Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Picking a VC is hard. So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. Most VCs are book smart. VCs should be more of a coach than proscriptively telling you what to do. You want a VC who will spar with you but then STFU and let you get on with things.

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Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I was having dinner with a friend last night and we were chatting about venture capital and a bit about what I’ve learned. Angels have been prolific for years now and they, too, rely on downstream money to cover their bets. If an accelerator is writing you they’re also writing 25 other VCs. I don’t.

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Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

We’ve been dying to tell you all for a while that we had raised a new venture capital fund and of course given SEC filing requirements the story was somewhat already scooped by the always-in-the-know Dan Primack a few weeks ago. If you want to understand how the VC industry is changing there is a great primer in the link.

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Venture Capital Funding Technical Review Startup 396

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 10, 2018

Jason Rowley is a venture capital and technology reporter for Crunchbase News. The SaaS VC gap: China & other markets trail the US. Early-stage SaaS VC slip snaps recovery as public software stocks soar. Places like Boston, NYC and Los Angeles, among others, are perhaps just as well-known. Contributor.

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Venture Capital SaaS News Los Angeles 231

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? How our VC Firms Like Ours Organizing to Meet the Challenges?

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Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

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.

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Venture Capital Invest Seed Funding Startup 328

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

I always tell founders … “An investors job is to deploy capital and make a return. The typical VC process is as follows: They say there are three rules in property: Location, location, location. Of course there’s no exact number of VCs you should meet?—?these Same with VC. these are simply guidelines. To be clear?—?your

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Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 26, 2020

The Los Angeles startup community is joining the rest of the world in mourning the death of NBA superstar, entrepreneur and investor Kobe Bryant who was killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif., Bryant launched his venture career with partner and serial entrepreneur Jeff Stibel back in 2013, according to Crunchbase.

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Venture Capital Los Angeles Legalzoom Calabasas 359

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

No VC will be so naive as not to see straight through it. When I first became a VC, seed rounds were typically $500k – $1.5 When I first became a VC, seed rounds were typically $500k – $1.5 If you''re newer to VC math here''s a great primer]. So VCs started writing some smaller A-rounds. Nobody cares.

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Seed Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 399

socalTECH

MARCH 29, 2019

MiLA Capital , the venture capital firm that is behind the Make In LA hardware accelerator, says it has raised its first official venture capital fund, officially closing its first fundraise. Source of the funding for the new venture capital fund was not announced. Size of the fund was not announced.

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Capital Funding Startup Venture Capital 191

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. In 2010 somebody posed the question on Quora, “Is Mark Suster a Successful Venture Capitalist?” “I think the best VCs help drive exits alongside their entrepreneurs. 5 years ago.

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Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

If you track the venture capital industry it would be hard to miss the conversation going on this week over AngelList “Syndicates.” My favorite new VC blogger, Hunter Walk, weighed in with some thoughtful comments about how Syndicates might actually pit, “ angel vs. angel.” Bowery Capital).

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Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

Cincinnati, like many startup communities in the US over the past 5 years, has revitalized important regions in its urban core, created accelerators, built co-working facilities, pooled together angel capital, attracted VCs, involved educational institutions and solicited the help of important corporations in a more cohesive ecosystem.

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Startup Venture Capital Capital Funding 390

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

The trends are well understood: more angels, more seed funds, more crowdsourcing and so forth. Generally speaking in venture capital financings the legal documents will specify that only “major investors” (a threshold set in the agreement – which can be $500,000 investor or more). There is a reason for this.

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 16, 2019

The organization, active in the Bay Area and New York City, is announcing new chapters in Los Angeles and Boston this week, as well as a new director of engagement, Domonique Fines, formerly of Y Combinator, and a new chief of staff, Jack Dorsey’s former chief of staff at Square, Alicia Burt. It’s highly concentrated.

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Venture Capital Ideas Los Angeles Tool 184

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. I have seen bad behavior from later-stage VCs, believe me. Why prorata rights used to be less of a big deal to angels. Why prorata rights are becoming a bigger deal to angels.

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Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

If you’ve been following the press about VC funds you’ll know this is no small feat. But in Los Angeles, Santa Monica is akin to SoMa in San Francisco, Cambridge in the Boston area or Flatiron / Union Square in NYC. Well, the venture capital industry has changed a lot in the past 20 years … and we have too.

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Funding Santa Monica Venture Capital Startup 343

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 29, 2018

Los Angeles is becoming one of the more interesting destinations for startups and the investors that provide money for venture capital firms to place bets on young companies are increasingly starting to take notice.

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SoCal Southern California Los Angeles Startup 271

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 24, 2019

March Capital Partners , the Los Angeles-based venture capital firm, has raised $300 million for its latest fund. “We have two major areas and a couple of minor areas,” said Sumant Mandal, a managing director with the firm. “We like data-driven business and two-thirds of our portfolio are AI driven.

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Artificial Inteligence Capital Los Angeles Incubator 225

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

Investment experience (5 years a VC at Battery Ventures). She has been in operations in Seattle and Los Angeles. As I like to say (and as Kara humbly hates when I do so in front of others) … she has a much better resume to a venture capital partner than I do. Upfront Ventures VC Industry'

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Venture Capital Startup Outsource Development CitySearch 408

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 29, 2018

Los Angeles is becoming one of the more interesting destinations for startups and the investors that provide money for venture capital firms to place bets on young companies are increasingly starting to take notice.

