Haystack

JULY 12, 2019

Now that there are so many new companies started, so much money in the ecosystem, and new types of funds out there, deal velocity is increasing. To find signal in all the noise of that deal flow stream, “who” the source is certainly matters. But, then again, introductions can be a dime a dozen.

Early Stage 72

Early Stage Deal Flow Technical Review Social Media 72

ConversionXL

JULY 25, 2017

Software businesses have a conversion problem that’s both getting worse and going mostly unsolved. Though the topic of mobile conversion rates of ecommerce websites is often broaches, it’s rare we talk about SaaS or B2B. Mobile traffic’s conversion rate is, at best, a third of desktop for software businesses.

B2B 77

B2B Mobile Analytics Deal Flow 77

Steve Blank

MAY 7, 2009

In exchange, these VCs/companies get early looks at new deal flow and offer aspiring entrepreneurs feedback and advice on their business plan. For those of you who don’t know, business plan competitions are held by universities who get their students to enter and compete to see who has the best business idea.

Business Plan 160

Business Plan Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital 160

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2021

So my advice boils down to these simple points: Make sure you see tons of deals. Don’t rush to do deals. Almost certainly the quality of your deal flow will improve over time as will your ability to distinguish the best deals I also am personally a huge fan of focus.

Angel Investor 301

Angel Investor Deal Flow Portfolio Forecast 301

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

Deal Flow I often talk about how I think the best VCs “ play offense ,” by which I mean proactive go out and find a market segment or niche that they uniquely know, can uniquely serve or have some other natural advantage and go out and find deals you like. Deal flow and winning will drive change faster than any other outcome.

Founder 256

Founder San Francisco Deal Flow Los Angeles 256

thebarefootvc

JULY 3, 2017

Over the past month, Silicon Valley has been at the forefront of many conversations outside of the technology world. This tends to reinforce the lack of diversity in deal flow. Unfortunately not for groundbreaking technology, but for rampant sexual harassment and predatory behavior.

LP 65

LP Technical Review Silicon Valley Limited Partner 65

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2021

A true industry luminary will help in deal flow & differentiation . These folks are rare, expensive, and often have multiple side obligations (book deals, speaking engagements, etc.). Build a network of on-call domain experts, who will have short conversations with portfolio management, typically at no cost. .

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 19, 2017

Several conversations over the last month have turned to the topic of helping entrepreneurs. Those folks may be hired in vertical specialties, and the larger and more successful incubators have enough deal flow to keep their agendas filled. As you probably know, I prefer advising founders in long, immersive engagements.

Incubator 48

Incubator Vertical Deal Flow Technical Review 48

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

She answered, ‘We see a lot of deals.’ I said we had a lot of deal flow. Chris Dixon, Partner, A16Z, observes , “Success in VC is probably 10% about picking, and 90% about sourcing the right deals and having entrepreneurs choose your firm as a partner”. Kushim manages your deal flow and track portfolio performance.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

Part 1 – Access to Great Deal Flow – is here. Most people think that being a successful investor is about finding the right deals and nurturing the teams through the difficult times to come out with a great company. This is the fifth & final (I promise!) Access to buyers – I saved the least obvious for last.

Silicon Valley 280

Silicon Valley Early Stage Portfolio Chad 280

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

When you get a Chris Sacca, or a Dave Morin, or a Chris Dixon on board first, it’s going to lead to a lot of deal flow.&# Vaynerchuk’s deal breakers include entrepreneurs who lack passion, ideas that are “10 minutes too late&# and ideas that aren’t mainstream enough.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80

Haystack

JULY 4, 2019

I don’t think it matters what the obligation is — but rather — it’s an opportunity for the founders to supply their most passionate early supporters with information and ammunition to infuse into our conversations with downstream investors, potential candidates, and potential angels and BD prospects.

Early Stage 167

Early Stage Deal Flow Finance Metrics 167

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

Might as well cut off our conversation and just restart it 48 hours later on camera for This Week in VC. I believe AngelList is capable of managing deal flow by acting as a filter. I personally like meeting teams very early on and wish I could get more proprietary deal flow from it. So I thought, WTF?

