Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

At the Upfront Summit in early February, we had a chance to have many off-the-record conversations with Limited Partners (LPs) who fund Venture Capital (VC) funds about their views of the market. However, they have been sending VCs far more investment checks in the last ten years than they’ve gotten back as distributions.

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Venture Capital Capital Marketing Seed Funding 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

There’s a quick litmus-test conversation any early-stage VC will have with the founder and it’s one that you should be as prepared for as your elevator pitch. It goes something like this … VC: “How much money are you raising?” Founder: “$8–10 million” VC: “What’s your current burn rate?” A VC is looking for reasonableness.

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Venture Capital Capital Funding Demand 247

socalTECH

JANUARY 5, 2022

The Upfront Summit, the high tech and venture capital company run by Upfront Ventures, has been delayed, the latest victim of resurging COVID-19 numbers and the Omicron variant. Upfront's last tech conference, in 2020, was held at the Rose Bowl.

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Technical Review Conference Southern California High Tech 113

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. In fact, far better if you haven’t raised venture capital.

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Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

socalTECH

MAY 2, 2011

William Quigley , a venture capitalist at Clearstone Venture Partners, is making the argument that venture capital returns are set to return superior returns in the coming years, due to the disinterest of institutional investors.

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Venture Capital Capital Clearstone Technical Review 160

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Over the past month a colleague ( Chang Xu ) and I sifted through data on the venture capital industry (as we do every year) and made a bunch of calls to VCs and LPs to confirm our hypotheses. As a result of the IPO window shifting we saw a massive inflow of public-market capital into the latest stages of venture.

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Venture Capital Invest Seed Funding Startup 328

TechCrunch LA

MAY 20, 2021

Builders VC led the round, which included participation from Celtic, Newfund and Wish co-founder Danny Zhang. Construction tech startups are poised to shake up a $1.3-trillion-dollar As more people spent time at home last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the startup saw its contract revenue spike by 5x, Wu says.

Technical Review 185

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital Software Review 185

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 21, 2009

On the third Wednesday of every month I co-chair a meeting called the SoCal VCA (venture capital alliance), which represents participants from all of the top venture capital firms in Southern California as well as prominent members of the Tech Coast Angels (TCA). We feature a prominent speaker at every event.

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Venture Capital Technical Review Southern California Company 241

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2012

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. This is the dreaded “due diligence” process. Product or service readiness.

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Technical Review Startup Writing Competition 94

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2010

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. This is the dreaded “due diligence” process. Product or service readiness.

Technical Review 90

Technical Review Writing Competition Tips 90

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened? It was nobody’s fault.

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Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 19, 2020

A new initiative from a Los Angeles investor is taking stock of venture firms and their ability to commit capital in an effort to match firms that are still open for business and cutting checks to startups that are fundraising in the age of COVID-19.

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Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Los Angeles 135

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 11, 2020

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan.

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Technical Review Funding Innocal Offshore 124

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 15, 2012

One the most frequent questions asked of me by entrepreneurs is, "How can I become a Venture Capitalist?" The inquiry is common because being a VC is (to an entrepreneur, at least) a sexy job. I define a "VC" as, "a professional investor who deploys third-party funds into relatively early-stage companies." Microscopic Industry.

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Venture Capital Technical Review Invest RSS 242

socalTECH

DECEMBER 23, 2019

Every year, at the end of the year, we share some reflections on the past year from our readers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, sponsors, and others in the local technology community. Today, we share the thoughts of Kelly Perdew , the founder and Managing Director of Moonshots Capital (www.moonshotscapital.com).

Capital 100

Capital Technical Review Truecar Venture Capital 100

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 29, 2011

However, the fact that nearly half of all venture funding in the United States consistently occurs in Silicon Valley is shocking. This concentration is partly due to natural causes – successful startups spawn other successful startups. Thanks Mr. Big Firm VC. It is also somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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Venture Capital Capital Funding Technical Review 233

socalTECH

JUNE 15, 2020

The Tech Coast Angels says it has launched a new, annual fund, and is continuing to invest--despite the pandemic. The angel group, the largest in the nation, said it invested over $19M in 2019, in part due to a similar fund created by its San Diego chapter, the TCA-San Diego, last year. Recess , Somabar , and Turn Technologies.

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Tech Coast Angels Technical Review Los Angeles Angel 113

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2009

The post is part of a series called “Pitching a VC&# – the outlines is here. You’ve been trying to raise VC for months. What about all the other VC’s I’m talking with? A VC isn’t going to give you an unlimited offer to stay on the table as you shop the terms around town.

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Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Technology 197

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2010

I’m often asked by people, “how do I get into VC?&# Well, I know 3-4 VC jobs that are publicly available. If this isn’t you, we’d probably still have a look if you did something truly exception – probably at startup or tech firm. In the technology space we have backed Overture (acquired by Yahoo!),

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Venture Capital Technical Review GRP Partners Email 290

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2023

He comes from a background in venture capital from inside and outside the Valley, as well as entrepreneurship work with startup efforts around the world. I second his list of top innovation challenges and strategies to capitalize on untapped global startup opportunities: Create new markets rather than disrupt existing ones.

