INDUSTRY INSIGHTS YOUR PEERS ARE READING
I’m pleased to announce the formation of K9 Ventures, L.P. K9 Ventures, L.P. – a seed-stage fund. is a $6.25M fund that is designed to do concept and seed-stage investments in technology companies. The fund will be deployed over a period of 3-4 years, with initial investment in the range of $100K – $250K, while reserving capital to participate in the follow-on round. MORE
Yves didn’t want to step down — he is still as active as any partner on our team — but he wanted me to take responsibility for: Strategy, recruiting, team development, LP relations, financial planning, etc. MORE
If Acme Ventures III, LP invests in Startup X then typically Acme Ventures IV, LP would not. 1) LP Bases Change Over Time – Most healthy VC firms tend to have stable relationships with the limited partners investing with them. MORE
As an LP, I’ve had the good fortune to be an investor in many funds, including some exceptional ones. As a GP I applauded the approach and accepted that as an LP we had to beg and plead our way into to the fund. Investments fg next founder collective LP MORE
I was asked if any existed the other day by an LP, so following is a list of papers I am familiar with. The first accelerator, YC, was founded in 2005. The second, Techstars, was founded in 2006. Wikipedia has a good summary of the history of accelerators. Now that we are 13 years into the accelerator journey, an accelerator is a well-established construct that is part of the global startup ecosystem. They have evolved over the years, and many new approaches have been taken. MORE
Yesterday we closed our fifth fund, Foundry Venture Capital 2016, L.P. As with all four of our other funds, it’s a $225 million fund. In 2007 we raised our first fund – Foundry Venture Capital 2007. MORE
Their podcast series is called Origins and is unique among podcasts as they go deep into the formation history of venture funds, especially from an LP perspective. Last month I had dinner at Pizzeria Locale in Boulder and did a long interview with Nick Chirls and Alex Lines of Notation Capital for their podcast. Dinner was about them and as they learned, if you trek out to Boulder, dinner is on me. MORE
And we felt terrible not being able to let every LP in but we were forced to make some hard compromises yet we opened up our fund to Sapphire even though they were a first time LP. We have many LPs who come from industry and this is truly a value-add in a LP/VC relationship 3. MORE
” as part of a discussion with an LP. Upon reflection, the LP was clearly asking me indirectly about my long term commitment to venture capital and, without asking “how much longer are you going to do this VC thing?” I was recently asked the question “What is your next career?” I thought it was the best diligence question that I have ever been asked. MORE
While I’m not an LP, the following post represents my discussions with more than 100 LP firms – specifically ones that do fund VCs – and full survey data from 73 firms , so I’ve tried to capture the essence of what I’ve learned. MORE
The LP Update Meeting. We have around a dozen LP update meetings a year across our four funds and they are the most important moments of contact we have with our investors. My latest column for The Kernel. It was published last Thursday. Everybody answers to somebody, Nic Brisbourne reminds us. What happens when VCs are hauled into the boardroom to justify their investment decisions? MORE
I attended the annual LP meeting for a venture capital firm this week and got into a discussion about the above question. ProfessorVC. The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Thursday, November 19, 2009. Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught? MORE
I know most startups (or even VCs) tend not to think about this but when you ask LPs the data are clear: Another trend we’ve noticed in LP opinions is regarding seed funds. MORE
Most importantly – this should encourage LP funds to back more local firms and I would hope to see more indigenous funds to develop. There are so many great, young funds in the market and many of them are attracting LP capital. If you’re an LP and want to know who these emerging funds are please call me and/or attend our Annual VC Summit. MORE
But for now … Every year we run a big VC, LP & Tech Summit in Los Angeles (this year downtown) to showcase the best of our community and invite others from around the country. You disappeared? What the fork happened to you? And what’s up with this crazy new blog design? MORE
While I don’t have portfolio level stats for them, their new endeavor Foundry Next (to invest in smaller funds and then follow-on into key investments) has built up an LP basket of 23 positions in a variety of new VC funds. MORE
We feel that if an LP gives us a $1 to invest, we should invest at least that $1, not $0.85 (the average fee load over a decade for a typical VC fund is 15%.) Our long-time friends and LPs at Greenspring recently wrote a great post titled Creating GP-LP Alignment: Why Terms Matter. MORE
