Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

I’d rather be Roger Ehrenberg with a thesis around data-centric companies and base my investment decisions on my background. I should say that I agree that naive optimism in entrepreneurs can produce higher beta (upside or flops) and that’s good from an investment standpoint if you’re looking for big returns.

Invest 152

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 152

socalTECH

MAY 26, 2009

Last week's angel investment report by the Angel Capital Association reported that investments by angel investors dropped nine percent in 2008, with a hefty percentage of angel investors--40 percent--expecting this year will be a down year. Tags: angel investment capital venture.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Invest Tech Coast Angels Westlake Village 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

He said, “They need an unbiased view of the fund raising environment because there is too much misinformation and everything seems to be changing fast.&#. But that doesn’t mean that people are paying rational prices as investors based on intrinsic value. – you’re very well positioned as a fund.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. You can be pissed off, but I don’t set prices. That’s stupid.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

socalTECH

JUNE 25, 2015

Earlier this week, Los Angeles-based CrossCut Ventures (www.crosscutventures.com) announced its third, venture capital fund--a continuation of an investment theme very much centered around the growth of Southern California, and in particular, the Silicon Beach startup ecosystem. Tell us about your new fund?

Southern California 100

Southern California Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

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. So the people who invest in VC funds have two problems.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

Tech.Co

JUNE 28, 2021

Facebook, for example, decided in 2008 that its mission was to “help you connect and share with the people in your life.” “Marshmallow first began by providing car insurance cover for UK-based expats, a group who had historically been quoted insurance prices that were 51% higher than the market average.

Startup 104

Startup Ideas Venture Capital Course 104

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

When venture capitalists scale back investing activities it can be very swift and leave many companies that are in the process of fund raising hung out to dry. Just ask anybody who was trying to close funding the fateful week of September 11, 2001 or even March 2000. The best MBA class I took was an investment strategy class.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Startup Invest Funding 263

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2015

I saw a few friends politely suggesting that “now was a great stock buying opportunity” meaning that given the stock market is off by 10% it was a great chance to buy and lock in presumably low prices before the market rises again. The immediate impact is a longer funding cycle for anything but seed and A rounds.

Marketing 150

Marketing Venture Capital Startup Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The rise of “micro VCs” or seed-stage funds. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. ” Stated simply – if you seed funded Uber at $4.5m Why is this?

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

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. Because it is a “series&# I plan to get into some of the deeper complexities of funds such as “cross over funds&# and “why VC’s hate to price their own deals&# at a later stage.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Invest 265

Eric Greenspan

JULY 3, 2012

We failed because the economy has drastically fallen since 2008, particularly in the consumer sector. Make It Work sold its services in pre-paid hours, at a discount from our pay-as-you-go pricing. Since 2008, the company has been forced to lower it’s prices, from $120/hour to $80/hour. We failed because we tried.

Capital 234

Capital Pricing Press Customer 234

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2010

I know that the tone of the title and post will seem a bit aggressive for a post from a venture capitalist on fund raising. Many companies that are raising B or C venture capital rounds right now raised their initial money in 2005-2008. That means that they likely raised money at a particularly high price relative to 2010 prices.

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 289

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.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Marketing Seed Funding 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2012

I had been looking around at several deals in late 2008 as the markets were tanking. It mapped pretty well to my dream team for an A round investment. The company agreed on a price but felt it was a bit lower than they had hoped for. I had two friends who had agreed to co-fund a company. He also called the company.

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Writing 356

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

In the startup world, the former happens when a VC makes a bad investment, and the latter occurs when they miss a great opportunity. In contrast, low-volume, high-conviction investors like Rincon only invests in a handful new companies each year, making it much more costly (in dollars and effort expended) to invest in a loser.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

The VC industry has different segments in it that have different fund sizes, different investment amounts and different risk / return expectations. We need people at all stages of the funding lifecycle and not just VCs. 2. .&# Either you’re an angel or you manage professional funds. Price creep hurts investors.

Venture Capital 308

Venture Capital Training Startup Entrepreneur 308

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

” I found myself nodding through all of it with quotes like, “Seed investing is the status symbol of Silicon Valley,” said Sam Altman. I save room in literally every deal to invite angels (or seed funds) to co-invest with me. By March, a month after Mr. D’Angelo agreed to invest, CodeFights had raised $2.5

Angel 150

Angel Startup Seed Funding Invest 150

InfoChachkie

JULY 18, 2012

We failed because the economy has drastically fallen since 2008, particularly in the consumer sector. Make It Work sold its services in pre-paid hours, at a discount from our pay-as-you-go pricing. Since 2008, the company has been forced to lower it’s prices, from $120/hour to $80/hour. We failed because we tried.

RSS 170

RSS Technical Review Capital Email 170

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

Most top tier VCs return about 3x invested capital and outlier funds (the best of a vintage) might return 6-8x. But the larger funds usually have lower returns because they are often investing bigger dollars at later stages with less risk and therefore lower returns. Yet their next fund had Facebook in it.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2010

If you don’t know Montgomery & Co it is one of the premier technology & media focused investment banks in the country (and as Michael corrected me they also have a strong Healthcare / Med tech practice). Should you use investment banks to raise venture capital? 1 party = low price. This is often in the 5-7% range.

