What’s New
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Rob Delman of Golden Seeds: Due Diligence Tips for Angels
In Part 1 of the interview, Rob Delman, managing director of Golden Seeds New York, told us the benefits of investing in women-led ventures, shared his lessons learned and pointed out a critical term in a term sheet that many might have overlooked. Today, Delman the “Golden Dude” talks more about due diligence, an area [...]
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Rob Delman of Golden Seeds: Remove nepotism from investment opportunity
A month ago just before Christmas, Rob Delman of Golden Seeds (aka the “Golden Dude”) played Santa and dropped a gift packed with pitch preparation tips (for angels) down our chimney. We loved it and so did you. It’s a given – we’re very greedy when it comes to angel investing tips and insights. So [...]
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2010: The Ultimate Buyer’s Market for Investors
No doubt, 2009 was a year of dieting and fat-trimming for startups. But those that have conquered the financial tsunami will come out a lean, mean, revenue-ramping machine.
“2010 should be the ultimate buyers’ market for investors with cash to spend because entrepreneurs who tightened their belts last year cannot do so indefinitely,” Steve Fredrick and [...] -
Term Sheet: What Da Heck Is Liquidation Preference (Part 2)
In Part 1, we answered Judd Aston’s question on liquidation preference by illustrating how it protects investors’ downside. What isn’t as obvious is that it also prevents the founders from selling early at investors’ expense.
Before you click away thinking that you got a lawyer and you don’t need to understand the terms, check out what [...] -
Term Sheet: What Da Heck Is Liquidation Preference (Part 1)
Judd Aston writes -
I was asking my lawyer about liquidation preference and he bombarded me with legal jargon. Fifteen minutes later I still had not a clue what he had told me. So my question is what is liquidation preference? Some examples would be great.
Bravo. You obviously understand the benefits and convenience of understanding the [...] -
Startup Team That Adds the Steam
An age old question: Would you back an A-team with a B-idea or a B-team with an A-idea?
An A-team with an A-idea, of course! Duh.
In all seriousness, investors often bet more on the jockey than on the horse. If they had to choose, most would opt for an A-team with a B-idea than a weak [...] -
The Start Project Takes No Outside Ideas to Incubate
Investor Josh Felser has joined hands with a group of entrepreneurs to initiate a new business incubator called The Start Project . Founded in December 2009, The Start Project is a Silicon Valley-based company that aims to create, launch and fund startups. The focus would be on new consumer websites.
The Force Behind The Start
Apart from [...] -
Investing in iPhone Startups (Part 2): The VC Way
We’ve looked at the stats and prospects of iPhone, iPod Touch, and App Store in Investing in iPhone Startups (Part 1): The Prospects. The numbers are encouraging and the downloads are downright inspiring (3 billion and growing with no end in sight).
BUT, barriers to entry is low and there are heaps of other issues to [...] -
Investing in iPhone Startups (Part 1): The Prospects
Mobile platforms are where a significant portion of the computing world is headed, and the iPhone and iPhone OS have been significantly responsible for that shift.
As of June 2009, ChubbyBrain found that over US$100 million in total VC/angel investment has been injected in 17 iPhone startups in the span of less than 2 years.
In [...] -
Become an Angel Investor in 2010: An HBS Framework
It’s true that the global economic downturn has clipped many an angel’s wings. Recalling our previous post, Interesting Finding on Angel Investments in 2009, total angel investments in the first half of 2009 stood at US$9.1 billion, representing a decline of 27% over the first half of 2008.
The gloomy economic environment and depressing exit opportunities [...] - All Recent Articles »
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Term Sheet: What Da Heck Is Liquidation Preference (Part 2)
In Part 1, we answered Judd Aston’s question on liquidation preference by illustrating how it protects investors’ downside. What isn’t as obvious is that it also prevents the founders from selling early at investors’ expense.
Before you click away thinking that you got a lawyer and you don’t need to understand the terms, check out what [...] -
Term Sheet: What Da Heck Is Liquidation Preference (Part 1)
Judd Aston writes -
I was asking my lawyer about liquidation preference and he bombarded me with legal jargon. Fifteen minutes later I still had not a clue what he had told me. So my question is what is liquidation preference? Some examples would be great.
Bravo. You obviously understand the benefits and convenience of understanding the [...] -
Startups Creation and Tech Transfer
What’s technology transfer? Broadly speaking, it’s the process of transferring technology, knowledge, or scientific findings from research labs to commercial sectors.
