Guess what is often the worst slide in an investor deck? For me, it’s the competition slide. At best, it’s a list of competitors plotted in some 2×2 or Harvey-ball chart that isn’t terribly helpful. At worst, it’s hurtful. You’d […]

My friend David Balter wrote an excellent piece for Inc Magazine about his leadership at BzzAgent and how his hubris nearly sunk the company. It’s an awesome piece that’s worth reading. To continue to spur on the discussion that came […]

I’ve been using this slightly chauvinistic metaphor a fair bit recently, so please forgive me 🙂 It’s always interesting to me to watch how entrepreneurs evaluate VC investors.  If you are in the luxurious position to be able to choose […]

A common phrase in the venture business is that you have to “kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince”, meaning that you have to look at a lot of companies to find the real gems. I think folks […]

Sometimes, early stage companies hear investors say that it’s “too early” for them to invest. It’s a puzzling response when most VC’s are considered “early stage”.  The definition of “early” seems to be inconsistent, and the very same investor might […]

One of the supposed drawbacks of more seed stage funding in Silicon Valley is that it encourages more “quick flip” exits.  Max Levchin wrote an excellent post on this observation, and my friend and old colleague Bijan Sabet shared his […]

A lot of folks start their fundraising efforts by targeting their first choice prospect and working down the list.  It’s instinctively the most natural thing to do.  But unless you are a really good fundraiser and know that the process […]