Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2010

They had received a term sheet from a VC and were wondering whether to work with this firm. This experience made me want to dig into my archives, re-write & publish this piece. I often tell people that raising venture capital is more difficult than getting married. Not so in venture capital.

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Capital Help 298

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I was having dinner with a friend last night and we were chatting about venture capital and a bit about what I’ve learned. Angels have been prolific for years now and they, too, rely on downstream money to cover their bets. If an accelerator is writing you they’re also writing 25 other VCs.

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Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

In writing anything positive about any of the companies I’m not suggesting that it means that I prefer them to any of their competitors. Also, some of the deals I write about I have actually seen as part of their fund raising process. entrepreneur Wil Schroter (I am an angel investor in Affordit). Really!).

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Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

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

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). But while I prefer a certain naive optimism in founders I can’t see the logic that this extends to angel investors. Either downside scenario requires angel deals to be funded further.

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Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 284

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. Tags: This Week in Venture Capital. Don’t.

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Southern California 210

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. In 2010 somebody posed the question on Quora, “Is Mark Suster a Successful Venture Capitalist?” “Ok, so this guy can write a blog and source deals but can he make any money?”

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Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The typical VC process is as follows: They say there are three rules in property: Location, location, location. The surest sign a fund-raising process has stalled is when you aren’t getting follow-up meetings or hearing from the VC or hearing from friends that they got a phone call or email asking about you. Same with VC.

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Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Steve Blank , January 25, 2010 10 Tips for Adding Game Mechanics to a Non-Gaming Service - ReadWriteStart , September 21, 2010 Startups & VCs: Learn How to Design, Market, & Eat Your Own. - First Principles.

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Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

The dinner parties now are filled with self-righteous angel investors bragging about how many deals they are in on. They have marked-up paper gains propped up by an over excited venture capital market that has validated their investments. Logic tells me the following: It is hard to make money angel investing.

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Invest Angel Technical Review Venture Capital 299

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. Why prorata rights used to be less of a big deal to angels. Why prorata rights are becoming a bigger deal to angels.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

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

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

If you track the venture capital industry it would be hard to miss the conversation going on this week over AngelList “Syndicates.” My favorite new VC blogger, Hunter Walk, weighed in with some thoughtful comments about how Syndicates might actually pit, “ angel vs. angel.” Bowery Capital).

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Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

We had a special edition of This Week in Venture Capital this week shooting out of the Next New Networks offices in New York. Our guest was Mo Koyfman of Spark Capital. Topics we discussed in the first 45 minutes of the video include: What is VC like in NY? We discussed NY vs. Silicon Valley and NY vs. Boston.

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Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

This is the second article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). And we all know that Ron Conway is considered the savviest of angel investors and yet by definition not all of his investments succeed. Tags: Startup Advice Tech Market Analysis VC Industry.

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Invest Angel Web 2.0 SEO 288

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 15, 2010

Last night I attended the inaugural Open Angel Forum event started by Jason Calacanis , a fellow LA resident. Jason started the Open Angel Forum in response to his frustration that entrepreneurs were being charged by some angel organizations to present at their events. The event last night in Los Angeles was great.

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Angel Startup Tech Coast Angels MyShape 254

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

No VC will be so naive as not to see straight through it. When I first became a VC, seed rounds were typically $500k – $1.5 When I first became a VC, seed rounds were typically $500k – $1.5 If you''re newer to VC math here''s a great primer]. So VCs started writing some smaller A-rounds.

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Seed Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 399

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. Next Wednesday we’ll have Dana Settle of Greycroft Partners, a New York / LA early-stage venture capital fund. I’d link to it but it’s behind a paywall.

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Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 16, 2019

The organization, active in the Bay Area and New York City, is announcing new chapters in Los Angeles and Boston this week, as well as a new director of engagement, Domonique Fines, formerly of Y Combinator, and a new chief of staff, Jack Dorsey’s former chief of staff at Square, Alicia Burt. It’s highly concentrated. All Raise members.

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Venture Capital Ideas Los Angeles Tool 184

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

The trends are well understood: more angels, more seed funds, more crowdsourcing and so forth. Generally speaking in venture capital financings the legal documents will specify that only “major investors” (a threshold set in the agreement – which can be $500,000 investor or more). There is a reason for this.

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

Photo by Scott Clark for Upfront Ventures (no, Evan is not standing on a box) Last year marked the 25th anniversary for Upfront Ventures and what a year it was. 2021 saw phenomenal returns for our industry and it topped off more than a decade of unprecedented VC growth.

