Agile VC

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

We invest in internet enabled companies at NextView and our portfolio is roughly equally split between consumer and B2B businesses. Arguably revenue is the best signal of product-market fit for B2B startups. Some potential customers won’t take your product seriously unless you’re charging for it.

Revenue 234

Revenue Product B2B Marketing 234

VC Adventure

AUGUST 31, 2017

Not surprisingly companies raised well above their revenue level in the earlier stages as they built product and sales and marketing. And as a rule of thumb for businesses in our portfolio we target payback periods of 12 months or less. Verticalization. Capital efficiency was not as good as I was expecting.

IPO 113

IPO Vertical Balance Sheet Valuation 113

Version One Ventures

JANUARY 26, 2016

The company is trying to modernize its product with groups and Influencers, but it’s very obvious that the platform’s roots are in resumes and recruiting and all other activities are built on top of a resume platform. One of the most obvious examples of the online portfolio is within the creative community.

Vertical 60

Vertical Reputation Portfolio Curation 60

Mucker Lab

OCTOBER 12, 2016

Vertical integration of different funding risks. I also believe that the ebb and flow of the venture investment cycle has been exacerbated by the recent vertical integration of early, growth, and even late stage venture funds. The investment thesis wasn’t wrong — it’s just that they bet on the wrong horse.

Harvest 60

Harvest Vertical IPO Early Stage 60

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

In addition, I’ve noted a few multi-product lending firms, e.g., Kapitus and United Capital Source , which provide RBI as one of many structural options to companies seeking capital. . We have a special program if you are pre-seed and need product development. We’re also regularly following-on for existing portfolio companies.”.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

View from Seed

MARCH 29, 2018

We wanted to learn more about the nuanced industry market forces before applying the same hands-on investing model we do with tech startups in other verticals. Many of these companies, however, exhibit similar characteristics to the things we invest in outside of the health vertical. 2) Direct-to-Consumer Health Products.

Vertical 120

Vertical Stealth Portfolio Seed Capital 120

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 1, 2020

As we do at the end of every quarter, we’ve summarized some of the key highlights and activities across our portfolio. . The Globe and Mail included three of our portfolio companies Ada (#11), Jobber (#87), and Top Hat (#230) on its list of the 400 top growing companies in Canada. . Product releases and news. Announcements.

Portfolio 94

Portfolio Software Review Cofounder Canada 94

Hunter Walker

MAY 4, 2014

Imagining You Can “Fix” a Team/Product/Market. They imagine sure the product is a little raw but if they invest and spend a few hours a week with the team, it’ll be okay because they can fix it! New VCs are vulnerable to fashionable verticals. Not Understanding Portfolio Management. Chasing Hot Markets.

Software Review 100

Software Review Vertical Seed Stage Portfolio 100

Cracking the Code

MARCH 24, 2015

In an environment becoming increasingly more competitive, it is becoming critical for companies to leverage external platforms & APIs to build a product fast and concentrate their resources on their core products. It is not very polished but was designed for a fast read.

API 48

API Fractional CTO CTO Hire San Francisco 48

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

I’ve primarily seen quantitative analytic techniques used in origination , filtering , and in portfolio company recruiting , but technology can be used throughout the nine steps of the private company investing process: The 9 Steps of the Private Company Investing Process. 8) Accelerate portfolio company value. 9% (1 / 12).

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Hearpreneur

FEBRUARY 1, 2019

I ditched coaching as a product and asked myself, The West Coast are early adopters of innovation in talent management. What product/service is generating revenue that has not yet been adopted in Boston? Look for early adopters and products being used. Thanks to Rafe Gomez, Vertical Cloud Inc. ! . #4- and many others. .

Entrepreneur 55

Entrepreneur Delaware Hiring Social Media 55

Version One Ventures

APRIL 25, 2017

Not every start-up can play in a vertical that’s an investor darling. The most effective strategy I’ve seen is for founders to push investors to call their customers in order to understand the value of the product. Our portfolio company, Outreach.io , used this tactic when they tried to raise a seed round after a pivot.

Customer 128

Customer Vertical Stock Portfolio 128

Hearpreneur

FEBRUARY 1, 2019

I ditched coaching as a product and asked myself, The West Coast are early adopters of innovation in talent management. What product/service is generating revenue that has not yet been adopted in Boston? Look for early adopters and products being used. Thanks to Rafe Gomez, Vertical Cloud Inc. ! #4- Thanks to Laurence J.