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Capital Marketing Ideas Venture Capital 138

SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 17, 2012

Thursday, February 23, 2012 -- Current VC market and how to pitch it. The current venture market and how to pitch it - Getting professional tech investment (private, angel, venture, strategic) in these times is not easy. See [link] (more)

Venture Capital 113

Venture Capital Technical Review Marketing Capital 113

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 10, 2020

Some firms have said that they’re going to turn to HBCUvc , a nonprofit organization that helps students from historically Black colleges and universities enter venture and tech. It held a city-based internship program with Los Angeles, which connects students to venture capital firms in the area.

Equity 220

Equity Technical Review Venture Capital Blogging 220

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

We’ve been dying to tell you all for a while that we had raised a new venture capital fund and of course given SEC filing requirements the story was somewhat already scooped by the always-in-the-know Dan Primack a few weeks ago. If you want to understand how the VC industry is changing there is a great primer in the link.

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Venture Capital Funding Technical Review Startup 396

SoCal Tech Calendar

NOVEMBER 3, 2008

Saturday, November 8, 2008 -- Venture Capital 3.0. Breakfast with Adeo Ressi, Founding Member of TheFunded.com, an online community of entrepreneurs to research, rate, and review funding sources worldwide. See [link] (more).

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Venture Capital Capital Research Entrepreneur 100

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 4, 2011

The rankings came out Thursday from Seeking Omega, which said it used technology from Lithium, review of entrepreneurs on TheFunded, and individual surveys to rank the VCs. READ MORE>>.

Venture Capital 145

Venture Capital GRP Partners Southern California Technical Review 145

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2013

Based on the final report for 2012 from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), it may appear that IPOs are back as a viable startup exit strategy. For the full year 2012, venture-backed initial public offerings raised $21.5 Identify the right people in the right venture firms.

Venture Capital 101

Venture Capital Startup Capital Seed Funding 101

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 6, 2022

Hello friends, and welcome back to Week in Review ! This writeup from industry analyst Karl Guttag showcases how Magic Leap has turned away from several of the key technologies it raised billions of dollars to develop with its latest hardware which he nevertheless believes will “blow away” the HoloLens 2 in image quality.

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Marketing Newsletter Technical Review News 246

Berkonomics

JANUARY 14, 2021

If you seek funds from an organized investment group such as an angel fund, venture capital entity, or even an investment club, the first thing you want to do is to find one person to buy into your vision, become excited by your enthusiasm and be willing to become the internal champion for your fund-raising effort.

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Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Summary Email 156

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

Lots of discussion these days about the changes in the VC industry. The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion.

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Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series “Pitching a VC&# – the outline is here. You’ve pitched several angels and VC’s. Your friends and advisers tell you that this means you need revenue because in this economy VC’s will only fund businesses with revenue. Unfortunately your advisers are wrong.

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Venture Capital Guide Startup Technical Review 309

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. My blog linked to Brad Feld’s blog because I was so grateful for his series on term sheets and he was one of the biggest reasons that as a VC I felt compelled to blog. And covered we did.

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Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In the first post in this three part series I described why I believe the VC market froze between September 2008 – April 2009. I’m not a doomsday guy, but just believe that we won’t see a V shaped recovery, which could make VC funding more difficult for tech start-ups (don’t shoot the messenger!).

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Startup Funding Technical Review 269

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

This is part of my series on Understanding Venture Capital. I’m writing this series because if you better understand how VC firms work you can better target which firms make sense for you to speak with. It in not uncommon to see a VC talk about “total assets under management&# as in “We have $1.5

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

SoCal Tech Calendar

OCTOBER 3, 2023

Are you looking for guidance on raising capital for your venture? Appetizers and drinks will be served due to the generous support of Countsy. Tuesday, October 10, 2023 -- Fundraising in Today’s Startup Market. We invite you to our upcoming in-person Founder’s event in Santa Barbara, “Fundraising in Today’s Startup Market."

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Santa Barbara Marketing Startup Venture Capital 100

Xconomy

JUNE 24, 2019

These can be positive attributes in an entrepreneur, but in a more rational world, technology investors wouldn’t overvalue them. Risk capital would be allocated based mostly on evidence, data, progress towards milestones—in short, on proof. Venture investors know they’ll lose many of their bets—that’s why it’s risk capital.

Technical Review 107

Technical Review Course Capital Entrepreneur 107

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

If you read this blog often you'll know that I'm a huge fan of First Round Capital. They have totally changed the way you run a VC firm, investing heavily in systems & events for their founders that are pushing the boundaries of the way our industry works. I'm a huge fan of this innovation. and Half.com. Investing Strategy.

Capital 284

Capital Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 284

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

This is part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital. I recently wrote a post on how to Deal with your Elephants in the Room during your VC meetings. Elephants being big issues that the VC will be thinking whether you bring it to his/her attention or not. Skeletons in the Closet are these types of issues.

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Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Examples 311