Steve Blank

JANUARY 17, 2023

This post previously appeared in the Harvard Business Review. Three types of organizations – Incubators, Accelerators and Venture Studios – have emerged to reduce the risk of early-stage startup failure by helping teams find product/market fit and raise initial capital. The Alternative: Venture Studios.

Technical Cofounder 362

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 362

David Teten

JANUARY 23, 2021

I’ve been fortunate to be a Partner at two different VC firms over the past 9 years, and we’ve grown AUM 10X both times. Build the firm as much as possible before you solicit limited partners. . The next best move is to build your core team, e.g., recruit an Advisory Board, Venture Partners, and EIRs.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review 78

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2023

Professional investors and advisors, on the other hand, usually refuse to sign these agreements today due to the risk of litigation and administrative workload, and will walk away. If you are approaching a recognized venture capital group, or even an accredited angel investor, a non-disclosure agreement is counter-productive.

Non-disclosure Agreement 254

Non-disclosure Agreement Technical Review Due Diligence Angel Investor 254

David Teten

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

Blue Future Partners, a venture capital fund of funds, recently interviewed me on ESG in venture capital. Here’s what I said: In your career in tech and VC, how has your focus on ESG responsibility changed over time? I quickly recruited a board of experienced hands.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Partner Technical Review Cofounder 60

View from Seed

JULY 6, 2020

You are a native of NYC tech with a strong network. You have 4-6 years of professional experience as a technology operator, founder, or investor in New York. You have unbounded curiosity for emerging trends, a love for experimentation, and you’re always eager to dive into new products and technologies before others do.

Technical Review 257

Technical Review Software Review Hiring Seed Stage 257

View from Seed

APRIL 14, 2020

This led to a number of repercussions that most VC’s have lamented during this time, including higher prices, larger rounds, shoddy due diligence, and many companies raising large sums of venture capital that probably aren’t suited to VC funding. Firms will start to torture founders with endless diligence requests.

Early Stage 374

Early Stage Software Review Technical Review Due Diligence 374

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. Venture capital is about backing the leaders of tomorrow who imagine the world as it should be and aren’t constrained by what it is today.

Partner 361

Partner Management Cofounder San Francisco 361

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. . When I met my now-wife, I realized that any technology that can find me a spouse is a killer app. But in business, you want a lot of partners. Most of us want one spouse and we’re done.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2021

Almost every private equity and venture capital investor now advertises that they have a platform to support their portfolio companies. Dan Kozikowski, Partner and Head of Platform, First Mark Capital , said to me, “Firms should match services to the stage-specific needs of companies. Organize events in your vertical.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2021

Professional investors and advisors, on the other hand, usually refuse to sign these agreements today due to the risk of litigation and administrative workload, and will walk away. If you are approaching a recognized venture capital group, or even an accredited angel investor, a non-disclosure agreement is counter-productive.

Non-disclosure Agreement 399

Non-disclosure Agreement Technical Review Due Diligence Angel Investor 399

VC Cafe

JANUARY 22, 2021

A few months ago, VC Cafe launched a series on startup engagement and outreach programs of large tech companies. Amazon Corporate Development – Notable acquisitions include Whole Foods ($13.7B), smart doorbell system Ring ($1.2B, 2018) and autonomous mobility technology Zoox ($1.2bn). AI startups in the Alexa Fund portfolio.

Technical Review 174

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital Incubator 174

Growthink Blog

DECEMBER 27, 2017

Are you looking to raise venture capital ? Business planning and raising venture capital go hand-in-hand. A business plan is required for attracting venture capital. These tips draw on Growthink’s decades of experience consulting to start-ups in the business planning and capital raising process.

Venture Capital 129

Venture Capital Business Plan Technical Review Private Placement 129

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 11, 2022

On the other side of the spectrum, the idea of finding a unicorn has attracted many investors toward the much riskier venture capital and emerging technologies.

Private Equity 165

Private Equity Equity Technical Review Software Review 165

David Teten

JULY 24, 2019

If you’re looking for a job in venture capital (or private equity), here is a list of compensation benchmarks, plus all the recruiters I’m aware of who do searches for roles inside venture capital firms, Analyst through Partner. Amity Search Partners. Arris Partners. Bellcast Partners.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Private Equity Technical Review North America 60

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 31, 2022

The top 20 tech billionaires globally have lost $480 billion on paper in the past year. This is largely due to several major stock market crashes and global economic uncertainties. As IVC reports: In Q1–Q3/2022, Israeli high-tech companies raised $12.3 Israeli tech review Q3 2022, IVC Online and Bank Leumi.

Founder 173

Founder Technical Review Down Round Liquidation Preference 173

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 18, 2019

All were backed based on the sole criteria that they had the potential to make my limited partners a lot of money. The diversity is the direct result of our mission—to build the most accessible venture capital fund in NY. Three of the founding teams are married couples. I don’t require warm intros.

Venture Capital 165

Venture Capital Portfolio Cofounder Seed Stage 165

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

VC Partnerships Start by understanding how many partners are at the firm you are approaching. It’s pretty easy since nearly every VC lists its partners on the website. Some firms are trickier since they artificially call everybody “partner” but they’re not all “investment partners.” How many partners are there?

Technical Review 314

Technical Review Due Diligence Partner Term Sheet 314

VC Cafe

MARCH 4, 2024

All of this is in addition to the macro challenges that Israeli startups had to deal with in 2023 even before October 7th, including international investor unease due to the proposed judicial reform (that has since been taken off the table), Ukraine war, global venture slowdown ( US VC investments were down 60% in 2023 ), etc.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital 78

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan.

