Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Our guest this week on #TWiVC was Dana Settle , partner at Greycroft Partners , a venture capital firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Current round: $35mm in Series C (extension of Series B at higher valuation) from General Atlantic, Matrix Partners. Note that I’m not defining who numbers 1,2 are. Time will tell.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

VC Adventure

MAY 21, 2014

A few months ago AngelList announced Syndicates – enabling investors on AngelList to create fund-like groups of investors to invest together in AngelList companies (following a single lead investor). It’s a great idea and at Foundry we quickly decided it would be an interesting experiment to form our own syndicate.

Syndicate 48

Syndicate Syndication Technical Review Due Diligence 48

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

Most of these rhyme with what we’ve said in the past, but some have also evolved to fit the changing landscape and our own convictions about what really matters for founders and their investors at the seed stage. Instead, it’s more of a Manifesto about the core beliefs that shape our strategy. Belief #1: The best time to invest is early.

North America 120

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 120

View from Seed

JANUARY 13, 2021

The objection goes something like this: “yes, I can see rookie founders turning to you for a seed round. But won’t all good founders go to established firms that raise series A’s out of the gate?”. And quite a few founders make the choice to do YC first rather than raise a traditional seed or pre-seed round.

Dilution 399

Dilution Later Stage Portfolio Technical Review 399

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 20, 2024

On the other hand, I feel things are a lot more predictable on the fund side—and that getting limited partners for your fund or syndicate is a lot more grounded in something that resembles logic. Perhaps you run a widely syndicated startup newsletter where the best companies have been subscribers for years.

Deal Flow 147

Deal Flow Syndicate Syndication Cap Table 147

View from Seed

MAY 29, 2019

Historically, seed rounds were syndicated among several different firms. These funds would regularly share deal flow with one another and could share the work in supporting founders and helping to push the company forward. Today, we are seeing less syndication of seed rounds and sharper elbows among many of the funds in the market.

Syndicate 267

Syndicate Syndication Cofounder Cap Table 267

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. By tying payments to actual revenues, founders and investors remain aligned around the company’s real-time performance, good or bad.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

View from Seed

OCTOBER 21, 2014

Sharing these pricing expectations early with potential lead investors fundamentally qualifies your conversations, but it also runs the risk of prematurely losing a potential financing partner, or else it can reduce options to maximize your fundraise outcome. And as my partner Rob Go likes to say, “Time kills all deals.”).

Valuation 336

Valuation Founder Seed Stage Angel Investor 336

Agile VC

DECEMBER 13, 2011

I looked at this founder’s prior startup, which ultimately had a successful exit, and then was happy to connect with him again as he launches a new project. My partners and I at NextView know we’ll be wrong a decent chunk of the time, especially as seed stage investors. What’s Your Favorite Future? Previous Entries.

Seed Stage 185

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Cofounder Technical Review 185

David Teten

JULY 12, 2017

First, a formal definition: According to Capital Dynamics , “Co-investments are direct investments in a company made alongside and on the same terms as a lead [General Partner]. We see our potential coinvestors in four primary buckets: 1) HOF Capital ’s own limited partners. 2) Investors with very specific value-add. Economic benefit.

Syndicate 60

Syndicate Syndication Institutional Investors LP 60

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

All of my partners at Upfront do. Another founder … “When I pitched the idea to Adam, he was super on board,” Mr. Sloyan said. If anything it felt like a public service to founders to me. We fund 10-12 companies per year at Upfront where I’m a partner. The right ones are invaluable additions.

Cap Table 150

Cap Table Cofounder Silicon Valley Startup 150

Agile VC

JULY 11, 2012

Some disgruntled younger partners left to go start a new firm in 1965 called Greylock. Some disgruntled younger partners left in the 90s to form what is now Redpoint Ventures (IT team) and Versant Ventures (healthcare team). Big success was Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), in which ARD invested about $2.1M

Silicon Valley 240

Silicon Valley Carried Interest Cofounder Boston 240

Hunter Walker

APRIL 10, 2014

But he’s raised the largest syndicate on AngelList , turning himself effectively into a one-man fund for, if not the masses, at least the 270 people who have already committed nearly $3.4m AngelList syndicate has surprised some people, you’ve been angel investing for quite a while, right? penchina#syndicate.

