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Many observers of the venturecapital industry have questioned whether its best days are behind it. I can’t help feel a bit of rear-view mirror analysis in all of “VC model is broken” bears in our industry. They are, in fact, great news for traditional venture capitalists. This article originally ran on PEHub.
It’s not hard to find people willing to write the narrative that “venturecapital is not an asset class” or “venturecapital has performed terribly.” That’s a shame because many of these people missed out on what will be a few great VC vintages.
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.
I’m often asked by people, “how do I get into VC?&# Well, I know 3-4 VC jobs that are publicly available. Every time I do recruiting I get somebody who says, “I’m willing to take a step back in my career to work in VC.&# This isn’t likely to appeal to us. Tags: VC Industry. Self starter.
The titles were: Mobile First, Web Second. Mobile First, Web Second (continued). I know that they really impacted an entire cohort of startups because every company that was coming to pitch me businesses was (is) saying, “I’m a ‘mobile first’ company.” The power of large screen real estate.
Santa Monica-based venturecapital investor Siemer Ventures is one of the backers of a new, Japanese mobile video entertainment startup, Breaker. According to Breaker, it has raised $2M in a seed funding round, to help bolster its efforts to produce and distribute mobile video entertainment in Japan. READ MORE>>.
Gregg Johnson, CEO of Invoca For the first 5 years or so after I became a VC I didn’t talk much about what I thought a VC should be excellent at since frankly I wasn’t sure. It’s easy to think the role of a VC is to have strong opinions about markets, trends, tech dynamics and so forth. The role of VC is sparring partner.
Managing Director: Kelly Perdew Investment interests: Direct to consumer and consumer focused Internet, Saas, video, mobile, mobility, transportation, and in particular founders with a military background. Watertower Ventures. Fund size: Not disclosed, but $7.2M so far in investments. www.watertowerventures.com) Fund size: $5M.
Laguna Hills-based Ayannah , a developer of mobile payment products for emerging markets, has scored a round of funding, according to investor Siemer Ventures. Ayannah also has offices in the Philippines and Hong Kong, and offers a number of mobile payment services operating in the Philippines.
As you might expect from the name, Freeletics operates its mobile fitness coaching app on a freemium model, with tiered pricing beginning at $11.99 for one month or $74.99 for a year-long membership. “We want to be there for people who want a long-term athletic lifestyle,” Sobhani told TechCrunch.
Santa Monica-based Kuapay , a new startup aiming at the mobile payments and loyalty markets, has scored $2M in funding, the firm has disclosed. The startup is headed by Joaquin Ayuso de Paul, one of the angel investors in Border Stylo and co-founder of Spanish social network Tuenti.com (acquired by Telefonica).
Because my role as a VC requires me to take and endless stream of meetings I long ago decided I need to learn as much as I can from the meetings I attend so I often just ask tons of questions and assimilate knowledge. When I think about what defines us as a VC I think: Operationally knowledgeable / strong startup competence.
With the new fund, Bonfire Ventures said it has already invested in a total of nine companies, including Shippabo, Branch, Trinity Mobile Networks, Saferide Health, Postie, Fuel50 and Tray. READ MORE>>.
I hope you’ll excuse me when I do the latter in combination with the former to try and explain how I see macro trends and help you think about the mind of a VC. I first met the founder of Pose, Dustin Rosen , when he was a junior person with an LA-based venturecapital firm called The Mail Room Fund. Pose is no different.
A new, Los Angeles-based venturecapital firm, Bonfire Ventures --founded by venture veterans Jim Andelman and Mark Mullen, and assisted by Leah Volger--has made its first public announcement of an investment, after stealthily making investments in the region over the last few months.
*. What is the role of a VC for entrepreneurs? I suppose it can be different for every founder and for different VCs but I’d like to offer you some context on what I think it is and it isn’t. Mobile is now more important than desktop computer for many apps. ” I responded. Marketing channels have changed.
But I guess you could say the same about VC. Stock market declines would bring back dog days of VC. If you want a comprehensive summary of the industry in this era it’s worth a read: VC Ice Age Part 1 – What Happens When a Market Comes to a Standstill? VC Ice Age Part 2 – Why the Market Started Moving Again?
Last year I was on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley meeting with one of the most prominent venturecapital firms in the country. The VC partner, somebody I greatly respect said, “Yeah, we like Gil and what they’re doing. That’s convenience when your VC is hoping to write the next $20 million check.
The company’s mobile application lets users take a photo of any bill and then its artificial intelligence-powered “bill-understanding technology” makes sure it gets paid (after a user has provided payment details, of course). has been an anomaly, with only 3% of bills being paid by a mobile device. In this respect, the U.S.
I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising VentureCapital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. You’ve found a VC partner or principal who has invited you to the Monday partners’ meeting. Congratulations. Work the room, folks.
Los Angeles-based Tinder , the mobile dating app developer led by Sean Rad, is now worth over $5 billion, according to a report Friday from Bloomberg. Bloomberg said that IAC recently bought 10 percent of Tinder from venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, for $500M. Bloomberg cited "people with knowledge of the deal." READ MORE>>.
In fact, many people know I grew up in NorCal and still have a 650 area code on my mobile phone. Last week displayed the best of LA last week for a gala event of all of Upfront’s portfolio companies + the CEOs of many of LA’s top technology companies + 75 VC firms from LA, SF, NY & Boston + 25 LP Funds + the Chairman of Yahoo!
Most early-stage entrepreneurs who have worked with me (either as an angel or as a seed VC) know that I don’t rely at all on the social proof of other investors. Importantly any VC investor will understand the “first close&# mentality since nearly all VC funds are raised this way from our investors.
