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10 of My Top Seed Investing Mistakes

SaaStr

Q: What are some common mistakes that investors make when evaluating potential startup investments (such as Seed or Series A)? A few I’ve made and watched others around me make: Invest in good traction with a pretty good but not great CEO. Investing when you aren’t sure.

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The Worst Part of Investing

SaaStr

So we’re at the time of the year where I experience the Worst Part of Investing, multiple times. While not fun, it’s embedded into the business model of investing. A rough quarter or two at a key investment? Some investments just outgrow you.

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Investing in Character.AI

Andreessen Horowitz

What had started as a party of 12 friends conversing quietly around the table quickly turned into picking Elon Musk’s brain on Mars, getting the Queen’s … The post Investing in Character.AI The first time I tried Character.AI , it completely hijacked my husband’s birthday dinner.

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Dear SaaStr: Will a VC Invest in a Venture That Can Be a Competitor To An Existing Investment?

SaaStr

Dear SaaStr: Will a VC Invest in a Venture That Is Or Can Be a Competitor To An Existing Investment? As a rough rule: the larger the check, the less likely a VC will invest in a direct competitor. Invest for example in Gong, Salesloft and Zoom in the early days?

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3 Ways Innovators Can Capitalize on Embedded Payments

Software companies are looking, feeling, and acting more like merchant service providers. This can be sobering for financial institutions, but don't be fooled. FIs still have crucial roles to play. Learn how FIs are investing their resources to stay game.

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Investing in CCP Games

Andreessen Horowitz

This is why we are excited to be partnering with CCP on a new project set … The post Investing in CCP Games appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz. Years before the first blockchain was created, the sci-fi space MMO EVE Online proved out many of the core principles that define web3 today.

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Investing in Cygnvs

Andreessen Horowitz

Cybersecurity practitioners no longer wonder if they … The post Investing in Cygnvs appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz. Cyber incidents have reached a crisis level over the past decade. In 2021, the U.S.

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Corporate VC Investments: Limited, But Real, Pros. And Cons.

SaaStr

Traditional VCs usually reserve another 1x-2x of their first check for later investments. If the synergies are real, they’ll happen irrespective of some token investment. An investment won’t create a partnership. New programs, or direct investments, may however.

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Investing in Replicate

Andreessen Horowitz

The way developers consume these … The post Investing in Replicate appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz. It’s very rare to see a new building block emerge in computing.

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A $30B Software Company from a $15m Investment

Tom Tunguz

A former venture capitalist, Mark Leonard started Constellation in 1995 with $15m of outside investment & a goal of buying vertical software companies with a moat & good unit economics.

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Zeroing in on Cloud Technical Risk for Targeted Customer Impact

Need to get business and technical stakeholders aligned on cloud investments? Get practical guidance from the AWS experts at CloudGeometry to stay ahead of risks to cloud security, cost, and reliability – and keep customers loyal and confident.

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Investing in Snapser

Andreessen Horowitz

We are thrilled to announce that a16z Games has led the Series Seed investment in Snapser , a games backend technology company poised to become the de facto platform for games studios.

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Investing in Flow

Andreessen Horowitz

Structural shortages in available homes for sale push housing prices higher, while young … The post Investing in Flow appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz. Our nation has a housing crisis.

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Investing in PLAI Labs

Andreessen Horowitz

In the early 2000s, the biggest open questions were social: how do you take a read-only interface and allow … The post Investing in PLAI Labs appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

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High NRR Can Scale Infinitely. Invest More There.

SaaStr

Invest More There. Twilio’s NRR since 2019. Pretty consistent. A question so many of us had in the earlier days of SaaS was … will we max out all our bigger customers?

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The Definitive Guide to Dashboard Design

Why does dashboard design matter? Because it can be the difference between users embracing your product or ignoring it altogether. Avoid common pitfalls by mastering these dashboard design best practices.

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Investing in Seidr

Andreessen Horowitz

We’re thrilled to announce that Andreessen Horowitz is leading the seed investment in Seidr AB who are building the next generation of midcore cross-play games.

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Investing in Coactive

Andreessen Horowitz

Over the past decade, AI models have gotten better and better at analyzing … The post Investing in Coactive appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

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My Top 8 Mistakes Investing in SaaS Startups

SaaStr

My biggest mistakes in SaaS investing actually in the end haven’t been truly costly because, in the end, power laws mean your winners overwhelm your losers if you do it right. But still I have screwed up a number of investments. Investing when the CEO was a bit of a B.S.

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Dear SaaStr: What is the Process You Follow When Investing in an Up-and-Coming Startup?

SaaStr

Dear SaaStr: What is the Process You Follow When Investing in an Up-and-Coming Startup? chance of investing. The single most important thing you can do is protect your “slots” so that you meet with startups there is at least some chance you might invest in.

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The Definitive Guide to Embedded Analytics

Data-driven decisions are no longer reserved for the few. Everyone needs data insights from the applications they use every day. Learn how embedded analytics is boosting user adoption, creating apps people love, and changing the game for software and SaaS providers.

