Expert insights. Personalized for you.
October 2, 2019 – Techstars , the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed, and HBCUvc , a nonprofit fellowship program providing Black and Latinx students with training and mentorship in venture capital, today announced the launch of a joint 10-city Startup Weekend tour across the country. Some teams even started to generate revenue during the event, while others went on to raise funds from angel investors or venture capitalists. WASHINGTON, D.C. MORE
A discussion about venture capital and the effects Covid-19 has had on in the industry. Nicole Quinn, general partner of Lightspeed Venture Partners and Ann Miura-Ko, co-founding partner of Floodgate and I’ll hand it over to you. MORE
HR People Private Equity SaaS Startups Venture Capital MORE
Q: How do venture capital firms determine when and how to help stalled or stuck portfolio companies? The post How do venture capital firms determine when and how to help stalled or stuck portfolio companies? It is a super interesting topic more should be written about. Most VC firms do plan for some tough times. They expect a rough quarter every 4–5 or so. MORE
The post New SaaStr University FREE Course: The Secrets to Fundraising and Venture Capital appeared first on SaaStr. We’ve launched (and will continue to add to) a new, FREE SaaStr University course: The Secrets to VC and Fundraising. MORE
Q: What are the pros and cons of working in the venture capital space, and why? I’ll list the pros and cons, but before we get there, it’s important to note a few things: Venture Capital is a tiny industry. There are very limited promotion paths in venture. MORE
Q: How many companies in the Fortune 500 raised venture capital? Why are so many people obsessed with venture capital when many successful businesses didn’t raise it? How many got there without raising venture capital? MORE
Venture capital / equity is expensive. But … with few exceptions, it’s 100% risk capital. Venture debt is relatively cheap. But whatever the terms, venture debt is much, much cheaper than equity / venture capital. But the thing is, venture debt has to also be much lower risk. Venture debt generally has conditions, and covenants, and terms that restrict how much you can spend — which equity doesn’t. MORE
Next in this series is one of the community’s favorite speakers, Byron Deeter of Bessemer Venture Partners. Sign up here to join Byron and me on Thursday at 12:15pm where we do a deep dive on what’s going on in venture capital, fundraising and Cloud right now. MORE
Every so often I post highlights from the quarterly Fenwick & West Venture Capital Survey , as much to share knowledge about the existence of the survey [1] as to share its current-quarter data. This is useful information to see what’s happening in the market, and I suppose semi-useful information in perhaps timing your venture rounds (subject to Kellblog Rules 1 and 2 of Financing [2]). MORE
Whether buying, selling or growing, you are going to deal with capital. Rand Fishkin explains what venture capital did for him, how it falls short in certain situations and what other types of capitalization you can use to pursue your business dreams MORE
Each quarter, a group of analysts, including me, publish analysis on the trends in the venture capital market. There’s a risk to those assessments: the data is incomplete since not all rounds founders close within a quarter are reported in that quarter. MORE
We took everything we learned in the preceding decades spent inside and outside the Valley and applied it to venture in L.A. If venture capital is only about finding brands and checking boxes, Silicon Valley has to be the easiest place in the world to be a VC. In the world of seed capital, the entrepreneur and their working relationship with VCs is everything. 2015: Getting Past the Catch-22 of Venture Capital. MORE
Assuming you have at least a partial track record, then, there are two-and-a-half basic paths on how to start a venture capital firm. Start Small before your start a Venture Capital Firm. Grow within a Venture Capital Firm. The 2 and 20 Venture Capital Model. MORE
At Bigfoot Capital , we wanted to know how early-stage companies think about capital as a component of their business. To do so, we decided to ask 30 SaaS Founders their thoughts on raising money and venture capital. Raising Capital for Your SaaS Business. MORE
Q: Why has Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom’s venture capital firm raised over 800 million to back European startups? The post Why has Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom’s venture capital firm raised over 800 million to back European startups? MORE
To thrive, venture capital firms must perform three things well: raise capital from limited partners, source companies to invest in, and pick the best opportunities. In the last decade, venture firms have experimented with decentralized sourcing. Decision-making in venture firm is a dark art. Non-consensus means investing in areas competitors aren’t yet so the valuations are more attractive because there is less capital supply. MORE
