socalTECH

MARCH 25, 2021

Los Angeles- and Palo Alto-based MaC Venture Capital has launched a new, $103M seed stage investment fund today, saying it plans to invest in technology startups across the fintech, e-commerce and marketplaces, interactive media, connectivity, enterprise SaaS, space and aerospace, logistics, and other sectors.

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Capital Funding 124

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

It’s not hard to find people willing to write the narrative that “venture capital is not an asset class” or “venture capital has performed terribly.” It had an influence on the people who fund our industry in a negative way as many asset managers who fund our industry read this flawed report.

Venture Capital 362

Venture Capital Capital Startup Writing 362

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?

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Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

socalTECH

APRIL 1, 2019

Santa Monica-based startup studio Science Inc. founded by Michael Jones, Peter Pham, Gregory Gilman, and Tom Dare, appears to be launching efforts to raise a new fund. The firm already has an existing venture capital fund which invests in its portfolio companies. READ MORE>>.

Dollar Shave Club 140

Dollar Shave Club Venture Capital Capital Funding 140

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

There has been much discussion in the past few years of the changing structure of the venture capital industry. The rise of “micro VCs” or seed-stage funds. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). ” Stated simply – if you seed funded Uber at $4.5m

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Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2019

This morning's interview is with Kevin O'Connor , a longtime investor and serial entrepreneur, who is now running venture capital investment firm ScOp Venture Capital. Congrats on the new name for your venture capital firm. What types of companies are you making investments in?

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Venture Capital Startup Invest Capital 145

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. I always tell founders … “An investors job is to deploy capital and make a return. an investment in your company. This is where most founders err.

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Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

socalTECH

JUNE 17, 2021

The Alliance for Southern California Innovation said on Thursday that it is launching a new program, the SoCal Venture Pipeline. According to the company, the new program will provide companies that have demonstrated clear market traction and provides targeted introductions to venture funds.

Southern California 192

Southern California SoCal Venture Capital Capital 192

SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 13, 2019

Tuesday, February 19, 2019 -- Start-Up Options for Rapid Development, Funding, and Commercialization. Is VC funding the only way to develop and grow your company? Have you heard of accelerators, incubators, angles, and other resources for rapid development, funding, and growth of your start-up?

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Startup LAVA Develop Development 100

SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Tuesday, February 12, 2019 -- Start-Up Options for Rapid Development, Funding, and Commercialization. Is VC funding the only way to develop and grow your company? Have you heard of accelerators, incubators, angles, and other resources for rapid development, funding, and growth of your start-up?

Startup 100

Startup LAVA Develop Development 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2023

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million-dollar investment before they even have a business plan. It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined a long time ago from a funding perspective. Funding or rollout stage.

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Startup Funding Organization Incubator 122

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

One of the hardest things about the fund-raising process for entrepreneurs is that you’re trying to raise money from people who have “asymmetric information.” VC firms see thousands of deals and have a refined sense of how the market is valuing deals because they get price signals across all of these deals. So why does a VC ask you?

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Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

A new program, run by the Alliance for Southern California Innovation, is looking to connect startups with Series A funding, according to the group. According to the two, the program recruits and selects top SoCal-based startups that have demonstrated clear market traction and provides introductions to leading venture funds.

Southern California 197

Southern California SoCal Funding Startup 197

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

On Funding?—?Shots Shots on Goal Being great as a startup technology investor of course requires a lot of things to come together: You need to have strong insights into where technology markets are heading and where value in the future will be created and sustained You need be perfect with your market timing.

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Funding Startup Writing Invest 294

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Gregg Johnson, CEO of Invoca For the first 5 years or so after I became a VC I didn’t talk much about what I thought a VC should be excellent at since frankly I wasn’t sure. After a decade on the job I’ve started to speak more openly when newer industry colleagues now ask me what I’ve learned. The role of VC is sparring partner.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital CTO Coach Startup 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Seed investments are down by any measure (funds, deals, dollars) over the past 3 years in deals < $1 million AND in deals between $1–5 million. 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.

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Venture Capital Invest Seed Funding Startup 328

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

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series called “ Start-up Lessons.&#. I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. I paid up for the diploma but can’t say that I saw better results.

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2011

In this three-part series I will explore the ways that the Venture Capital industry has changed over the past 5 years that I would argue are a direct result of changes in the software industry, not the other way around. I will argue that LPs who invest in VC funds will also need to adjust a bit as well.

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Venture Capital Software Capital Startup 334

TechCrunch LA

MAY 25, 2019

Hello and welcome back to Startups Weekly, a newsletter published every Saturday that dives into the week’s most noteworthy venture deals, fundraises, M&A transactions and trends. Let’s take a quick moment to catch up. Enter Seedlip , a non-alcoholic spirits company, for example. Founders say yes.

