For a bit of time, seed financing rounds involving many investors were the rage. Here’s a recent TechCrunch article that highlights the downside of the “party round” approach (click here). Here is an excerpt: Counter-intuitively, Party Rounds are not much fun for founders. In fact, this type of structural round can be extremely detrimental….The risk
Category: Technology and VC
To the New TechStars Cambridge Class, Yo
Congratulations! You are part of a truly elite group. Not only does the program brand you, but Katie and Reed are some of the most thoughtful and connected people in the whole ecosystem. Such high integrity. You’re in great hands. Members of our firm have been Mentors since the program’s inaugural class, and we look
What Does Kepha Do?
Here is a summary: “Venture builders”: 80 percent of our companies start as seeds. “Venture banking” (large checks into already-scaling companies) can be a good strategy, but it isn’t ours We have money: only two of us invest, and we manage nearly $200 million in capital across two funds We have time: each of us is on
Keeping VC Simple (like Foundry)
The older a VC firm gets, the more complicated it can become. Like any business, complexity can arise over time as a company grows. More staff, more investments, bigger funds. “Managerial overhead” grows. It’s why I’ve always been impressed with Foundry Group. They minimize managerial overhead, by plan. They do not want to add to
Why VC Is Important
I’m an unabashed fan of venture capital. Frankly, I think it is a job-creation machine. You may have read about Rhode Island’s $75 million loan guarantee to 38 Studios, a video game start-up that went bankrupt. Or, you may recall the $535 million of loans to the now-insolvent Solyndra, and for which the U.S.
Are VCs “Gone” All of August?
There was an interesting Twitter exchange between Jeff Bussgang and Dan Primack last week. The topic: do most VCs take all of August off? Jeff said no and Dan said yes. I think people are free to take whatever vacation they want, frankly. But, I thought I’d share how we think about it at Kepha.