socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2019

This morning's interview is with Kevin O'Connor , a longtime investor and serial entrepreneur, who is now running venture capital investment firm ScOp Venture Capital. Congrats on the new name for your venture capital firm. What types of companies are you making investments in?

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2018

As a VC and former entrepreneur let me offer you some advice. This is part of a series on how to improve your fund raising game. 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. The first post & the full outline if you click the link.)

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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

APRIL 13, 2013

I spent countless hours with VC firms, startups & LPs (the people who invest in VC firms). On my first real day back the first thought I have is that most entrepreneurs don’t manage their VC relationships as well as they could. But you need to understand that VCs are partnerships.

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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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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

And there’s none that makes me happier than to announce that Jordan Hudson has been promoted to a Principal at Upfront Ventures. What is a principal at a VC firm and how does it work at Upfront Ventures? ” Associates have different functions at different VCs. VC firm admin. Deal screening.

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Help Invest Venture Capital Technical Review 365

TechCrunch LA

MAY 31, 2022

Bonfire Ventures , a Los Angeles venture capital firm, invests in seed-stage business-to-business software companies and aims to change the odds so that more than the average 33% of companies in this sector make it to Series A. TechCrunch: How did you and Mark Mullen start working together? Andelman : The L.A.

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Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

How important is this issue for your business? The subject of raising money is critical to many businesses and a passing option to others, depending upon the capital efficiency of the enterprise. Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally generated funds.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

One of the least understood parts of the venture capital industry and venture capital firms is how investment decisions actually get made. For anything that would be considered a normal investment for the partnership most firms try to make sure every partner has seen the deal and has a chance to weigh in.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

In the VC insider baseball world a discussion has gone on about “VC platforms” over the past 5 or so years. While firms define platforms differently, let’s just say they are the services that a VC offers outside of investment capital and partner time on boards or providing intros.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

We’ve been dying to tell you all for a while that we had raised a new venture capital fund and of course given SEC filing requirements the story was somewhat already scooped by the always-in-the-know Dan Primack a few weeks ago. If you want to understand how the VC industry is changing there is a great primer in the link.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

Today we’re announcing that my partner Kara Nortman is becoming Co-Managing Partner at Upfront Ventures and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to welcome her to her new role. I’ve become fond of saying “if I had a dollar for every person who told me just how much they loooooved Kara Nortman, I’d have a 10x fund.”

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Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

Berkonomics

MARCH 28, 2019

Some businesses just can’t fit within the angel capital or friends and family model for raising funds. Sooner or later you may need to seek venture capital and accommodate the needs of the venture community in negotiating the terms of an investment. What VC’s can and cannot do.

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Invest Venture Capital Pricing Class 120

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2022

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over twice as many companies, according to a classic Crunchbase article. Individual angel investors and crowdfunding have been adding to the momentum, some say exceeding VCs in total amount invested.

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Guide Venture Capital Funding Class 136

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

I am thrilled to announce that we have added Hamet Watt as a Partner at Upfront Ventures. This is a big news day at Upfront Ventures. But as sweet as that success has been (we invested pre-revenue in a small team) today my even more important news was the further expansion of our partner ranks. The idea immediately resonated.

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Invest Venture Capital Startup News 340

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In the first post in this three part series I described why I believe the VC market froze between September 2008 – April 2009. I’m not a doomsday guy, but just believe that we won’t see a V shaped recovery, which could make VC funding more difficult for tech start-ups (don’t shoot the messenger!). So why the ’09 bounce?

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Venture Capital Startup Funding Technical Review 269

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. I can boil it down to how this tension plays out. In the old days VCs funded off of a “pre-money” valuation.

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Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

After years of trying to persuade Kara Nortman to become a partner at Upfront Ventures I can officially announce now that she’s joined us effective immediately. Investment experience (5 years a VC at Battery Ventures). Let me start with the news that I’m excited to share with you. billion).

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Venture Capital Startup Outsource Development CitySearch 408

Berkonomics

JANUARY 25, 2024

Everyone, even seasoned CEO’s can use a good coach who knows how to bring out the best in a person, is knowledgeable about the business process, and who has an extended list of relationships to call upon to fill needs that become obvious in the coaching process. Business coaches come in all sizes and shapes.

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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. I wrote the summary notes in this blog post.

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Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

InfoChachkie

MAY 22, 2012

The steps outlined below represent an ideal approach to raising capital from sophisticated investors. The steps outlined below represent an ideal approach to raising capital from sophisticated investors. You might be at Step 2 with one VC and Step 3 with another. I wish that was true. It’s not.” Prep Steps.

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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.

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Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

Scott Kupor of A16Z responded with a comprehensive overview of valuation methodology in a post that while accurate feels more targeted at sophisticated Limited Partners (LPs) who invest in funds. VCs strangely never seem to weigh in on other VC funds. As an entrepreneur I never really knew what to make of VC return data.

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Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2010

Had a great chat with Jim Armstrong who is a General Partner at Clearstone Venture Partners today on TWiVC. It was especially fun for me because we got the chance to talk about the VC industry and how entrepreneurs should think about the VC industry in addition to discussing deals. I think you’ll enjoy watching.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2021

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of talking to Samir Kaji on the Venture Unlocked podcast about a wide range of topics that we as venture capitalists think about everyday, including: How to build a generational firm?—?retaining LPs, VCs, everyone. Let me explain. But here’s the thing?—?it’s We love first meetings!

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Sales Startup Invest Funding 375

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

By now you will likely have read Andy Dunn’s scathing post about Venture Capitalists in which he decries the industry’s masses. But VC is like congress. They see how hard she does her job. ” But many of the assertions in his post – while populist – aren’t exactly how things are in reality.

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Berkonomics

JULY 23, 2020

How about outside investors? Especially when outside investors, venture capitalists, or angels, have put in substantial money and the sales price is less than the value of their investment. Dig into investment agreements for those expensive clauses. Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

They often create the biggest tensions between investors who are investing at different stages in the business. 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.

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Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

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.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

Viewing the article through the lens of a venture capitalist there’s much to agree with under the mantra of “growth!” As the startup figures out how to make something lots of people want and how to reach those people, there’s a period of rapid growth. For example. Growth, again.

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Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review 390

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

To see the video of This Week in VC click on this link. What a pleasure that I got to spend an hour talking with both Om Malik (whom I’ve always respected his views) and Paul Jozefak , a venture capital partner at Neuhaus Partners in Germany (and formerly the head of Europe for SAP Ventures).

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. 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). I hadn’t thought about the fact that he would become aware of my link. My blog was wiped out.

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Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

I become a venture capitalist in September 2007 – exactly 6.5 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.

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Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

We have significant VC commitments (listed below) – every entering company will get $50,000 in funding, mentorship from top VCs and successful entrepreneurs plus free office space. To provide an opportunity for VCs and senior executives to engage with the community by giving back rather than just attending more cocktail parties.

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Venture Capital Funding Startup GRP Partners 287

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

How founders get screwed on convertible notes. How party rounds can burn you if it takes time to find your groove. 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).

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2010

So it’s really hard to draw too many conclusions about whether the investment really makes sense because often you learn stuff in the fund raising about the future strategy of the company that might make you much more excited than somebody on the outside might be. Thank you to anybody who sent Jason a note on Twitter on my behalf.

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Venture Capital Capital Email Blogging 265

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I love how transparently Danielle lives her startup (& encourages other to join in) because it provides much needed transparency to other startups. . ” I highly recommend reading it. But what IS the right amount of burn for a company? Turns out like most things there are no simple answers. Let’s set up a framework.

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