For the vast majority of its history (as captured in this 2007 article), music service Pandora was on the brink of shutting its doors.  Sheer perseverance, a tapdance in business models, the easing of regulatory and litigation risk…

There were two companion pieces recently published by venture capitalists: why VC returns are going up (WSJ) and investing at the bottom of the VC cycle (NYT).  Both of these pieces look at the amount of money committed to venture firms in 2010…

t has long been a repeated truism that one can’t raise venture capital over the summer.  Last year a VC actually looked at the data and finds both that an equal proportion of deals close in the summer months, and that his own firm’s busiest closing month…

Given the limited access to equity capital — and lower valuations if you can find investors — a variety of other possibilities are emerging as options for smaller and early-stage companies.  Among these are mezzanine loans, royalty financing, and…

Last month we looked at the external factors partly responsible for the consolidation of the venture industry.  What also bears consideration is the internal economics of the industry itself.  As the industry grew and…

With the traditional venture model under assault, there is an increased focus on seed-stage funding. Back in September we noted the attempt to create a standardized Series A term sheet. Now there is similar stakeholder interest…

Three young guns – and not a detained Nigerian prince among them – are currently offering investors a chance to invest cash now in return for a percent of future income.  One, a 26-year-old Stanford grad, has even priced it out: 6% of future income for…

With many small businesses losing their lines of credit, coupled with the demise in small business lending from commercial banks, alternate sources of capital such as purchase-order financing are on the rise,…

An online brouhaha broke out over angel groups that charge startups to pitch potential investors. Led by media entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, and with an echo from Fred Wilson, soon a full chorus…

What is the first response to scarcity?  Hoard.  The mantra of every preschool playground holds true for venture investors (as it does for most everyone else).  New data (summarized here) shows that…

The demise of the IPO market has left many venture-backed companies in their own version of existential purgatory.  The scarcity of realized exits is particularly hard on company founders…

And further on the topic of increased liquidity, the always-observant Mark Suster has a terrific piece on why company founders should be able to take some equity off the table once their firm has reached reasonable milestones. His point is simple, but often overlooked:…

The predictable pendulum swing of harsher terms during a buyer’s market lead to a lively online discussion on the future of the term sheet.  A dialogue between influential bloggers — entrepreneurs and venture capitalists alike…

Investing locally is a mantra of many venture firms.  The desire to conveniently monitor, interact, and network with their portfolio companies has lead to some long return trips for out-of-town entrepreneurs.  Now a recent working paper suggests…

Flybridge’s Jeff Bussgang has a nice blog piece where he coins a new word in the venture lexicon: the “promote” (not the Prestige).  Entrepreneurs too often fixate on their pre-money valuation (the “pre”), instead of focusing on what…