recently rated:

Rated by 2

3.0 2.5 3.0 2.0 3.0

2.7

Envisionventures

Certified

$$$$$ Seattle, US West

top rated funds:

Rated by 11

4.1 5.0 4.4 4.1 4.5

4.4

Rincon Venture Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Santa Barbara, CA, US West

Rated by 19

4.7 4.8 4.5 3.3 4.3

4.3

Foundry Group

Certified

$$$$$ Boulder, US Central

Rated by 18

4.4 4.3 4.1 3.7 4.5

4.2

New Atlantic Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Reston, US East

Rated by 29

3.5 4.2 4.1 4.0 4.1

4.0

Leapfrog Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 37

3.5 4.0 4.3 4.1 3.9

3.9

True Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Palo Alto, US West

Rated by 29

4.0 4.2 4.1 2.9 4.2

3.9

406 Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Boston, US East

Rated by 59

3.8 3.9 3.8 3.4 3.9

3.8

First Round Capital

Certified

$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

Rated by 11

3.9 4.2 3.2 3.6 4.0

3.8

Mangrove Capital Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Luxembourg, Europe

Rated by 42

3.8 4.1 3.4 3.7 4.1

3.8

RRE Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ New York, US East

Rated by 29

4.1 3.8 3.8 3.4 4.1

3.8

Altos Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 102

4.7 3.7 3.7 3.0 3.5

3.7

Sequoia Capital

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 11

3.6 3.7 3.6 3.8 3.4

3.6

Flywheel Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Santa Fe, US West

Rated by 18

3.4 3.3 3.9 3.6 4.0

3.6

DFJ Mercury

Certified

$$$$$ Houston, US Central

Rated by 25

3.7 3.5 3.8 3.7 3.5

3.6

FLOODGATE

Certified

$$$$$ Palo Alto, US West

Rated by 16

3.6 3.5 3.8 3.5 3.5

3.6

August Capital

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 10

4.0 3.8 3.9 2.8 3.7

3.6

Updata Partners

 

$$$$$ Red Bank, US East

Rated by 60

3.7 3.6 3.4 3.4 3.9

3.6

Trinity Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 10

3.5 3.8 3.7 3.4 3.8

3.6

IDG Ventures SF

Certified

$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

Rated by 12

3.8 3.5 3.6 3.5 3.1

3.5

In-Q-Tel, Inc.

 

$$$$$ Arlington, US East

Rated by 20

3.5 3.6 3.5 3.2 3.4

3.5

Wellington Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Munich, Europe

Rated by 12

3.2 3.6 3.4 3.0 4.2

3.5

DN Capital

 

$$$$$ London, Europe

Rated by 16

3.9 3.7 3.2 2.9 3.5

3.5

GRP Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Los Angeles, US West

Rated by 13

3.8 3.7 3.6 2.9 3.6

3.5

Meritage Funds

Certified

$$$$$ Denver, US West

Rated by 17

3.2 3.5 3.5 3.1 3.8

3.4

Blumberg Capital

Certified

$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

Rated by 19

3.8 3.1 3.4 3.2 3.3

3.4

Draper Richards

Certified

$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

Rated by 25

4.1 3.7 2.8 2.8 3.5

3.4

Index Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Geneva, Europe

Rated by 48

3.8 3.5 3.1 3.4 3.2

3.4

Menlo Ventures

 

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 31

3.3 3.3 3.2 3.6 3.7

3.4

Clearstone Venture Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Santa Monica, US West

Rated by 16

3.9 3.7 2.9 2.9 3.6

3.4

Versant Ventures

 

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 12

3.0 3.8 3.4 3.2 3.4

3.4

Fidelity Growth Partners Europe

Certified

$$$$$ London, Europe

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I have used many of the large law firms (Wilson Sonsini, Cooley, MoFo, etc.) and several sole-practitioner attorneys. While the large firms are good for some tasks, they are outrageously expensive, and I have used very experienced sole-practitioners for contract work at about $225/hour (MUCH more cost effective than large firms). Unfortunately, my 'go-to' attorney for this is no longer available, so I am looking for a new one. Ideally, experience with reviewing partner/alliance contracts for open source software, and based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Please share on this board if you know of someone good for this legal work.

Bill was an early investor in one of my companies, and about the best thing I can say about him is that I learned a lot about just how damaging a bad investor can be. It's almost a cliche to hear investors say "I'll treat you right, because my reputation is everything." Obviously Bill Bryant doesn't feel this way, because not only is he incompetent, he's dishonest. He was destructive to the company, by forcing the founders to accept bad advice, undermined our sale in preference for his preferred acquirer, and in the process killed off a potential bidding war, delayed the company by forcing the wrong strategy and even forcing the wrong technology, causing us to miss the right time to sell, and then later bragged about it as if it was a successful result!

I'm sure it was successful for him, because I think he made out on a couple side deals as well.

I've seen him tell outright lies with a straight face, even when he had to know that I knew he was lying. Apparently he didn't care, or he's so used to it he lost track of the fact that I knew the truth.

