Archive: venture capital
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San Francisco Startup Valuations Continue to Balloon
By Adam Sharp on March 16, 2021
I’ve been writing about rising valuations for a while now. But this week, I saw a deal that was so crazily priced, I just have to write about it again. This young San Francisco-based startup had about $700k in annual recurring revenue (ARR). It was a B2B Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product — limiting it to basically just a handful of customers. The valuation on the deal was $72 million post-money!…
Startup Insider: Equity Crowdfunding vs. Venture Capitalism
By Early Investing on March 15, 2021
Equity crowdfunding and venture capitalism share some similarities. But they’re also fundamentally different ways to invest. So it’s important to understand how they’re different. That way, investors can make the right decision when they’re crowdfunding a startup. In this week’s Startup Insider,…
Silicon Valley Is Losing Dominance
By Adam Sharp on February 19, 2021
For the past few decades, Silicon Valley has dominated the world of venture capital. According to Pitchbook, Silicon Valley accounted for a whopping 26% of all VC dealmaking in 2014. Even more impressive, more than 39% of all dollars invested into VC-backed startups happened in the Silicon Valley…
WeWork Disaster Shows Crowdfunding’s Advantages
By Andy Gordon on January 6, 2021
Just this week, I came across an intriguing startup investment opportunity. A Philadelphia-based company was offering shared office space for physicians and related medical practices. Doctors — especially those just starting their practices — are often forced to accept expensive and long-term leases. It’s a real problem that…
Rolling Funds Transforming AngelList
By Adam Sharp on December 15, 2020
Rolling funds on AngelList are continuing to pick up steam. And I’ve been thinking about what the long-term impact of these funds could be for a while now. I believe that — like I said back in September…
What to Do When a Startup Goes Public
By Andy Gordon on November 18, 2020
Every investor would love to have my dilemma. One of my First Stage Investor portfolio companies will be listing on a public stock market (also known as going public or IPO’ing) in a couple of months. I first recommended this company back in 2016…
Startup Investing Just Got 5x Better
By Adam Sharp on November 6, 2020
Something monumental happened for startup investors this week. The SEC increased the limit for public startup fundraising rounds from $1.07 million to $5 million (per year, per company). This is a very big deal. Startups can now raise almost five times…
What the New Reg CF Limit Means for Founders
By Andy Gordon on November 5, 2020
I’m doing something different today. I want to give founders some advice. I’ve been alerting every founder I talk to about this. And I’m shocked that just a handful of them are aware of the biggest boon that has come their way in a very long time. So,…
Why Crowdfunding Is Better Than VC Funds
By Andy Gordon on October 7, 2020
I don’t envy venture capitalists these days. The economics of startup investing are changing. And as of today, crowdfunders like you and me hold a significant edge over VCs. I know that may seem like a bold claim. Right now, VC investors get all the respect…
Learn How the Top VCs Choose Startups
By Adam Sharp on September 11, 2020
This week top-tier venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners released the original deal memos from some of their best startup investments. These memos provide a fascinating look at how VCs operate, think and make investment decisions. Today we’re going to look…
How the Tech Exodus Affects VCs
By Adam Sharp on August 25, 2020
Last week I wrote about the current trend of businesses fleeing California. I believe this will be one of the defining issues of our time. California’s tech exodus can be traced to many deep and complex societal issues. California has taxes…
Finding the Best AngelList Syndicate Leaders
By Adam Sharp on July 28, 2020
Chris Sacca is a legend in the angel/VC world. His first VC fund — Lowercase Fund I — has been called the best-performing fund of all time. Here’s how Fortune described it back in 2015. Can you name…
The Importance of Co-Investors
By Adam Sharp on July 21, 2020
As online angel investors, there’s an easy metric we can use when judging possible investments. If we pay attention to who else is investing in a startup’s round (also known as co-investors), we can learn a lot about the quality of the deal. For example, if…
First Stage Investor: Best of 2019
By Early Investing on December 23, 2019
The First Stage Investor team covered a lot of ground this year. Here are our favorite pieces of 2019.
New AngelList Report Advises Diversification
By Adam Sharp on December 17, 2019
A new report by leading accredited investor site AngelList shows that investors are wise to spread their bets out widely across as many “credible deals” as possible.
Mailbag: Understanding Startup Investing Rounds, Avoiding Uber and Lyft
By Early Investing on November 10, 2019
In this week’s Mailbag, the Early Investing team addresses startup funding rounds and whether Uber and Lyft are good buys.