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Primera Capital

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New Atlantic Ventures

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4.0

Maples Investments

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$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

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4.2 4.1 4.1 3.6 4.0

4.0

Updata Partners

 

$$$$$ Red Bank, US East

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3.9 4.2 3.4 3.7 4.2

3.9

RRE Ventures

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$$$$$ New York, US East

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Leapfrog Ventures

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$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

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First Round Capital

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$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

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Sequoia Capital

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$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

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Altos Ventures

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Aberdare Ventures

 

$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

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3.4 3.9 4.1 3.9 3.6

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True Ventures

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406 Ventures

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$$$$$ Boston, US East

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Trinity Ventures

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3.6

August Capital

 

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

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3.6

Clearstone Venture Partners

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$$$$$ Santa Monica, US West

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3.5

DFJ Mercury

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$$$$$ Houston, US Central

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Wellington Partners

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$$$$$ Munich, Europe

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Mangrove Capital Partners

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$$$$$ Luxembourg, Europe

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Bessemer Venture Partners

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GRP Partners

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$$$$$ Los Angeles, US West

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Meritage Funds

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Scale Venture Partners

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Polaris Venture Partners

 

$$$$$ Waltham, US East

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Opus Capital

 

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

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Union Square Ventures

 

$$$$$ New York, US East

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Index Ventures

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$$$$$ Geneva, Europe

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Menlo Ventures

 

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

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Greylock Partners

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$$$$$ San Mateo, US West

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Foundation Capital

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$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

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New Enterprise Associates

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$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

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3.5 3.5 3.0 3.1 3.3

3.3

Mayfield Fund

 

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

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Primera helped us grow the business from the very early stages and up to the breakeven point almost three years later.

A few attributes that made them a perfect partner all these years:

- They move fast when needed and fair when negotiated with

- From the ongoing inputs, to the incredible contribution to our board – they are true professionals.

- Extremely well connected and don't hesitate to use their network when required.

But most important, they are not only experts but also great people.
I would recommend Primera above all other VCs I’ve dealt with.

I have pitched both Rory and Sharon at Scale (and back at B of A). I have always found them to be straightforward, smart, and not time wasters. Sharon in particular has been focusing on SaaS, social networking and other web 2.0 concepts for years. She provided me with good insights into how VCs evaluate SaaS metrics (this was a few years ago before there was broader agreement on the topics). Sharon has also made introductions that have helped us advance our business, and helped me network (and this was even though my business at that time did not fit their model). Sharon's success and support from entrepreneurs is indicative that she has treated many others the same way.

I found S3 to be quick to offer feedback and very hands-on in a helpful way once they've decided they like the market and the company. They are not a big organization, so they are fairly picky and the deal must hit one of their sweet spots, but they are a quick study and I found their direct communications and straight-shooter style to be far superior to many other VC's. They are not just another small Austin fund that piggybacks on other VC fundings as they have strong operational experience, deep connections and access to serious capital resources without the hidden agendas or committee decision making that often come with larger funds.

I would strongly suggest technology and medical entrepreneurs looking for capital in the region approach S3 in addition to others.

Everyone

I am starting to like the NY Times more and more, here is another article on NY VCs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/tec...

What really intrigued me about the NY scene was the different attitude of some of the VCs over there. Here is a cut and paste of the critical part:

"Dogpatch, which opened in January, offers start-ups a place to work, rent-free, for several months, along with the possibility of securing an investment down the line."

Note : "Dogpatch" is not the only one who is seemingly doing this.

They provide a forum where de-risking of the start up takes place. And that is what is needed so terribly in the Valley. I don't know of many Valley VCs who do it.

Now, what "Dogpatch" offers only goes part way. A place to rest while you do the ground level investigation. What the NY VCs don't seem to do is advance a 250,000 cheque and then a 500,000 cheque to really ground the business.

De risking a business is more than just putting a business plan together on some mashup idea. It involves proofs of concept, IP, business case development, marketing channel development, monetization development, team building.

And that 250,000 is real venturing. (so too, may be the 500,000 cheque after that).

You won't really know that you really have something until a good 6 months to a year of time has gone in, along with 250 to 750 in hard money.

Any idiot can finance a MSFT after it has a whole bunch of customers. The problem for the "idiots" is that by then it is too late.

At that point, the start up has 50 options and can afford to "digitally signal" ... "those who wait and wait and wait" .... that they are number one.

Real VC work will involve building a de risking capability as part of the fund.

The times .... they are a'changing.

best wishes

Jon Callagan has an almost unnerving level of charisma and charm. Not fake charisma either. He's a genuinely down to earth, likeable guy. And smart too!

I've heard a lot of good things about First Round from a lot of good people and I am reluctant to say make any negative generalizations about them as a firm because of this, but based on my own experience and conversations with my peers, First Round has showed poor judgement in choosing Charlie O'Donnell to represent them in NYC as an Exec-In-Residence.

While Charlie's clearly a smart guy who's trying hard to make a name for himself, he seems unable to manage the responsibility and power that comes with being a VC. Essentially, if you have power or influence, he's the greatest guy in the world. But if you're not, he has a tendency to abuse his power. And that's what he wants: power.

In reality, Charlie is a guy you have to know and deal with if you're in the NYC ecosystem. But always remember: There's only one guy that Charlie O'Donnell cares about: Charlie O'Donnell.

Saar is what you want more VCs to be like in your ideation phase. He is willing to take a few meetings to help brainstorm around the idea, shares his thoughts while respecting the entrepreneur's vision, and is happy to make introductions into his broad network. It all comes across as someone who loves great ideas and passionate teams. He is an internet guy (which now means mobile internet too), so those are the businesses where he can help the most and where he spends most of his time thinking.

was contacted by an associate at what is now firstmark. Went through a phone call with said associate and was promised fast response by end of week on whether they would want to move to next stage and have us present to the partners.

Considering they contacted us an answer in my opinion on whether we would take next steps is deserved. After a follow up email a week past the promised response date we have yet to get any kind of response from firstmark.

I don't mind not getting a response, so long as there is no expectation of getting a response.

I pitched Scott Ungerer several weeks ago. He said he need to think about it and discuss it internally. Unfortuately, he didn't have the common courtesey to ever respond to repeated emails and calls requesting a yes/no.