Mattermark Daily – Thursday, April 7th, 2016

April 8, 2016 -

From the Investors

Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures explains that losing money is part of being an investor and summarizes the things you can do to manage your losses in “Losing Money”

David Cheng of DCM Ventures expands on their investment in x.ai, what led to it, and the pain the company is solving in “Onwards, To a World of Painless Meeting Scheduling!”

Adam Besvinick of Deep Fork Capital discusses why he is bullish on … Read more.

Where To Raise Money This Year (And Where You Should Have Raised Last Year)

April 7, 2016 -

By Jason Rowley

tl;dr: Want to raise money outside of Silicon Valley? Here’s a fresh look at where the money is flowing beyond the bubble.

Editor’s note: Jason Rowley is a freelance journalist and regular Mattermark contributor.

Startup fundraising. People like to talk about it. Founders get the opportunity to brag to their friends in their local startup community while simultaneously sweating decisions about how to best put their new money to work.

Without funding news, half of the tech writers from sea … Read more.

MATTERMARK DAILY

Mattermark Daily – Wednesday, April 6th, 2016

April 6, 2016 -

By Sonia Bhasin

From the Investors

Dan Kurani of Foundermark introduces a new venture development firm and discusses the opportunities available in focusing on the creation of digital products in “Together We Go Further”

Lenny Pruss of Redpoint Ventures shares data which shows the highest first quarter on recent record for funding of dev-native companies in “Q1 2016 ‘Dev-Native’ Funding Roundup”

Alex Taussig of Lightspeed Venture Partners explains why he favors engagement over growth when assessing the performance of … Read more.

EDITORIAL

Hard-Hitting Interview With Area Millennial VC Josh Felser

April 6, 2016 -

By Alex Wilhelm

tl;dr: Read the darn thing.

Screen Shot 2016-04-06 at 1.02.42 PM

I often reach out to venture capitalists to get their take on the current state of the market, what they are excited about, and what is worrying. Usually these conversations are conducted using words.

However I recently spoke with Josh Felser of Freestyle Capital, who took a slightly different approach. Instead of using his big-boy talking, Josh exercised his inner-teen and used pictograms to share his views on today’s venture capital landscape.

And yes, … Read more.

MATTERMARK DAILY

Mattermark Daily – Tuesday, April 5th, 2016

April 5, 2016 -

By Sonia Bhasin

From the Investors

Jeffrey Carter of Hyde Park Angels argues that selling is a learned skill and outlines a number of common mistakes people make when selling in “Sales is Everything”

Mahesh Vellanki of Redpoint Ventures continues his series of posts on healthcare, this time examining the interplay between all of the various industry players in “Who Are The Key Players In The Healthcare Industry?”

Jeff Bussgang of Flybridge Capital Partners shares slides on how to … Read more.

EDITORIAL

Bitcoin Investment Roars Back To Life In The First Quarter

April 5, 2016 -

By Alex Wilhelm

tl;dr: What correction? Bitcoin startups just had their second best fundraising quarter in years.

Following a surprisingly anemic fourth quarter, investment into bitcoin-related startups has rebounded.

According to CoinDesk’s running tally of investment into bitcoin-related startups, venture capitalists, angels and corporations deployed just over $160 million in the first quarter. That figure was majority-led by two rounds: $55 million into Blockstream, and $60 million into Digital Asset Holdings.

In early 2016, Mattermark reported during the closing months of … Read more.

MATTERMARK DAILY

Mattermark Daily – Monday, April 4th, 2016

April 5, 2016 -

By Sonia Bhasin

From the Investors

David Cummings of Atlanta Ventures highlights nine SaaS IPOs and the Founder/CEO equity percentage at time of filing in “SaaS Founder/CEO Equity at Time of IPO”

Shai Goldman of SVB Capital hypothesizes about Slack’s ARR and what it would mean if they were a publicly traded company in “Slack’s Valuation”

Ian Sigalow of Greycroft Partners answers the top three questions he gets asked most often about the markets these days, explaining how they … Read more.

EDITORIAL

A Short Digression On Cashflow, Buybacks, Dividends, And Bullshit

April 4, 2016 -

By Alex Wilhelm

tl;dr: Just because you can discount a cost doesn’t mean it’s gone forever.

Screen Shot 2016-04-04 at 1.46.45 PM

Before we dive into a long look at the first quarter of the year and all its financial glory, I want to take a minute to talk about money.

We are heading into an incredibly interesting period in the technology business cycle. There are lots of unicorns, and no IPOs. Ergo, there will be IPOs this year. You’ve read a dozen articles about the current financial shape … Read more.

EDITORIAL

2015 Tech IPOs Are Nearly Back To Where They Started

April 1, 2016 -

By Alex Wilhelm

tl;dr: 2015’s tech IPOs are nearly back to where they started. That’s a big improvement.

Screen Shot 2016-04-01 at 2.30.03 PM

2015’s technology IPOs took a beating early this year. In the opening months of 2016, the group in aggregate was down double digits from both its original IPO price, and first day close. January and February were rough enough on the recently-public that a grand total of zero United States-based tech companies went public. None.

Here’s the chart, via our friends at Quartz… Read more.

MATTERMARK DAILY

Mattermark Daily – Thursday, March 31st, 2016

April 1, 2016 -

By Sonia Bhasin

From the Investors

Michael Cardamone of Acceleprise and Scott Salkin of Allbound chat about the scrappiness involved in getting your first customers and achieving $500K in ARR in “SaaS Founding Stories, $0 -$500K+ in ARR”

Advance Vixeid Partners offer perspective on the current funding environment and explain why the companies that will survive never expected unlimited access to cash in the first place in “Venture Capital, The Revenant”

Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures walks through how … Read more.