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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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)
  

Last Thursday, over 300 people gathered in Silicon Valley for the 9th Founder Showcase, hosted by TheFunded.com and the Founder Institute.

At the event, 8 companies competed on stage in a free pitch competition, and taking the Grand Prize was Michael Mayernick and Spinnakr - a service for displaying targeted messaging on your website based on the specific audience segments. Spinnakr graduated from the Washington D.C. Founder Institute, and is also in the current 500 Startups class. Here is the video of their winning pitch;

Coming in an extremely close second place was Kloudless, a service for managing all of your stuff across the cloud and devices. Their pitch can be seen below; 

All in all, it was a very impressive slate of contenders. Others who presented include:

• Appsperse - Appsperse is a cross promotion platform for mobile applications.
  
• Gickup - An easy to use video chat gaming platform
  
• IndustryGraph - A local sales & support channel for B2B cloud services
  
• JetJaw - The proactive way to protect & promote your brand
  
• PetHub - Award-winning technology to keep pets safe
  
• Zoko - Kickstarter for parties
  
• Demo Table Competition Winner 1: ClientMagnet
  
• Demo Table Competition WInner 2: TagSeats
  
• Demo Table Competition Winner 3: Breezy
  

And of course, a special thanks goes out to our great Judging Panel; 

Scott Hartley, Venture Investor, Mohr Davidow Ventures

Scott is a venture capitalist at MDV focused on mobile and consumer Internet. He has worked at Google, Facebook, and Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. He is interested in disruptive platforms that can address issues he has observed working on five continents, and at the White House and United Nations.

Bruce Taragin, Managing Director, Blumberg Capital

Bruce has 20 yrs experience as a VC, entrepreneur, banker and attorney. Prior to Blumberg, he co-founded and held management positions within many companies, including Charles River Computers. Past investments include ZipZapPlay, eVoice, PureSight, IP Infusion, GO Networks, and Siperian - all of which were acquired.

Matthew B. McCall, Partner, New World Ventures<
Matthew McCall is a Partner at NWV and co-founder of DFJ Portage Venture Partners. His investments include Apptera, BrightTag, Cognitive Concepts, Facebook, Feedburner, Performics, Playdom, Siimpel and TicketsNow. He was an AlwaysOn Top 100 VC in the US, and writes the popular blog, VCConfidential.

George Zachary, General Partner, Charles River Ventures
George joined CRV in 2004, bringing more than 17 rs of operating and investing experience in computing and consumer technology. He focuses on building services and software technology companies, and he's led CRV's investments in Twitter, Yammer, Millennial Media, Cloudshare, Geni, SocialMedia, Metaplace, and Scribd.

Dave McClure, Founding Partner, 500 Startups

Dave McClure is a greedy venture capitalist & founding partner at 500 Startups, an internet startup seed fund and incubator program in Mountain View, CA. Dave has  worked with companies such as PayPal, Mint, Founders Fund, Facebook, LinkedIn, SlideShare, Twilio, Simply Hired, O'Reilly Media, Intel, & Microsoft.

Thanks to everyone who attended! The next event will take place on April 24th in San Francisco, and tickets will go on sale shortly.

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: At last week’s Founder Showcase, we watched a series of amazing interviews on stage with Mark Suster, Mike Maples, Jr., and Dave McClure. Many of the people in the audience told us they were the best talks we've had on stage to date (and that is really saying a lot!).

- Jonathan Greechan (@jonnystartup)

Great Discussions on TheFunded:

Sharing the Names of VCs that You are Pitching

Bad Credit Score: Funding Options

Recommended Resources:

The Uphill Battle of Social Event Sharing: A Post-Mortem for PlanCast
[Mark Hendrickson via TechCrunch]

Stealth Mode, Schmealth Mode: The Real Reasons Why Startups Don’t Talk
[OnStartups]

Upcoming Events:

New York City Pitch Bootcamp
Date/Location: January 26, 2012: 6:00 PM-9:00 PM: New York, NY
Description: In just three hours the Founder Institute will help you improve your startup ideas, come up with new ideas, and find a cofounder. Best of all it's free, and many local CEOs will be in attendance - including Gabe Zichermann and Ven Medabalmi.

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