Raising Funding
When your grand idea for an edtech startup begins to take shape and you’re ready to get the engines revving for a team and product, it’s time to get some funding behind the...
An entrepreneur called Danielle Morrill just kicked up a bit of a shitstorm with a nicely titled "Zombie VC" post. It's a nice pendant to her recent Zombie Startups post...
While it is likely that 2013 will be a year of reckoning for many seed funded companies, I think the most important point about the so-called “Series A Crunch” was recently made...
One of the more interesting press releases from the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) is the VC Quarterly Fundraising announcement which came out...
Last month, IDEA: Northeastern’s Venture Accelerator hosted Investor Insights, a biannual event featuring a panel of venture capitalists and angel investors. The forum provides...
In a previous post, I discussed the importance of angel investors for the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Startups need angels. But do they need angel groups? As it turns out, formal angels...
Angel investors are an important source of capital for early stage startups. Without them, many startups would never get beyond the idea phase. However, not all angels are...
An interesting thing is happening: accelerators across the globe are working at their stated goal of massively increasing the number of startups, while also making them more...
A little more inside baseball from the VC biz… why VC’s rarely make “crossover” investments, with capital from multiple funds the VC firm manages invested in a single startup...
I’m seeing a trend in the early stage market where most teams end up raising about $2M before going to market for their Series A. If it sounds high to you, you’re not alone...
I got this question on a panel last week, and coincidentally, I had a couple folks on Twitter tweet out the same question. Generically speaking, the question is...
Story of of the last few years in Venture Fund Land : large institutional investors concentrate money with fewer managers and flagship brands AND / OR find emerging managers...
The VC industry (both the GP part and the LP part) pays attention to the sector’s returns, but the broader tech ecosystem only occasionally tunes in. Typically it’s...
After completing a long process identifying the right venture firms to pitch, running an exhaustive fundraising process, finding a mutual fit, and successfully negotiating terms… at last...
On the Friday that our Rakuten investment closed, It was formally concluded with a simple “the Eagle has landed” email from Yai-yan Sun, the Rakuten USA CFO. She wrote...
The outcomes of negotiations around preferences never seem to have a compelling logic. Under a particular set of circumstances is there a compelling reason...
I spent some time this weekend looking at the recent VC funding data for this past quarter to see if any trends jumped off the page. While much of what I could discern in the data...
I’ve been writing a blog series about trust. I started with a post on how VC is a “trust business” and I highlighted why trust between an entrepreneur and a VC is important...
An interesting report from the law firm Cooley crossed my desk this week titled “Cooley Venture Financing Report” – ok, maybe not that interesting – but the report looked...
We met with some of our large investors recently, and one of them mentioned: “VC is a trust business.” He was saying that he trusted us. I’ve been thinking...
Ok, you have the #1 requirement for starting a company: a good idea that’s commercializable. Now, what’s the best way to get the money...
Everywhere you turn these days, you find an angel investor. Aside from those who have always invested small amounts of cash in startups, more and more venture...
A CEO turned professional board member, volunteer, organizer, angel investor, and most importantly, advocate for entrepreneurs, Joe Caruso is a fixture on...
Every technology investment is made in the belief that this will be the big one. The deal that will produce not just a great return but a stark, raving, mad return with multiples that...
Ok, sure, there obviously is no such thing as a perfect pitch, I’m just trying to get better at using titles that actually attract readers (I’m gonna do a summer internship at...
This is the eighth and final post in a Friday series on “raising VC money.” I hope the series has been helpful to entrepreneurs. If you liked it, please consider Tweeting it or linking...
This is the seventh post in a Friday series on “raising VC money.” I’ve really enjoyed writing these posts and to have an opportunity to interact with many folks. Thank you...
I remember a very strange moment during my college interview where my obsession with baseball came into the conversation. The interviewer asked me what...
When I entered the VC business 10 years ago, I tried to keep thinking about venture capital as a business, where the key focus area was on meeting the needs of our...
This is the sixth post in a Friday series on “raising VC money”. For the list of topics we are covering, click here. In this post, we’ll focus on “how to negotiate a VC term...