Professor VC

JANUARY 27, 2011

How Much Diligence is Due.Or Ive addressed the due diligence question in previous posts, but this came up again in a debate we were having at a recent meeting of the Sand Hill Angels. The research did show that higher returns were earned by investments where more diligence was done. Not exactly extensive diligence.

Technical Review 31

Technical Review Due Diligence Silicon Valley San Jose 31

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

Most of these scenarios involve attracting outside investors, strategic partners, or key team members: You are the team and you don’t need outside funding. Most VCs and Angel investors don’t read unsolicited proposals, unless they have met you first, or have a glowing recommendation from another investor or acquaintance.

Business Plan 274

Business Plan Technical Review Angel Investor Due Diligence 274

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. David is also Founder of HBS Alumni Angels of NY , the largest angel group on the East Coast. For more on the firm’s core theses, see investment theses. .

New York 60

New York Venture Capital Technical Review Due Diligence 60

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

VCs tout themselves as frontier technology investors, but most are using the same infrastructure tools they have used for the past 20+ years: Excel and recent college grads searching Google. According to Knowledge.VC , under 5% of US VCs have a full-time team member focused on technology. . But we’re doing it slowly.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 18, 2015

The partner most obsessed with the startup lifestyle tests the water by going to work in an early-stage startup, similar to one they might hope to start someday. Most Angel groups and VCs advertise the startups they have recently funded, with pointers to startup websites, sometimes including open positions.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Entrepreneur Stock Options Due Diligence 120

Up and Running

JULY 2, 2014

Picking the right attorney in your startup is as important as picking the right business partner. My business partner and I made many mistakes in our first tech startup, and so many of them were the result of choosing a lawyer who was a terrible fit. My business partner and I were elated. We set off to raise our money.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Angel Investor Due Diligence Dilution 118

Austin Startup

OCTOBER 19, 2019

On Monday, September 23, Austin Startup Week had an impressive kick-off at Capital Factory where over 400 women and allies gathered at the 3rd Annual Women in Tech Summit! Inspired and taking notes in a packed house at the Women in #Tech Summit @CFWoman ! Women leaders from across the U.S.

Technical Review 49

Technical Review North America Cleveland Austin 49

David Teten

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

Like virtually the entire tech industry, I am particularly in favor of Startup Visa , which has the goal of stimulating our domestic startup community through acts to keep our foreign-born entrepreneurs in the United States. HBS Angels will likely execute this in 2012.

Government 146

Government Technical Review New York Offshore 146

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. So I was an Angel investor from 1994 to 1996. Brad on blogging.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

Gust

OCTOBER 20, 2011

A local network of angels is critical to achieving a diversified portfolio. Working within a network of angel investors also expands the pool of expert resources and helps divide the work of screening companies and investment due diligence. Product/Technology 0-15%.

Valuation 146

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Intellectual Property Technical Review 146

View from Seed

AUGUST 26, 2015

A little under a year ago, we hosted an event called Angel Bootcamp that was a primer for folks thinking about getting into angel investing. Here’s a great recap on the Boston Globe’s tech blog.). A Primer on Angel Investing. Run in packs and learn from the group (but keep an independent mind). Why Invest?

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Angel Investor Software Review Silicon Valley 120

View from Seed

AUGUST 26, 2015

A little under a year ago, we hosted an event called Angel Bootcamp that was a primer for folks thinking about getting into angel investing. Here’s a great recap on the Boston Globe’s tech blog.). A Primer on Angel Investing. Run in packs and learn from the group (but keep an independent mind). Why Invest?

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Angel Investor Software Review Silicon Valley 120

Austin Startup

MARCH 4, 2019

Grab a group of friends and tour the latest and greatest of Austin’s startup community. We will announce the winner of the Artificial Intelligence Technologies category at the SXSW Pitch Awards Ceremony on Sunday, March 10th at 6:30pm in Salon H on the 6th floor of the Hilton Hotel. Come check out tech through a military lens.

Silicon Valley 50

Silicon Valley Technical Review Texas Venture Capital 50

Gust

JULY 12, 2012

On Wednesday, April 18th, I gave a keynote speech on US Startup Valuation Trends for the 1st Irish Angel Meetup. Two hundred angels, entrepreneurs and members of the startup community attended this inaugural event. It was organized by Diane Roberts of Xcell Partners and held at the StartupBaseCamp accelerator in Dublin.

