I’m often asked what is the best way to get into Venture Capital (VC). Although VC is a small industry, it gets disproportionate amount of attention. This leads to high demand from many qualified candidates: College graduates, MBAs, startup employees, bankers and consultants often inquire about the best way to break into the industry. Until… Continue reading Consider This Advice When Trying to Land a Job in VC
Tag: Entrepreneurs
The stark difference between US and Israeli VCs
We see it over and over again: Israeli entrepreneurs coming back from a fundraising roadshow in the Valley excited and hopeful. They met some of the top investors in the world during their visit and generally heard positive feedback. For the most part, the investors they met seemed genuinely interested and indicated that they want… Continue reading The stark difference between US and Israeli VCs
The startup’s version of “Beat and Raise”
One of the best ways for a public company to increase its share price is by beating quarterly earnings estimates and raising full year guidance. This is what is routinely referred to as the “beat and raise.” In simple English, beat-and-raise means that the past was better than expected and the future is going to… Continue reading The startup’s version of “Beat and Raise”
Can revenue reduce your startup’s value?
Deciding when to raise money and how much to raise are among the most crucial decisions a startup CEO makes. The “textbook answer” for the questions above is to raise enough capital for the company to achieve an accretive milestone. After hitting that milestone the company can go out again and raise more money at a… Continue reading Can revenue reduce your startup’s value?
What makes (Israeli) startups succeed?
It has been a good year so far for our Israeli-based portfolio companies with four exits totaling more than $1.2 Billion. Early this year, Altair was acquired by Sony Semiconductor for $212M, which was the first acquisition ever for the Japanese company in Israel. Then Oracle announced the acquisition of virtualization company Ravello Systems, and… Continue reading What makes (Israeli) startups succeed?
Managing your startup option pool
One of the things you need to do as a CEO of a startup is manage the Employee Stock Option Pool (ESOP). This is the pool of options you use to attract and retain talent. When pricing a financing round ESOP is typically included in the pre-money valuation and therefore it dilutes the existing shareholders… Continue reading Managing your startup option pool
The fallacy of Participating Preferred
Once in a while I see a startup that gave its Series A investors participating preferred shares. Not unexpectedly, this is more common with startups that raised money from Israeli VCs. For those who aren’t familiar with how participating preferred shares (PPS) work, it’s a very simple structure: When the company exits (a liquidation event),… Continue reading The fallacy of Participating Preferred
Winning the away game
It is a well-known fact that sports teams benefit from a home court advantage. In fact, NBA teams consistently win about 60 percent of games that are played in their home arenas. The same phenomena is true for international startups which need to compete in the US, outside their comfort zone. This is always the… Continue reading Winning the away game
How to improve your investment pitch
There are many blog posts out there about how to build your VC pitch deck, what to include and not include in it etc. But much more important than what you say is how you say it. At the end of the day, the one thing that investors care about most is YOU. When we… Continue reading How to improve your investment pitch
Venturing Startup Nation 