Syndicate 125

Syndicate Syndication Hiring Cofounder 125

View from Seed

JUNE 10, 2020

of teams’ online pitch decks and recorded videos, as well as loved the dozens of second-round video conversations which we had with Founders working on quite compelling startups. Many of these Founders we wouldn’t have had an opportunity to connect with if we hadn’t launched this program.

Cofounder 177

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Alabama 177

VC Cafe

JANUARY 24, 2021

In a world without cookies, we’ll see smart alternatives to targeting that avoid cookies altogether: contextual targeting, time-based targeting, and using syndicated and custom audiences, according to the 2021 media trends and predictions by Kantar. I’m excited to back the founders that are building the future in this space.

Technical Review 207

Technical Review Audio Forecast Social Media 207

Steve Blank

JUNE 6, 2016

The show follows the journeys of founders who share what it takes to build a startup – from restaurants to rocket scientists, to online gifts to online groceries and more. Evangelos Simoudis’ is the founder and managing director of Synapse Partners. If you can’t hear the clip, click here. If you can’t hear the clip, click here.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Fractional CTO Analytics 120

Agile VC

JANUARY 4, 2012

Founders Hardi Meybaum and Indrek Narusk originally started building the company in their native Estonia before moving to Boston to join the hub of SaaS / CAD software companies located here. In addition to compelling founders, we were drawn to the company by their vision for a professional community for mechanical engineers and designers.

Community 100

Community Estonia Syndicate Syndication 100

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 21, 2014

For current founders, in our hyper-pressurized worlds of being incubated, accelerated, and constantly switching modes between pitching and executing, how do we successfully navigate the labyrinth to success? Now, how do we become successful founders? by Melissa Thompson, CEO of TalkSession. There is no time like the present.

Entrepreneur 210

Entrepreneur Startup Non-Compete Balance Sheet 210

View from Seed

AUGUST 26, 2015

And if you just want to learn about different types of angels and what motivates each, my partner David has written about that before here.). They also want to help founders and want their products and services to exist. There are a lot of options to expand your deal sourcing, like AngelList, syndicates, angel groups, etc.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Angel Investor Software Review Silicon Valley 120

View from Seed

AUGUST 26, 2015

And if you just want to learn about different types of angels and what motivates each, my partner David has written about that before here.). They also want to help founders and want their products and services to exist. There are a lot of options to expand your deal sourcing, like AngelList, syndicates, angel groups, etc.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Angel Investor Software Review Silicon Valley 120

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

The other day I was with the founders of Vidme – Warren Shaeffer and Alex Benzer – who are two of my most favorite founders to work with almost precisely because their behavior is antithetical to the frenzied market behavior. partners and now principals making investments that number is the right-sized fit for our firm.

Software Review 150

Software Review Turkey Portfolio Syndicate 150

David Teten

JANUARY 11, 2020

They’re taking a $1m check from me, or giving $5m to me as a limited partner. We market to four populations: High-potential founders. Other coinvestors: Limited partners, other VCs who are coinvestors, private equity funds which are potential growth-stage investors, etc. Jourdan Urbach, Managing Partner of Brandt & Co.

Social Media 60

Social Media Technical Review Media Private Equity 60

View from Seed

AUGUST 30, 2019

One of the key conversations that happens during NextView’s evaluation of an investment is the “debrief” after the partner meeting , where the entire partnership gets the opportunity to interact with the founding team and dive deeper into the business. . how much the company is raising, valuation expectations, round/syndicate dynamics, etc.).

Pre-Money Valuation 174

Pre-Money Valuation Syndicate Syndication Valuation 174

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 5, 2019

Earlier this year, my partners and I at NextView invested in Boston-based Marlo to help address this work meeting suckiness. Marlo founders Ankith Harathi and John Keck decided to found Marlo in 2018, after meeting as students in the Harvard MS/MBA Program, where they are completing both an MBA and a Masters in Computer Science.