Community 121

Community Estonia Ireland Finland 121

Tim Keane

DECEMBER 14, 2009

  He is a partner in a pretty much exclusively software seed stage fund, Y Combinator that you can read more about.    Some angel groups charge you money to pitch your idea to them.    Individual angels can get sucked into situations that a group's experience might have avoided. 

Burn Rate 60

Burn Rate Angel Groups Seed Stage Startup 60

Austin Startup

JUNE 27, 2017

Collectively they have $850M in capital in their most recent funds: [link] Both Silverton Partners and LiveOak Venture Partners have filed regulatory documents associated with new fundraising efforts in 2017 so we should all look forward to announcements from them on successfully raising new funds.

Venture Capital 54

Venture Capital Austin Texas Private Equity 54

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 5, 2012

In fact, one of my largest investors from a family office were former private investment people themselves, and their due dilligence was off the charts. Angel groups started dropping their application fees or making them minimal. Open Angel Forum created a costless way for the best startups to get in front of the best capital.

LP 97

LP Venture Capital Technical Review Nebraska 97

Growthink Blog

JUNE 28, 2010

Famed technology investors like Vinod Khosla and Ron Conway have taken this approach, with personal investment positions in literally dozens (if not more) of companies. angel investor deal community - namely Silicon Valley. Joining an Angel Group. Building a Portfolio One Company At A Time. So What To Do?

Private Equity 63

Private Equity Technical Review Silicon Valley Los Angeles 63

Growthink Blog

JUNE 28, 2010

Famed technology investors like Vinod Khosla and Ron Conway have taken this approach, with personal investment positions in literally dozens (if not more) of companies. angel investor deal community - namely Silicon Valley. Joining an Angel Group. Building a Portfolio One Company At A Time. So What To Do?

Private Equity 63

Private Equity Technical Review Silicon Valley Los Angeles 63

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

I wassurprised recently when I realized that all the worst problems wefaced in our startup were due not to competitors, but investors.Dealing with competitors was easy by comparison. Angel Investors Angels are individual rich people. Infact, the more prominent the angel, the less likely they are tobelong to a group.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

Up and Running

JUNE 25, 2014

More and more lenders are now coming in, and alternative lenders and companies like SmartBiz, are coming in and making this process much more … Using technology to make the process faster and easier. I think that the team from Palo Alto Software, I think I saw some partners that are in this area that just focus on that early stage business.

Small Business 89

Small Business SBA Finance Bankruptcy 89

Berkonomics

JANUARY 9, 2014

He is Director of the Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurism and Business Ethics, and Chairman Emeritus of the Tech Coast Angels, the largest angel group in the United States. Nowhere is this more evident than with the issues related to business partners. You need to ask the question: Why do I need a partner?

Partner 114

Partner Technical Review Due Diligence CPA 114

David Teten

FEBRUARY 3, 2014

The venture capital industry is continuing its evolution from an upside-down pyramid (typically 3-10 Partners, plus some administrative support) to a traditional hierarchical pyramid. The median VC reviews 87 opportunities before making 1 investment. Annual Deal Pipeline for Selected VCs and Angel Investor Groups.

Private Equity 114

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Equity 114

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

I recently wrote a post on angel financing covering the topic of convertible notes but I realized I was thinking about the issue more from investor perspective and a very narrow topic of how to price the round. Existing tech or industry executives - Do you have strong relationships in your industry? That’s OK.

Silicon Valley 291

Silicon Valley Ireland Technical Review Valuation 291

David Teten

APRIL 29, 2014

According to the National Venture Capital Association/Dow Jones VentureSource, the VC industry is dominated by men (89% of VC Partners), specifically white men (76% of the total). Of all VC Partners studied, just 10% identified as Asian, 1% as African-American, and less than 1% as Latino.

Venture Capital 114

Venture Capital Los Angeles Cofounder Technical Review 114

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

As the former co-founder and CEO of two technology companies, Caroline has experienced both start-up failures and successes, and has raised close to $1 million in investment capital. Make sure you’ve done the due diligence on all of these areas of your business. That’s really the purpose of the pitch.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Software Review Due Diligence Exit Strategy 60

Austin Startup

JUNE 26, 2019

We tried, and opted out of, potentials for pivots; we pitched for game-changing partners and acquisitions that did not ultimately convert. We pitched everyone from Angels to partners at Andreessen Horowitz on Sand Hill Road. We got real close a couple of times to great investment partners. So, we worked to raise capital.

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup B2C Sweat Equity 54

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? Numerous thoughtful people are worried about how technological disruption will destroy jobs.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Partner Technical Review Cofounder 60