Founder Insight is a weekly newsletter that provides global insights from the people building great startups. Each week we’ll send you an exclusive training video from inside the Founder Institute, as well as other helpful resources from startup communities around the globe. Click here to subscribe

Editor's Note: The Application Deadline for the New York Founder Institute's Spring Semester is this Saturday, February 4th. If you or someone you know could benefit from expert training and feedback to launch a technology startup in New York City, then apply today.

- Jonathan Greechan (@jonnystartup)

Inside the Founder Institute

’The Devil is in the Details of Your Term Sheet’ by @BarrySilbert- In this talk from last year’s New York Founder Institute, Barry Silbert, Founder and CEO of Second Market shares insights into the funding process he gained from angel investing and raising several rounds of financing.

Great Discussions on TheFunded:

Angels vs. P VC vs. Private Equity

SEC Regulation D

Recommended Resources:

How to Build Your Startup Without Learning Code [VentureBeat]

Getting Your Product in Front of a VC [Jeff Clavier via TechCrunch]

Upcoming Events:

Sydney Startup Ideation Bootcamp
Date/Location: February 16, 2012: 6:00 PM-9:00 PM: Sydney, NSW
Description: In just three hours the Founder Institute will help you improve your startup ideas, improve your pitching skills, and recruit potential cofounders. Best of all it's free, and many local CEOs will be in attendance - including Benjamin Ranck and Matt Cameron.

Guadalajara Startup Ideation Bootcamp
Date/Location: February 22, 2012: 6:00 PM-9:00 PM: Zapopan, Mexico
Description: In just three hours the Founder Institute will help you improve your startup ideas, improve your pitching skills, and recruit potential cofounders. Best of all it's free, and many local CEOs will be in attendance - including Daniel Pandza and John E. Cooper .

Women 2.0 PITCH Competition 2012
Date/Location: February 14, 2011: Mountain View, CA
Description: The full-day conference will be the only platform that unites the entire ecosystem to nurture and support the fastest-growing demographic in the startup space - women - as creators and consumers. Over 800 investors, entrepreneurs, engineers and designers will be exploring up-and-coming trends in innovation and discussing "nuts & bolts" solutions through case studies. Founder Insight readers get 10% off using the code 'FOUNDER'.

To receive this every Wednesday as an email, click here to subscribe

I first pitched the pre-seed fund (up to $150k) back in October 2011. I was told the Pre-Seed fund "doesn't invest in technology development - only technology enhancement". Although I was developing my alpha via bootstrapping, they said a demo/alpha wouldn't suffice that I needed to be "live". Met again in December and was told not only would I have to be live but would need a client. This for the PRE Seed fund. WTF? When we met again last week, they freaked out because I'm looking to raise $500K in a seed round and they only provide up to $150k so "where was I going to get the rest of the money from?" They want me to be live, launched, and have a client but it can't cost more than $150k to get there. Don't waste your time.

At last week's 9th Founder Showcase, we celebrated the best investors of 2011 with TheFunded.com's Entrepreneur Investor Awards.

Anthony Ha of TechCrunch covered the awards here (including a video of the ceremony).

Here are the winners of the 2011 Awards;

---

Most Disruptive

Ben Horowitz, General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz

Top Rated in the Americas

George Zachary, General Partner, Charles River Ventures

Top Rated in Europe, Middle East and Africa

Philippe Herbert, Partner, Banexi Venture Partners

Top Rated in Asia

Yuri Milner, Founder and CEO of Mail.ru Group

Best New Fund Manager

Dave McClure, Founding Partner at 500 Startups

Other finalists included;

• Brad Feld (Managing Director at the Foundry Group)
  
• Bryan Schreier (Partner at Sequoia Capital)
  
• Chris Dixon (Founding Partner at the Founder Collective)
  
• David Skok (General Partner at Matrix Partners)
  
• David Sze (Partner at Greylock Partners)
  
• James D. Robinson IV (General Partner at RRE Ventures)
  
• Jeremy Liew (Managing Director at Lightspeed Venture Partners)
  
• John Backus (Managing Partner at New Atlantic Ventures)
  
• John Doerr (Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers)
  
• Jon Callaghan (Founder and Managing Partner at True Ventures)
  
• Joshua Kopelman (Managing Partner at First Round Capital)
  
• Marc Andreessen (Co-Founder and General Partner of Andreessen Horowitz)
  
• Maria Cirino (Co-Founder and Managing Director at 406 Ventures)
  
• Mark Suster (General Partner at GRP Partners)
  
• Matthew McCall (Partner at DFJ Portage Ventures)
  
• Mike Maples Jr. (Managing Partner at FLOODGATE)
  
• Roelof Botha (Partner at Sequoia Capital)
  
• Ron Conway (General Partner at SV Angel)
  
• Shlomo Dovrat (General Partner at Carmel Ventures)
  
• Steven Arnold (Co-Founder and Venture Partner at Polaris Ventures)