I’ve also embedded it here: Dave Kellogg on SaaShimi Discussing Differences between Private Equity and Venture Capital. IPO Metrics Private Equity SaaS Startups Venture Capital MORE
He said the biggest change in venture capital wasn’t investing over Zoom, or Cloud multiples, or even the pace of investing today. No, the biggest change in Venture Capital in 2020-2021 is what he called “The Postmates Effect” That Postmates was arguably #3 to Doordash and UberEats, and still was worth billions. The post Venture Capital in 2020/2021 and “The Postmates Effect” I.e., It’s OK to Be #2 or #3 Now. MORE
Q: How is Venture Capital difference since Covid-19? SaaStr New New Venture 2020. The post How Venture Capital Has Changed Since Covid-19 appeared first on SaaStr. At first — and only briefly — things slowed way back. MORE
It doesn’t take that long in venture to make a decent salary. The post Why Do Some People Consider Venture Capital a “Young Person’s Game”? Because it takes so, so long to make money from it. At least from very early-stage investing. MORE
Q: How hard is it to raise venture capital? The overall odds of raising venture capital may be 0.05%. According to YC, “Each batch of YC companies raises about $250M of seed capital in the weeks following Demo Day.” Find a way to go 24+ months without VC capital. MORE
I’ve watched many bridge rounds over time from a far, and took $500k in bridge capital at EchoSign myself when our seed round didn’t end up being quite enough to get us to the Series A. Simply put, it’s another round of venture financing from the same investors as the last round. Each bridge round requires a VC burning some political capital. If she/he has gone to another firm, there’s no political capital to spend. MORE
As Chief Credit Officer at Lighter Capital, I work behind the scenes grappling with the data that informs all of our decision-making regarding financing deals, from revenue-based financing (RBF) to term loans and lines of credit. Similar to a venture capitalist (VC), I try to understand where startups are in their life cycles — and where they can expect to go. Is RBF simply an alternative to venture capital funding? Lower-cost capital post-VC funding. MORE
I’m here to talk to you today about raising capital in today’s environment, particularly at the seed stage, so we’ll touch on the Series A stage as well. That’s a good place to start, to understand the actual landscape in which you are trying to raise capital. MORE
Just where is the US venture market relative to the rest of the world? The chart above shows the compound annual growth rate of venture investment rounds A through D in ten fastest growing venture markets plus the US from 2010-2016. It’s wonderful to see the expansion of venture capital across these geographies and especially at very healthy growth rates. This chart illustrates the depth of the capital pool available to startups. MORE
Management Marketing Product Management Product Strategy SaaS Startups Strategy Venture Capital European startups GTM Product Power Breakfast MORE
Metrics SaaS Sales Startups Strategy Venture Capital“Measure or measure not. There is no try.” ” — Me responding to Ray calling me the Yoda of SaaS metrics. MORE
Over 1,500 of you registered for an incredible deep-dive we did yesterday with Byron Deeter, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. The agenda: What’s happening in venture today. When to raise capital. MORE
SaaStr’s New New in Venture Virtual Summit is coming up May 27th and here’s why you should join. Sapient Capital. Hyde Park Ventures. Salesforce Ventures. Bonfire Ventures. Samsung Ventures. NextGen Venture Partners. Frontline Ventures. MORE
The post How do venture capital general partners resolve investment choice disagreements? It varies. Generally: The most senior partners can get any deal done they want. Period. They make seek consensus, and may defer when they don’t get it. But in the end, they can do what they want. And the more junior ones need more buy-in from the rest. The more junior the partner, or investing professional, the more she/he needs others to buy-in. MORE
First, come here from 20+ of the top VCs in SaaS and Cloud for FREE at our next big digital event, the next SaaStr Summit: The New New in Venture on May 27th. The post What’s Really Happening in Venture Capital, Right Now appeared first on SaaStr. MORE
Q: How do Venture Capital Firms really feel about founder salaries? Let me add just one thought to the discussion on founder salaries, once you are venture-backed. The post One Simple Rule On How Much To Pay Yourself Once You Raise Venture Capital appeared first on SaaStr. MORE
Marketing Metrics SaaS Sales Startups Strategy Venture Capital Market ResearchAsk most startups about their go-to-market (GTM) these days and they’ll give you lots of numbers. Funnel metrics. MQLs, SQLs , demos, and associated funnel conversion rates. MORE
What does it mean for venture capital and Startupland? Let’s examine the relationship between total venture capital investment and the 10 year Treasury in some detail. As the interest rate approaches zero, venture capital spend approaches infinity. MORE
