Deal Algebra: What sort of Returns do Investors need? (VC, Angel, Seed)

From AVC, Fred Wilson: The venture capital math problem is pretty basic, maybe something you'd do in high school calculus or even pre-calculus. He... (2017)

It's easier for climate companies to get enough funding to get started. It's much harder once they need money to scale. (2024)

Feld Thoughts, July 7, 2004: Venture Capital Deal Algebra: I’ve found that even sophisticated entrepreneurs didn’t necessary grasp how valuation ma... (2004)

Over the past few decades, a small number of startups — 6% — end up driving 60% of the returns. “Dear readers, I’m happy to announce I’ve comple... (2019)

YC Partner Geoff Ralston talks to Cowboy Ventures Founder Aileen Lee. Transcript and additional content can be found here: See Min 26 - for VC ... (2018)

An investor wants to give you money for a certain percentage of your startup. Should you take it? You're about to hire your first employee. How muc... (2017)

AVC. essay from Fred Wilson: "Valuation: There’s this dance that entrepreneurs and venture capitalists do when it comes time to negotiate the eco... (2017)

Disclaimer: This post gets fairly detailed on venture math. I generally think it’s helpful for founders who take VC money to understand the busines... (2017)

Crunchbase: "Let’s say you randomly selected 1000 seed-stage startups based in the United States. How many of those would go on to raise a Series A... (2017)

Last year I wrote a few posts (here and here) that talked about how skewed venture returns were. The key take-away graphic from that post is below ... (2018)

In 2011 I left my job as the second employee at Pinterest–before I vested any of my stock–to work on what I thought would be my life’s work. Gumroa... (2019)

This simple and short blog post by the folks at Correlation Ventures contains the key to venture capital returns – the hit rate. (2019)

Most of us know intuitively that venture investing is a hits driven business. A relatively small number of winners drive returns. However, you migh... (2019)

The size of PayPal’s acquisition is unusually large for a company emerging from the growing but still nascent Los Angeles startup ecosystem. (2019)

Q:  What are the Pros and Cons of Seed Investing? Seed investing is a bit of a sucker bet.  At least on a relative basis to other types of venture (2020)

Seed investors and the company's founders saw their stakes in DoorDash diluted as SoftBank flooded the company with money and as Sequoia held firm. (2020)

“How to hit home runs: I swing as hard as I can, and I try to swing right through the ball… The harder you grip the bat, the more you can swing it ... (2019)

Immigrants Mar Hershenson and Pejman Nozad’s venture fund, Pear VC, was once doubted. Then it turned $1.9 million in DoorDash into a stake worth mo... (2020)