VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

A founder asked me what makes a $2M round “pre-seed”? especially if the startup already has a product and revenue? And why do we still sometimes hear about pre-seed rounds that look more like a series A in pricing and size? Defining the pre-seed round It’s futile to look for ‘one true’ definition.

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

View from Seed

MAY 24, 2021

You have an authentic passion for startups and a deep respect for entrepreneurship. You will spend the rest of your time working alongside the partners throughout the investment process – analyzing investment opportunities, assisting in market research and diligence, and post-investment portfolio support. You are hungry.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Software Review Seed Stage Cofounder 120

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

As a result of the IPO window shifting we saw a massive inflow of public-market capital into the latest stages of venture. The reality is that as a result of two major trends the costs of starting a technology startup went down massively. The “A Round” of my startup in 1999 was $16.5

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage IPO 328

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 7, 2016

With countless roadblocks along the way, it’s not uncommon for a startup to falter to the point of folding before it has ever reached even the simplest of business goals. The rub is that a startup likely has the ideas to take it straight to the top, but it’s also likely that the company lacks the business skills to make it truly successful.

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Incubator Asia 100

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

Free Template for Great Startup Pitch Decks, Direct from VCs. How to Sell Your Startup’s “Secret” Master Plan at the Seed Stage “Articulating and selling your long run vision is important, but trying to convince those that are deeply skeptical about it is simply a mutual waste of time.”

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

You have a strong network in the NYC startup ecosystem that is additive to our team. You have an authentic passion for startups and a deep respect for entrepreneurship. You have an edge in the highly competitive world of early stage investing that comes from some combination of your experience, industry knowledge, and personal network.

Technical Review 156

Technical Review North America Seed Stage Bandwidth 156

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

If you haven’t raised any money or if you raised a small round from angels or friends & family I would suggest you avoid setting up a formal board unless the people who would join your board are deeply experienced at sitting on startup boards. especially at the earliest stages but if you can avoid it I would recommend it.

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Startup Angel Investor Silicon Valley 236

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 25, 2024

We must #BRINGTHEMHOME It’s been a slower news week in Israeli startups due to the holidays of Sukkot and Simchat Torah. Way to go Raz Zohar and team Mave on your $2 pre-seed for your AI Assistant for the Real Estate Industry! creator economy startups fell nearly 16% to $253.1 Funding for U.S. million in Q3 year over year.

Israel 78

Israel Generative AI Taiwan Arizona 78

Mucker Lab

OCTOBER 10, 2023

SDR Strategy & Model Checklist In the intricate world of sales development, finding the balance between art and science is crucial for a startup's success. Instead, identifying a narrow target market and focusing efforts there is key, especially for startups with limited resources.

Early Stage 78

Early Stage Sales Developer Development Team Review 78

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 31, 2023

At the time Melania was in discussions with Ethena about joining the startup as VP People, happily employed at a larger company but knowing she wanted new challenges. Hunter Walk: One of my favorite things to do for founders is speaking with people who are considering joining their startup. In my opinion, this is a hugely risky move.

Employee 117

Employee Startup Vertical Leadership 117

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 22, 2024

This is not only helpful for startups and investors who are actively deploying in those sectors, but also to founders at the beginning of their journeys who are looking for ‘requests for startups’ or problem areas worth diving into. I chose to focus on 5 areas that are particularly relevant to us at Remagine Ventures.

Generative AI 78

Generative AI Technical Review Vertical Government 78

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 21, 2023

This is a question startup founders ask themselves multiple times a week. They encompass the effectiveness of marketing (the startup’s ability to reach and resonate with target customers) and stickiness (the product’s ability to deliver value to customers over time). How are we doing?

Retention 109

Retention Conversion Churn Rate B2C 109

View from Seed

JANUARY 28, 2015

In the last six months, we’ve been asked and answered several key questions about seed-stage startups and raising seed capital. All we do is seed — we focus on it, we want to be the best seed partner, and we obsess over helping startups through that first, formative 18-24 month period.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Seed Capital IPO Startup 120

The Equity Kicker

DECEMBER 5, 2013

As I’ve written before here at Forward Partners we work with entrepreneurs to help them launch and scale their companies in two different ways. Right now we’re looking to invest in up to two amazing new entrepreneurs or founding teams at that true startup stage. Both sides are free to walk away.

Partner 117

Partner Software Review eCommerce Due Diligence 117

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

We also now have a dedicated page for exploring our platform of resources focused on helping startups gain traction, found here. We only make a small number of investments each year per partner so that we can be hands-on. – We are seed investors. The home page and the NextView blog are good starting points to explore.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Startup Portfolio Institutional Investors 120

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. However, our overall goal is to invest in the full spectrum of seed. Belief #1: The best time to invest is early.

North America 120

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 120

View from Seed

APRIL 16, 2015

The fact that at least a few customers (and one channel partner) would sign on with such a rudimentary product was an interesting indication that the question above would be solvable for this business. As Fred once told me, “The most common mistake I see startup founders make is building too much software too early.”

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Cofounder Early Stage Startup 120

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. Partners leave the industry. Here’s my take: 1.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

View from Seed

APRIL 2, 2015

.” So it’s no wonder that one aspect of an early-stage startup’s existence can be perpetually up for debate: their graphic design. But startups need to make tradeoffs, so the question is really, Does polished design matter, or should we focus on other things for now? What a great thing to happen to a startup!)

