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Browse: Home / Upfront Ventures

Upfront Ventures

How to Avoid Being Disrupted as a VC

How to Avoid Being Disrupted as a VC

By Mark Suster on April 11, 2016

  My partner Greg Bettinelli (worth following on Twitter) was recently named by The LA Business Journal as the “Top deal maker in Los Angeles in Venture Capital.” Numero uno. I was nowhere to be found. And that’s a true reflection of just how successful and prolific Greg has been in LA. In a world that is […]

Posted in Business, Featured Posts | Tagged Upfront Ventures, VC Industry

The Full Dataset on What VCs are Thinking About Funding in 2016

The Full Dataset on What VCs are Thinking About Funding in 2016

By Mark Suster on February 18, 2016

Every year at Upfront we try to analyze the venture markets. We try to look at the sources of capital, the valuations, exits and trends. We use this try to draw some context that informs our funding decisions. Of course we fund companies in good markets and bad. In venture our goal is to fund […]

Posted in Business, Featured Posts | Tagged Upfront Ventures, VC Industry, venture capital

Dealing With Generational Change at VC Firms

Dealing With Generational Change at VC Firms

By Mark Suster on February 8, 2016

Dan Primack and Fred Wilson sat down for an interview last week at the Upfront Summit and the results were amazing. It’s 25 minutes and it’s both a pleasure to watch and is super insightful. You can watch the interview embedded above of click on this link: Dan Primack interviews Fred Wilson at the Upfront […]

Posted in Business, Featured Posts | Tagged Upfront Ventures, VC Industry

Embracing Your Community as a Strategy

Embracing Your Community as a Strategy

By Mark Suster on February 1, 2016

5 years ago I sat at our annual meeting bored beyond belief. It wasn’t just that I have ADD making boring meetings excruciatingly painful – it was that the format was tired, unimaginative, uninspiring and not very useful. We did what many VC funds did – we presented our annual results, we stood up and […]

Posted in Business, Featured Posts | Tagged Upfront Ventures, VC Industry

Do VC Platforms Make Sense?

Do VC Platforms Make Sense?

By Mark Suster on January 4, 2016

In the VC insider baseball world a discussion has gone on about “VC platforms” over the past 5 or so years. While firms define platforms differently, let’s just say they are the services that a VC offers outside of investment capital and partner time on boards or providing intros. Examples of VC platform services include: […]

Posted in Business, Featured Posts | Tagged Andreessen Horowitz, first round capital, Upfront Ventures, VC Industry

Does a VCs Culture Really Matter? The Upfront Story

Does a VCs Culture Really Matter? The Upfront Story

By Mark Suster on November 20, 2015

I’m often asked about the differences between being at a VC and being an entrepreneur and whether I prefer one or the other. The biggest difference I cite is that Venture Capital often feels like an “individual sport” while startups are a “team sport.” The reason is that at a VC you have a group […]

Posted in Business, Featured Posts | Tagged startup lessons, Upfront Ventures, VC Industry

Come to the SaaStr Annual and Make a Week of It

Come to the SaaStr Annual and Make a Week of It

By Jason M. Lemkin on May 25, 2015

It’s not often you get an opportunity to join 5,000 of your peers in SaaS in one location for a week.  Sure we gather at Dreamforce, wave as we run across Moscone to our next customer meeting or maybe catch up for 5 minutes at one of the 17 parties that night, but rarely do […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship | Tagged #SaaStrAnnual, Events, hubspot, mark suster, SaaStr, San Francisco, Upfront Ventures

Twitter, DataSift, platforms

Twitter, DataSift, platforms

By Paul Miller on April 13, 2015

Twitter, DataSift, platforms: Many of you will know that Twitter unexpectedly cancelled it’s [sic] contract to allow DataSift to resell Twitter data to 3rd parties. I read the declarations by industry analysts on Twitter that this was “proof that you can’t build a business on somebody else’s platform” and perhaps DataSift should have known better. […]

Posted in Business, Featured Posts, Platforms | Tagged data, Data analysis, DataSift, gnip, mark suster, platform, tftd, twitter, twitter firehose, Upfront Ventures

Help Us Pick 1 or 2 of the SaaStr Annual ’16 Speakers!

