Traditional(?) VC Model: Broken or Forgotten
Stowe Boyd had some insightful thoughts on Miguel Helft’s New York Times article A Kink in Venture Capital’s Gold Chain. That article, at a high level, questioned whether the traditional venture...
View ArticleThe $64,000 Answer to "What’s Your Valuation?"
This post isn’t about how early-stage companies are valued by investors, nor is it about how entrepreneurs value their babies. No, this post is about answering the inevitable fundraising question:...
View ArticleTop Ten Limited Partner (LP) Lies
Paul Kedrosky has published another great Top Ten list, following on his previous Top Ten VC Lies. This time it’s the Top Ten LP Lies. I’ll give you the first five, but you’ll have to visit Paul to see...
View ArticleConvertible Notes vs. Equity
Over at AsktheVC someone asked: “Should Entrepreneurs Be Worried About Convertible Notes as a First Financing Event?” Jason provided a pretty good answer to the entrepreneur’s specific question and I...
View ArticleVenture Capital Not Required
This post is for all those entrepreneurs who are building great businesses, but have no need or interest in venture capital. Given all the emphasis on venture capital from pundits, startup mags and...
View ArticleDry Powder = Venture Capital Reserves
Now that Inflexion Fund is well into it’s life, I spent some time today reviewing how our reserve approach is working out across the portfolio (short answer: great). When I say reserves, I mean the...
View ArticleSBSS Week 1: Entrepreneurs Need Passion
I’m helping facilitate the first FastTrac TechVenture program in North Florida, called Success Breeds Success Series (SBSS). It’s an intensive 8-week bootcamp for entrepreneurs, including “secrets of...
View ArticleSBSS Week 2: 10 Reasons to Talk to Your Customers Early
We had another great week of the Success Breeds Success Series. This week covered Markets and Market Research — with a focus on sizing your market and understanding what customers want. Randy Scott,...
View ArticleNice Idea, but How Will You Get Visitors?
I had another conversation today with an entrepreneur who had an interesting online destination site idea, but few answers for attracting visitors. In general, I’m not nearly as excited about...
View ArticleConnect the Dots for Your VCs and Board
I’ve been lucky in my venture career to typically lead deals as the local VC. This has allowed me to be very close and active with the entrepreneurs I back — some may even suggest ‘too active’. There...
View ArticleVC FAQ: From Developer to VC and Back?
As SocialSpark was in private alpha I wanted to try out their Spark feature. Even if you aren’t looking to monetize your blog, Sparks allow you to highlight a hot topic, pose a question or share a good...
View ArticleVC FAQ: Venture Capital Valuation
I received a couple more VC FAQ questions. This time from an entrepreneur and investment banker who saw Angie’s List close a $35M round with Battery Ventures. That large funding, and others in the...
View ArticleHow Does the Mortgage Meltdown Affect VCs?
I’ve heard today’s frequently asked question multiple times this week as many colleagues, friends and family put all financial categories in the same mental bucket. Depending upon where you are in your...
View ArticleTough Times are Telling Times
By now you should have read plenty of entrepreneur/VC advice on surviving in the post-mortgage crisis world. I won’t rehash it here, but 2009 will be tough and today’s difficult decisions will...
View ArticleBudgets: Past Performance and Future Results
Almost all investment literature warns you that past performance is no guarantee of future results. That disclaimer usually prompts, for me, a juxtaposition with Einstein’s definition of insanity:...
View ArticleRiskmasters Know How to Prioritize
You have probably already heard that VCs love to back serial entrepreneurs, but why is that? What makes them special? Well, it’s a mix of things, but one trait I’ve witnessed across a decent sample...
View ArticleHow to Approach VCs
I got a great set of questions from an entrepreneur (Delena) on an earlier post, concerning how to approach, qualify and follow-up with VCs. I’ve heard these tactical communication questions a bit more...
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