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

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

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.

Startup 408

Startup Venture Capital Writing Invest 408

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

socalTECH

APRIL 8, 2014

There seems to a perpetual shortage of local venture capital investors in the region, despite the huge growth in startup activity here, particularly along Silicon Beach. We''ve also had a pretty wide range of check writing in terms of amount. Those are the kinds of gems we''re looking to invest in, and those could be anywhere.

Seed Funding 220

Seed Funding Santa Monica Funding Startup 220

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

Often when startups who have raised venture capital need another round of financing they will turn to their existing investors to give them money before raising from outsiders. VC’s money comes from mostly institutional investors called LPs (limited partners). Maybe the market views this as not worth the price you paid?

Startup 290

Startup Funding Venture Capital Pricing 290

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.

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

The best case I’ve seen is our portfolio company Osmo who had already built the product but used crowd-funding to handle inventory management, supply-chain logistics and perfecting the final version of the product. Contrary to popular opinion I actually believe crowd-funding is best used after seed capital or venture capital.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

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. In the old days there usually weren’t convertible notes on early-stage deals and there weren’t party rounds with 20 angels or 6 seed funds. It’s very simple.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

When you first start your career as an investor (or when you first start writing angel checks) your main obsession is “getting into great deals.” When you’ve been playing the game a bit longer or when you have responsibilities at the fund level you start thinking more about “portfolio construction.” Hint: don’t do only 2–3 deals!!

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Funding Startup Writing Invest 294

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

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.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2013

As has been pointed out by Dan Primack based on FLAG Capital data, there are fewer than 100 “real and active” tech VCs in the country. If we count seed funds and large angels maybe that number goes up by 2x? And most VCs are over-whelmed with deals. But here’s the kicker.

Pricing 302

Pricing Seed Funding Invest Venture Capital 302

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

No rule is ever absolute no matter how it sounds when one writes a blog. My company had raised venture capital in April 2001 but we were told that there may never be any more coming. Hell – we fought against the VC’s together! So how did I come to work in the world of venture capital?

Startup 285

Startup Venture Capital Sales Software Review 285

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My original thinking from Oct ’09 was, while I didn’t (and still don’t) have a crystal ball I worried that: consumers were over-stretched with debt (and make up 77% of the economy), unemployment would continue to rise, which in turn would drive the stock market south and cut the rate of M&A activity and VC investment even further.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2018

I’d like to repeat, “It only takes one yes to have a successful fund-raising round.” In the next post I’m going to talk about “funnel management” and how to handle all of your VC pipeline discussions and how to keep your process alive but the first step is to keep your confidence alive. When you finally get a term sheet you get three.

Press 232

Press Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 232

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

VC's love to talk about their successes. Yet most VC's bury their failures under six feet of denial. In the startup world, the former happens when a VC makes a bad investment, and the latter occurs when they miss a great opportunity. As noted in What Does VC Traction Really Mean? , What’s The Worst Mistake? > -jeff.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

They now have a strong VC lead from Foundry Group and from experience when you get advice from Foundry it comes with authority, experience, empathy and the right amount of straight talk. I save room in literally every deal to invite angels (or seed funds) to co-invest with me. All of my partners at Upfront do.

Angel 150

Angel Startup Seed Funding Invest 150

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2018

What we would do, is we would round up ten other angel investors, get $25,000 from each of them, and then roll up our sleeves and help that entrepreneur find venture capital. We had been doing that for several years, and decided we wanted to start syndicating deals in September of 2014, so we formed Moonshots Capital.

Capital 164

Capital Funding Startup Venture Capital 164

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

What is the True Sentiment of VCs? I recently survey more than 150 VC friends from all stages and geographies what they thought about the market by asking “Which of the following statements best describes your mood heading into 2016?” Of course a group of 10 seed funds can’t fix the prices of a market.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

As a fourteen-year veteran of the venture industry I have often heard the phrase, “value added investors”, which is usually touted by certain VC’s as their biggest differentiating quality. Now that we no longer commute to Windward Circle we cannot help but feel that Amplify has contributed to our growth as well.