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SoCal Southern California Los Angeles Startup 217

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

There are many times when being overly capitalized before you’re ready is a negative. Plus, most early-stage M&A fails so this isn’t likely a good use of capital for a young company). Availability of Capital. ” Whatever answers they have manufactured the only thing I hear is, “Because we can.”

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Startup Company Companies .Net 383

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 22, 2018

In an attempt to boost diversity and inclusion efforts and civic engagement between the growing technology industry in Los Angeles and the community that surrounds it, over 80 venture capitalists and entrepreneurs joined the city’s mayor, Eric Garcetti, and the non-profit Annenberg Foundation to announce PledgeLA. The landmark.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2018

If you’re an entrepreneur who would like to see this clause in more startups please ask your VC to include it in future term sheets and link to it from their home page. “We Ours is: upfront.com/inclusion. We strive to invest in companies that are consciously working to create a diverse leadership team?—?

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Venture Capital Coach Ideas Startup 284

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

One of the most common questions I hear from first-time entrepreneurs is, “How do I meet angels?” Think about it – who knows angels the best? Earn the right to ask if they wouldn’t mind an intro to an angel. It’s why I talk about building VC relationships early – Lines, Not Dots.

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Venture Capital Press GRP Partners Blogging 407

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

And I have been impressed with Steven Kaplan and others at University of Chicago (my alma mater), who have been encouraging entrepreneurship through the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship , through angel investing , seed conferences and changes in teaching. He spoke about ROCE (return on capital employed). Venture Capital.

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Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2017

I am so proud and humbled to be able to formally announce that Upfront Ventures has raised its 6th venture capital fund in the past 21 years. A huge thank you to all of the Limited Partners who have entrusted us with your capital, time and reputations. This brings our combined funds under management to nearly $2 billion.

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Funding Venture Capital Santa Monica Invest 287

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

Sammons plans to oversee the firm’s daily operations from Boston, where he lives, while SKKY’s second office will be in Kardashian’s hometown of Los Angeles. Serena Williams’ next act in venture capital is essential in this moment. billion with her stake at over $1 billion.

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Equity Journal Venture Capital Los Angeles 299

TechCrunch LA

JULY 2, 2020

When it comes to venture capital, Los Angeles is a city on the rise. In the past year, it’s seen one of the most profitable venture-backed exits of any tech ecosystem (with the $4 billion sale of Honey to PayPal) and investors are minting billion-dollar companies in the region at a torrid pace.

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Los Angeles Venture Capital Capital Invest 277

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

Most of the venture capital firms covered in TechCrunch and other tech publications compete for a spot on the cap table of the hottest Bay Area, New York or Los Angeles companies of the moment. Since Revolution launched in 2005, venture capital activity in underrepresented markets has grown significantly.

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Venture Capital Funding Seed Funding Activity 211

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2022

Photo by Scott Clark for Upfront Ventures (no, Evan is not standing on a box) Last year marked the 25th anniversary for Upfront Ventures and what a year it was. 2021 saw phenomenal returns for our industry and it topped off more than a decade of unprecedented VC growth.

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Startup Venture Capital Writing Invest 408

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

Recently I wrote a post arguing to make the definition of a Startup more inclusive than that to which Silicon Valley, fueled by Venture Capital return profiles, would sometimes like to attach to the word. Local Capital – I do believe that you’ll struggle to get a community started without some local capital.

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Startup Venture Capital Press San Diego 378

TechCrunch LA

JULY 3, 2019

Upfront Ventures , a Los Angeles-based venture capital firm, has filed paperwork with the U.S. Though the firm typically invests at the seed and Series A, capital from Upfront Growth III will be used for follow-on or late-stage deals. Last year, companies headquartered in LA raised more than $60 billion.

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Venture Capital Funding Los Angeles Invest 193

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

But honestly there are times when being a VC can feel like that, too. VENTURE CAPITAL. And finally that brings me to obvious topic of venture capital. Coincidentally my good friend Roger Ehrenberg wrote a post this past week on founders having trust in their VCs. After I posted I saw the following Tweet.

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Startup Venture Capital Coach Press 363

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

Because my role as a VC requires me to take and endless stream of meetings I long ago decided I need to learn as much as I can from the meetings I attend so I often just ask tons of questions and assimilate knowledge. When I think about what defines us as a VC I think: Operationally knowledgeable / strong startup competence.

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Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup Invest 360

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

I am thrilled to announce that we have added Hamet Watt as a Partner at Upfront Ventures. Hamet started his career in Venture Capital working for the first post-apartheid VC fund in South Africa. He also served nearly 2 years as an EIR and Scout at True Ventures one of the Silicon Valley firms I most respect.

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Invest Venture Capital Startup News 340

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 7, 2018

the new financing came from Verizon Ventures (the investment arm of TechCrunch’s parent company’s parent company) and March Capital Partners a Los Angeles-based venture capital firm. Announced at the Montgomery Summit in Santa Monica, Calif., The […].

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Santa Monica Technology Venture Capital Los Angeles 213