Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2017

Every year Upfront Ventures surveys Limited Partners (LPs) who are the main source of capital that invests in VC funds and thus the main source of capital that goes to startups to get an early-warning sense of the year ahead, leaving aside any Black Swans. We’re trying to limit our exposure.”

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Seed Funding Capital 286

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There has been much discussion about VCs doing seed funding in the past year. I’ve written about it myself (Is VC Seed Funding Dead?) and (Is There Really a Signaling Problem with VC Seed Funding?). There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

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.

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

Marc Andreessen kicked off another great debate on Twitter last night , one that I’ve been talking about incessantly in private circles for the past 2-3 years – what actually IS the definition of a seed vs. A-round. This is something I think entrepreneurs don’t totally understand and it’s worthwhile they do.

Seed Funding 399

Seed Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 399

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.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2023

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” On the other hand, there are many additional creative options available for starting a business that you might not find for buying a car, home, or other major consumer item. Solicit venture capital investors.

Startup 106

Startup Capital Equity Funding 106

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Understanding Venture Capital. I recently wrote a blog post on understanding how the size and age of a venture capital fund might affect you when you’re raising money. I believe these VC funds have suffered some amount of reputation fall out.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Invest 265

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 15, 2010

We started this week’s show with a Q&A session where I answered viewer questions about fund raising and the VC industry. Heck, stick around and watch me discuss the seed funding debate that is going on right now and what is happening in the VC industry overall. Don’t. Beyond The Rack.

Venture Capital 210

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Southern California 210

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 Line up a winning team.

Venture Capital 101

Venture Capital Startup Capital Seed Funding 101

socalTECH

APRIL 8, 2014

There seems to a perpetual shortage of local venture capital investors in the region, despite the huge growth in startup activity here, particularly along Silicon Beach. Among those funds is TYLT Lab (www.tyltlab.com), which recently announced a new, $20M early stage investment fund specifically focused on companies here.

Seed Funding 220

Seed Funding Santa Monica Funding Startup 220

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

On December 2nd, 2006 I wrote the blog post published later in this post when I was CEO of startup Koral about my experiences in pitching VCs. 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 was wiped out. And covered we did.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 3, 2021

Los Angeles-based Crush Capital, a startup founded by Darren Marble and Todd Goldberg, said on Wednesday that it has raised $3.25M in a seed funding round, which will go towards its own, online streaming series called "Going Public".

Capital 113

Capital Seed Funding Venture Capital Los Angeles 113

TechCrunch LA

MAY 23, 2019

The Los Angeles ecosystem is $76 million stronger today as Fika Ventures , a seed-stage venture capital firm, announces its sophomore investment fund. Fika invests roughly half of its capital exclusively in startups headquartered in LA, with a particular fondness for B2B, enterprise and fintech companies.

Funding 218

Funding Startup Seed Funding Los Angeles 218

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2011

I just read the Q1 2011 report from CB Insights , which shows venture capital is back. billion jump in funding over the same quarter of 2010 with a similar number of deals, so it clearly shows a trend to larger deal sizes for fewer startups. Back to VCs, Silicon Valley venture capital firms are still the most active.

Venture Capital 93

Venture Capital Startup Capital Seed Funding 93

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2015

Crosscut Ventures has just announced their 3rd fund and clocking in at $75 million , which will be focused heavily on Los Angeles – FTW. LA has grown up a lot over the past 5 years. This week Michael Dubin’s startup Dollar Shave Club announced a $75 million funding round at a rumored $650 million valuation.

News 150

News Funding Venture Capital Dollar Shave Club 150

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2023

Most entrepreneurs have found by now one or more of the many popular crowdfunding sites , and have the name and contact information for at least one of the big venture capital firms. contributes more than $25 billion to fund 70,000 startups every year. Look to grants and strategic partners for seed funding.

Venture Capital 106

Venture Capital Angel Seed Funding Invest 106

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2015

Over the years I’ve written extensively about the downsides of convertible notes for startups such as here , here and here. ” Today I want to talk about how a VC thinks about equity pricing on your round and particularly if you’re coming off of a convertible note. It’s very simple. You want to raise $7 million?

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 150

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2014

The Disney Accelerator , the startup accelerator sponsored by Walt Disney and being run by TechStars, had its demo day Tuesday, showing off the nine companies to emerge out of the accelerator. in its seed funding round. disney startup accelerator walt angeles entertainment consumer funding venture capital techstars'

Class 185

Class Startup Seed Funding Entertainment 185

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. Let’s set up a framework. Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2010

One of things I’ve loved the most about doing now 11 weeks of This Week in VC is a chance to have an hour-long recorded conversation with investors. One of the most difficult things to do as a first time entrepreneur is to get to know the investors you might be working with if you accept money. So how did Mike get into VC?

