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. LPs Still Believe Strongly in Venture Capital as a Diverse Source of Returns.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Marketing Seed Funding 150

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. As I was trying to figure out the role I wanted to play in the VC world I decided I wanted to focus on businesses that were building deeply technical products to solve problems for business users. We not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k?—?$15

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Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

Berkonomics

MARCH 28, 2024

Even venture capitalists who sit on boards where they have significant investments often forget this point. They write in their investment documents that they will occupy a seat on the board for as long as they are invested in the company, thinking of this as a protection for their investment and tool for them to influence growth.

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Class Coach Invest Sales 282

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you truly believe that you, your company and your products are exceptional and your company will be valuable then you’re actually doing them a FAVOR by helping them invest in your startup. If you don’t believe in your bones that you’re amazing then it’s no wonder you don’t want to sell them on making the investment.”

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Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Picking a VC is hard. So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. Most VCs are book smart. VCs should be more of a coach than proscriptively telling you what to do. You want a VC who will spar with you but then STFU and let you get on with things.

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Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

.” There are a lot of data points that one can observer to get a sense of the venture capital markets – both LP fundings into venture and VC financings of startups. They point to some widely known facts: financings & valuations are up massively over the past 7 years and non-VC money has entered the system.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Startup Course Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. Remember that the goal of an email to a VC or an introduction from a trusted mutual connection is simply to get you the meeting. Remember that the goal of an email to a VC or an introduction from a trusted mutual connection is simply to get you the meeting.

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Venture Capital Slides Email Startup 261

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2014

This week I wrote about obsessive and competitive founders and how this forms the basis of what I look for when I invest. I had been thinking a lot about this recently because I’m often asked the question of “what I look for in an entrepreneur when I want to invest?” My first response mentally was, “Of course!”

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Startup Invest Venture Capital Writing 409

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 22, 2019

At our next 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! There will be plenty of time for networking with the Investor panelists, both before the panel and after the panel at the Cocktail Party!

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Los Angeles Venture Capital Angel Conference 100

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 20, 2019

Tuesday, March 26, 2019 -- San Diego Fundingpost VC and Angel Investor Conference. 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 18 years. Interested in pitching?

San Diego 100

San Diego Venture Capital Conference Angel 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

Every tech or major news journal in the country is preparing to write their Snap, Inc (creators of Snapchat, Spectacles, etc) stories and many of them seem to want a “How does it feel to have missed this investment story.” Of course that was a wrong narrative for both companies. That’s a benefit for us as a local VC.

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Snapchat Invest Technical Review Dollar Shave Club 214

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 21, 2019

Wednesday, March 27, 2019 -- Orange County Fundingpost VC and Angel Investor Conference. 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 18 years. Interested in pitching?

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Orange County Venture Capital Conference Tech Coast Angels 100

TechCrunch LA

JULY 2, 2020

When it comes to venture capital, Los Angeles is a city on the rise. In the past year, it’s seen one of the most profitable venture-backed exits of any tech ecosystem (with the $4 billion sale of Honey to PayPal) and investors are minting billion-dollar companies in the region at a torrid pace.

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Los Angeles Venture Capital Capital Invest 277

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. I just cover the companies that were funded that week. Others I have not. Really!).

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Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

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. At the time I pointed out: “If I had realized exits almost certainly it would be because I invested in a company that failed. “I think the best VCs help drive exits alongside their entrepreneurs.

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Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. I had seen many cycles and decided that since I was going to do it all over again I should write about it. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. No prizes for guessing which VCs I didn’t work with (and still won’t).

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Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

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. On Funding?—?Shots

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Funding Startup Writing Invest 294

TechCrunch LA

JULY 21, 2020

When Upfront Ventures partner Kara Nortman first met Natalie Portman a few years ago to talk about ways their non-profit organizations All Raise and Time’s Up could collaborate, she never realized they’d eventually be partners on a sports franchise. “We’re venture capitalists.

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Writing Los Angeles Equity Startup 171

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 5, 2015

” 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. Pre-money ($8m) + investment ($2m) = Post-money ($10m) and the investors now own 20% of your company $2m / $10m. So how DOES a VC think about financings at early stages?