Entrepreneur 54

Entrepreneur Delaware Hiring Social Media 54

Version One Ventures

MARCH 25, 2014

At version one, we are big believers in the vertical SaaS opportunity. A mobile-first approach, combined with a laser-like focus on a specific vertical, can create the right toolset to help SMBs achieve huge productivity gains ( I wrote about this nearly a year ago for TechCrunch). Related articles.

Vertical 153

Vertical Cloud Mobile Partner 153

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

04:40] How can businesses view workshops as products or lead generation tactics ? [06:20] I think now it's more about, I guess having a horizontal relationship with the people in your audience versus a vertical one. So vertical, you're the expert. Yeah, so you can see all my portfolio work@leannehughes.com.

Framework 72

Framework Campaign Audience Email 72

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2018

We dove deep into how this investment thesis extends to major verticals of consumer spending like entertainment , clothing , and home. And in the entertainment category, our portfolio company TripleLift provides monetization for online publishers through native ad technology. BookBub ), hybrid B2C/B2B2C models (e.g.

B2B 120

B2B B2C Vertical Portfolio 120

ConversionXL

MARCH 9, 2016

Typically, when people think of false bottoms, they think of vertical scrolling. How familiar is the visitor with your product / service / company? They’re likely to immediately click “Pricing” or “Demo” or “Products” or enter their email without scrolling. Not necessarily.

Cost 48

Cost Vertical Portfolio Design 48

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 23, 2018

Now that data is on the cloud, products can begin to leverage it and use AI/machine learning to create a 10x better user experience. When we consider SaaS products in virtually every vertical, we realize how much potential there still is to re-invent the user experience. For example….

Artificial Inteligence 93

Artificial Inteligence Vertical API Bootstrapping 93

Where to Play

AUGUST 18, 2020

In 2000, they included tentage into their portfolio and since then they have established themself as a premium brand in marriage event management. Most of their business growth was vertical by focusing on food, tentage, and decoration for marrying couples and their families.

Pakistan 62

Pakistan Sales Cycle Marketing Technical Review 62

View from Seed

MAY 11, 2020

As a firm, we have had a thesis around the unbundling healthcare to create best-in-class, vertical healthcare solutions for the world’s biggest problems. Rounding out the founding team is Amit Klein who provides tech and software product leadership after various stints at Nexar and Samsung.

Vertical 207

Vertical Programming Software Leadership 207

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 17, 2018

And we also look at companies that are creating the best product for a specific vertical – including bio/healthcare and other emerging tech. and Canada, offering portfolio companies strong networks and resources on both sides of the border. Our particular focus is in San Francisco Bay Area, Toronto/Waterloo , Seattle, and NYC.

Silicon Valley 126

Silicon Valley North America San Francisco LP 126

View from Seed

AUGUST 30, 2017

Most home furnishings, CPG products, and renovation products are still bought at specialty or big-box stores. We are already seeing this happen with our portfolio company Grove Collaborative , which is increasingly rethinking the form factor of CPG products. Houses and neighborhoods look similar. Source: Google Finance).

Denmark 244

Denmark Vertical eCommerce Internet 244

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

After 20 years of working in startups, I decided to take a step back and look at the product development model I had been following and see why it usually failed to provide useful guidance in activities outside the building – sales, marketing and business development. So what’s wrong the product development model?

Customer Development 244

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 244

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

Mike built a white label product that let large publishers leverage text based ads by building their own marketplace rather than using Ad Words. He is starting to see this occur in sites that are verticalizing content. An example is Metacafe, a Highland Capital portfolio company. ESPN, Forbes, AOL were customers. 37:00-40:30).

Vertical 265

Vertical Curation Boston Burn Rate 265

The Equity Kicker

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

Jeff Richards of US VC fund GSV Capital has a good post up today: Content, Community and Commerce: Why Verticals Win. His investment thesis is that vertical platforms combining content, community and commerce will make great investments over the next period, and he cites existing portfolio companies including Houzz as good examples.

eCommerce 109

eCommerce Community Silicon Valley Vertical 109

Version One Ventures

MARCH 4, 2014

For key positions, they should jump in and pitch a candidate to join a portfolio company. Making important early introductions to follow-on investors is one of the best ways to make sure that a portfolio company will be in a good position to rase the next round of financing. Do I have the right people on the team? Related articles.

