After spending quite a bit of time in board meetings, I worked with a NYU student team to prepare a template for board presentations to investors. In the deck below, I include our best practices on preparing for, running, and closing up on a board meeting, including what to include in your materials. I would...
[Continue Reading]How to Judge an Investment Proposal (especially at Pitch Contests)
I periodically serve as a judge at pitch events for companies raising funding. In every case, I’m assessing each company against our standard criteria for investing. For some of the new employees at our firm, I put together a guide on how to serve as a judge at investment pitch events, evaluate investment ideas, and...
[Continue Reading]ff Venture Capital Is First VC Fund To Raise Capital Under The JOBS Act
ff Venture Capital has consistently generated a gross IRR on invested capital in excess of 30%, in a world where the average ten-year returns for venture capital firms are in the single digits. But, historically we couldn’t say that it in a public setting. Now we can. Software is eating every industry, including the entrepreneurial ecosystem itself. Funding...
[Continue Reading]A VC Just Cold-Called You; Now What?
One of our founders called me. “An analyst just called me. He works for a VC fund tied to an investment bank. He’s interested in our company and is keen to know more. How much information should I share? “ CEOs need to know what they’re getting into when they talk with VCs, particularly if...
[Continue Reading]Free Copy of The Lower-Risk Startup: How Venture Capitalists Increase the Odds of Startup Success
One of my responsibilities is helping to accelerate value creation in our portfolio companies. I published the first research study on this topic in the Journal of Private Equity, peHub, Betabeat, and Techcrunch. The Journal of Private Equity has now (temporarily) made our full study available for complimentary download: The Lower-Risk Startup: How Venture Capitalists Increase the Odds of Startup Success. They...
[Continue Reading]How an Indiana Accelerator Helps Its Companies to Succeed
I met some time ago with Brad Wisler, co-Founder of SproutBox, and shared with him our research on portfolio value creation by venture capitalists. He wrote a thoughtful note, which I’ve shared below, with permission: David, Thanks for sharing this paper with me. I love the title, which almost perfectly sums up our philosophy. What follows...
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