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2.6

General Catalyst

 

$$$$$ Cambridge, US East

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4.3 4.2 3.9 4.2 3.8

4.1

Andreessen Horowitz

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 16

3.8 4.5 4.0 3.8 4.2

4.0

Rincon Venture Partners

Certified

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

Rated by 43

3.6 3.8 4.2 4.2 3.8

3.9

True Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Palo Alto, US West

Rated by 12

4.4 4.1 4.2 2.7 3.9

3.8

Y Combinator

 

$$$$$ Mountain View, 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 45

3.8 4.1 3.3 3.7 4.0

3.8

RRE Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ New York, US East

Rated by 107

4.7 3.8 3.7 3.1 3.6

3.8

Sequoia Capital

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 33

3.9 3.8 3.8 3.4 4.1

3.8

Altos Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 32

4.0 4.1 4.0 2.8 4.1

3.8

406 Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Boston, US East

Rated by 64

3.9 3.8 3.8 3.4 3.9

3.7

First Round Capital

Certified

$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

Rated by 23

3.6 3.5 4.0 3.7 4.0

3.7

DFJ Mercury

Certified

$$$$$ Houston, US Central

Rated by 27

3.8 3.6 3.8 3.8 3.6

3.7

FLOODGATE

Certified

$$$$$ Palo Alto, US West

Rated by 13

3.7 3.8 3.8 3.4 3.8

3.7

IDG Ventures SF

Certified

$$$$$ San Francisco, 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 19

3.7 3.6 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 64

3.8 3.5 3.4 3.5 3.9

3.6

Trinity Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 15

2.9 3.6 3.8 3.3 3.8

3.5

Merus

 

$$$$$ US West

Rated by 21

3.5 3.6 3.6 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 30

3.3 3.4 3.3 3.7 3.7

3.5

Clearstone Venture Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Santa Monica, US West

Rated by 28

3.7 3.0 3.0 4.0 3.3

3.4

The Founders Fund

Certified

$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

Rated by 49

3.7 3.4 3.1 3.4 3.2

3.4

Menlo Ventures

 

$$$$$ Menlo Park, 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 10

3.6 3.4 3.9 2.7 3.3

3.4

DFJ Esprit

Certified

$$$$$ London, Europe

Rated by 13

3.0 3.8 3.5 3.2 3.4

3.4

Fidelity Growth Partners Europe

Certified

$$$$$ London, Europe

Rated by 16

3.9 3.6 3.1 2.9 3.5

3.4

GRP Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Los Angeles, US West

Rated by 61

3.8 3.3 3.0 3.5 3.4

3.4

New Enterprise Associates

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 17

3.5 3.4 3.4 3.5 3.2

3.4

Scale Venture Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Foster City, US West

Rated by 18

3.2 3.4 3.3 3.0 3.6

3.3

Blumberg Capital

Certified

$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

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Their associates will tell you that you are in their sweet spot and follow up to dive into your financials and other confidential info only to waste your time and gather intel.

One of the partners engaged in some shady behavior recently. He had his associate reach out in the guise of wanting to know more and invest in our company. Turned out he was just collecting intel for a company where he is a board member that ended up releasing a directly competitive product a few months later. Luckily, I suspected something and broke off engaging early on.

Pretty slimy behavior from a VC.

The usual story "we are different than any other VC." The ACTUAL story, they have a very prescribed formula, an almost cult-like language and process, and very little operational experience. Different? Yes. But be very careful, do your homework, and if you feel uncomfortable with their "stepford wives" approach to "helping" businesses, steer clear. Bad investors are worse than no investors (because with no investors you can keep improving your product until you merit good investors, and with bad investors you are saddled with dead weight and will find it difficult to attract other/good investors should you want additional funding).

As a three time entrepreneur and someone who has raised a fair amount of capital, I have become slightly jaded when it comes to VC's who pitch themselves as "really rolling up their sleeves and helping their portfolio companies. I typically take it as part of the value added portion of why one funds money is better than another.

The same was true when we were raising our last round of capital and started talking to OpenView. They were pitching us on their difference from traditional VC's because of their operating experience and OpenView Labs. Ultimately we decided to move forward with OpenView and I have been simply amazed at how they actually walk the walk.

George Roberts is the partner on the board and Scott Maxwell participates frequently with our company. The value that these two have added along with Labs, has been really amazing. These guys genuinely believe that through operational excellence their portfolio companies will ALL win. They don't believe that Venture has to be a home run business, they firmly believe that all of their portfolio companies will be winners, and if they treat all of them like they have treated Balihoo, then they just might be right.

We got the standard email and had a 15 minute call. Kept in touch with them as our business expanded, mainly a phone call every quarter or so. We happened to be in Boston and they invited us to visit.

We found them to be straightforward and invest in high growth companies. They were very clear about next steps, typical term sheets etc.

They send out form emails. If you are a VC and you are reading this, stop doing it. Stop wasting our time.

I was first introduced to Openview when one of their analysts cold called us. We were not actively looking for VC money at the time but had started to consider a future investment. They understood our technology and model faster and better than almost any VC.
Openview is a smaller fund, focused on contributing strategic value to high-growth stage companies. Many firms pay lip-service to "strategic value", these guys jump in and really deliver it.

Ultimately we outgrew their target investment size before finalizing plans to raise money. They've continued to deliver strategic value in the form of great advice and networking ... even though we didn't do a deal together. Impressive.

Firas contacted me based on their opportunity discovering process. They are suberb in the way they pitch to companies and very generous with their advice and time. The best first impression I have ever got from a VC firm. No deal with them, though.

I know both Scott, Firas and Kamal from a previous venture. All of these guys add significant value to your idea, operation, venture etc... Not only do they assist at board level, they get into the nuts and bolts of the operation and provide good solid advice and guidance based upon experience and not the text book.

Scott and Firas were both involved with the board on my previous company and were tremendous assets as we negotiated an extremely competitive space. OpenView's approach to operational mentoring was a welcomed value-add, especially in the areas of sales process and marketing.
Being a new fund, there aren't several exits to speak of right now, but seeing as Scott and this same team were responsible for the vast majority of Insight's most successful exits over the last few years, it's only a matter of time, as this team identifies the winners early on.

Scott invested in our firm when he was still at Insight in New York. He is a great guy, helped us big time - and now assembled a super team at OpenView. I am sure they will do very well.