Portfolio 154

Portfolio Vertical Hiring Operations 154

Genuine VC

AUGUST 3, 2012

For us, the investment is certainly fresh and newest in our portfolio, but it also feels familiar. CEO Anne Raimondi and my partner Rob were colleagues together at eBay in the early 2000’s before she went on the lead product and/or marketing at many household internet names like Zazzle, InsiderPages, and SurveyMonkey.

Seed Stage 199

Seed Stage Cofounder Portfolio Curation 199

Version One Ventures

APRIL 14, 2014

Yet, only one dominant product survived. As a result, the tool can grab a large market share in a certain market segment or vertical. Think Mailchimp , Dropbox , Hightail or Unbounce for horizontal solutions or Clio , Jobber or Frontdesk for vertical products (disclosure some of those are portfolio companies).

Operations 140

Operations Marketing Vertical Networking 140

Version One Ventures

APRIL 8, 2014

The product collects, cleans, and curates data from news sites, SEC filings, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, AngelList, CrunchBase, and more. It offers custom reports, real-time updates, specific filtering, and easy organization of start-ups based on stage, vertical, geography, and Mattermark score (a proprietary index that measures momentum).

Venture Capital 160

Venture Capital Vertical Curation SEC 160

Version One Ventures

NOVEMBER 29, 2016

This is why it was so great to hear from Indiegogo co-founder Slava Rubin on how Indiegogo grew by 1) expanding into different verticals and 2) expanding into different products. Expand into different verticals. Don’t spread across verticals too fast. Expand into different products.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Vertical Equity Cofounder 60

Ben's Blog

JULY 24, 2011

Platforms upon which their community of users continually expands into new verticals. They believe Airbnb is to spaces what eBay is to products. Providing economic opportunity and empowerment to their sellers/hosts, enabling them to earn meaningful income. Helping to make inefficient commerce efficient.

Rhode Island 78

Rhode Island Portfolio Liechtenstein San Francisco 78

Version One Ventures

JANUARY 2, 2019

Each week we like share our thoughts on a range of topics from vertical markets to general startup advice and our reflections on investing. Among our Silicon Valley-based portfolio companies, every company past “A” has a distributed team. Happy new year! Changing the narrative on distributed teams in Silicon Valley”. Bio/Healthcare.

Silicon Valley 144

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Distribution Artificial Inteligence 144

The Equity Kicker

MAY 23, 2014

Proprietary selection (aka curation) – e.g. companies that build their brand and community around their product selection like Nastygal and Modcloth. Proprietary merchandise – e.g. vertically integrated retailers like Bonobos and WarbyParker. Most important though is that the product or service is amazing at some level.

eCommerce 120

eCommerce Business Model Flash Curation 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

And without revenue how do we know if we achieved product/market fit to exit Customer Validation?” I gave my boilerplate answer, “I’m a product guy and I tend to invest and look at deals that have measurable revenue metrics. It’s an impressive portfolio. What metrics do we use to see if we learned enough in Customer Discovery ?

Customer Development 228

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 228

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

Both venture firms sought my advice for their portfolio companies. When I told her they not only didn’t want it back, but were trying to see if they could give me more for my next company, she paused for a long while and then said in a very Russian accent, “Only in America are the streets paved with gold.”

Silicon Valley 131

Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital Customer Development 131

Occam's Razor

JULY 24, 2018

Analyzing these metrics not only fundamentally changes marketing strategy (think tens of millions of dollars for large companies); their insights can change your company’s product portfolio, your customer engagement strategies and much more. Slice the matrix vertically along the time-to-useful dimension….

Analytics 93

Analytics Framework Metrics Algorithm 93

Version One Ventures

JULY 12, 2016

There are still possibilities out there for good companies to ride out the last vestiges of the original social wave through vertical niches, to build on the current wave of messaging as a platform/conversational UI, or to jump on a brand new social wave sparked by AI/ML. Riding out the old wave: new or under-represented verticals.

Artificial Inteligence 60

Artificial Inteligence Vertical North America Social Network 60