Help Us Pick 1 or 2 of the SaaStr Annual ’16 Speakers!

By Jason M. Lemkin on April 3, 2015

We’ll start to roll out the SaaStr Annual ’16 speakers in the coming weeks.  It will be tough to top the ’15 speakers — from Aaron Levie to Bob Tinker, from Stewart Butterfield to David Sacks, from David Ulevitch to Parker Conrad, etc. etc. But we will find a way! We’ll also have three full […]

Posted in Business | Tagged aaron levie, Danielle Morrill, David O. Sacks, David Ulevitch, Lew Cirne, mark suster, Phil Fernandez, SaaStr, SaaStr Annual, software as a service, Upfront Ventures | 1 Response

The Case for Optimism and Risk at Startups

The Case for Optimism and Risk at Startups

By Mark Suster on November 7, 2014

Last week a company we enthusiastically backed, uBeam, led by a very special entrepreneur, 25-year-old Meredith Perry, announced a $10 million round of financing.  The press around the raise & company was fantastic and the promise of their technology – wireless charging that works as easily as WiFi – would positively affect many of our lives. […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Featured Posts | Tagged Andreessen Horowitz, Entrepreneurship, Mark Cuban, startup lessons, startups, uBeam, Upfront Ventures, vc funding, venture capital

The Changing Structure of the VC Industry

The Changing Structure of the VC Industry

By Mark Suster on July 23, 2014

There has been much discussion in the past few years of the changing structure of the venture capital industry. On the surface the narratives have been The rise of “micro VCs” or seed-stage funds The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like) The poor performance of the asset class (this analysis has […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Featured Posts | Tagged Entrepreneurship, startups, Upfront Ventures, vc funding, VC Industry, venture capital

Joe Perez, Founder of @tastemade, On What Makes a Great Product Manager & More

Joe Perez, Founder of @tastemade, On What Makes a Great Product Manager & More

By Mark Suster on June 30, 2014

Update: Bothsides TV is now available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, or any RSS podcast player you use, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube. I also added a little Soundcloud widget on the sidebar (if you’re viewing on web – not on mobile or  RSS reader) that you can listen to each episode with. In the […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship | Tagged Entrepreneurship, Future of TV, startups, Upfront Ventures, vc funding, venture capital

Officially Announcing Bothsides TV

Officially Announcing Bothsides TV

By Mark Suster on June 25, 2014

For 2 years I interviewed VCs & founders for a show called This Week in VC. If you want to see any back interviews you can click on that link. I’ve been promising to relaunch a new show for the past 18 months but needed to find somebody to help me with cameras, filming, editing, […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship | Tagged BothsidesTV, Entrepreneurship, startups, Upfront Ventures, vc funding, venture capital

Some Reflections on VC Investment Decisions

Some Reflections on VC Investment Decisions

By Mark Suster on April 28, 2014

I was having dinner with a friend last night and we were chatting about venture capital and a bit about what I’ve learned. I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). I was telling him that it […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Featured Posts | Tagged Entrepreneurship, startups, Upfront Ventures, vc funding, venture capital

How I Got the Monkey Off My Back – Today Was a Good Day

How I Got the Monkey Off My Back – Today Was a Good Day

By Mark Suster on March 24, 2014

I become a venture capitalist in September 2007 – exactly 6.5 years ago. I spent my first year developing proprietary deal flow and learning the business and then the Sept 2008 / Lehman Bros collapse / financial meltdown happened. As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Featured Posts | Tagged burstly, DataSift, Entrepreneurship, invoca, Maker Studios, startups, Upfront Ventures, vc funding, venture capital

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