Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2016

The interview was wide ranging and discussed everything from USVs investment thesis over the past 10 years to what some emerging themes are around blockchain and artificial intelligence. Dan asked Fred about “generational change” at USV and in the VC industry more broadly.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Artificial Inteligence Invest Funding 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. There is one source that was always problematic for me – intros from investment bankers. They are venture bankers not investment bankers.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2017

I am so proud and humbled to be able to formally announce that Upfront Ventures has raised its 6th venture capital fund in the past 21 years. Upfront VI is our latest core fund and is $400 million to invest in early stage entrepreneurs. We’ll invest in about 15 new companies every year or just over 2 per partner.

Funding 287

Funding Venture Capital Santa Monica Invest 287

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. The “Triple Play&# of VC Presentations. But take prompts from the VC.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

socalTECH

APRIL 19, 2013

Venture capital investments saw a sharp drop in Q1 in Southern California, according to the latest venture numbers from the MoneyTree report. The report, released by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association over the weekend, tallied up $534.3M was invested in 55 deals.

Southern California 140

Southern California Invest Orange County Venture Capital 140

SoCal Tech Calendar

JUNE 17, 2019

The program is open to entrepreneurs that are starting companies in areas that are likely to draw venture capital investment. LAVA is extremely pleased to announce its next First Time Entrepreneur training program. The program is not open to service providers. See [link] (more)

LAVA 100

LAVA Entrepreneur Screening Patents 100

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).

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2012

The median VC exit price for deals is $70 million (FLAG Capital via Bryce.VC). There is a mythology amongst some LPs (funds that invest in VCs) and some VCs that “entry price doesn’t matter – only investing in the absolute best entrepreneurs.” They say the same about VC.

Startup 323

Startup Technology Venture Capital Santa Barbara 323

SoCal Tech Calendar

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 -- Angel Investing - Demystified. In the current economic and venture capital climate, angel investment is an increasingly important component of the start-up capital structure. See [link] (more).

Invest 100

Invest Angel Tech Coast Angels Southern California 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2012

I had been trading emails & Tweets with venture capitalist John Frankel and we were to meet in person in March 2011 at SxSW to talk about Klout and other investments he had made. We met at a private party hosted by his venture partner Mike Yavonditte and I outlined my concerns for the lack of precision of the algorithm.

Cornerstone OnDemand 303

Cornerstone OnDemand Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup 303

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

I invested in LA-based Gogii , one of the fastest growing, most exciting mobile social networking companies you’ve never heard of and maker of a product called textPlus. I only recently invested and I only got here through persistence. The opportunity came up to invest in this one and I pounced. But I never gave up.

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

Venture and angel investing has long been considered a man''s world--with domination of the industry, executives, financiers, and others by men, with only a few exceptions. The actual investments made as part of the program are in a social enterprise, rather than just a traditional, female-led enterprise.

Angel 276

Angel Invest Mentor Technical Review 276

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Our guest this week on #TWiVC was Dana Settle , partner at Greycroft Partners , a venture capital firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Greycroft is an early-stage VC. Closing a VC fund in 2009/10 is a major achievement in and of itself. Total raised: $16.5mm. Read more: VentureBeat. OTHER DEALS (Cont): 5.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 28, 2013

The Tech Coast Angels , Southern California's most active , organized angel investment group, has a goal: cut down the time it takes to fund a startup presenting to the organization.

Tech Coast Angels 168

Tech Coast Angels Technical Review Angel Funding 168

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

My friend and fellow SoCal venture capitalist Peter Lee wrote a post about the different roles within a VC and spent much time on the role of an associate. These are the permanent members of a VC. The process for raising money from a VC is a sales process and as such much of what is taught in enterprise sales can be applied.

Venture Capital 308

Venture Capital Sales Entrepreneur Startup 308

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

And of course I’ve sat on the other side of the table: As a VC. This is not just the perspective of a VC although I can’t say I have zero VC bias. This is not just the perspective of a VC although I can’t say I have zero VC bias. Partners make investment decisions. Executive Summary.

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2011

A tale of two pitches (I eventually invested in the first company that pitched). This might be a VC meeting but also might just be a sales or biz dev meeting. If you look at Diagram A above you’ll see that the presenters are sitting at the opposite end of the table from where the screen is. We didn’t realize.&#

Tips 392

Tips Screening Slides Venture Capital 392

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

But less as a complaint and more as advice to younger networkers, the more you invest in relationships the more you will get when you need. It’s why I talk about building VC relationships early – Lines, Not Dots. Fill your VC good will, build relationships, be helpful to them not just asking for things. Be helpful.

Venture Capital 407

Venture Capital Press GRP Partners Blogging 407

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series, “ Pitching a VC.&# Getting a meeting with a prominent angel or VC is difficult enough. Some advice on how to do that was covered in this link – Getting Access to a VC. If you haven’t read how to build VC relationships and demonstrate traction make sure to read it.