9 Questions That Help Get You To GP/LP Fit. In it, Beezer goes through, in depth, the top questions she recommends you ask an LP to determine GP/LP fit. There’s an interesting graph in the post, which shows that a typical LP is going to add less than five new managers a year to their portfolio (and, on average, only two or three.) While an LP takes a lot of meetings, they don’t do a lot of investments. MORE
Last week we held our first annual LP meeting, when venture funds get their investors together with updates on operations and results. Our seed fund Homebrew celebrated its first birthday yesterday, meaning we’re still in diapers but walking tall. MORE
On my run today I was thinking about GP – LP interactions. I didn’t know the person, but knew a few people who did, and quickly sent emails getting addition info for my LP. I was also able to get some specific one degree of separation feedback for my LP. I’m an investor in about 30 VC funds (so, in addition to being a GP in my funds, I’m an LP in a bunch of other funds.) I tried to come up with a rationale for blowing off an LP. MORE
The nature of LP investors can vary widely, but the bulk of the capital in the VC ecosystem comes from large institutions like pension funds, endowments of universities and hospitals, charitable foundations, insurance companies, very wealthy families (aka family offices), and corporations. MORE
Maybe the next one will be called “I’m an LP.” It’s Sunday and it’s -8 degrees in Boulder. Egads. As I sat in my warm office catching up on email from the week, I sent links to our Foundry Group videos to a friend that had never seen them. MORE
Does Lindel agree with Chris Douvos in stating this could lead to the ‘hybridisation of GP and LP’? What are the biggest problems with the LP community today? My partner Lindel Eakman just did a really fun interview with Harry Stebbings on Harry’s 20 Minute VC Podcast. You can listen to it here or subscribe to the 20 Minute VC on iTunes. As a Saturday bonus, two of the other podcasts in my regular rotation are the Reboot Podcast and How I Built This. MORE
I know how hard it is myself because I used to vet VCs for a living when I was on the insitituional LP side. Picture this: Your family builds a tremendous business in Nebraska over four generations making black socks. You make more black socks for more people in the western world than anyone. The next generation isn't interested in socks. One daughter is touring nationally with her punk band. The son is off in Africa combating disease with Doctors without Borders, and the other son. MORE
We then do a cocktail party so that everybody can have informal conversations (including LP to LP) and then we do a dinner in a private room at a restaurant. I’ve sat on many boards over the past 2 decades and seen my share of high-functioning boards and low-functioning boards. MORE
Every year the Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst puts together a show where fund managers can listen to what the LP community is interested in and where they plan on allocating their dollars. In the early morning, a show of hands revealed about a 20% LP audience and 80% fund manager group. The post LP Conference appeared first on BeyondVC. MORE
I was thinking about this stat last month while preparing a slide deck for our annual LP meeting. 14 for 14. Homebrew’s first fund (2013-2015) has 20 core investments of which 14 went market for a Series A. All 14 successfully completed this fundraise. MORE
This prompted me to poke around for other content from the limited partner (LP) side of the LP/VC/entrepreneurship universe. I think the first LP blogger was Chris Douvos who periodically puts up an instant classic post at Super LP. OpenLP is a new site moderated by the gang at Sapphire Ventures that seems to be a collection of all the LP stuff floating around the web. As I continued poking around, I found a few LP firms hosting blogs on their websites. MORE
We recently completed the final close of NextView Ventures, LP and we’re excited about both our progress to date and our plans for the future. These include many of our colleagues in the VC industry, folks from our prior firms, and a handful of people in the LP community who offered constructive guidance. How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. How To Think About The Future. About Me. AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. MORE
Last week Homebrew held its second annual LP meeting, coinciding with our second anniversary as a fund. We invite several of the founder teams to present at the LP meeting discussion and all of our founders and advisors to a dinner. The agenda was very similar to 2014’s, which I discussed last year in this post. MORE
In the early spring of 2009, the fundraising nuclear winter of the previous year hadn't yet thawed. It would be months before Foursquare's first round touched off a NYC venture frenzy. I was out trying to save my startup by talking to as many investors as I could. One particular investor pass--from someone we thought we had a good shot with--felt like a punch in the the stomach. Many of you entrepreneurs know that feeling. MORE