Q: Is venture capital really necessary to do a start-up? Atlassian never raised any primary capital and waited many years until raising money at all for secondary liquidity. The post Do I Need To Raise Venture Capital At All? MORE
8] This is particularly true on venture-backed startup boards where there is comparatively more “cat herding” than on PE boards which, while they have their own challenges, are usually more clear and singular in what they want. [9] Board Startups Venture Capital MORE
A few like Salesforce Ventures and GV are an exception, but let me explain: Corporate VCs often do not write a “second check”. Again, this is less likely with Salesforce Ventures and GV, etc. The post How do corporate venture capital firms different from conventional venture capital firms? They aren’t as dependable. This doesn’t mean they are “worse”. It does mean be careful how you use them. This is issue #1. MORE
Career Development CEO Culture Silicon Valley Startups Venture Capital unapologetic uncompromising unreasonableI’ve worked with scores of founders and companies over the years and I’ve come to make bright-line distinction between founders and managers. MORE
Getting Funded Startup Help Business Model Funding SaaS TAM TAM slide Total Addressable Market Venture capitalI’ve seen hundreds of startup pitch decks in my time at Matrix, and have found total addressable market (TAM) slides to be among the most frequently mis-executed. I get the sense they are often included as a formality in an attempt to get VCs to check a mental box and continue on hearing about other. MORE
SEPTEMBER 25, 2018
Conventional wisdom, and advice, abounds: entrepreneurs should never include a venture firm in their seed round because it’ll scare other VCs off from pursuing the A. Getting Funded Entrepreneur Funding Raising capital seed deals Venture capitalThere is much hand wringing in the startup ecosystem about various forms of signaling between the seed and A rounds. MORE
Venture Capital Related Topics SaaStr
AUGUST 16, 2020
Q: How is Venture Capital difference since Covid-19? SaaStr New New Venture 2020. The post How Venture Capital Has Changed Since Covid-19 appeared first on SaaStr. At first — and only briefly — things slowed way back.
SaaStr
JANUARY 29, 2021
Assuming you have at least a partial track record, then, there are two-and-a-half basic paths on how to start a venture capital firm. Start Small before your start a Venture Capital Firm. Grow within a Venture Capital Firm. The 2 and 20 Venture Capital Model.
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SaaStr
MARCH 9, 2021
Q: What are the pros and cons of working in the venture capital space, and why? I’ll list the pros and cons, but before we get there, it’s important to note a few things: Venture Capital is a tiny industry. There are very limited promotion paths in venture.
SaaStr
MAY 6, 2020
First, come here from 20+ of the top VCs in SaaS and Cloud for FREE at our next big digital event, the next SaaStr Summit: The New New in Venture on May 27th. The post What’s Really Happening in Venture Capital, Right Now appeared first on SaaStr.
SaaStr
DECEMBER 27, 2020
Q: How do Venture Capital Firms really feel about founder salaries? Let me add just one thought to the discussion on founder salaries, once you are venture-backed. The post One Simple Rule On How Much To Pay Yourself Once You Raise Venture Capital appeared first on SaaStr.
SaaStr
MAY 26, 2020
Q: How many companies in the Fortune 500 raised venture capital? Why are so many people obsessed with venture capital when many successful businesses didn’t raise it? How many got there without raising venture capital?
SaaStr
APRIL 24, 2021
Q: Is venture capital really necessary to do a start-up? Atlassian never raised any primary capital and waited many years until raising money at all for secondary liquidity. The post Do I Need To Raise Venture Capital At All?
SaaStr
MARCH 22, 2020
Next in this series is one of the community’s favorite speakers, Byron Deeter of Bessemer Venture Partners. Sign up here to join Byron and me on Thursday at 12:15pm where we do a deep dive on what’s going on in venture capital, fundraising and Cloud right now.
SaaStr
MARCH 27, 2020
Over 1,500 of you registered for an incredible deep-dive we did yesterday with Byron Deeter, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. The agenda: What’s happening in venture today. When to raise capital.
SaaStr
APRIL 4, 2020
It doesn’t take that long in venture to make a decent salary. The post Why Do Some People Consider Venture Capital a “Young Person’s Game”? Because it takes so, so long to make money from it. At least from very early-stage investing.
SaaStr
OCTOBER 28, 2020
He said the biggest change in venture capital wasn’t investing over Zoom, or Cloud multiples, or even the pace of investing today. No, the biggest change in Venture Capital in 2020-2021 is what he called “The Postmates Effect” That Postmates was arguably #3 to Doordash and UberEats, and still was worth billions. The post Venture Capital in 2020/2021 and “The Postmates Effect” I.e., It’s OK to Be #2 or #3 Now.