Venture Capital 242

Venture Capital Mission Ventures Capital Help 242

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

Venture Capital funds: the different between “closed funds&# (which typically have a 10-year time horizon) and “evergreen funds&# which re-invest profits back into the fund. An investment doesn’t guarantee your product will suddenly be on the investor’s price sheet.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Google Web Sites 225

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In my previous post, The VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) I wrote about the reasons why the VC market came to a screeching halt in September 2008 and remained largely shut until at least April 2009. There are now signs the VC market has gathered pace meaning it’s a great time to be fund raising. This is one book-end of the cycle.

Venture Capital 255

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Social Network 255

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He eventually applied his lessons learned in these experiences when he founded Zag, a company that helps consumers buy cars over the Internet at pre-negotiated prices with nearly 4,000 dealers across the country [disclosure: my firm GRP Partners is an investor in Zag]. Incubated by Clearstone Ventures in 2008. Current round: $4.

Zag 248

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 248

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

Rustic Canyon is an LA-based, but geography-agnostic VC that is currently investing from a $200 million fund. They were originally founded inside of Times Mirror and had a huge string of major investment success before spinning out as a fully independent fund. Obviously they see big things in Wildfire. 4mm in Series A.

Venture Capital 270

Venture Capital Capital Rustic Canyon Mobile 270

socalTECH

AUGUST 7, 2014

I had worked a year in investment banking, and Jasper was out of USC. In 2008, we started to throw around ideas, and eventually settled on this one. So, we wondered what we could do at a low price point, things like transcribing voicemail, things like social media sentiment analysis. Before that, I was in New York, City.

Startup 231

Startup Technology Outsource Santa Monica 231

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2013

IPOs in 2008, the market was up to a still trivial 128 in 2012 (compared to 675 in 1996). Expensive new IT systems, consultants, and investment bankers are usually required. The pressures to maintain growth patterns and meet the expectations of the investment community are typically real and intense. Loss of control.

Startup 89

Startup Entrepreneur Report Summary 89

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

IPOs in 2008, the market was up to a still trivial 159 in 2011. Expensive new IT systems, consultants, and investment bankers are usually required. The pressures to maintain growth patterns and meet the expectations of the investment community are typically real and intense. After a record low of 39 U.S. Loss of control.

Entrepreneur 95

Entrepreneur Startup Report Summary 95

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

MedCrypt, a healthtech cybersecurity startup founded near San Diego, has raised $750,000 in a seed financing round led by Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE: SFE ), a private equity fund in suburban Philadelphia that invests in healthcare, fintech, and digital media. A San Francisco investment firm, Muddy Waters Capital, announced on Sept.

San Diego 40

San Diego Startup Software Capital 40

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 21, 2009

This morning we heard from Jamie Montgomery, CEO of the venerable Montgomery & Co investment bank who is at the heart of what is going on in M&A for venture backed companies. What drives this is often the need for the VC to return money to its investors due to the end-of-life nature of its fund.

Venture Capital 241

Venture Capital Technical Review Southern California Company 241

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I now observes the fund raising process as a profession. This is the fund raising perspective from both sides of the table. Fund raising (as is much of life) is a sale – pure and simple. Partners make investment decisions. Fund raising is bloody hard. Already invested in one of my key competitors?

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

What I really liked in my conversations with The Hive is that they are willing to work with and fund ventures that would never get VC dollars. What can they do for funding, where can they go for help? Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

Incubator 150

Incubator CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

When convertible debt first started being introduced as a “faster, cheaper way to get startups funded” they didn’t have pricing built into them. A standard entrepreneur retort I heard back then (2008-09) was “I don’t know what my company is worth now. They’ll get priced soon enough by a VC.”

Startup 354

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354

socalTECH

MARCH 3, 2011

So, we spun up the site, and got it up and going in the middle of 2008, and it just took off, particularly right after the elections. How is the company funded and backed? Sure, that's a decent way to approach it, but the result is, studios then want a huge minimum guarantee, which really prices startups out of the market.

Redpoint 201

Redpoint Startup Content .Net 201

The Quigley Report

FEBRUARY 22, 2008

Many VCs, myself included, thought the public markets were once again embracing the enterprise IT investment theme. Following the tech recession of the early 2000's, business IT investment shrank significantly. But after 5 years of belt tightening, it seemed a new investment cycle for IT was due. VCs took note.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Blogging Invest Marketing 40

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

LA is a vibrant community with a rich network of angels that fund early stage companies, lots of VCs, easy access to big media, lots of innovation in media, mobile content, games, green, health care, and many, many others. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -.

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

There is much discussion online and also in small, private groups, about why the price of technology companies – public and private – are falling. It pains me to see the typical (and predictable) responses on Twitter, “VCs want prices to drop!” ” “Sure, prices are dropping.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150