David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund and mutual fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. An investor had few hard metrics other than the actual financials, and little technology to make the process scaleable. But we’re doing it slowly. 9% (1 / 12). 1) Market fund.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 20, 2023

The Venture Capital Influence The role of venture capital (VC) has become increasingly prominent in shaping the tech startup scene. Meeting growth metrics, achieving profitability, and ensuring a substantial return on investment are now integral parts of the startup journey.

Technical Review 137

Technical Review Startup Silicon Valley Agile 137

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 11, 2022

On the other side of the spectrum, the idea of finding a unicorn has attracted many investors toward the much riskier venture capital and emerging technologies. Clearlake Capital Group’s role in the investment will be supporting the global leader’s efforts to innovate products, accelerate growth and bolder M&A.

Private Equity 130

Private Equity Equity Technical Review Software Review 130

View from Seed

DECEMBER 11, 2019

But even at the Partner-level, the amount of transition in Venture Capital is much more than you perhaps would expect… especially in a business which should have a long term orientation with portfolio investment-hold periods and Partnerships lasting more than a decade. So why is there so much turnover in Venture Capital?

Venture Capital 204

Venture Capital Cap Table Partner LP 204

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Almost overnight the floodgates opened, and risk capital was available at scale from venture capital investors who rushed their startups toward public offerings. Massive liquidity awaited the first movers to the IPO’s, and that’s how they managed their portfolios. The Rise of the Lean Startup.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 2, 2022

That’s on average the time venture capital investors spend on a pre-seed pitch deck, according to the latest Dropbox/Docsend funding research report. What most improved your primary metric? 2 and a half minutes. The time spent on reviewing decks went down compared to 2021. Weeks to launch? what have you learned from them?

Technical Review 166

Technical Review Early Stage Cofounder Portfolio 166

David Teten

MAY 20, 2016

My colleague Sebastian Soler, software engineer at ff Venture Capital, is leading the launch of a new Meetup with me. Totem is a tool that centralizes all the data about our companies’ management, metrics, investment history, co-investors and cap table tracking. I asked him to write a guest post: Hi!

Private Equity 113

Private Equity Equity Cap Table Venture Capital 113

David Teten

APRIL 6, 2015

The industry standard metric for tracking the severity of disease is disability-adjusted life years ( DALYs ), i.e., the number of healthy life years lost due to the disease or risk. All venture capital and NIH funding data for CY 2010 – 2014 in USA. Source: NIH, CB Insights. Previously posted in PEHub.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Non-Compete Philadelphia 60

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. . The proportion of LPs using technology to manage their portfolios will continue to increase, and GPs unable to provide quality data to LPs will find it increasingly hard to retain and attract LPs.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2014

This means that those winning deals have to make a ~30x return to provide the venture capital fund that 20% compound return (the 6x). The reality for a regional investor is that you have to match the capital you raise to the deal/exit environment you are in. Focus on capital efficient, scalable startups and founders.

Early Stage 287

Early Stage Silicon Valley Oregon Technical Review 287

David Teten

DECEMBER 16, 2015

I review a lot of board decks with a beautifully hand-crafted page with metrics for the company. Good metrics are comparable across industries; comparative ; readily understandable; and help drive decisions. Comparative means that you can compare a metric across time periods, groups of users, or competitors. So how do you do it?

Metrics 60

Metrics Analytics Balance Sheet .Net 60

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

This structure allows for alignment on the front end, and real-time flexibility for performance metrics,” says Samira Salman , a family office investor and advisor. . Flexible VCs have created structures based on other company performance metrics than revenues, such as profits or founder salaries. Flexible VC 102: Variations.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Haystack

DECEMBER 29, 2018

6/ Venture Capital In Expansion Phase. Public investors, cross-over investors, and even traditional private equity firms have taken notice, further blurring the lines of what constitutes true venture capital. The fear of them investing in a competitor is real. However, many cities and its citizens did not disagree.