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Startup Venture Capital Writing Invest 408

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 10, 2011

Thursday, June 16, 2011 -- Los Angeles VC and Angel Event. At our next Los Angeles event, the panel of investors will focus on Early-Stage Venture Investing - how to meet investors, pitch them, and what it really takes to get them to write you a check - Especially in this economy! FundingPost.

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Los Angeles Venture Capital Angel Writing 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2014

But at the end of the year you write your own ticket if you’re talented because now you have experience and it cost you less than your law school loans! My starting salary when I joined a VC fund as a partner at the age of 39 (and after 2 exits)? Why did I join as a partner in a VC fund on that salary? Angel Yourself.

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Startup Invest Venture Capital Writing 409

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 30, 2017

Wednesday, April 5, 2017 -- FundingPost Los Angeles VC and Angel Investor Conference. Join us for this intimate VC and Angel Investor Conference. FundingPost has hosted 300+ sold-out venture events in 23 cities over the past 16 years. Interested in meeting early-stage accredited investors in LA?

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Venture Capital Conference Angel 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

This is part of my series on Raising Venture Capital. Many businesses that pitch to me have White Elephant issues and I’d like to tell you how to deal with these when you’re raising venture capital. But the VC is thinking about the issue whether you address it or not. I’ll never know.

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Venture Capital Startup Training Sales 264

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

And that was evident on today’s Angel vs. VC panel. There are real changes in the venture capital industry and it would have been fun to talk about them. The VC industry is segmenting – I have spoken about this many times before. So in the past we needed VC to really get a startup going.

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Venture Capital Training Startup Entrepreneur 308

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

One of the advantages of blogging, using social media, public speaking, etc as a VC is that you get a more nuanced view of these shifts by watching your own successes and failures. I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic. But succinctly this press places a marker in the ground for your company.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

SoCal Tech Calendar

SEPTEMBER 22, 2017

Thursday, September 28, 2017 -- Orange County VC and Angel Investor Conference. Interested in meeting and pitching to early-stage Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists in Orange County? FundingPost. Register for the FundingPost event on Thursday, September 28th, 2017. See [link].

Orange County 100

Orange County Venture Capital Conference Angel 100

SoCal Tech Calendar

OCTOBER 29, 2019

Monday, November 4, 2019 -- FundingPost Los Angeles VC and Angel Investor Event. Interested in meeting and pitching to early-stage Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists in Southern California? FundingPost has hosted 400 sold-out venture events in 22 cities over the past 17 years. Interested in pitching?

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Venture Capital Angel Tech Coast Angels 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

This is a blog post I really didn’t want to write. I didn’t want to write it because I have mixed feelings about AngelList. I didn’t want to write it because the bloggosphere doesn’t always do nuance well. So why I am writing it then? That’s less interesting for me as a VC.

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Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 29, 2017

Tuesday, April 4, 2017 -- FundingPost Orange County VC and Angel Investor Conference. Join us for this intimate VC and Angel Investor Conference. FundingPost has hosted 300+ sold-out venture events in 23 cities over the past 16 years. Interested in meeting early-stage accredited investors in Orange County?

Orange County 100

Orange County Venture Capital Conference Angel 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

“Yes&# was given to me by one of my favorite angel investor / seed VC’s to work with – John Greathouse of Rincon Venture Partners and author of the blog InfoChachkie that you should check out because it is filled with great info from a guy who has been a very successful operator.

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Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 15, 2011

Tuesday, June 21, 2011 -- Orange County Angel VC and Startup Event. At our next Orange County event, the panel of investors will focus on Early-Stage Venture Investing - how to meet investors, pitch them, and what it really takes to get them to write you a check - Especially in this economy! FundingPost.

Orange County 100

Orange County Venture Capital Angel Startup 100

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 22, 2019

Thursday, March 28, 2019 -- Interested in meeting and pitching to early-stage Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists in Southern California? FundingPost has hosted 400 sold-out venture events in 22 cities over the past 17 years. Register for the FundingPost event on Thursday, March 28th, 2019. See [link] (more)

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Venture Capital Angel Conference 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

In many ways I think general purpose writing & thinking skills are as valuable as math skills. Venture Capital. We spoke about the disruption of VC through crowd funding. He talked about a unique model where you don’t have to become liquid in venture capital and can target singles & doubles.

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Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 16, 2011

Help them write other stories. One day they’ll write yours. Raising money from angels and VCs some day? Are You a VC? It doesn’t work precisely because it violates the 50 coffee meeting rule. Relations with journalists to drive better coverage of your business long term? 50 coffee meetings.

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Startup Writing Press Venture Capital 410

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). But I prefer a certain naive optimism in founders but I can’t see that this extends to angel investors. Either scenario requires angel deals to be funded further. Not everybody agreed.

Invest 152

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 152