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…
VENTURE CAPITAL PRIMER
New Atlantic Ventures partner Scott Johnson has an excellent slide deck up on how to approach a venture capital firm.
NAV Blog: What to Know
Johnson provides some eye-opening information in the slide deck, such as your company needs to likely sell for $1 billion - $2 billion to get his firm interested.
PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
Top-tier venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins partners spoke out about the firm’s vision.
TechCrunch: Kleiner Perkins Interview
Active partners Ted Schlein and Chi-Hua Chien talked about how they are "company builders first, not financiers."
WHAT'S BIG DATA GOOD FOR?
As big data gets (over)hyped, Lightspeed Venture Partners VC Ravi Mhatre has a post up about the disruptive innovations ahead.
GigaOm: Big Data Meaning
Mhatre says that big data will need to be fast, intuitive and easy to manipulate in new ways.
SIGNAL FROM THE NOISE
If your company is contending for Series A financing, Javelin Partners entrepreneur in residence Semil Shah has a relevant post for you:
TechCrunch: Iterations: Finding Your Signal in the Noise
Shah makes four points about what a founder might consider when pursuing investors in the critical first round.
ANGEL INVESTING ON THE EARLY SIDE
Technology Angel investor Bill Warner likes to invest in early-stage companies before they have traction.
Xconomy: Bill Warner's Rules for Angel Investing
The founder of Avid Technology (Nasdaq: AVID) and Wildfire Communications is a hands-on investor across a wide range of Internet, software, electronics and related industries.
ANGEL INVESTORS MAKING MONEY
In response to a recent article by noted VC Andy Rachleff contending that most Angel investors do not make money, researcher Robert Wiltbank begs to differ:
TechCrunch: Angel Investors Do Make Money
He says that his research shows that Angels make 2.5x returns overall. He also contends that very early stage angel investing is not an efficient market, so cannot be compared to traditional venture capital investing.
SINGLE FAMILY OFFICES AS LPs
While pension funds are still the primary source of investment capital into venture capital firms, wealthy, single family offices are picking up steam.
PE Hub: Single Family Offices Warm Up
A survey of 139 single family offices by Grant Thornton says that 86% of those that have already invested in private equity want to actually increase their commitments over the next three years.
SHARK TANK BREAK DOWN
Lightspeed Venture Partners VC Jeremy Liew has the latest installment of the contestants on the television show Shark Tank.
Lightspeed Blog: Shark Tank Season 4 Week 5
In this post, he reviews four companies that presented on the television show. He also devotes some time to the game mechanics of investment concepts.
ASKING FOR MONEY
One mistake that seed stage entrepreneurs make is asking for too much money.
Stark Raving VC: Raise More by Asking for Less
VC Greg Gottesman says that because Angel investors like being in a round that is oversubscribed, entrepreneurs should consider lowering their initial target.
A FEW NEW EUROPEAN VCS
The European venture capital community has been going through some tough times recently, but there are some new entrants on the investing side.
TechCrunch Europe: New VC Kids on the Block
The post highlights a few new venture capital firms investing in early-stage technology companies.