Satya and I approached fundraising for Homebrew as if we were building a company, asking ourselves who were the investors that would give us a solid platform, who were aligned with our values and where we learn from them. MORE
My partners and I just announced that our long-time friend and LP – Jamey Sperans – has joined Foundry Group. We’ve been working with Jamey since the beginning of Foundry Group in 2007 (he was one of our first LPs via Morgan Stanley AIP) and have become extremely close friends. Jamey and his family have moved to Boulder, so in addition to working with us, he’ll become a part of the extended Boulder/Denver startup community. MORE
And why a LP should give them theirs. “We invest in rebellious outliers.” ” “We invest in the Future of Work.” ” “We invest in frontier technologies.” ” “We invest in diverse founders.” MORE
So with that… I’m pleased to announce the formation and closing of K9 Ventures III, L.P., K9’s last fund, K9 Ventures II, L.P., The post Announcing K9 Ventures III, L.P. 42: The Answer to the ultimate fund size? MORE
The post The LP Opportunity to Change Tech Culture appeared first on The Barefoot VC. Over the past month, Silicon Valley has been at the forefront of many conversations outside of the technology world. Unfortunately not for groundbreaking technology, but for rampant sexual harassment and predatory behavior. The stories outlined by a number of brave women in the NY Times last week recount investors using their power and position to proposition female founders. MORE
We are proud to be an LP in Manu Kumar’s third fund. My partner Lindel just put a post up on the Foundry Group website about our investment in K9 Ventures. I’ve been friends with Manu since 2009 and an investor (personally) in his first two funds. I vividly remember the first time we met – we were both sitting on the floor in the back corner at the fbFund Demo Day at the Facebook office in downtown Palo Alto. A number of interesting companies were presented. I adore Manu. MORE
They are also increasingly focused on “leading” rounds, because funds that are institutionalizing get LP pressure around whether or not they lead. Many of us in the seed stage ecosystem have noticed a shift in the way seed rounds are coming together. MORE
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. This LP is also a long time investor in Union Square Ventures and was one of the first people Fred introduced us to when we started raising the first Foundry Group fund in 2007. MORE
Perhaps because of this success and the unique elbow grease they supply to their portfolio, it was shocking to many to see that one of the storied seed franchises would contract, become its own sole LP, and scale back its operations. MORE
Founders Fundraising Opinion Venture Capital GP LP seed stage Series A VentureHere is the video recording of the talk I gave at 500 Startups ‘ PreMoney Conference in San Francisco on 12 June. . Seed Is The New A: What The Seed-Stage Explosion Means For Founders, GPs & LPs. MORE
The nature of LP investors can vary widely, but the bulk of the capital in the VC ecosystem comes from large institutions like pension funds, endowments of universities and hospitals, charitable foundations, insurance companies, very wealthy families (aka family offices), and corporations. MORE
led the round of funding, which also included participation from existing investors Causeway Media Partners, LP, Fertitta Capital, and DCM Ventures, as well as strategic investors World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. MORE
The same goes for the LP's (limited partners) that invest in venture funds. If a fund has run it's course and can't raise further capital due to poor performance, the LP's walk away. It just doesn't interest LP's anymore. MORE
Feld Thoughts
JUNE 5, 2018
9 Questions That Help Get You To GP/LP Fit. In it, Beezer goes through, in depth, the top questions she recommends you ask an LP to determine GP/LP fit. There’s an interesting graph in the post, which shows that a typical LP is going to add less than five new managers a year to their portfolio (and, on average, only two or three.) While an LP takes a lot of meetings, they don’t do a lot of investments.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 6, 2017
I know most startups (or even VCs) tend not to think about this but when you ask LPs the data are clear: Another trend we’ve noticed in LP opinions is regarding seed funds.
thebarefootvc
JULY 3, 2017
The post The LP Opportunity to Change Tech Culture appeared first on The Barefoot VC. Over the past month, Silicon Valley has been at the forefront of many conversations outside of the technology world. Unfortunately not for groundbreaking technology, but for rampant sexual harassment and predatory behavior. The stories outlined by a number of brave women in the NY Times last week recount investors using their power and position to proposition female founders.