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Design Startup Early Stage 120

Agile VC

DECEMBER 13, 2011

How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. I often tell these entrepreneurs that I genuinely hope they prove us wrong, and are wildly successful with their startup. In NextView’s case that’s seed stage internet and software companies. How To Think About The Future.

Seed Stage 185

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Cofounder Technical Review 185

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

We’ve also worked with our Partner, Dana Kibler who is also our CFO for nearly 20 years. Obviously the funding environment has changed considerably in 2022 but as early-stage investors our daily jobs stay largely unchanged. When we invest, we commit to being long-term partners to our portfolio and we take that responsibility seriously.

San Francisco 408

San Francisco Early Stage Venture Capital Los Angeles 408

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup.

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

The Next Web

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

George Deeb is the Managing Partner at Chicago-based Red Rocket Ventures , a startup consulting and financial advisory firm based in Chicago. There are a lot of variables to go into calculating a fair equity split a startup team. You can follow George on Twitter at @georgedeeb and @RedRocketVC.

Cofounder 136

Cofounder Equity Founder Seed Stage 136

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 25, 2015

A few weeks ago, we launched two startup pitch deck templates for raising seed capital — part of NextView’s platform of exclusive startup resources. 5 Surprising Mistakes Found in Seed-Stage Startup Pitch Decks. #1: You lose the forest thanks to all those damn trees. “THIS is why we exist.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Seed Stage Boston Startup 120

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

There’s been a lot of digital ink spilled around the various types of capital available to startups today. At NextView, for instance, one of our more popular posts centers on atypical seed rounds to know. As a startup grows, venture debt becomes a viable option to continue that growth. What are some pros and cons?

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

The Next Web

OCTOBER 23, 2013

There aren’t a tonne of funds focused on seed-stage funding worldwide, but we can add a new one to the list today. SparkLabs , the company behind the accelerator program in Korea , is expanding its scope with its first seed-stage fund that will “help great startups go global.”.

Seed Stage 139

Seed Stage Asia Israel Silicon Valley 139

SiliconHills

JULY 12, 2014

Comfy, a startup that helps students find housing, received $600,000 in seed stage funding last week. The Austin-based company received the money from a group of investors led by Mike Lee, partner at Dominion Ventures. The round also included prominent angel investors and Austin Ventures. Austin Comfy RentComfy.com'

Seed Stage 97

Seed Stage Austin Angel Investor Mobile 97

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup.

Angel Investor 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

View from Seed

JANUARY 13, 2021

But 1) many of the best companies were created by rookie founders and 2) there are legitimate reasons why an experienced founder who could raise a large series A might choose a right-sized seed for better alignment, optionality, and early support. Today, multiple rounds are often raised, due to the atomization of the seed space.

Dilution 399

Dilution Later Stage Portfolio Technical Review 399

View from Seed

OCTOBER 21, 2014

As the seed-stage startup fundraise process has received more transparency in recent years, ranging from published advice on how to raise seed capital to increased availability through AngelList, Funders Club, and various accelerator programs, I’ve noticed another trend emerging. Market Value.

Valuation 336

Valuation Founder Seed Stage Angel Investor 336

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 18, 2019

Brooklyn Bridge Ventures , the pre-seed and seed stage VC fund I run in NYC, has invested in 64 companies in the last six and a half years. All were backed based on the sole criteria that they had the potential to make my limited partners a lot of money. Twenty-five of them have at least one female co-founder.

Venture Capital 165

Venture Capital Portfolio Cofounder Seed Stage 165

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 16, 2021

Out of hundreds of applications, we selected six pre-seed stage teams building companies shaping a brighter collective future by combining software and creativity to drive change in the lives of everyday people — their businesses include everything from empowering local main street businesses to making automobile insurance more accessible.

Seed Stage 285

Seed Stage Programming Finance B2B 285

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 9, 2019

*This post is part of our “pitch deck” series where we dissect the seed stage pitch deck and discuss the ideal flow for a pitch. After 12 years of hearing startup pitches, my favorite first 5 minutes came from John Katzman, the founder of 2U. You can read the rest of the posts in the series by clicking here *.

Southern California 159

Southern California Phoenix Technical Review Seed Stage 159

VC Adventure

FEBRUARY 7, 2019

It’s interesting to note that the majority of these new funds are focused on Seed stage investing (not surprising if you follow the market, although investments at the Seed and Seed + stages have started to decline quite a bit from their peak a few years ago). Get involved in your community. Participate.

Venture Capital 103

Venture Capital Seed Stage Angel Groups Portfolio 103

Agile VC

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Startup IPO Market: A Fickle Mistress. What will happen for the startup IPO market? I co-founded NextView Ventures , a seed-stage VC firm based in Boston, in 2010. My partner @ LeeHower looks back: [link] 5 days ago Search.

IPO 100

IPO Marketing Silicon Valley Private Equity 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

Everyone has their own definition of momentum (user numbers, revenue, channel partners, biz dev deals, whatever). If you save the punch line that you’re from the industry, did CS at MIT, worked for 3 startups, whatever, then they don’t have that powerful knowledge as part of their evaluation set.

Early Stage 360

Early Stage Startup Venture Capital Seed Stage 360

View from Seed

DECEMBER 6, 2018

And seed VCs, especially as new firms were being established, were eager to encourage their portfolio startups to plant that flag in the ground publicly. It seemed like every other TechCrunch post was announcing a startups’s new seed financing round. Seed stage companies just aren’t announcing their rounds anymore.

Seed Stage 201

Seed Stage Stealth Seed Capital Later Stage 201