As I’ve written many times, Kepha is an equal partnership for its investing partners. Eric and I are equal in terms of economics and voting (read “How VCs Are Paid” for how firms allocate compensation). We do this because we think VC is best played as a team sport. As equal partners, we have an
Seed “Party Rounds” Not Much Fun
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
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
A Parent’s Death and Entrepreneurship
Maybe it is a coincidence, but I recently had two meetings with different entrepreneurs. Each had a father who died very young. Their mothers in turn changed their lives to care for young children as a single parent. One mother cleaned hotel rooms. I don’t know if these life-changing events put these folks on the
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
New Banking App (and Ripple Effects)
My bank just started offering a cool new feature on its mobile app. I can now deposit checks via my iPhone or iPad. I take a picture of the front of the check and the back and upload the images through the app. That’s it. I think this simple feature changes a lot of things.