Helping startups hit a home run, VC Style
Lots of venture capitalists claim to add value to the companies in which they invest. But how do they do it? And does it really produce better returns for their investors?
Convertibles: great cars, bad vehicles
Convertible notes (converts, convertibles) are a popular, but poor vehicle for the first investment round for a company. Many disagree. From an investor’s point of view, however, convertible notes rarely make sense, except to bridge to an existing investment at an inflection point into a much larger round.
How Institutional Limited Partners Can Avoid Limited Returns
Having spoken with many limited partners, it is clear that there is a lack of access to the research out there that compares return generation from different venture classes and, in particular, compares angel returns with those of venture funds. I finally have had the time to collate the research we have found, and am happy to share it. This post is quite technical, but the bottom line is simple: angel-stage funds outperform.
John Frankel at Dreamit Ventures Panel
Last Friday, July 20th, John Frankel spoke to a panel of young Israeli Entrepreneurs as part of the Dreamit Ventures Israel program. As an experienced early stage investor, John gave advice and perspective to the eager team members participating in this highly selective program. Dreamit Israel gives a group of ...
flashpoint Demo Day - January 18, 2012
ff Venture Capital and HBS Angels of New York are happy to be co-sponsors of Flashpoint's upcoming New York Demo Day, Wednesday, January 18, 2012, 2:30 PM to 6:00 PM, held at Union Square Ventures. Flashpoint is a startup accelerator program at Georgia Tech. Some of their portfolio companies ...
For students interested in venture capital
If you are a student anywhere in the world seriously interested in venture capital, angel investing, and/or entrepreneurship, please consider working with us on your research papers. We're obsessed with research and data, and have a number of research topics we'd love to dig into with the right student partners. ...
Raising Capital for Venture Capital Funds and Bumblebees
Fundraising is not just limited to companies. Venture Capital firms have to do this as well. It is an interesting process and you get to meet fascinating people. Potential limited partners (or LP’s as we call them) come to the table with a set of beliefs that are, well, sometimes ...
Okay..I Said it: This Time it's Different, or How The Bubble WILL Come About
This Time It's different [Source www.500px.com] We are entering a new era. A time when great wealth is being created, and old fortunes destroyed (but not let us dwell there). A time of convergence and disruption that has not been seen in anyone's lifetime. In the late 90's it was ...
There is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch
I really did not want to post about the Yuri Milner/Y Combinator/SV Angel announcement, but felt that there was something lacking in the debate. Like Roger Ehrenberg I think this is a "ho-hum" announcement, but time will tell. There are various surveys and analyses out there, and all the numbers ...
Feature or Product or Business or Defensible Business?
Sanjay Anandaram posted a great article in Plugged.in, and I suggest that you read the full article, though to get his full perspective. The money quote for me is: Today I know that a feature doesn’t make a product. A product doesn’t make a business; And most importantly, a business ...