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Startup Venture Capital Newsletter Tips 223

socalTECH

JUNE 29, 2017

We've summarized the funds that have announced new funds in the last nine months or so, or that are in the midst of raising funds--a total of more than $1086 million in total funds. List ordered by fund size). Upfront Ventures. Greycroft Ventures. Fund size: $230M fund. Okapi Ventures.

Southern California 178

Southern California Venture Capital Artificial Inteligence Capital 178

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

Several years ago I made an appearance in a burgeoning new podcast called “20 Minute VC,” which by now needs no introduction. if you listen you’ll pick up much more than my quick notes below). Topics we covered: B2B Companies You haven’t seen the full extent to how the correction is going to affect you. That may happen.

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Venture Capital Marketing Startup Writing 263

socalTECH

JULY 7, 2021

Ventura-based advertising technology developer The Trade Desk is launching its own venture capital arm, and has made its first investment, the company said this morning. The company said that the new investment fund, TD7, will invest in open Internet startups.

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Venture Capital Invest Capital Ventura 113

socalTECH

JUNE 8, 2017

Los Angeles-based StartEngine , the equity crowdfunding service run by serial entrepeneur Howard Marks, has chalked up 25 companies raising money on its platform since the start of 2017, according to the company.

Startup 124

Startup Activision Company Companies 124

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

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 10, 2018

Jason Rowley is a venture capital and technology reporter for Crunchbase News. The SaaS VC gap: China & other markets trail the US. Early-stage SaaS VC slip snaps recovery as public software stocks soar. The San Francisco Bay Area is perhaps one of the best-known tech and startup hubs in the world.

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Venture Capital SaaS News Los Angeles 231

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

Launchpad LA today announces it will accept applications for its third class of Los Angeles-based tech startups. We have significant VC commitments (listed below) – every entering company will get $50,000 in funding, mentorship from top VCs and successful entrepreneurs plus free office space. For the past 2.5

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Venture Capital Funding Startup GRP Partners 287

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

Startups related to the many University of California campuses in Southern California may soon have a new source of funding: The University of California itself, via a new, $250M venture capital. The fund would seek to invest in companies started on campus, from University research, and from students.

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Venture Capital UCLA Capital UCSD 223

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2017

Union Square Ventures (USV) has been one of the most successful venture capital firms of the past 10–15 years and continues to be a leader in our industry. Lindel is no stranger to thorny venture capital issues — he was arguably amongst the most successful LPs of his generation. Maybe that’s USV, too.

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Venture Capital Funding Capital Startup 161

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. It is also a result of pent-up demand. It affects even B2B companies because ultimately most must sell to companies who sell to consumers and if they suffer they cut back on suppliers.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Startup Funding Technical Review 269

socalTECH

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Here, we have Greg Martin, Founder and Managing Partner of Archer Venture Capital (www.archervc.com). What was the biggest news for you/your company this year? It's been a tough year for many due to the pandemic; how have you or your company adapted to the business environment? Contact our editors for details.

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Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Brentwood 124

socalTECH

MARCH 29, 2019

MiLA Capital , the venture capital firm that is behind the Make In LA hardware accelerator, says it has raised its first official venture capital fund, officially closing its first fundraise. Size of the fund was not announced. Source of the funding for the new venture capital fund was not announced.

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Capital Funding Startup Venture Capital 191

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

Venice, California-based Riot Ventures , led by Stephan Marcus and William Coffield, has launched an effort to raise $75M for its second venture capital fund, the firm disclosed this week in a regulatory filing.

Venture Capital 113

Venture Capital Capital Funding Venice 113

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I was reading Danielle Morrill’s blog post today on whether one’s “ Startup Burn Rate is Normal. I love how transparently Danielle lives her startup (& encourages other to join in) because it provides much needed transparency to other startups. But what IS the right amount of burn for a company?

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Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? The most connected and high-potential founders start with wads of cash.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

I became a VC 12 years ago in 2007 when the pace of deals was much slower. I had just left Salesforce.com where I was VP, Products, after they had acquired my second startup. It proved to be fortuitous because it allowed me the time & space I needed to get to know tons of founders and VCs and to hone my craft.

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Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

On the phone … Me: So, you raised venture capital? Him: But when I raised my first round we didn’t know how to price the company. Me: There is no rational explanation for valuations of A round companies by ANY objective financial measure. I can’t imagine any rational investor would sign up to that.

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Venture Capital Capital Pricing Doc 417