sethlevine's Comments

one : Lijit Acquisition

Wed, 5 Oct 2011 13:06:22 +0000

great post jud. thanks!!

Highway 12 Ventures : Important Firm News

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:32:35 +0000

I know this was an extremely difficult decision Mark and I have an unbelievable amount of respect for you and your partners for making it. Can't wait to see what's next!

VC Adventure : There is no âFoundry Group Boulder Signaling Problemâ

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:45:20 +0000

That's exactly it, Natty. And it really frustrates me when it's clear that firms don't want to do their own work. If they do, they'll find plenty of great companies here in Boulder that we're not investors in! (like yours!)

VC Adventure : There is no âFoundry Group Boulder Signaling Problemâ

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:45:18 +0000

Thanks Rog. The reality is that we're never going to have the bandwidth or inclination to try to run the table on Boulder based companies and given the vibrancy of our market this will continue to be a great place for other firms to come and find outstanding companies.

VC Adventure : There is no âFoundry Group Boulder Signaling Problemâ

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:45:16 +0000

I appreciate that it comes up Rob (although even then it annoys me) but I hope that very few firms (and certainly not the good ones) make their investment decisions based on what Foundry does or does not choose to invest in (for sure we have plenty of firms that call us up to follow on to our investments, but the data in my post show that plenty are making their own independent decision about investing here). That said, I recognize that it's a practical reality that some companies will at least get asked this and should have thought through their response. Hopefully that won't influence any other investor's decision.

VC Adventure : There is no âFoundry Group Boulder Signaling Problemâ

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:45:11 +0000

Thanks Ari. The reality is that if enough people believe it's an issue, than it's an issue. Part of my strong feeling about this lies in our clear desire not to exercise this kind of power in the market, but part of it is also a reaction to what I believe is some laziness on the part of other venture firms. Why should they give a shit what we do or don't want to invest in. Shouldn't they be making up their own minds? What Foundry believes or doesn't believe about a company should be irrelevant to their investment decision. Once we have enough distance behind us in this fund we'll all get to see exactly how many times we were completely wrong (which if you believe standard venture math, in a 28 company portfolio will likely be around 10 times...)!

VC Adventure : There is no âFoundry Group Boulder Signaling Problemâ

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:45:10 +0000

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:39:26 +0000

I love it! It's funny to think of a start-up as both a positive (implying scrappy, nimble, customer focused, etc) and negative (young, naive, still small) term and various peoples' emotion towards it. Glad to hear that once Eric left you were able to restart Budget days! Having shared a few beers with him I can understand why letting him partake turned them into Budget Busting days <g>

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:38:48 +0000

I love it - the startup beer test!

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:37:28 +0000

Sounds like that company has some real challenges. Still sounds like a start-up, however, if it’s pre revenue….

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:37:24 +0000

I think your new practice is the right one. The badge of “start-up” means different things to different people (the comments to this post are a good example of that). Better to just report the facts (x years old, released first product in y, sales of $$) and let readers decide what that means for themselves. Thanks for the comment Greg!

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:37:21 +0000

I think you’re getting at what’s behind many CEO’s comment to me that around 30 employees things feel “different”. There’s more process in place, more rules and regulations, more levels of management, etc. Employees go from being generalists to being specialists and you’re right – this is generally a time that some people decide that things have changed and move on…

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:37:19 +0000

it certainly feels like when you can control your own destiny you’ve in pretty good shape…

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:34:07 +0000

I tend to agree. If you don’t control your own destiny you really haven’t made it to the next level (beyond start-up).

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:34:04 +0000

I tend to agree. If you don’t control your own destiny you really haven’t made it to the next level (beyond start-up).

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:34:03 +0000

One bar I was thinking about is when a company is (or can be when it chooses) cash flow positive. Then you control you destiny and are only spending cash for growth, not for base operations.

VC Adventure : Immigration policy for recent grad school grads

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:25:10 +0000

Amen. And I appreciate your persistence!

VC Adventure : Immigration policy for recent grad school grads

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:25:04 +0000

Amen. And I appreciate your persistence!

VC Adventure : Boulder featured on Fox Business News

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 02:40:10 +0000

thanks! it was fun!

VC Adventure : Boulder featured on Fox Business News

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 02:39:56 +0000

thanks! it was fun!

sethlevine's Comments

one : Lijit Acquisition

Highway 12 Ventures : Important Firm News

VC Adventure : There is no âFoundry Group Boulder Signaling Problemâ

VC Adventure : There is no âFoundry Group Boulder Signaling Problemâ

VC Adventure : There is no âFoundry Group Boulder Signaling Problemâ

VC Adventure : There is no âFoundry Group Boulder Signaling Problemâ

VC Adventure : There is no âFoundry Group Boulder Signaling Problemâ

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

VC Adventure : When is your start-up no longer a start-up?

VC Adventure : Immigration policy for recent grad school grads

VC Adventure : Immigration policy for recent grad school grads

VC Adventure : Boulder featured on Fox Business News

VC Adventure : Boulder featured on Fox Business News

VC Adventure : There is no âFoundry Group Boulder Signaling Problemâ

VC Adventure : There is no âFoundry Group Boulder Signaling Problemâ

VC Adventure : There is no âFoundry Group Boulder Signaling Problemâ

VC Adventure : There is no âFoundry Group Boulder Signaling Problemâ

VC Adventure : There is no âFoundry Group Boulder Signaling Problemâ