vc - The 411 On Startups (tm)

Angel Investors and Startups — A VC Perspective

Oct

2011

The Wall Street Journal has a story out today that says “Web Startups Hit Cash Crunch.” There has been a fair bit of reaction in the tech blogs and I thought I’d toss into the discussion some things we are seeing: 1) There are so many startups out there raising money. I don’t think this ...

Raising Venture Capital

Nov

2009

The initial section covers what to do before you approach a VC (or if you should even raise VC at all), the middle section is what the presentation you send should look like and the final session covers what to do after the meeting. If there a post description but no link it means I ...

Fertile Ground for Startups – BusinessWeek

Nov

2009

History shows that great companies are often built during bad times. In 1939, at the tail end of the Great Depression, two engineers started Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) in a garage in Northern California. Silicon Valley itself was largely created during the nasty recession of the mid-1970s. During that decade, entrepreneurs laid the groundwork for the boom ...

VC Crash Course – Feb 24 2009

Nov

2009

If you want to get a quick understanding of how VCs work, what make them tick, and what they look for, take a look at this short set of slides.

The Venture Capital Math Problem

Apr

2009

This is a post by Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures. It goes through some statistics on Venture investing and ROI to imply the VC returns model is broken. More interesting are the comments it inspired; those comments have some really good data, freely given.

Check Your VC’s Pulse: Three Questions about Fund Status – Entrepreneur.com

Feb

2009

As an entrepreneur, you probably don’t care as much about the overall VC industry as you care about your VC investors. So while the noise might be intellectually interesting, you’re asking, “How does it affect me?” To find out, ask your venture capitalists these important questions:* What year (vintage) is your fund? * Have you ...

Will the economic downturn affect start-up funding? — Milton Chang, Incubic Venture Fund

Feb

2009

The reasons for not aggressively investing are different for private and professional investors. Because of the drop in the stock market and real estate property values, private investors have less money to invest and they have other attractive investment options. Investing in start-up companies has not fared well for most investors in recent years, and ...

VC or Angel Money? – Brad Feld

Jan

2009

As a venture capitalist, I get approached several times a day by entrepreneurs looking to raise money. One of my typical responses is, ‘You shouldn’t be talking to me; you should be targeting angel investors.’ The source of this confusion varies: Sometimes it’s a misunderstanding of the different roles and expectations of a venture capitalist ...

Venture Capital Exit Times and Return on Investment (ROI)

Dec

2008

Two previous posts: Venture Capital Firms are Too Big and Venture Capital Funds – How the Math Works, described how venture capital investors will want to invest too much and exit only for very high returns.Why are those bad things for entrepreneurs and angel investors? Well, it turns out those can be extremely bad. These ...

Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur: Dermot Berkery

Dec

2008

Using informative case studies, detailed charts, and term sheet exercises, Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur discusses the basic principles of the venture capital method, strategies for raising capital, methods of valuing the early-stage venture, and proven techniques for negotiating the deal. The author leads you step-by-step through: * Developing a Financing Map * ...