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Tomasz Tunguz
JUNE 5, 2021
What does it mean for venture capital and Startupland? Let’s examine the relationship between total venture capital investment and the 10 year Treasury in some detail. As the interest rate approaches zero, venture capital spend approaches infinity.
SaaStr
JUNE 20, 2019
I’ve watched many bridge rounds over time from a far, and took $500k in bridge capital at EchoSign myself when our seed round didn’t end up being quite enough to get us to the Series A. Simply put, it’s another round of venture financing from the same investors as the last round. Each bridge round requires a VC burning some political capital. If she/he has gone to another firm, there’s no political capital to spend.
Baremetrics
APRIL 21, 2021
At Bigfoot Capital , we wanted to know how early-stage companies think about capital as a component of their business. To do so, we decided to ask 30 SaaS Founders their thoughts on raising money and venture capital. Raising Capital for Your SaaS Business.
TechStars
OCTOBER 2, 2019
October 2, 2019 – Techstars , the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed, and HBCUvc , a nonprofit fellowship program providing Black and Latinx students with training and mentorship in venture capital, today announced the launch of a joint 10-city Startup Weekend tour across the country. Some teams even started to generate revenue during the event, while others went on to raise funds from angel investors or venture capitalists. WASHINGTON, D.C.
SaaStr
JANUARY 28, 2019
A few like Salesforce Ventures and GV are an exception, but let me explain: Corporate VCs often do not write a “second check”. Again, this is less likely with Salesforce Ventures and GV, etc. The post How do corporate venture capital firms different from conventional venture capital firms? They aren’t as dependable. This doesn’t mean they are “worse”. It does mean be careful how you use them. This is issue #1.
SaaStr
NOVEMBER 13, 2019
Q: How do venture capital firms determine when and how to help stalled or stuck portfolio companies? The post How do venture capital firms determine when and how to help stalled or stuck portfolio companies? It is a super interesting topic more should be written about. Most VC firms do plan for some tough times. They expect a rough quarter every 4–5 or so.
SaaStr
NOVEMBER 5, 2019
Venture capital / equity is expensive. But … with few exceptions, it’s 100% risk capital. Venture debt is relatively cheap. But whatever the terms, venture debt is much, much cheaper than equity / venture capital. But the thing is, venture debt has to also be much lower risk. Venture debt generally has conditions, and covenants, and terms that restrict how much you can spend — which equity doesn’t.
Tomasz Tunguz
OCTOBER 10, 2020
Each quarter, a group of analysts, including me, publish analysis on the trends in the venture capital market. There’s a risk to those assessments: the data is incomplete since not all rounds founders close within a quarter are reported in that quarter.
SaaStr
FEBRUARY 22, 2020
Q: Why has Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom’s venture capital firm raised over 800 million to back European startups? The post Why has Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom’s venture capital firm raised over 800 million to back European startups?
Tomasz Tunguz
JULY 22, 2017
Just where is the US venture market relative to the rest of the world? The chart above shows the compound annual growth rate of venture investment rounds A through D in ten fastest growing venture markets plus the US from 2010-2016. It’s wonderful to see the expansion of venture capital across these geographies and especially at very healthy growth rates. This chart illustrates the depth of the capital pool available to startups.
OPEXEngine
JANUARY 28, 2020
As Chief Credit Officer at Lighter Capital, I work behind the scenes grappling with the data that informs all of our decision-making regarding financing deals, from revenue-based financing (RBF) to term loans and lines of credit. Similar to a venture capitalist (VC), I try to understand where startups are in their life cycles — and where they can expect to go. Is RBF simply an alternative to venture capital funding? Lower-cost capital post-VC funding.
Kellblog
MAY 8, 2019
Every so often I post highlights from the quarterly Fenwick & West Venture Capital Survey , as much to share knowledge about the existence of the survey [1] as to share its current-quarter data. This is useful information to see what’s happening in the market, and I suppose semi-useful information in perhaps timing your venture rounds (subject to Kellblog Rules 1 and 2 of Financing [2]).
SaaStr
JANUARY 5, 2020
Q: How hard is it to raise venture capital? The overall odds of raising venture capital may be 0.05%. According to YC, “Each batch of YC companies raises about $250M of seed capital in the weeks following Demo Day.” Find a way to go 24+ months without VC capital.
