I couldn't do on my own. However, these financings are the exception to the rule in SHA and I assume more so in other groups.

Angel Groups 28

Angel Groups Due Diligence Lead Investor Finance 28

Professor VC

OCTOBER 20, 2009

In how many of those were you a lead investor? What percentage of your members are not active angel investors (i.e. At Sand Hill, we are very active and often lead investor and Series A board representative. I also teach Entrepreneurial Finance at San Jose State. How many investments have you made this year?

Angel Investor 35

Angel Investor Due Diligence San Jose Silicon Valley 35

Professor VC

JANUARY 20, 2009

The latest statistics from VentureSource show 554 financings in Q4, down from 620 in Q3 and 718 in Q4 2007. On that front, I take pride in the second headline with news that Fliqz , where I am CFO, just closed on $6 million in Series C financing. Labels: bootstrapping , CFO , Fliqz , venture capital , venture financing.

Venture Capital 28

Venture Capital Silicon Valley San Jose Bootstrapping 28

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 18, 2009

I called the top management team of BuildOnline to get together for an “all hands&# meeting at a nearby pub (we were in England after all) and told them the news. But then I got a call from my lead investor (coincidentally it was GRP Partners where I now am a partner) and they told me not to lose confidence.

Germany 298

Germany Entrepreneur Merger Los Angeles 298

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

They dropped their number one selling product and switched to a competitor’s product while managing not to lose a single sale. These introductions led to Cyan & Scott Banister who also became investors along with many other angel introductions. It soon became difficult to manage the many new investment leads.

Valuation 292

Valuation Deal Flow Lead Investor Cofounder 292

Gust

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

Today’s unveiling of Gust , the global infrastructure for early stage entrepreneurial financing, is a milestone that has been seven years in the making. Welcome to Gust!

Angel Investor 79

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Venture Capital Finance 79