Technical Review 165

Technical Review Venture Capital Russia China 165

David Teten

NOVEMBER 26, 2019

Instead of budget approvals, monitor key metrics and give managers more flexibility. So here’s the solution I have recommended to some of my portfolio companies: “ agile budgeting ”, i.e., monitoring a few key variables while giving managers significant flexibility. Traditional budgets can be destructive and a huge waste of time.

Agile 60

Agile Management Forecast Silicon Valley 60

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Many observers of the venture capital industry have questioned whether its best days are behind it. Looking ahead at the next decade I am excited by what I believe will be viewed as one of the best and most rational investment periods for venture capital due to seven discrete factors: 1.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

As the venture capital business has come roaring back in the last 5 years, startups are awash in available capital. Instead of measuring success in dollars of profit, …firms focus on measuring capital efficiency. To manage these employees companies create metrics to control, measure and reward execution.

Private Equity 326

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 326

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Draw Your Ideas - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 16, 2010 I saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month. The Yin and Yang of Product and Engineering - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 22, 2010 For a tech company, product and engineering are the heart and soul of the business.

Fractional CTO 248

Fractional CTO Startup Venture Capital Cofounder 248

Austin Startup

MARCH 20, 2017

While general impact investing is becoming more mainstream for high net worth individuals and institutions, gender lens investing has not benefitted from the same level of traction in the private equity and venture capital space. Contrasted with an average VC fund size of $30M… there is a mismatch.

Private Equity 54

Private Equity Venture Capital United States Equity 54

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

If the companies in their portfolio don’t have much in common with yours, it’s usually better to look elsewhere. You’ll certainly want to be clear about your unique differentiators, but VCs also want to see numbers and metrics, along with well-thought-out plans for how you’ll meet those metrics. Tailor your pitch deck.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

VC Cafe

AUGUST 17, 2023

I learned so much about the culture, current events, and the Israeli venture capital industry. After spending just two months in the industry, I recognize the importance of venture capital for spurring innovation, especially in Israel. I learned so much aboutIsraeli venture capital and generative AI.

Generative AI 78

Generative AI Venture Capital ChatGPT 78

The Startup Magazine

APRIL 1, 2018

Understand which one is right for you by learning about their reputation, taking a look at their website and examining their portfolio. If there’s a business in their portfolio that could be a direct competitor to your product, you’ll be better off avoiding them. Many VCs see a long winded and complicated pitch as a red flag.

Startup 95

Startup Portfolio Software Review Technical Review 95

David Teten

JULY 23, 2019

I regularly meet with other VCs, and based on their criteria, I share with them whichever portfolio companies fit their areas of interest. . – 1 sentence with most exciting metric from their growth. – Ideally revenues and other financial metrics if we can include that. Subject line: Relevant Portfolio Companies .

Portfolio 60

Portfolio Elevator Pitch Syndicate Syndication 60

The Equity Kicker

FEBRUARY 8, 2012

Fortieth in a series of weekly posts by myself and Nicholas Lovell of Gamesbrief which answer the fifty questions you should ask before raising venture capital. With earlier stage companies investors generally don’t have the luxury of being able to rely on hard metrics and instead have to rely on gut feel – i.e. ‘direct’ evaluation.

Technical Review 123

Technical Review Product Venture Capital Valuation 123

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

What metrics do we use to see if we learned enough in Customer Discovery ? I gave my boilerplate answer, “I’m a product guy and I tend to invest and look at deals that have measurable revenue metrics. Dave McClure has some great metrics…” It was an honest but vaguely unsatisfying answer. It’s an impressive portfolio.

Customer Development 223

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 223

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Over the same 30 years, Venture Capital firms have honed their skills and strategies to match Wall Streets needs to achieve liquidity for their portfolio companies. One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is misunderstanding the role of venture capital investors. What Do VC’s Do?

Silicon Valley 223

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 223

VC Cafe

MAY 18, 2022

venture capital and private equity) the VC index (by Refinitiv) shows a nearly 40% decline. That’s not to say that the declines have been written off already, but as mentioned in the ‘ prisoners dilemma for growth stage’ , it’s a matter of time until LPs ask to adjust the real value of their portfolios.