Continuing last week’s conversation on tech-led economic development and research park startup companies, Brian Darmody talks about tech transfer models, the role startups play in facilitating tech transfer, favorite company success story and more.
Darmody was [...] -
Do Good – Take a Look at Technology Parks Startups
Some angel investors are in it solely for the money; others are motivated to give back to the community. If you’re the type that wants to do good to the society, take a close look at research park startup companies in your region — they just might be the treasures you’ve been dying to add [...]
- More from What Da Heck Does It Mean »
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2010: The Ultimate Buyer’s Market for Investors
No doubt, 2009 was a year of dieting and fat-trimming for startups. But those that have conquered the financial tsunami will come out a lean, mean, revenue-ramping machine.
“2010 should be the ultimate buyers’ market for investors with cash to spend because entrepreneurs who tightened their belts last year cannot do so indefinitely,” Steve Fredrick and [...] -
Startup Team That Adds the Steam
An age old question: Would you back an A-team with a B-idea or a B-team with an A-idea?
An A-team with an A-idea, of course! Duh.
In all seriousness, investors often bet more on the jockey than on the horse. If they had to choose, most would opt for an A-team with a B-idea than a weak [...] -
Investing in iPhone Startups (Part 2): The VC Way
We’ve looked at the stats and prospects of iPhone, iPod Touch, and App Store in Investing in iPhone Startups (Part 1): The Prospects. The numbers are encouraging and the downloads are downright inspiring (3 billion and growing with no end in sight).
BUT, barriers to entry is low and there are heaps of other issues to [...] -
Become an Angel Investor in 2010: An HBS Framework
It’s true that the global economic downturn has clipped many an angel’s wings. Recalling our previous post, Interesting Finding on Angel Investments in 2009, total angel investments in the first half of 2009 stood at US$9.1 billion, representing a decline of 27% over the first half of 2008.
The gloomy economic environment and depressing exit opportunities [...] - More from Picking Winners »
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Bruno Bensaid: “Startups need cash, then value. No cash, they die.”
Whether you visit news sites or flip open the newspaper, you’ll see that Chinese entrepreneurs and the state of economy in China are garnering some serious ink. To learn more about China’s angel investing scene and general investing practices, Venture Hype got in touch with Shanghai-based investor Bruno Bensaid.
Bensaid is the founder of MobileMonday Shanghai, [...] -
How to Value a Startup Part 9: Alphabet Soup
If you’ve been following our “How to Value a Startup” series (part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), you already know that we recommend a collage method that helps angels derive a number of valuations to get a fuller picture of the “art.” We’ve been on the quest for numerous valuation models and [...]
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How to Value a Startup Part 8: Weighty Issues
This is post number 8 in a series of posts (part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) about valuations. By now you’ve read that we embrace a “collage” valuation model that helps you arrive at several approximate valuations and gives you an idea about a potential investment’s worth.
Comments from all of you have been [...] -
How to Value a Startup Part 7: Simple Simon Met a Pieman
“Would you rather have a big piece of a small pie or a small piece of a big pie?” was the question posed to me early in my career. I always wondered: “Exactly how big are these pieces of pie?
That is the question in this post; the next in a series of posts (part 1, [...] - More from How to Value a Startup »
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2010: The Ultimate Buyer’s Market for Investors
No doubt, 2009 was a year of dieting and fat-trimming for startups. But those that have conquered the financial tsunami will come out a lean, mean, revenue-ramping machine.
“2010 should be the ultimate buyers’ market for investors with cash to spend because entrepreneurs who tightened their belts last year cannot do so indefinitely,” Steve Fredrick and [...] -
Investors of Tomorrow: What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
Are you smarter than a 5th grader? While this phrase has become a wildly popular game and game show, it is also an interesting segue into a recent post in The Business Insider.
Daniel Schultz, DFJ Gotham’s co-founder and managing director, set out to try and explain venture capital to his son’s 5th grade class. To [...] -
The Attraction of Social Gaming
Run a farm. Join a Mafia family. Become a vampire, play poker, or open a restaurant.
Seems like you can do just about anything you want in the vast universe of social gaming.
Social gaming, those simulated games populating social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, are everywhere, and their popularity is growing every day. Despite [...] -
Silicon Valley Ready to Make a Comeback?
There are few throughout the global economy who have been able to escape the impact of the recession. Amidst the branch closings, market losses, cutbacks and reorganizations, one bright light is shining on the horizon – the revival of Silicon Valley. For angels seeking new investment opportunities, excitement just might be brewing.
Hot Deals Emerging
BBC News’ [...] - More from Perspectives »