Technical Review 257

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Offshore 257

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 8, 2022

Heralding a new era of digital transformation, technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) are being infused exponentially into the world around us. Most notably, the ground-breaking development and rapid global distribution of mRNA vaccines highlighted the speed and scale of technological advances to outsmart humanity’s most dire threats.

Artificial Inteligence 167

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Global Technology 167

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 4, 2020

s founder is David Teten , previously a Partner with HOF Capital and ff Venture Capital and a serial fintech entrepreneur with 2 exits. – Learn about venture capital, particularly fintech. The post Startup New York venture capital firm seeking fall virtual interns appeared first on David Teten.

New York 60

New York Venture Capital Technical Review Due Diligence 60

David Teten

JUNE 10, 2020

SOP’s founder is David Teten , previously a Partner with HOF Capital and ff Venture Capital and a serial fintech entrepreneur with 2 exits. As the firm grows, we will need support in origination, financial modeling, due diligence, etc. . The firm particularly has interest in fintech, edtech, and salestech.

New York 60

New York Venture Capital Technical Review Due Diligence 60

David Teten

MAY 16, 2017

Historically, the process of winning capital from limited partners has been opaque. A few years ago, I presented at an Invesco conference on Emerging GPs, and one of the highlights was a presentation by Laurie Weir summarizing CALPERS’ selection criteria under their Private Equity Emerging Manager Program Review.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Equity 60

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund and mutual fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. According to Knowledge.VC , under 5% of US VCs have a full-time team member focused on technology. . Why is it now more feasible to use technology in the VC investing process?

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

David Teten

MARCH 14, 2018

But, we normally have a clear ceiling on how high we can grow AUM, before hitting practical limits to deploying capital within the traditional VC model. . My Partners at HOF Capital are younger than I am, which means that we have a half-century horizon for the franchise we are building. So we think about scaling a lot.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Cofounder 60

View from Seed

MAY 24, 2021

You are a native of NYC tech with a strong network. You have 4-6 years of professional experience as a technology operator, founder, or investor in New York. You have unbounded curiosity for emerging trends, a love for experimentation, and you’re always eager to dive into new products and technologies before others do.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Software Review Seed Stage Cofounder 120

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

Fresh data from 15,000+ SAFEs signed last year (source: Carta ) Technology makes it possible to do more with less – LLMs, generative AI have are rapidly changing the game with all kinds of automations, from coding to content creation. I genuinely believe that the next 24-36 months will be a great vintage to invest in early stage.

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

VC Cafe

APRIL 26, 2021

This latest batch includes new maps for Insurance tech, Industry 4.0, Deep Tech, Passion Tech and Proptech, as well as updated landscapes for cyber security tech and retail tech. Israel has already produced three Insurance Tech Unicorns including Lemonade, Hippo Insurance and Next Insurance. Energy Tech.

Technical Review 215

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Startup 215

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2013

Based on the final report for 2012 from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), it may appear that IPOs are back as a viable startup exit strategy. For the full year 2012, venture-backed initial public offerings raised $21.5 Identify the right people in the right venture firms.

Venture Capital 252

Venture Capital IPO Elevator Pitch Initial Public Offering 252

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 3, 2020

We just held our fifteenth session of our new national security class Technology, Innovation and Modern War. Joe Felter , Raj Shah and I designed a class to examine the new military systems, operational concepts and doctrines that will emerge from 21st century technologies – Space, Cyber, AI & Machine Learning and Autonomy.

Technical Review 265

Technical Review Technology China Taiwan 265

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 LP Silicon Valley Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Over the past month a colleague ( Chang Xu ) and I sifted through data on the venture capital industry (as we do every year) and made a bunch of calls to VCs and LPs to confirm our hypotheses. As a result of the IPO window shifting we saw a massive inflow of public-market capital into the latest stages of venture.

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage IPO 328

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

At the outset, it is worth noting that when it comes to the world of venture funding, I am a bit of an outsider. Until a handful of years ago, I didn’t even know what venture capital was, let alone anything about the complicated process of actually acquiring VC funding. I don’t know this world on an intimate, personal level.

Venture Capital 82

Venture Capital Lean Cofounder Technical Review 82

VC Cafe

JANUARY 24, 2021

Covid-19 accelerated the adoption of entertainment tech, gaming and commerce. The move to remote work forced quick adoption of cloud technology and tools that were once having difficulties selling to large corporates, saw explosive growth – from Zoom to Hopin, new unicorns were born in record time. 2020… where to start?

Technical Review 207

Technical Review Audio Forecast Social Media 207

David Teten

DECEMBER 2, 2019

You’ve decided to launch a technology-enabled startup with a positive social impact! Nearly every major Silicon Valley venture-capital firm has now invested in a B Corp ; maybe you will be one of them! Aspen Tech Policy Hub. Congratulations! Bluhm/Helfand Social Innovation (BHSI) Fellowship.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review SBIR Dilution Silicon Valley 60

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2016

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Offshore 120

VC Adventure

JUNE 14, 2022

Companies looking to raise money turn to venture capital for a variety of reasons. Top among them is generally access to capital, but often on the list is the hope that raising capital from experienced (and well-networked) investors will have other positive impacts on their business.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Due Diligence Portfolio Venture Capital 150