Term Sheet 190

Term Sheet Startup Valuation Ukraine 190

Cracking the Code

JULY 6, 2007

Thoughts from a Venture Capitalist on Software, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Cloud Computing, Internet and more. SaaS business metrics: why are they different? Different models require different performance metrics. The MRR is a great metrics, but it can be perfected. Cracking The Code. Friday, July 06, 2007.

Software Review 66

Software Review Metrics Valuation Technical Review 66

Austin Startup

AUGUST 10, 2017

We were roommates at the time and launched two different companies out of a kind-of dumpy apartment: We both went on to raise millions in venture capital and build meaningful businesses in interesting spaces. We invest in protocols that meet our quantitative and qualitative metrics. But we never lost the finance bug.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Austin 48

VC Cafe

AUGUST 3, 2023

As previously highlighted on VC Cafe (based on research by Sapphire Ventures) , while many funds avoid B2C investments, consumer startups can create extremely lucrative power-law returns for venture capital investors. B2C Venture Capital Investments in Israel To the most part, Israeli VCs shy away from B2C startup investments.

B2C 148

B2C Generative AI Artificial Inteligence 148

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Blog About Log in Register Designing startup metrics to drive successful behavior Great companies are almost always run by great management teams. Good metrics should also be actionable, and drive successful behavior. In a follow up post, I will use this technique to walk through the design of a set of metrics for a SaaS company.

Metrics 55

Metrics Design Entrepreneur Startup 55

K9 Ventures

OCTOBER 19, 2015

If you’re even remotely connected to the “industry” of Venture Capital, you need to read Howard Marks’ It’s Not Easy memo. I like to think of it as looking at the derivative (in a mathematical sense, not a financial sense) is often more revealing than looking at the raw change in a metric.

Venture Capital 48

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Portfolio 48

YoungUpstarts

MAY 7, 2019

What makes it such a game-changer is that it provides target metrics, strategies and tactics that early stage startups can use to guide them through the crucial go-to-market phase. For us at Wildcat and for the management teams of our portfolio companies, the Traction Gap Framework has proved to be an invaluable resource.

Cleveland 217

Cleveland Early Stage Framework Startup 217

David Teten

JANUARY 13, 2015

I also was fortunate to gain a lot of insight on this topic from Don Charlton, Founder/CEO, TheResumator *, a ffVC portfolio company. Since I’ve raised nearly $20 million in venture capital, it’d be very hard for me to claim bias, which I feel puts the onus on me to explain how I got here. Prove more through metrics.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Advisory Board Greece Cofounder 60

Cracking the Code

JANUARY 16, 2012

Portfolio. (3). Venture Capital. (3). SaaS business metrics: why are they different? Explore Venture Capital. Cloud Computing. (1). Europe Consumer. (1). Favorite Podcasts. (1). internet. (6). McKinsey highlights. (1). Online Gaming. (1). sales and marketing. (10). Small and medium businesses. (2).

Software Review 95

Software Review Europe Technical Review Spain 95

Cracking the Code

AUGUST 3, 2011

Portfolio. (3). Venture Capital. (3). SaaS business metrics: why are they different? Explore Venture Capital. Cloud Computing. (1). Europe Consumer. (1). Favorite Podcasts. (1). internet. (6). McKinsey highlights. (1). Online Gaming. (1). sales and marketing. (10). Small and medium businesses. (2).

Software Review 67

Software Review Europe Technical Review Search 67

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

The Venture Capital industry as a whole does a terrible job of giving things the right name and so we end up keeping the same name, but changing the meaning out from under it. So if the Micro-VCs are looking for Series A-like metrics, what does a company do when it’s just getting started? Scaling venture capital breaks it.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 23, 2011

Portfolio. (3). Venture Capital. (3). SaaS business metrics: why are they different? Explore Venture Capital. Cloud Computing. (1). Europe Consumer. (1). Favorite Podcasts. (1). internet. (6). McKinsey highlights. (1). Online Gaming. (1). sales and marketing. (10). Small and medium businesses. (2).

Software Review 101

Software Review Technical Review Valuation Europe 101