Valuation 292

Valuation Deal Flow Lead Investor Cofounder 292

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

The best introductions come from people who have brought good deal flows to investors in the past. Only comment when you’ll be adding value and relevance to the conversation. Identify the strongest “in” to the particular investor. This often means not jumping on the first person who can introduce you.

Due Diligence 161

Due Diligence Venture Capital Deal Flow Social Media 161

Genuine VC

JULY 6, 2011

VCs are triaging their own incoming deal flow, traveling, or are booked up on their calendar for the next couple weeks. Peace of mind in that an entrepreneur shouldn’t worry early-on that a term sheet isn’t forthcoming after one conversation.

Term Sheet 150

Term Sheet Deal Flow Venture Capital Conversion 150

ConversionXL

AUGUST 2, 2017

The result of this conversation should be complete clarity regarding the opportunities and challenges the partnership will bring. Worst case scenario in the partner’s’ eyes: “lack of transparency and lack of deal flow and lukewarm leads that never turn into anything.”. Is there market appetite for our joint offer?

Channel 84

Channel Partner Programming B2B 84

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 4, 2017

Building out your own network of other Angel or Seed investors increases the quality of your deal flow. Getting you into better deals, and potentially on better terms. And that alone should be worth the effort of a few conversations and phone calls. In addition to that very few startups only raise once.

Pre-Money Valuation 187

Pre-Money Valuation Seed Stage IP Deal Flow 187

ConversionXL

AUGUST 2, 2017

The result of this conversation should be complete clarity regarding the opportunities and challenges the partnership will bring. Worst case scenario in the partner’s’ eyes: “lack of transparency and lack of deal flow and lukewarm leads that never turn into anything.”. Is there market appetite for our joint offer?

Channel 77

Channel Partner Programming B2B 77

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

As for the percent of my deal flow that is BIPOC, I would say maybe about 20% or so, but I’m honestly not sure, since I don’t intentionally look up any photos as part of the initial pitch process and not everyone includes them. This is lazy, sexist, and racist—and also stupid because it has no provable impact on deal flow quality.

Venture Capital 178

Venture Capital Cofounder Deal Flow Later Stage 178

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 31, 2012

Incubators take pride in how exclusive they are and how many "deals" they "reject." Angels and VCs, of course, discard most of their "deal flow." I have had numerous conversations with Sridhar over the years, and each time he reinforces the same basic philosophy: "I want to build this without outside capital.

Entrepreneur 134

Entrepreneur Deal Flow Finance Incubator 134

View from Seed

JANUARY 30, 2020

If you have a strong relationship with a founder that a VC has backed, that is usually the best intro you can get to kick off conversations with the investor. Speaking to founders that an investor has worked before tends to work best at the very beginning of the process or right at the end.

Due Diligence 195

Due Diligence Partner Term Sheet Finance 195

The Startup Magazine

JULY 16, 2018

FUND is a national connector of entrepreneurs, VCs, angel investors, and industry experts with a focus on deal flow and making connections. The conversation around kids and technology is relevant and rising. The Austin conference was the inaugural Texas event after several successful Chicago FUND Conference events.

Startup 108

Startup Texas Angel Investor Mobile 108

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

Yesterday, I sat in a conversation with a potential investor in Brooklyn Bridge Ventures and he asked me "How do you get dealflow?". To be a good VC, you're going to offer up a lot of time to companies that may never pay back a dime--or even to deals you never wind up doing. There's no magic flow of great deal flow.

Venture Capital 107

Venture Capital Deal Flow Europe Early Stage 107

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 18, 2019

Not a one—and through conversations with other seed funds I know, this is pretty widespread. Not only that—these people are doing all sorts of different kinds of deals—and you don’t do deals without deal flow.

Prospectus 135

Prospectus Startup .Net Deal Flow 135

K9 Ventures

DECEMBER 10, 2011

Before CardMunch even launched its product, I ran into some folks from LinkedIn at an event and in casual conversation mentioned what CardMunch was trying to do. Again a casual conversation transpired. It’s a simple density/deal flow issue.

