The courage of the anti-portfolio

October 25, 2019

Bessemer Venture Partners, one of the oldest firms in the industry, celebrate their anti-portfolio: all the great deals they said no to. It makes for great reading. Read More

Why unicorns aren’t always true unicorns

October 11, 2019

You set the valuation, I'll set the terms. The catch that often comes with achieving unicorn status. Read More

Venture equity versus venture capital

October 9, 2019

A different way to venture. Read More

The natural movement of a business is to be operating at profit

September 27, 2019

The first principle with any business is that natural movement is to be operating at profit Read More

WeWork’s IPO and the power of preference shares

September 17, 2019

Much the chatter surrounding the IPO of the We Company (aka WeWork) relates to the eye-watering valuation being sought. Yet recently there's speculation that the IPO may end up closer to $20 billion, as opposed to the the $47 billion valuation SoftBank offered when they invested $5 billion in January 2019. Read More

Mega-rounds now account for nearly half of the venture dollar flow

September 9, 2019

Why mega-rounds are so dominant in venture investment. Read More

How to assess a potential investor

August 30, 2019

A founder can change every aspect of their business except their shareholders. Anyone who has had a difficult shareholder knows the real truth in this statement. So founders should be equally thorough in Read More

When SAFES aren’t all that safe

August 27, 2019

In late 2013 Y Combinator released its innovative Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) investment instrument. The purpose of the SAFE was to allow pricing to be deferred in an early investment round, as early stage companies are somewhat difficult to value. YC wanted to take some of the benefits from Convertible Notes (which are debt) and make them available in equity form. Thus the SAFE was born. Read More