K9 Ventures
AUGUST 14, 2017
So with that… I’m pleased to announce the formation and closing of K9 Ventures III, L.P., K9’s last fund, K9 Ventures II, L.P., The post Announcing K9 Ventures III, L.P. 42: The Answer to the ultimate fund size?
Feld Thoughts
AUGUST 13, 2018
We feel that if an LP gives us a $1 to invest, we should invest at least that $1, not $0.85 (the average fee load over a decade for a typical VC fund is 15%.) Our long-time friends and LPs at Greenspring recently wrote a great post titled Creating GP-LP Alignment: Why Terms Matter.
The Equity Kicker
MARCH 19, 2012
The LP Update Meeting. We have around a dozen LP update meetings a year across our four funds and they are the most important moments of contact we have with our investors. My latest column for The Kernel. It was published last Thursday. Everybody answers to somebody, Nic Brisbourne reminds us. What happens when VCs are hauled into the boardroom to justify their investment decisions?
Hunter Walker
MAY 7, 2015
Last week Homebrew held its second annual LP meeting, coinciding with our second anniversary as a fund. We invite several of the founder teams to present at the LP meeting discussion and all of our founders and advisors to a dinner. The agenda was very similar to 2014’s, which I discussed last year in this post.
Feld Thoughts
JULY 6, 2016
This prompted me to poke around for other content from the limited partner (LP) side of the LP/VC/entrepreneurship universe. I think the first LP blogger was Chris Douvos who periodically puts up an instant classic post at Super LP. OpenLP is a new site moderated by the gang at Sapphire Ventures that seems to be a collection of all the LP stuff floating around the web. As I continued poking around, I found a few LP firms hosting blogs on their websites.
This is going to be BIG.
OCTOBER 5, 2012
I know how hard it is myself because I used to vet VCs for a living when I was on the insitituional LP side. Picture this: Your family builds a tremendous business in Nebraska over four generations making black socks. You make more black socks for more people in the western world than anyone. The next generation isn't interested in socks. One daughter is touring nationally with her punk band. The son is off in Africa combating disease with Doctors without Borders, and the other son.
BeyondVC
JUNE 29, 2005
Every year the Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst puts together a show where fund managers can listen to what the LP community is interested in and where they plan on allocating their dollars. In the early morning, a show of hands revealed about a 20% LP audience and 80% fund manager group. The post LP Conference appeared first on BeyondVC.
Hunter Walker
MAY 18, 2015
Satya and I approached fundraising for Homebrew as if we were building a company, asking ourselves who were the investors that would give us a solid platform, who were aligned with our values and where we learn from them.
Feld Thoughts
MARCH 24, 2017
As an LP, I’ve had the good fortune to be an investor in many funds, including some exceptional ones. As a GP I applauded the approach and accepted that as an LP we had to beg and plead our way into to the fund. Investments fg next founder collective LP
Feld Thoughts
JULY 9, 2011
On my run today I was thinking about GP – LP interactions. I didn’t know the person, but knew a few people who did, and quickly sent emails getting addition info for my LP. I was also able to get some specific one degree of separation feedback for my LP. I’m an investor in about 30 VC funds (so, in addition to being a GP in my funds, I’m an LP in a bunch of other funds.) I tried to come up with a rationale for blowing off an LP.
This is going to be BIG.
SEPTEMBER 19, 2012
In the early spring of 2009, the fundraising nuclear winter of the previous year hadn't yet thawed. It would be months before Foursquare's first round touched off a NYC venture frenzy. I was out trying to save my startup by talking to as many investors as I could. One particular investor pass--from someone we thought we had a good shot with--felt like a punch in the the stomach. Many of you entrepreneurs know that feeling.