Seed Capital 222

Seed Capital Syndicate Syndication .Net 222

View from Seed

MAY 3, 2022

I’ve had the privilege of joining Flyp’s Founders, James Kawas and Dani Arnaout , on their journey; my tenure on the company’s board started a year ago in leading their seed round of financing and will continue going forward.

Syndicate 156

Syndicate Syndication IPO Matching 156

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

Most of these rhyme with what we’ve said in the past, but some have also evolved to fit the changing landscape and our own convictions about what really matters for founders and their investors at the seed stage. Instead, it’s more of a Manifesto about the core beliefs that shape our strategy. Belief #1: The best time to invest is early.

North America 36

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 36

Brandanew

APRIL 22, 2016

As a Content Marketer, your content piece can be syndicated across all these top publisher sites, for a very nominal Cost-per-Click thereby increasing the reach of your post. It has signed some big names like Forbes, Newsweek, and Heavy.com onto its roster of publisher partners where content can be recommended. Content.ad. StackAdapt.

Advertising 100

Advertising Distribution Marketing New York City 100

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

But in business, you want a lot of partners. In the private equity universe, most Partners have primary training as deal-makers, not as managers. See Bessemer Venture Partners’ A comprehensive guide to security for startups. Cobalt for General Partners helps GPs to optimize their fundraising strategy. 1) Manage the firm

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

View from Seed

AUGUST 16, 2019

Is a Founder raising a new round well in advance of cash-out date because she sees an opportunity to put more gas in the tank ahead of what current underlying business metrics would suggest (i.e. But in many situations my partners and I ask ourselves, are folks here acting out of either fear or greed?

Term Sheet 149

Term Sheet Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 149

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2023

For me, I have at least two years of active board and observer commitments to roll off of and far more time before all the founders I’ve backed hit (or miss, I suppose) their ultimate goal of returning lots of money to their investors. No more founder pitch meetings. It has been a career that fits my personality well.

Later Stage 218

Later Stage Venture Capital Term Sheet Limited Partner 218

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

What is it, and how should founders think about it? note: We’d like to be extra clear that founders should not take on venture debt if they don’t have 100% visibility into repaying the loan, as banks that need to recoup their loan my force the company or you as the guarantor into liquidation or bankruptcy.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 3, 2020

The partner at the fund, the VC, gets to do the fun part—the meeting with founders, vetting deals, negotiating, helping, etc. Access to the partner. If you’ve put money into a fund, I think it’s reasonable to expect that partner to check out the deal flow that you find on your own, and let you know what they think.

Portfolio 134

Portfolio Syndicate Syndication Deal Flow 134

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

We were trying to optimize around a few criteria: price, size of round, number of syndicate partners and, of course, terms. My co-founder and other management team members wanted us to hold off and see whether we could get the deal done at a higher price. You need your key negotiating partner and both sets of lawyers.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

Hunter Walker

MAY 19, 2014

And it hasn’t been a special situation such as the founder as an EIR at said fund, or having been previously backed by that fund at earlier company. d) AngelList Syndicates : I haven’t seen any Syndicate take the entirety of a seed round yet but I’m sure it’ll happen. Are These Rounds Good for Founders?

Seed Stage 101

Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication Founder 101

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

Kayak was started here in my backyard of Boston… co-founder & CTO Paul English and the product/engineering team is based here in Concord MA. Co-founder & CEO Steve Hafner and the business team are based in Norwalk, CT. Led by General Catalyst with participation by co-founders Steve Hafner & Paul English.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

VC Adventure

JANUARY 19, 2024

Over the course of Foundry, we deliberately structured our work in a way that reflected this goal, keeping our organization small and each of the Foundry partners closer to the portfolio (both the companies each of us was responsible for, but also across the portfolio more broadly). It was, and continues to be, an amazing journey.

Portfolio 72

Portfolio Syndicate Syndication Cofounder 72

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

The founders felt that having a legitimate site for content would discourage Silicon Valley VC’s from funding entrepreneurs to create the next big TV killer. I might talk openly about how Hulu is my partner, while simultaneously launching an iPad player before hulu does (as ABC did) – even when I’m a shareholder.

Video 292

Video Technical Review Advertising Distribution 292