It's always an interesting week in venture capital. Discover the best stories, blog posts and other information inside the VC ecosystem in the US and in hotspots around the world. Onward dear reader…
STARTUP HIRING MISTAKES
Internet VC Albert Wenger has another post up about mistakes startups make in their hiring processes.
Continuations: Hiring Too Fast / Too Show
Startups that hire too fast risk spending money too quickly. Hire too slowly in a fast-growing company and you may never catch up.
VENTURE CAPITAL FIRMS IN AFRICA
The technology startup scene continues to show signs of life in Africa, according to this post:
IT News Africa: Top 5 Venture Capital Firms Targeting Africa
The article highlights 5 venture capital firms that have been in the market for some time, have significant investment activity and focus on ICT industries.
PROS AND CONS OF ACCELERATORS
Mikko Jarvenpaa spoke to more than 150 entrepreneur graduates of accelerators to get their opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of accelerator programs.
GigaOm: What Accelerators Do Best and Worst
Among the results: Accelerators help to validate an idea and business model, but don't provide that many industry contacts.
WHY VCs DON'T LIKE CONTENT
It is said that venture capital firms don't like to invest the "content companies":
TechCrunch: Three Reasons Why VCs Don't like Content
Reason #2: content businesses are a "base hit", not typically a home run investment opportunity that VCs search for.
SURVIVING THE BIOTECH VC DOWNTURN
Xconomy’s BioBeat has a listing of biotechnology focus venture capital firms they think will survive the current challenging environment in biotech investing.
Xconomy: The Young and the Proven
Writer Luke Timmerman believes that biotech funds have such a long time horizon, the investing business is really for the young at heart, especially when contemplating a new fundraise.
BOSTON VC CONVERSATION
Scott Kirsner interviewed David Skok of Matrix Partners for his take on the state of venture capital investing in Boston:
Boston.com: A Conversation with David Skok
It’s a lengthy interview that covers a wide range of topics. Matrix is among the best performing venture capital firms in the US.
WHEN TO RAISE YOUR NEXT ROUND
“A good entrepreneur should always be fundraising,” as Internet VC Nic Brisbourne says.
The Equity Kicker: 50 Questions
Part of a series of answering 50 questions related to venture capital and technology entrepreneurship, Brisbourne thinks that even when not officially fundraising, entrepreneurs should maintain "occasional contact with 10 - 15 of your favorite investors."
COMPANY PITCHING
Volition Capital VC Larry Cheng writes about how to approach your pitch with his firm.
Thinking about Thinking: Start With the Problem
Cheng says that you should begin your pitch with a description of the problem that is being solved. When he gets into due diligence on a company, he spends as much time validating the magnitude of the problem as he does on the merits of the product.
TIME IS NOT YOUR FRIEND
When you are fundraising, time is not on your side.
Stark Raving VC: Time Kills All Deals
VC Greg Gottesman provides 7 tips to keep your financing efforts on track and not a victim of time.
MOST CONSISTENT RETURNS
Which venture capital firms provide the most consistent investment returns to their limited partners?
PE Hub / Preqin: Most Consistent Venture Firms
The analysis cited Benchmark Capital, GGV Capital, Sequoia Capital and Pittsford Venture