View from Seed

JANUARY 27, 2021

100M is a meaningful increase from our $50M third fund, though it’s still quite small in the grand scheme of venture, especially amid the recent wave of late stage financings and SPACs. Thirteen of these 15 companies were seeded pre-revenue, and many were at concept stage or had rudimentary early products.

LP 411

LP Early Stage Seed Stage Venture Capital 411

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

Consumers pulled their money out of these risky investments, but when LPs make commitments to VC funds they make 10-year, legally binding commitments. So as of 2008 total LP commitments were still at nearly $250 billion. I was at dinner with a large LP and mentioned that I had heard the industry would shrink by 50%.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

VC Cafe

APRIL 29, 2020

This is part of Israel’s Ministry of Finance NIS 1.2 According to a survey of 87 startups by Viola Ventures , the majority of startups are taking a ‘wait and see’ approach and continue to work from home, and many will control the number of employees in the office going forward.

SBA 124

SBA Technical Review Startup 124

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

Yesterday I wrote Part 1 of the series on the changes to the software industry over the past decade that has led to changes in the venture capital industry itself. I believe some VCs have entered the early-stage market as simply an option on future financing rounds. The LP Community Hasn’t Yet Caught Up.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Software LP Early Stage 296

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. . 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.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

David Teten

AUGUST 21, 2019

Or should they look to one of the new wave of Revenue-Based Investors? Revenue-Based Investing (“RBI”) is a new form of VC financing, distinct from the preferred equity structure most VCs use. For more background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control. But should they?

Revenue 60

Revenue Liquidation Preference Equity Cofounder 60

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

Because VCs tend to “mark to market” for private investments so you would often value a company based on the last financing. If a company has significant revenue you might value it based on some industry multiples but WhatsApp had very limited revenue. What’s an LP to do in deciding which funds to invest in? Nobody knows.

LP 264

LP Jordan Cofounder Limited Partner 264

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

Why the Unicorn Financing Market Just Became Dangerous…For All Involved. In February of last year, Fortune magazine writers Erin Griffith and Dan Primack declared 2015 “ The Age of the Unicorns ” noting — “Fortune counts more than 80 startups that have been valued at $1 billion or more by venture capitalists.”

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

Austin Startup

JUNE 26, 2019

However, we also discovered key challenges we could not overcome with the capital and window of our team. You might notice what’s not on that list above: revenue, investors. No revenue isn’t always a problem for venture-style businesses; no investors + no revenue = challenges for most founders without tremendous self-funding.

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup B2C Sweat Equity 54

K9 Ventures

OCTOBER 10, 2017

You see, Dan knows more about venture than most people; and if Dan isn’t aware that “pre-seed is a thing,” then I haven’t done a good enough job of explaining to the world what I and K9 do! I’ll start with all the questions I can think of, from many different perspectives: founders, LPs, the press, and even other VCs.

Seed Stage 82

Seed Stage Finance Later Stage Equity 82

David Teten

MARCH 18, 2021

Thirty-four VC firms in OpenVC call themselves “early-stage” Yet, 30% of those don’t actually invest in pre-revenue startups. of venture capital deals. Those companies have garnered only about 2% of all capital invested. Versatile Venture Capital specializes in investing in capital-efficient founders.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital Deal Flow 78

Bryce Dot VC

NOVEMBER 19, 2012

So many more companies are getting created and raising small amounts of capital to derisk themselves and validate, or disprove, many of their original assumptions. As a seed investor, we’ve always leaned towards larger rounds in favor of giving our founders at least 18 mo of runway with no revenue.

Seed Stage 61

Seed Stage LP Incubator Venture Capital 61

K9 Ventures

NOVEMBER 30, 2008

The business of venture capital is relatively young. The birth of modern-day venture capital (not considering the European monarchs financing explorations and projects as venture capital) can be traced back to American Research and Development, which was started by Georges Doriot. The LP perspective.

IRR 48

IRR Venture Capital LP Early Stage 48

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 18, 2015

There is a lot of uncertainty about the state of the private, high-growth technology markets and the venture capital markets that underpin them. Technology riches yield bumper crops in venture capital with new firms and new largesses – the rewards of LPs rediscovering our asset class. Are LPs to blame?

IPO 150

IPO Venture Capital LP SEC 150

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

There are a lot of people that artificially group together performance metrics for venture, and try to extrapolate successful stratagies from it. I know, because those people all used to pitch me as an institutional LP back in the day. I'm sticking to what I know. If you're a multi-stage investor, I get this.

Later Stage 99

Later Stage Down Round Pre-Money Valuation Early Stage 99

David Teten

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

Blue Future Partners, a venture capital fund of funds, recently interviewed me on ESG in venture capital. For example, I’m an investor via ff Venture Capital in: – Plated.com is a meal kit company, delivering you the recipe and fresh ingredients to make a gourmet meal in your own kitchen.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Partner Technical Review Cofounder 60