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Investing in Believer

Andreessen Horowitz

There is a moment of wonder in every great game that makes you sit back, take a breath, and really appreciate what it is that you’re experiencing: stepping out into the world of Zelda, overcoming Margit for the first time … The post Investing in Believer appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

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Investing in Towns

Andreessen Horowitz

… The post Investing in Towns appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz

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10 of the Top Mistakes I’ve Made in Venture Investing

SaaStr

Q: What are the most common mistakes people do while investing? My top mistakes in venture investing at least: Investing when I didn’t 100% believe in the CEO. No matter how interesting the metrics, even the product is, don’t invest if you don’t 100% believe in the CEO.

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Investing in Voldex

Andreessen Horowitz

We are thrilled to announce that a16z led the Series A investment in Voldex , a game studio that acquires, improves, and builds games on the massive user-generated content (UGC) platforms, Roblox and Minecraft.

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Monetizing Analytics Features: Why Data Visualizations Will Never Be Enough

Flexible Security Application teams have already invested. application teams are planning to invest more in their embedded. planning to invest more in. MONETIZING ANALYTICS FEATURES: Why Data Visualizations. Will Never Be Enough.

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Investing in MotherDuck

Andreessen Horowitz

So although as … The post Investing in MotherDuck appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz. Big data’s roots are in the hyperscalers.

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Investing in Flowcarbon

Andreessen Horowitz

I was there as a part of a research project funded by the National Science Foundation, whose aim was to better understand the role of … The post Investing in Flowcarbon appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz. When I was 22, I spent several months working in the field in South Africa.

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Dear SaaStr: How Does SaaStr Fund Decide What to Invest In?

SaaStr

Dear SaaStr: How Does SaaStr Fund Decide What to Invest In? Let me give my investing process at least for SaaStr Fund : First, I try somehow to identify before a first meeting if there is a >=2.5% chance of investing. Second, I then look for reasons not to invest.

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Dear SaaStr: What Happens When a VC Loses All Their Money on a Startup Investment?

SaaStr

Dear SaaStr: What Happens When a VC Loses All Their Money on a Startup Investment? Statistically, every early-stage investor is going to see some % of her investment fail, and a large other % not really make much money.

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The Mindset of An Investor Today - Arlan Hamilton

Join Peter Cowen, Managing Director at Sutton Capital Partners, and top VCs as they look at the trends and perspectives on investing in today’s climate.

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Investing in Method

Andreessen Horowitz

Concepts like credit scores, APRs, retroactive interest, and collateral can be overwhelming for financial services experts, let alone … The post Investing in Method appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz

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Why Some VC Investments Work Out, and Some Don’t. What I’ve Learned.

SaaStr

Investments I've made that didn't work out: – Momentum investment – CEO a bit of bulls**t artist – CEO good at sales but weak product team / CTO. My first investments ended up performing quite well. Investment #2, Algolia, is worth $2.2

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Investing in Lightspark

Andreessen Horowitz

We at a16z started investing in bitcoin in 2013 , several years before we had a dedicated crypto fund. It’s hard to … The post Investing in Lightspark appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

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Investing in Rewind

Andreessen Horowitz

We can share massive files with a URL and access an unquantifiable amount of … The post Investing in Rewind appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz. Today’s digital workplace moves faster than at any point in history.

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The Mindset of An Investor Today with Mark Mullen

Speaker: Peter Cowen, Managing Director, Sutton Capital Partners & Mark Mullen, Co-Founder, Bonfire Ventures

Join Peter Cowen, Managing Director at Sutton Capital Partners, and Mark Mullen, Co-Founder of Bonfire Ventures, as they look at the trends and perspectives on investing in today’s climate.

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Investing in Fly.io 

Andreessen Horowitz

Web applications are becoming more and more real-time, and … The post Investing in Fly.io appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz. We’re very excited to announce that we’re leading the series B for Fly.io. Fly is one of the fastest-growing core infrastructure companies we have ever seen.

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Investing in Macro

Andreessen Horowitz

And yet, the way that organizations communicate with … The post Investing in Macro appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz. In recent years, we’ve seen a renaissance in productivity software.

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Investing in Marker Learning

Andreessen Horowitz

George Evans Getting a formal learning disability diagnosis and proper early intervention can be the most impactful event in a person’s life, as it was … The post Investing in Marker Learning appeared first on Andreessen Horowitz.

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Dear SaaStr: What Percentage of Total Incoming Deals Do VCs Invest In?

SaaStr

Dear SaaStr: What Percentage of Total Incoming Deals Do VCs Invest In? A seed stage fund meeting a Series B investment opportunity is a waste of time. Of the ones that really meet all my criteria, and that I really want to do … maybe a third have gone to term sheet / investment.

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The Mindset of An Investor Today with Tim Draper

Speaker: Peter Cowen, Managing Director, Sutton Capital Partners & Tim Draper, Founder, Draper Associates

Join Peter Cowen, Managing Director at Sutton Capital Partners, and Tim Draper, Founder of Draper Associates, as they look at the trends and perspectives on investing in today’s climate.