How do you raise capital for your company when you’re not in the traditional social circles of the money people? In particular, the VC industry is 76% white male and overwhelmingly straight; what if you do not fit into that bucket? I’m speaking on a panel this afternoon on fundraising for minority founders at the...
[Continue Reading]Why are venture capitalists (76% white men) ignoring the future?
Why do so many venture capitalists ignore the single best predictor of the future: demographics? Paul Graham, cofounder of Y Combinator, observes, “Many suspect that venture capital firms are biased against female founders. This would be easy to detect: among their portfolio companies, do startups with female founders outperform those without? A couple months ago,...
[Continue Reading]Startup Grind interview (with vertical pushup)
Last month I did an on-stage interview with Peter Crysdale of Startup Grind. You can read a summary at AlleyWatch. For fun, I did an on-stage vertical pushup at the end of the interview (skip to 44:00)....
[Continue Reading]SXSW charity push-up competition, Sunday 1-2pm, Austin TX
Michael Gold challenged Jeff Pulver and me to a pushup contest for charity on stage at SXSW. This rapidly escalated to a full-fledged Indiegogo campaign. So: Come challenge Ryan Armbrust, me, and some other team members Sunday 1-2pm at the ff MASSIVE pavilion, Empire Control Room & Garage (606 E 7th St, Austin, TX) Sunday,...
[Continue Reading]Meet people at SXSW … while working out and losing weight
Can you go to SXSW and stay in shape? South by Southwest (SXSW) is famous for a jam-packed schedule, infinite free food & drink, minimal sleep, and radical overstimulation. It’s not well known as a place to stay in shape. So before attending for my first time (finally!), I had to find a solution to keep my...
[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...
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