K9 Ventures
APRIL 28, 2010
I’m pleased to announce the formation of K9 Ventures, L.P. K9 Ventures, L.P. – a seed-stage fund. is a $6.25M fund that is designed to do concept and seed-stage investments in technology companies. The fund will be deployed over a period of 3-4 years, with initial investment in the range of $100K – $250K, while reserving capital to participate in the follow-on round.
K9 Ventures
JUNE 18, 2015
Founders Fundraising Opinion Venture Capital GP LP seed stage Series A VentureHere is the video recording of the talk I gave at 500 Startups ‘ PreMoney Conference in San Francisco on 12 June. . Seed Is The New A: What The Seed-Stage Explosion Means For Founders, GPs & LPs.
Agile VC
FEBRUARY 21, 2012
We recently completed the final close of NextView Ventures, LP and we’re excited about both our progress to date and our plans for the future. These include many of our colleagues in the VC industry, folks from our prior firms, and a handful of people in the LP community who offered constructive guidance. How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. How To Think About The Future. About Me. AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups.
SiliconHills
JUNE 4, 2019
led the round of funding, which also included participation from existing investors Causeway Media Partners, LP, Fertitta Capital, and DCM Ventures, as well as strategic investors World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
Feld Thoughts
OCTOBER 15, 2016
Does Lindel agree with Chris Douvos in stating this could lead to the ‘hybridisation of GP and LP’? What are the biggest problems with the LP community today? My partner Lindel Eakman just did a really fun interview with Harry Stebbings on Harry’s 20 Minute VC Podcast. You can listen to it here or subscribe to the 20 Minute VC on iTunes. As a Saturday bonus, two of the other podcasts in my regular rotation are the Reboot Podcast and How I Built This.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 14, 2016
And we felt terrible not being able to let every LP in but we were forced to make some hard compromises yet we opened up our fund to Sapphire even though they were a first time LP. We have many LPs who come from industry and this is truly a value-add in a LP/VC relationship 3.
Professor VC
NOVEMBER 19, 2009
I attended the annual LP meeting for a venture capital firm this week and got into a discussion about the above question. ProfessorVC. The last blogger in Silicon Valley. Thursday, November 19, 2009. Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?
View from Seed
OCTOBER 29, 2014
The nature of LP investors can vary widely, but the bulk of the capital in the VC ecosystem comes from large institutions like pension funds, endowments of universities and hospitals, charitable foundations, insurance companies, very wealthy families (aka family offices), and corporations.
Feld Thoughts
NOVEMBER 30, 2016
Their podcast series is called Origins and is unique among podcasts as they go deep into the formation history of venture funds, especially from an LP perspective. Last month I had dinner at Pizzeria Locale in Boulder and did a long interview with Nick Chirls and Alex Lines of Notation Capital for their podcast. Dinner was about them and as they learned, if you trek out to Boulder, dinner is on me.
Feld Thoughts
DECEMBER 18, 2016
Maybe the next one will be called “I’m an LP.” It’s Sunday and it’s -8 degrees in Boulder. Egads. As I sat in my warm office catching up on email from the week, I sent links to our Foundry Group videos to a friend that had never seen them.
Babbling VC
NOVEMBER 2, 2018
The same goes for the LP's (limited partners) that invest in venture funds. If a fund has run it's course and can't raise further capital due to poor performance, the LP's walk away. It just doesn't interest LP's anymore.
Feld Thoughts
MARCH 27, 2018
I was asked if any existed the other day by an LP, so following is a list of papers I am familiar with. The first accelerator, YC, was founded in 2005. The second, Techstars, was founded in 2006. Wikipedia has a good summary of the history of accelerators. Now that we are 13 years into the accelerator journey, an accelerator is a well-established construct that is part of the global startup ecosystem. They have evolved over the years, and many new approaches have been taken.
Feld Thoughts
MAY 18, 2016
” as part of a discussion with an LP. Upon reflection, the LP was clearly asking me indirectly about my long term commitment to venture capital and, without asking “how much longer are you going to do this VC thing?” I was recently asked the question “What is your next career?” I thought it was the best diligence question that I have ever been asked.