Venture Capital 230

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Fandango 230

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. I have seen bad behavior from later-stage VCs, believe me. would you want to give up the right to invest in subsequent rounds? ” Some do, some don’t.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

Often when startups who have raised venture capital need another round of financing they will turn to their existing investors to give them money before raising from outsiders. It starts as a debt instrument (e.g. VC’s money comes from mostly institutional investors called LPs (limited partners).

Startup 290

Startup Funding Venture Capital Pricing 290

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2020

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” On the other hand, there are many additional creative options available for starting a business that you might not find for buying a car, home, or other major consumer item. Solicit venture capital investors.

Funding 174

Funding Startup Equity Examples 174

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

We all know that funding markets have changed for startups. The trends are well understood: more angels, more seed funds, more crowdsourcing and so forth. Does he blog about venture capital and try to advise entrepreneurs? Has written a book on venture capital. You betcha.

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2014

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” On the other hand, there are many additional creative options available for starting a business that you might not find for buying a car, home, or other major consumer item. Solicit venture capital investors.

Startup 113

Startup Entrepreneur Funding Equity 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

Even if you work every day in the world of new-venture funding, as I do, the options are confusing, and their meanings seem to change on a regular basis. I challenge any entrepreneur, for example, to define the difference between "seed-stage" and "early-stage" financing. A micro venture capital firm.

Funding 104

Funding Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding 104

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 20, 2017

Los Angeles-based HAAWK , a new startup focused on rights management, copyright enforcement, and content monetization, has raised $2.5M in a seed financing round, according to the company. The funding was led by Rincon Venture Partners, Wavemaker Partners, Frontier Venture Capital, and Apex Ventures.

Startup 177

Startup Venture Capital Content Google 177

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

I’d like to explain as best I can my opinion on what is going on because most of what I hear from entrepreneurs is not only wrong but is reminiscent of what I heard in 1997-2000. What is the True Sentiment of VCs? The Motive for Speaking Up. ” “Mark has a vested interest in talking down valuations of startups.”

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2018

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” On the other hand, there are many additional creative options available for starting a business that you might not find for buying a car, home, or other major consumer item. Solicit venture capital investors.

Entrepreneur 96

Entrepreneur Startup Equity Funding 96

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 17, 2014

Boston-based WiGo (Who Is going Out), a developer of mobile apps to help college students coordinate their social lives, has scored seed funding from Sean Rad and Justin Mateen, the two local entrepreneurs behind hit app Tinder. According to reports, the two were among a number of angels in a $700,000 seed funding for WiGo.

Seed Funding 138

Seed Funding Venture Capital Mobile Report 138

socalTECH

AUGUST 3, 2018

Venice, California-based WeeCare , a new startup which is creating a marketplace to help people start and manage their own home daycare, has raised $4.2M in a seed funding, the company disclosed on Friday. The funding came from Social Capital. READ MORE>>.

Seed Funding 100

Seed Funding Venice Startup Education 100

socalTECH

MAY 3, 2018

On-demand, car wash startup Washe , which lets users connect with professional mobile car washers, said this week that it has raised $3.5M in a seed funding, to help it to "greatly expand" its operation sin Los Angeles, as well as expand into other new markets. READ MORE>>.

Demand 100

Demand Southern California Seed Funding Startup 100

socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2019

My biggest takeaway this year was truly understanding the strength and cohesion of the Los Angeles startup community. There was no monetary reward for those who participated (and Startup Boost does not take fees or equity from the companies that we help). What was the biggest lesson you learned this year?

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Software Review Startup Coach 157

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2021

More and more entrepreneurs are hearing about the successful graduates and investors queued behind a few well-known startup incubators, including Y Combinator, TechStars, and the Founder Institute. His tests focus on personality traits alone (ignoring your startup idea), looking for fluid intelligence, openness, and agreeableness.

Incubator 146

Incubator Technical Review Entrepreneur Mentor 146

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2018

We sat down with Kelly ahead of the announcement to chat about the new fund, why they think military veterans are particularly well suited as startup entrepreneurs, why the two went from organizing individual deals for funding to a formal fund, and more. Tell us about this new announcement? That was the umbrella.

Capital 164

Capital Funding Startup Venture Capital 164

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 24, 2012

I wrote a blog post on how to work with lawyers at a startup nearly two-and-a-half years ago. If you don’t have much experience in working with law firms at a startup it’s a good primer. In that post I talked about how to select a law-firm for a startup. Startup-focused. It was very widely read.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Startup Los Angeles GRP Partners 299