I sometimes hear entrepreneurs extol venture debt because it is “free money.” Low interest, non-dilutive capital. In my experience, there’s no free lunch in the capital markets. That’s certainly the case with venture debt. The interest is low for a reason. Venture debt is simply a loan. There are interest and warrants attached. There are
Category: Technology and VC
A Snowy New Year’s Eve
We are skiing up in Vermont for a few days and are pretty far north, near Canada. Some shots above. As a VC, you almost never go offline. So, I check email a few times each day and had a call with one of our companies. But, there are many people who almost never
When Your VC Financing Is a ‘Busted Auction’
Auctions are curious things. Moreover, the mere perception of being in an auction is more than enough to inject fear into a discussion. I’m writing this because of two things. First, I connected recently with another VC, who commented that his firm was about to invest in its first [insert here name of famous incubator] company.
Why Your Revenue Plan Matters
You revenue plan really matters. It means you can establish independence from your VCs. I write this because one of our very young portfolio companies is about to achieve a major milestone: it will beat its revenue plan for the year. The numbers are small, but to our group at Kepha, that is a major
Why B2B Revenue Models Really Matter
Our firm does a lot of “B2B” and “B2B2C” investing. We are comfortable backing start-ups attacking the SaaS/software/tech spaces, whether they end up selling directly to other businesses or helping other businesses sell something unique to consumers. An example of the former is VoltDB, and an example of the latter is OwnerIQ. So, it is
After the VC Conference at HBS
I recently was at an alumni conference at Harvard Business School. Every four to five years, a bunch of alumni, who are VCs, get together. There was a large turnout from all around the country, and it was great to see again so many old friends and to make new ones. For me, I left