For Entrepreneurs with David Skok
SEPTEMBER 25, 2018
Conventional wisdom, and advice, abounds: entrepreneurs should never include a venture firm in their seed round because it’ll scare other VCs off from pursuing the A. Getting Funded Entrepreneur Funding Raising capital seed deals Venture capitalThere is much hand wringing in the startup ecosystem about various forms of signaling between the seed and A rounds.
Tomasz Tunguz
MAY 22, 2016
To thrive, venture capital firms must perform three things well: raise capital from limited partners, source companies to invest in, and pick the best opportunities. In the last decade, venture firms have experimented with decentralized sourcing. Decision-making in venture firm is a dark art. Non-consensus means investing in areas competitors aren’t yet so the valuations are more attractive because there is less capital supply.
SaaStr
NOVEMBER 10, 2019
The post How do venture capital general partners resolve investment choice disagreements? It varies. Generally: The most senior partners can get any deal done they want. Period. They make seek consensus, and may defer when they don’t get it. But in the end, they can do what they want. And the more junior ones need more buy-in from the rest. The more junior the partner, or investing professional, the more she/he needs others to buy-in.
SaaStr
JULY 22, 2020
A discussion about venture capital and the effects Covid-19 has had on in the industry. Nicole Quinn, general partner of Lightspeed Venture Partners and Ann Miura-Ko, co-founding partner of Floodgate and I’ll hand it over to you.
SaaStr
MAY 9, 2020
SaaStr’s New New in Venture Virtual Summit is coming up May 27th and here’s why you should join. Sapient Capital. Hyde Park Ventures. Salesforce Ventures. Bonfire Ventures. Samsung Ventures. NextGen Venture Partners. Frontline Ventures.
SaaStr
AUGUST 26, 2020
I’m here to talk to you today about raising capital in today’s environment, particularly at the seed stage, so we’ll touch on the Series A stage as well. That’s a good place to start, to understand the actual landscape in which you are trying to raise capital.
For Entrepreneurs with David Skok
DECEMBER 6, 2017
Getting Funded Startup Help Business Model Funding SaaS TAM TAM slide Total Addressable Market Venture capitalI’ve seen hundreds of startup pitch decks in my time at Matrix, and have found total addressable market (TAM) slides to be among the most frequently mis-executed. I get the sense they are often included as a formality in an attempt to get VCs to check a mental box and continue on hearing about other.
Kellblog
MAY 26, 2021
HR People Private Equity SaaS Startups Venture Capital
Kellblog
JUNE 6, 2021
Management Marketing Product Management Product Strategy SaaS Startups Strategy Venture Capital European startups GTM Product Power Breakfast
Kellblog
MAY 19, 2021
Metrics SaaS Sales Startups Strategy Venture Capital“Measure or measure not. There is no try.” ” — Me responding to Ray calling me the Yoda of SaaS metrics.
Kellblog
FEBRUARY 28, 2021
I’ve also embedded it here: Dave Kellogg on SaaShimi Discussing Differences between Private Equity and Venture Capital. IPO Metrics Private Equity SaaS Startups Venture Capital
Kellblog
APRIL 4, 2021
Career Development CEO Culture Silicon Valley Startups Venture Capital unapologetic uncompromising unreasonableI’ve worked with scores of founders and companies over the years and I’ve come to make bright-line distinction between founders and managers.
Kellblog
MAY 29, 2021
8] This is particularly true on venture-backed startup boards where there is comparatively more “cat herding” than on PE boards which, while they have their own challenges, are usually more clear and singular in what they want. [9] Board Startups Venture Capital
Kellblog
MAY 15, 2021
Marketing Metrics SaaS Sales Startups Strategy Venture Capital Market ResearchAsk most startups about their go-to-market (GTM) these days and they’ll give you lots of numbers. Funnel metrics. MQLs, SQLs , demos, and associated funnel conversion rates.
Divestopedia
APRIL 3, 2019
Whether buying, selling or growing, you are going to deal with capital. Rand Fishkin explains what venture capital did for him, how it falls short in certain situations and what other types of capitalization you can use to pursue your business dreams
Mucker Capital
OCTOBER 24, 2019
We took everything we learned in the preceding decades spent inside and outside the Valley and applied it to venture in L.A. If venture capital is only about finding brands and checking boxes, Silicon Valley has to be the easiest place in the world to be a VC. In the world of seed capital, the entrepreneur and their working relationship with VCs is everything. 2015: Getting Past the Catch-22 of Venture Capital.
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