Today, we have an opinion piece from Ed Guerrero of Silicon Valley Bank, on the mobile gaming industry. Since we're deeply focused on the innovation ecosystem and bank over 50% of venturecapital-backed companies, I have the luxury of seeing trends across the startup ecosystem.
Hopscotch, led by Laurence Sotsky , has built software which enables sports teams, venues, and others to rapidly create mobile apps for their fans. We caught up with Lauren to hear about Hopscotch, and why teams and schools are turning to the company to power their mobile apps. What is Hopscotch? What do your apps do?
They have marked-up paper gains propped up by an over excited venturecapital market that has validated their investments. We haven’t hit that wall yet for three reasons: 1) not enough elapsed time, 2) the VC market is frenzied now, too and 3) we haven’t seen a market downturn since the volume picked up.
According to Greentoe, it will use the funding for marketing of the site, including a multi-platform advertising campaign across the web, television, and mobile. greentoe venturecapital angel ecommerce retail retailer seed' Size of the funding was not announced. READ MORE>>.
Los Angeles-based mobile dating app developer Tinder is in the midst of raising a big round of funding, according to an unconfirmed report today. tinder venturecapital dating mobile rumor' The report --from TechCrunch--says the deal values Tinder at between $750M and $1 billion. READ MORE>>.
washio venturecapital laundry pickup smartphone mobile launder service uber' The company--think "Uber for laundry"--let users request that their dirty laundry be picked up and washed. The company has now raised North of $13M in funding, including an earlier seed funding announced in January. READ MORE>>.
According to Eat Club, it has expanded its coverage to the Los Angeles area, offering up both in-house meals and restaurant delivery to corporate customers, who let their employees select meals using the company''s website or mobile app. eatclub venturecapital startup angeles expansion mobile' READ MORE>>.
Burner''s mobile apps are being used for creating temporary phone numbers when listing ads on Craiglist, for dating, and for any other use where users would prefer not to give someone their real phone number. burner adhoc labs venturecapital phone numbers temporary mobile' READ MORE>>.
I need to take some VC meetings. But it did take Brad as a public spokesman, consummate networker and successful VC to help create legitimacy to let David’s ideas flourish. When you think about the success that is Silicon Valley, the unfair advantage is not just the huge amounts of available venturecapital.
MiLA Capital , the venturecapital firm that is behind the Make In LA hardware accelerator, says it has raised its first official venturecapital fund, officially closing its first fundraise. Source of the funding for the new venturecapital fund was not announced. Size of the fund was not announced.
Seriously , a new video game startup, has just received $2.35M in a seed funding from LA''s Upfront Ventures, to help create mobile and casual games. Sunstone Capital also participated in the funding. seriously venturecapital videogame content rovio startup video casual gaming' READ MORE>>.
It got me thinking about the advice that I often give to new VCs. For years I saw myself as the new guy in VC but then you wake up one day and realize that 50% of your peers have been doing it for less time than you and time has moved on. VC Industry' It’s exhausting. Perhaps unsustainable. Lines, Not Dots. And so forth.
Josh Brooks , OnTheRunTech.com dba Post Cards On The Run (Los Angeles, mobile apps). Sean Callahan , SlimSurveys (San Diego, mobile apps). Greg Cohn , Burner (Los Angeles, mobile app). Sam Friedman , ParkMe (Santa Monica, mobile apps). Melani Gordon , Taphunter (San Diego, mobile apps).
La said he is looking at payment processing, data analytics, and mobile payments companies. In addition to founding Merchant Service Group, La said he is Limited Partner at Crosscut Ventures, a Venture Partner at K5 Ventures, and also an active investor in early stage tech companies. READ MORE>>.
I am a VC. But through expressing points-of-view I can raise above the consciousness of my customers (entrepreneurs and limited partners who invest in VC funds) in ways that I couldn’t without breaking through the noise of the hundreds of others of VCs who also have money. I hand out money. How differentiated is that?
To figure out those 50 washes, embedded near-field communication (NFC) technology in the garments are tracked in real time and healthcare practitioners are informed via a mobile app how many times a gown has been washed. She explained that the decision to go after venturecapital was to gain partners that would help the company grow.
Santa Monica-based BlockFraud , a developer of machine learning and artificial intelligence software used for detecting mobile fraud, has reportedly raised $5M in a Series A funding, the company disclosed on Wednesday. The funding was led by Palisades VentureCapital. BlockFraud is led by CEO Massimo Cristini. READ MORE>>.
Today I’m handing her the largest A-round check I’ve ever written as a VC as we lead her $10 million A-Round at uBeam. As I’ve written about recently, at Upfront Ventures we started talking a couple of years ago about wanting to fund stuff with more meaning. When I first met Meredith Perry she was 24.
Snapchat had raised the initial $50M in its Series C back in December, from Coatue Management; the company''s has previously raised funding from Institutional Venture Partners, General Catalyst, Benchmark Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and SV Angel. snapchat venturecapital filing social media mobile'
I know that you can use an email system with this to track my open rate, whether I forwarded the email, the IP address where I read it, whether I was on a mobile device or a wired computer and you can tell who else read the document. Your deck should be so good that a VC asks you for permission to show it to his or her portfolio companies.
One of the great joys of doing the web series This Week in VC every week is that I get to spend time with great people debating the issues of our day including how our industry is evolving as well as insights into how companies got started, got their initial traction and dealt with adversities. What is your mobile strategy? Oh, yeah.
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