Boston Millennia’s Callow on the state of the VC industry
(Editor’s note: This is a truncated version of an interview that originally ran on VCExperts.com)
Dana Callow is the Managing Partner of Boston Millennia Partners. Prior to founding Boston Millennia Partners, Dana co-founded Boston Capital Ventures. In addition to working with Fortune 100 companies in strategic planning and implementing M&A strategies, Dana is, or has served as, a director of a number of other public and private companies.
Some have recently argued that the venture capital industry is… Continue Reading
After VC cash? Show ‘em what you’ve learned
(Editor’s note: Serial entrepreneur Steve Blank is the author of Four Steps to the Epiphany. This column originally appeared on his blog.)
I joined the board of Cafepress.com when it was a startup. It was amazing to see the two founders, Fred Durham and Maheesh Jain, build a $100 million company from coffee cups and T-shirts.
But Cafepress’s most memorable moment was when the founders used a “Lessons Learned” VC pitch to raise their second round of funding and… Continue Reading
4 MORE ways to get automatically rejected by an angel investor
(Editor’s note: Jason Cohen is an angel investor and the founder of Smart Bear Software. He contributed this column to VentureBeat.)
As someone who has both sought venture capital and distributed it, I’m lucky to have a pretty unique perspective on what works and doesn’t work.
As I mentioned in the first part of this list, the mistakes don’t seem to change over time. And people who make them often walk away not only empty handed, but… Continue Reading
Founder Collective fund rounds up Flickr, LiveOps co-founders and $40 million
It’s become a cliche: Internet start-ups are inexpensive to launch, and you don’t need multi-million dollars from venture capitalists to back you anymore. As a result, more successful startup founders are adding a new hat, and becoming investors.
Founder Collective, the New York City-based fund started by Hunch co-founder Chris Dixon, along with Eric Paley and Dave Frankel has rounded up a number of high-profile serial entrepreneurs including Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake, Vimeo co-founder Zach Klein… Continue Reading
Hey VCs, it’s not your company!
(Editor’s note: Brad Feld is an early stage investor and co-founder of Foundry Group. This post originally appeared on his blog.)
VCs say a lot of stupid things. I’m guilty of it plenty and whenever someone calls me on it I try to acknowledge and change. One that I try really hard not to do is say “my company” when referring to companies I’ve invested in – I think it’s one of the most annoying… Continue Reading
4 ways to get automatically rejected by an angel investor
I’ve started three companies, and now I’m an angel investor. So I’ve been on both sides of the table.
There are lots of good articles out there about pitching, and surely everyone who pitches me has read some of them. Still though, a few problems appear over and over again. If you’ve ever had to sort through resumes and cover letters, you’ve seen this effect: People tend to have the same misconceptions and therefore make… Continue Reading
What rehab taught me about making bad investments
(Editor’s note: Jeff Bussgang is a General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners. This column originally appeared on his blog Seeing Both Sides.)
For as long as I can remember, I have been an enthusiastic participant in sports. To be clear, I’m not a great athlete (in fact, I’m the only one of the five Flybridge General Partners that wasn’t a varsity athlete in college). I’m just good enough to participate passionately and aggressively like the prototypical weekend warrior.
During any… Continue Reading
10 lessons in bootstrapping a business
(Editor’s note: Clate Mask is co-founder and CEO of Infusionsoft. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)
There are two ways to build a business: Raise a bunch of money or bootstrap. When I was in business school, there wasn’t much attention given to the bootstrapping notion. The “MBA way” of growing a business is to write a business plan, raise money and then execute the business plan. But I think that’s almost always the wrong approach.
We bootstrapped Infusionsoft… Continue Reading
How to throw a kick-ass launch party (on the cheap)
(Editor’s note: David Goldenberg is co-founder of PigSpigot.com, a user-generated greeting card site. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)
After a year of planning and development, our company recently launched in beta mode. We were thrilled with our product, wanted to celebrate the people who made it work, and were ready to start spreading the word about the site. So we decided to host a launch party. And not just any launch party; we wanted to throw… Continue Reading
The VC gender gap – Are VCs sexist?
(Editor’s note: Jeff Bussgang is a General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners. This column originally appeared on his blog Seeing Both Sides.)