Silicon Valley 124

Silicon Valley San Jose Portfolio Cofounder 124

www.seriesseed.com

DECEMBER 9, 2012

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post. I've not studied them yet, but at first glance I can see some really slick technologies being transferred into a Newco with these basic terms, and funding a lot more deal flow. TrackBack URL for this entry: [link]. This is great!

Finance 40

Finance Term Sheet Vesting LLC 40

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 16, 2024

If you’re trying to break into venture, the top recruit is expected to hit the ground running—to already have deal flow because they’re regularly talking to top performers. What good is hiring someone whose only conversations with rising stars happen because they just joined a fund?

Founder 88

Founder Bandwidth Deal Flow B2B 88

K9 Ventures

DECEMBER 10, 2011

Before CardMunch even launched its product, I ran into some folks from LinkedIn at an event and in casual conversation mentioned what CardMunch was trying to do. Again a casual conversation transpired. It’s a simple density/deal flow issue.

Silicon Valley 112

Silicon Valley San Jose Portfolio Cofounder 112

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 8, 2018

At a minimum, IWD and the organizations and individuals celebrating it will spark action, continue existing conversations, and force new ones. The idea there is that “the dynamics will change when capital flows equally to any talented founder, no matter his or her gender, race, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic.”

Deal Flow 70

Deal Flow Open Source Venture Capital Networking 70

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 9, 2015

It’s also been fun – a great way to get close to new managers, build lasting personal relationships, and see deal flow for our Foundry Group investing activity. The conversation around AvidXchange brought to light the magnitude of the opportunity we have to invest in interesting companies outside of our early stage portfolio.

Later Stage 70

Later Stage Early Stage Advisory Board Deal Flow 70

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 4, 2018

Is it better to avoid the subject or to have those difficult conversations? I know I get deal flow because founders want an investor who is going to be direct and tell them what they think—about anything. In fact, I know it has.

Arkansas 105

Arkansas Cofounder Limited Partner Algorithm 105

Austin Startup

JANUARY 28, 2020

that’s a full third of our deal flow in our first full year of operation. The money is flowing in Dallas too?—?our Capital Factory Doubles Down on Houston was originally published in Austin Startups on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story. It’s working?—?40

Houston 86

Houston San Antonio Fort Worth Dallas 86

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Crave Retail (Austin, TX) Matthew Cyr, CEO Crave is a SaaS platform purpose-built to enhance the fitting rooms of premium enterprise retailers with modern digital experiences and analytics to optimize conversion opportunities. Investors connect with Techstars to gain access to quality deal flow.

Austin 62

Austin Curation Startup Dallas 62

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 23, 2019

He’s also the founder of Converse Digital , and he’s got a new course that he’s been working on called Turning Conversations Into Customers: The Sales Prospecting Method for People Who Hate Sales Prospecting. Everybody always says it like converse, like the tennis shoes, so thank you for that. Tom Martin: Hey.

Sales 74

Sales Conversion Social Media Networking 74

Version One Ventures

JANUARY 31, 2024

If you start a new fund, you need to be clearly differentiated: what’s your unique insight into a specific opportunity, your unique network that generates deal flow, your unique value proposition that gets you into deals? Too many funds are still pitching themes that aren’t fresh (e.g. generalist focus, operator background).

LP 72

LP Differentiation Deal Flow India 72

Haystack

APRIL 10, 2018

We’ve heard this trope below, but the data does show it and in the last year, this is what I’ve observed — it’s easy to the pre-seed round, but then folks line up to pitch the best seed funds, but those seed funds are drowning in deal flow from the pre-seed funnel.

Seed Stage 60

Seed Stage San Francisco Ratchet Silicon Valley 60

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

“When I look at Index, Danny, Jan, Mike, Shardul or myself all have very different superpowers and ways to go about our jobs - but the one thing we have in common is the output of having been in the right conversation at the right time and pulling the trigger on some big decisions when they weren’t obvious or consensual.”

Non-Compete 97

Non-Compete Cofounder Cap Table Reputation 97