Web Design 103

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 103

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

” It was meant both as a call to those writing angel checks into other people’s companies that they ought to think about putting that capital toward themselves either by becoming a startup founder or (and this was my real point) by taking an under-market salary in a company where they can learn the right skills to do it in the future.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 17, 2012

Available seed funding, check; another one down for the startup ecosystem checklist. Although, unlike Rocktr, Perez was on the prowl to raise a real seed round and was finding the Toronto venture capital scene a bit stale. Perhaps, what intrigued me most about Peek’s story was his beginnings in building Rocktr.

Startup 109

Startup Incubator Seed Funding Platform 109

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

There has been much discussion in the past few years of the changing structure of the venture capital industry. The rise of “micro VCs” or seed-stage funds. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). On the surface the narratives have been. Why is this?

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There has been much discussion about VCs doing seed funding in the past year. I’ve written about it myself (Is VC Seed Funding Dead?) and (Is There Really a Signaling Problem with VC Seed Funding?). There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

As a fourteen-year veteran of the venture industry I have often heard the phrase, “value added investors”, which is usually touted by certain VC’s as their biggest differentiating quality. Now that we no longer commute to Windward Circle we cannot help but feel that Amplify has contributed to our growth as well.

Web Design 40

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 40

Steve Reich

AUGUST 15, 2015

If you can’t raise from a few strong angels, from seed funds or from a VC then raising from a ton (let’s say 20+) angels is a perfectly acceptable strategy. ” Everyone has a vision that one or two “Super Angels” will write million dollar checks and all will be well. ” Well said, Mark. .

Angel 40

Angel News Pasadena Angels Seed Funding 40

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).

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 17, 2012

Available seed funding, check; another one down for the startup ecosystem checklist. Nasser explains their project, Eightshit.me , a goofy crowdsourced Twitter avatar tool that received some traction and a write up in Fast Company. “We Perhaps, what intrigued me most about Peek’s story was his beginnings in building Rocketr.

Startup 56

Startup Incubator Seed Funding Platform 56

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? How our VC Firms Like Ours Organizing to Meet the Challenges?

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

► August (3) Venture Capital - What's the rush? StrongMail Systems (Digital Messsaging Infrastructure Software) Status: VC-backed (Sequoia Capital, Globespan and Evercore) Lesson: Trust your gut. . Venture Capital Funding 7. I'm 30, now will you take me seriously? Zondigo, Inc.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Email CTO Hire 40

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

” Stay lean and only raise a big round if you DO find product / market fit and which point you want to loosen the belt quickly and raise the capital to do so. .” ” Stay lean and only raise a big round if you DO find product / market fit and which point you want to loosen the belt quickly and raise the capital to do so.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC. Quick caveats: having fewer investors (3-5) is better than many investors (10-15) and PLEASE make sure you hire a great lawyer who has experience in doing start-ups to avoid pitfalls that will make VC harder down the line. They might be as hard as raising VC.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

When I was fund raising for my second company we had agreed a company-wide deal with Salesforce.com to use our product. I asked every VC not to call Salesforce. How did VCs respond? My advice: Do not mention the other VC firms, angels, seed funds, etc. Did people say they want to keep VCs out of deal?

Pricing 292

Pricing Entrepreneur Technical Review Venture Capital 292

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Pricing models, the freemium myth and why you may not be charging enough for your product - Seth Levine's VC Adventure , August 12, 2010 I’ve been pulled into a number of product and pricing meetings recently (for reasons unknown I’ve become the Foundry pricing and productization guy). We had to write a CRM to keep track of them all.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

People say we’re crazy, but we know creators are legit businesses,” Karat writes on its website — the company didn’t respond to a request to chat about what they’re working on. And just like any other business, you need capital to grow faster, services to make you more money, tools to manage it all.”. “And

Platform 170

Platform Marketing Tool Venture Capital 170

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

As I have pointed out in previous posts , 91% of VCs surveyed believe prices are declining (30% believe substantially) and 77% believe that funding will take longer than it has in the past. If they’re only 1 of 5 they might rather just take the write off. And recaps hurt founders so often people just avoid doing them.

Startup 150

Startup Capital Funding Invest 150

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Welcome to the Lost Decade (for Entrepreneurs, IPO’s and VC’s) - Steve Blank , July 15, 2010 If you take funding from a venture capital firm or angel investor and want to build a large, enduring company (rather than sell it to the highest bidder), this isn’t the decade to do it. Angel vs VC? - Here’s why.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217