I find the preponderance of males in VC an annoying and stubborn phenomenon. When I first entered the start-up game as an entrepreneur in the mid 1990s, I didn’t think much of the “VC gender gap” as there were plenty of women executives around. In fact, between one-third and one-half of the executive teams at my… Continue Reading
Optimism on the rise for tech start-up execs
The fledgling signs of life in the economy are bringing optimism to the technology start-up sector, according to a new survey from one of the country’s top law firms.
72 percent of the respondents in Foley & Lardner’s fifth annual Emerging Companies Study said they expect emerging company valuations to grow over the next two years. That’s a record amount of optimism, and it contrasts sharply to the gloomy 38 percent who predicted growth in the… Continue Reading
Only 17 venture capital firms raise money in Q3 — fewest in 15 years
Venture capitalists are a breed in decline.
Just 17 venture capital firms raised new funds in the third quarter of 2009, the smallest number of firms in any quarter since the third quarter of 1994, according to new data released by Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA).
While venture capital firms typically raise money every three or four years, and so a single quarter represents only a snapshot, the very small number of firms… Continue Reading
Does your company really deserve VC money?
Investment firms hear from thousands of entrepreneurs every year, so making your company stand out from the crowd is crucial. Beth Seidenberg of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers lays out the five factors her firm looks at when deciding whether a start-up deserves funding in this entrepreneur thought leader lecture given at Stanford University. Key among those factors? Strong leadership.
U.S. private equity fundraising plunges 70 percent
We’ve been writing for a while about the crunch in the venture capital industry.
Well, the latest data shows that U.S. private equity firms (including venture capital firms, but also other firms that invest private money, such as buyout firms) raised only $25.2 billion in the third quarter — or 70 percent less than the same period last year.
This means much less money will flow to technology start-ups over the next few years.
Through the first nine… Continue Reading
Negotiating VC funding? Look beyond ‘the pre’
(Editor’s note: Jeff Bussgang is a General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners. This column originally appeared on his blog Seeing Both Sides.)
VCs have an unfair advantage when it comes to financings. They simply have more experience doing deals.
A typical start-up company will do 2-4 venture capital financings before a successful exit (or, conversely, an ignominious ending). A typical serial entrepreneur may lead 2-3 companies in their career before calling it quits (or checking themselves in… Continue Reading
The idea’s great, but the leadership team stinks…
(Editor’s note: Jeff Bussgang is a General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners. This column originally appeared on his blog Seeing Both Sides.)
One of the things I continue to struggle with as a VC is the unfortunate fact that I am in the business of saying “no” all the time.
Saying “no” in the context of how you invest your time is one thing – fellow VC blogger Brad Feld did a good blog post on this topic… Continue Reading
High investment return expectations may limit VC spending
(Editor’s note: Dr. John K. Paglia is Associate Professor of Finance, Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management. He contributed this story to VentureBeat.)
Private capital lenders and investors may not engage in a meaningful volume of lending for another 2-3 years, according to new research from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management.
The Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Study, which sought to learn how private capital providers view return on investment in the midst of… Continue Reading
Can you trust any VCs under 40?
(Editor’s note: Serial entrepreneur Steve Blank is the author of Four Steps to the Epiphany. This column originally appeared on his blog.)
Over the last 30 years Wall Street’s appetite for technology stocks have changed radically – swinging between unbridled enthusiasm to believing they’re all toxic. Over the same 30 years, Venture Capital firms have honed their skills and strategies to match Wall Streets needs to achieve liquidity for their portfolio companies.
You have to wonder: does… Continue Reading
Skills of great entrepreneurs
Being smart and working hard isn’t a guarantee of success in the entrepreneurial world. Outside influences often have a bigger say in the fate of your company than you do. But Randy Komisar of Kleiner Perkins, in this talk given at a Stanford entrepreneur summit in 2007, says the top tier of entrepreneurs are the ones who can recognize an opportunity and know how to take advantage of it.
SharesPost hires big guns to invest in founder shares
SharesPost, the online trading company that lets founders and early executives of start-ups sell their shares early, has brought in some big guns to help them out.
It has announced a deal with Advanced Equities, a private equity firm, to bring that firm’s numerous professionals — about 100 brokers in total, once you include its affiliated partners — to buy shares on the SharesPost online marketplace.
SharesPost is just one of a growing number of companies seeking… Continue Reading