Dave_Broadwin

Dave_Broadwin

34p

37 comments posted · 1 followers · following 0

13 years ago @ Feld Thoughts - How I Think About Seed... · 2 replies · +2 points

The seed debate seems to be raging around the option point (among others). I'm a lawyer not a finance maven, but your post seems to suggest that optionality is driven by the intent of the investor at the time of the investment (and perhaps her behavior throughout the period of the investment) , But isn't optionality inherent in all investments (albeit it is more visible in some cases than others). If you make the seed investment, you will, in all likelihood, be faced with a choice when it comes time to do the A round. How does the fact that you invested with an intent to grow the business rather than with the intent to make a decision later eliminate the option value of the seed investment? Don't "A" rounds have optionality and signaling issues too? If you are in the A you will, in all likelihood, have to decide if you want to play in the B round, and it is a pretty bad signal if you don't. The big difference is that A rounds are way more baked than seed rounds so the risk that once you are in the A you wont play in the B is much lower than the risk that once you are in the see you wont play in the A. Isn't the important difference between VC seed deals and angel seed deals that many (most) angels can only participate in the A round to very a limited extent because they don't have the funds for it, so they never had an option to begin with? This, not the purity of their motives is what eliminates optionality and signaling from their investments and does not eliminate it from yours, right?

13 years ago @ Ideas and Thoughts fro... - What is happening to N... · 1 reply · +1 points

I think that one quarter, taken alone, is too small a sample from which to draw a meaningful conclusion. We are still analyzing Q2 and should have our numbers by the end of the month.

13 years ago @ Ideas and Thoughts fro... - First half 2010 ventur... · 1 reply · +1 points

If memory serves me well, 2008 was down from 2007. I too have a morbid fascination with these stats. It might be interesting to list which funds in particular raised how much (compared to their prior funds). My (not particularly original) bet is that the industry is heading to be about 60% of the size it was in 2007 (as measured by fund size, numbers of funds, and numbers of investments).

13 years ago @ Ideas and Thoughts fro... - Is it easier to find p... · 1 reply · +1 points

Very interesting data. There is a lot of talk (particularly on Venture Hacks) to the effect that start-ups need to move to Silicon Valley. The principle reason given, as I understand it, is that that is where the talent is. I have had a client get a term sheet from a West Coast VC that required the client to move to the Bay area as a condition of the investment. Do I take it that you would say these numbers suggest that there is plenty of talent in Boston and that it is more readily available here than in Silicon Valley?

13 years ago @ Ideas and Thoughts fro... - New talk on forcing VC... · 1 reply · +1 points

I have not followed this particular craziness, but aren't there two regulatory concerns: (1) Whether or not the fund holds or trades public stock or public debt and (2) whether or not the fund leverages with debt. Typical VC funds don't do either and they don't invest in companies that employ much leverage (beyond venture debt, which is always way less than the equity invested, or SVB type lines). It seems to me that it would be pretty easy to separate VC funds from Hedge funds.

13 years ago @ Ideas and Thoughts fro... - It's stupid to do anyt... · 1 reply · +1 points

Interesting post. I believe that everyone (well lot's of people) give lip service to the idea that 1x participating preferreds create misalignment, but the fact is that a very large number of investors (including high end VCs) regularly ask for it and regularly get it in early rounds and late rounds. With respect to angel investors, I agree that convertibles are way better than preferred, especially preferreds with preferences.

13 years ago @ Ideas and Thoughts fro... - Q1 2010 New England Ve... · 0 replies · +1 points

That is my point. Venture financing is hard to get on a good day. But, it needs to be more available than it is now.

13 years ago @ Ideas and Thoughts fro... - Q1 2010 New England Ve... · 2 replies · +1 points

We are in the middle of our quarterly research on New England based deals, so I don't know yet what we will think the outcome of the quarter was, but it seems clear that the trend towards recovery is continuing. BTW -- Desmond's comment and your reply are not mutually exclusive. Even at up 30%, it is still difficult to get financed. Also, I believe that there is too much variability quarter on quarter for a quarter to be indicative of the state of the venture economy. The low seems to have been Q2 of '09 and the trend seems generally up from there. Also I suspect, but don't know, that there is at least one non-random trend affecting the venture economy and that is that there are several large funds out raising more money. This is likely to be a distraction and to depress their rate of investment for a while.

13 years ago @ Don Dodge on The Next ... - http://dondodge.typepa... · 0 replies · +1 points

Google won this battle when they developed a model that brings more people into the system at a lower cost and more easily than the software on the computer. This battle is over. The next battle is going to be about making it all available through the smart phone.

14 years ago @ Ideas and Thoughts fro... - Naming a company · 1 reply · +1 points

You might be interested in what one of my clients has to say about naming a company. Check out this post http://blog.thredup.com/whats-in-a-name-135