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. As a VC you want to feel like you have “proprietary sources” of deal flow. Of course I went through normal other channels of deal flow. There is one source that was always problematic for me – intros from investment bankers.

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Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

Of course passion isn’t enough. I only say that because after years as a VC I can always tell when my peer group invested in something because “it seemed like it would make money” versus when they invested out of passion. I’m a VC. But the two can of course go hand-in-hand.

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Venture Capital Startup Course Entrepreneur 373

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

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). We led an investment round in a company a while ago in which we wrote a seven-figure check and have taken a board seat.

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Of course it happens all the time?—?especially Others may not have the experience you want and they fill up a seat that makes retaining founder control more difficult if you ultimately raise large rounds of venture capital in the future. What happens at the A-round of venture capital? But it’s quite rare.

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Startup Venture Capital Tips Capital 236

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

He writes with a great perspective and is well worth reading. 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 just completed an exercise where I went out to hire a new associate for my VC firm, GRP Partners.

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

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. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Support organizations are investment banks, similar to the preceding stage.

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Startup Funding Organization Incubator 122

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Capitalism is fundamentally about timing, since market competition is about finding opportunities before others. When should a VC invest? It’s obvious that we can be too late to these decisions of course. Start writing down predictions about people, companies, and markets. When should you start a company?

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Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 17, 2017

He eventually founded and sold consumer health firm ViSalus to a public company and is now back making investments, in technology companies, as a venture capitalist here at Los Angeles-based HashtagOne (www.hashtagone.com). What's the theme of your investments? That's why we have investments in Heal, Saucey, and FragMob.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

Do you imagine eventually raising VC and trying to build a faster growing company?” Venture capital isn’t right for many business but if you do want to raise from a VC at some point you need to understand that often investors care more about growth than profits. They raised $5 million in venture capital to fund growth.

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Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2018

She had emailed with a partner at a big VC fund and he had passed the request to a junior associate. Of course you have to be careful with this. You have to be sure that you’re actually qualified to raise VC, that you CAN get other meetings and you have to be very polite when you state your reasons why their request doesn’t work.

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Funding Newsletter Venture Capital Email 217

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

But VC is like congress. In the original version of his post, Andy writes. “This essay is dedicated to the great VC’s on my board who I am lucky to work with: Sameer Gandhi from Accel, Jeremy Liew from Lightspeed, and Kirsten Green from Forerunner. . Their data looks at tech VCs. Because they know him or her.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

Every year at Upfront we try to analyze the venture markets. We try to look at the sources of capital, the valuations, exits and trends. Of course we fund companies in good markets and bad. Up next I’ll publish all of the LP (people who invest in VCs) data we gathered and what we believe this signifies.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Marketing Writing 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2011

Yesterday I saw a Tweet from Chris Sacca fly by that prompted me to want to write a blog post helping entrepreneurs understand why they should push back against VCs asking for “super pro-rata” rights. I’ll explain what they are and why you should avoid them if you can. A primer on “pro-rata” rights.

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Entrepreneur Venture Capital Writing Invest 310

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

As a VC with scores of startups in our portfolio we have ringside seats to many, many fund raising processes plus I had to raise money across about 5 different rounds of capital as an entrepreneur so I’ve developed some thought on the process that I hope can be helpful to some of you before you start. just don’t lead with them!

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

Tech.Co

JANUARY 28, 2016

At the LA Angel Investor Roundtable, the panel of investors will focus on pitching to early-stage investors, and what it really takes to get them to write you a check! There will be plenty of time for networking with the Investor panelists!

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Los Angeles Angel Venture Capital Writing 70

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 18, 2014

Sometimes those motives are positive (they really want the chance to work with you, they think you have unique skills) and sometimes they are less positive (their first-tier of “go to” referrals passed on the deal, they don’t want to write another check themselves, etc.). I wrote here about why I avoid party rounds.

Venture Capital 337

Venture Capital Invest Ideas Entrepreneur 337

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2020

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. The first step toward a business with any idea is to write it down, and build a business plan around it. Support organizations are investment banks, similar to the preceding stage.

Resource 171

Resource Startup Organization Incubator 171