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. This LP is also a long time investor in Union Square Ventures and was one of the first people Fred introduced us to when we started raising the first Foundry Group fund in 2007.
Feld Thoughts
JULY 30, 2015
Yesterday we closed our fifth fund, Foundry Venture Capital 2016, L.P. As with all four of our other funds, it’s a $225 million fund. In 2007 we raised our first fund – Foundry Venture Capital 2007.
Agile VC
OCTOBER 29, 2014
The nature of LP investors can vary widely, but the bulk of the capital in the VC ecosystem comes from large institutions like pension funds, endowments of universities and hospitals, charitable foundations, insurance companies, very wealthy families (aka family offices), and corporations.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 25, 2019
We then do a cocktail party so that everybody can have informal conversations (including LP to LP) and then we do a dinner in a private room at a restaurant. I’ve sat on many boards over the past 2 decades and seen my share of high-functioning boards and low-functioning boards.
Haystack
JUNE 1, 2018
Perhaps because of this success and the unique elbow grease they supply to their portfolio, it was shocking to many to see that one of the storied seed franchises would contract, become its own sole LP, and scale back its operations.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 6, 2015
Most importantly – this should encourage LP funds to back more local firms and I would hope to see more indigenous funds to develop. There are so many great, young funds in the market and many of them are attracting LP capital. If you’re an LP and want to know who these emerging funds are please call me and/or attend our Annual VC Summit.
Feld Thoughts
OCTOBER 24, 2017
We are proud to be an LP in Manu Kumar’s third fund. My partner Lindel just put a post up on the Foundry Group website about our investment in K9 Ventures. I’ve been friends with Manu since 2009 and an investor (personally) in his first two funds. I vividly remember the first time we met – we were both sitting on the floor in the back corner at the fbFund Demo Day at the Facebook office in downtown Palo Alto. A number of interesting companies were presented. I adore Manu.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 26, 2014
But for now … Every year we run a big VC, LP & Tech Summit in Los Angeles (this year downtown) to showcase the best of our community and invite others from around the country. You disappeared? What the fork happened to you? And what’s up with this crazy new blog design?
Feld Thoughts
JANUARY 10, 2018
My partners and I just announced that our long-time friend and LP – Jamey Sperans – has joined Foundry Group. We’ve been working with Jamey since the beginning of Foundry Group in 2007 (he was one of our first LPs via Morgan Stanley AIP) and have become extremely close friends. Jamey and his family have moved to Boulder, so in addition to working with us, he’ll become a part of the extended Boulder/Denver startup community.
View from Seed
MAY 29, 2019
They are also increasingly focused on “leading” rounds, because funds that are institutionalizing get LP pressure around whether or not they lead. Many of us in the seed stage ecosystem have noticed a shift in the way seed rounds are coming together.
Hunter Walker
MARCH 28, 2018
And why a LP should give them theirs. “We invest in rebellious outliers.” ” “We invest in the Future of Work.” ” “We invest in frontier technologies.” ” “We invest in diverse founders.”
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 1, 2016
While I’m not an LP, the following post represents my discussions with more than 100 LP firms – specifically ones that do fund VCs – and full survey data from 73 firms , so I’ve tried to capture the essence of what I’ve learned.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 18, 2017
Yves didn’t want to step down — he is still as active as any partner on our team — but he wanted me to take responsibility for: Strategy, recruiting, team development, LP relations, financial planning, etc.
Hunter Walker
JUNE 14, 2019
I was thinking about this stat last month while preparing a slide deck for our annual LP meeting. 14 for 14. Homebrew’s first fund (2013-2015) has 20 core investments of which 14 went market for a Series A. All 14 successfully completed this fundraise.
Feld Thoughts
AUGUST 6, 2018
While I don’t have portfolio level stats for them, their new endeavor Foundry Next (to invest in smaller funds and then follow-on into key investments) has built up an LP basket of 23 positions in a variety of new VC funds.
Agile VC
DECEMBER 6, 2012
If Acme Ventures III, LP invests in Startup X then typically Acme Ventures IV, LP would not. 1) LP Bases Change Over Time – Most healthy VC firms tend to have stable relationships with the limited partners investing with them.
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