Venture Capital 277

Venture Capital Startup Email News 277

Berkonomics

JULY 17, 2014

Sometimes, you will have an opportunity to present to several levels of an investor organization, from first prescreening, to a screening session with many present, to the final meeting of the members or partners. Plan to incorporate the appropriate responses to earlier questions in the presentation to avoid those being repeated.

Screening 214

Screening Venture Capital Resource Email 214

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Draw Your Ideas - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 16, 2010 I saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month. He started targeting the ad by location and interest, and the number of potential people he was reaching began decreasing on screen (Facebook tells you dynamically). Tesla is not.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 18, 2010

I’m not a shareholder and I’m not even actively looking at making an investment. I was recently over at the Mahalo offices in Santa Monica and I noticed that they had a great big screen TV with Chartbeat displaying their traffic data. I tend to agree with them but I think that numbers are important in VC meetings.

Blogging 287

Blogging Google Screening Mahalo 287

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. There is one source I never liked and no early-stage VC should – investment bankers. They are venture bankers not investment bankers.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

My initial desire to blog came from something that’s always been my approach to investing – I’m a nerd and I love to play with the technology and part of my approach has really been to understand things both at a user level and at a reasonably deep tentacle level. “My Either it’s a bunch of pictures or screen shots or it’s a bunch of words.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

I’m very pleased today to announce that I invested, on behalf of GRP Partners, in Burstly alongside Rincon Venture Partners , an early stage VC in Southern California whith whom we love to work (and were our co-investors on RingRevenue ). Naturally I’m excited about this investment or I wouldn’t have done it.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

It’s the first EIR that we’ve had in the years that I’ve been with the firm and I hope will be the start of our investment in this program. We’re excited to continue to grow our investment professional staff and will continue to do so over the course of 2013 & 2014 with our new fund. Sam had different plans.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

The theme for Silicon Beach Fest Hollywood is startups and Hollywood, featuring leaders from movie studios, music labels, agencies, and startups in entertainment – how Hollywood studios are investing and working with startups, and how Silicon Beach startups are making entertainment businesses. See you there!

Hollywood 100

Hollywood Screening Ideas Entertainment 100

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

I’m enjoying being a VC. I thought I’d talk a bit about the differences I’ve experienced between being an entrepreneur & a VC – you know, from “both sides of the table.&#. VC meetings going well. 2 million in VC. I swore never to do that as a VC. What do VC’s Experience?

Entrepreneur 384

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Ideas 384

Xconomy

JULY 26, 2016

Ostendo Technologies, a Carlsbad, CA-based company founded in 2005 to advance curved screens and other innovative display technologies, has raised $41.8 The financing includes both new investment funding and a conversion of debt to equity, according to a notation in the filing. million of a new financing round intended to bring in $62.8

Technology 40

Technology Venture Capital Beverly Hills Funding 40

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. The reduction in screen size has made the economic model of Internet advertising totally inefficient. The first investment I ever made as a VC was in a company now called Invoca.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

We are in phase three of the influencer economy,” Bain Capital Ventures senior principal Jamison Hill, who led the firm’s investment in the influencer shoutout marketplace Cameo , tells TechCrunch. 2020 will be a watershed year for investment in businesses around the creator economy,” Neil Robertson tells TechCrunch.

Platform 170

Platform Marketing Tool Venture Capital 170

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

When I described to people why I initially invested my calls went something like this, “He’s taken kicks to the face for nearly 2 years and is still standing. I was sick of hyperbole articles pronouncing that VCs were “scared or AngelList&# or “it was disrupting VC&# or some other BS exaggeration like that.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

Last year I was on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley meeting with one of the most prominent venture capital firms in the country. The VC partner, somebody I greatly respect said, “Yeah, we like Gil and what they’re doing. In my LA I often see computer screens open with entrepreneurs talking about digital media.

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital Southern California Google Startup 313

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2009

One of the questions I’m most often asked as a VC is what I’m looking for in an investment. For me I’ve stated publicly that 70% of my investment decision is the team and most of this is skewed toward the founders. I once had a debate with a prominent VC on a panel. How to build relationships with a VC.

Entrepreneur 338

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Google 338

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. .

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2013

When computers moved from “green screens” to Windows we – the educated, young, technophiles – easily grasped the concept. It was hard to imagine customer service reps who had learned every keystroke short-cut by heart on a green screen and weren’t eager to embrace the obvious future.

Product 408

Product Design Technical Review Screening 408

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

At night I had a group dinner where I met 6 new entrepreneurs and hung out with some old friends from law firms, banks and other VC funds. I fly home Friday night, weekend on the soccer field with the kids and head into a Monday partner meeting that will be contentious because there are two controversial investment decisions to make.

Software Review 381

Software Review Startup Email Conference 381