118 Articles found for subject: Venture Capital

I’ve heard thousands of investors ask tens of thousands of questions. I’ve also learned that startups’ answers to these questions can be far more insightful than a rehearsed pitch. This is a list of the most frequently asked investor questions.

Content: Article | Author: Elizabeth Kraus | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

It is incredibly important to understand the incentives of investors when you are raising money. This used to be fairly easy – you raised money from Venture Capitalists who wanted to see a big return on their investment. The best of these investors were incredibly focused on doing the one thing they did well: investing in technology companies.

The world looks different now. There are a … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Aaron Harris | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

Every entrepreneur can expect their venture investors to bring seven main benefits to the table. If you already have venture investors, you can use this article as-is. If you are currently considering fundraising, reverse it and ask prospective investors if they are able to support you in these key areas. If not, ask yourself if you’re talking to the right people.

Content: Article | Author: Suranga Chandratillake | Source: Techstars | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

The U.S. venture-capital industry is envied throughout the world as an engine of economic growth. Although the collective imagination romanticizes the industry, separating the popular myths from the current realities is crucial to understanding how this important piece of the U.S. economy operates. For entrepreneurs (and would-be entrepreneurs), such an analysis may prove especially beneficial.

Content: Article | Author: Bob Zider | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subject: Venture Capital

As investors, we’re considering the total addressable market for a given product or service immediately upon hearing a vision for it: How many users and/or customers are there for this?

Slapping billions or tens of billions of dollars with a title and maybe an asterisk-attributed source on a slide will either be glossed over or, in some cases, actually be detrimental. Every VC has seen … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Tim Devane | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

Two scholars measure the economic impact of VC-funded companies.

Content: Article | Authors: Ilya A. Strebulaev, Will Gornall | Source: Stanford University | Subjects: Economics, Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

The initial capital raised by a company is typically called “seed” capital. This brief guide is a summary of what startup founders need to know about raising the seed funds critical to getting their company off the ground.

Content: Article | Author: Geoff Ralston | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

Valuing any company can be difficult because it requires a degree of forecasting future growth & competition and ultimately the profits of the organization.

Editor’s Note: in a way this is a topical article centered on the dropping valuations of startup companies in early 2016, but much of the discussion is of long-term relevance for anyone interested in entrepreneurship and venture capital.

Content: Article | Author: Mark Suster | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

VC funding. Our perspectives on the topic wax and wane with market cycles. We love capital efficiency until we love land grabs until we abhor “over funding” until we get huge distribution & ring the bell for more funding until we attract every non-VC on the planet to invest in startups until it crashes and we start the cycle all over again none the wiser. … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Mark Suster | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Industry Specific, Venture Capital

DocSend, a startup that provides people with a secure and private way of sharing files like offer letters or legal agreements, studied more than 200 pitchdecks to figure out the right way to graduate from bootstrapped to seed-funded, or from angels to a Series A.

They partnered with Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann to look at companies that had raised $360 million in total.

What did … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Kim-Mai Cutler | Source: TechCrunch | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

Venture capital is in the midst of a structural sea change, evolving from a secretive old boys club into a much more accessible and transparent… well, new boys club. One thing that has generally remained guarded, however, is investment strategy. Not the broad strokes of sector and stage focus, but the nitty-gritty about how a firm makes its decisions on who to fund and … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Dan Primack | Source: FORTUNE | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital | Company: Bloomberg Beta

Paul Graham offers some very useful advice to entrepreneurs about trying to raise money. As he points out, most inexperienced founders try to convince with their pitch when they would be better off if they let their startup do the work—if they started by understanding why their startup is worth investing in, then simply explained this well to investors.

Content: Article | Author: Paul Graham | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

New research offers insights into how venture capitalists make funding decisions. The Breakdown:
30.4% – Potential Return
27% – Founders’ Experience
26.4% – Market Readiness
6.6% – Regulatory Exposure
6.4% – Social Connection with Founders
3.2% – Lead investor

Content: Article | Author: Daniel McGinn | Source: Inc. Magazine | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

While American venture capital firms are coated with an aura of glamor they are also shrouded by a cloud of mystery. Just how do they operate? How do they raise their money? Why do some VC firms succeed while others do not? The authors of this article, who were given unprecedented access to key executives of prominent VC firms, answer these and other questions that … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Hatim Tyabji, Vijay Sathe | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Industry Specific, Venture Capital

Venture-capital firms have been the engine of the United States’ innovation economy. At Google Ventures, the search giant’s investing arm, Google thinks it can build a better one.

Content: Article | Author: Farhad Manjoo | Source: Fast Company | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Industry Specific, Venture Capital | Company: Google Ventures

In the July/August 2010 issue of IBJ, these co-authors described the “caste system” and other secrets of venture capital (VC) firms in America. In this article, they summarize their interviews with VCs in Europe. While firms in Europe and America share similarities, the authors note that there are important differences that may explain why European VC firms perform poorly in comparison to those in America. … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Hatim Tyabji, Vijay Sathe | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Industry Specific, International, Venture Capital

Jeffrey Bussgang, author of Mastering the VC Game and a principal at Flybridge Capital Partners, on how to get funded.

Content: Article | Authors: Bobbie Gossage, Jeffrey Bussgang | Source: Inc. Magazine | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

VCs have an unfair advantage when it comes to financings. They simply have more experience doing deals.

One area that has always struck me where this asymmetrical relationship comes into sharp focus is when there’s a discussion around the price of the deal. Entrepreneurs often mistakenly focus solely on the pre-money valuation while VCs look at multiple knobs in the negotiation to drive … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Jeff Bussgang | Source: Seeing Both Sides | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

A great pitch deck is concise (15 slides) and highly focused. And in the deck, VC Ed Sim likes to see the following points covered.

Content: Article | Author: Ed Sim | Source: BeyondVC | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

Jeff Bussgang at Flybridge Capital Partners explains the three stages to the VC due diligence process and how it works.

Content: Article | Author: Jeff Bussgang | Source: Flybridge Capital Partners | Subject: Venture Capital