VCs: light & shadow
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Over the course of this year, I’ve written a couple times about raising a potential round of venture financing for my company, SEOmoz. At last, the saga’s over, I’ve been released from terms of confidentiality and I can share the long, strange story of how I first rejected, was eventually persuaded, but ultimately failed to raise a second round of investment capital.
Misadventures in VC Funding: The $24 Million Moz Almost Raised « Rand's Blog
Palihapitiya Decries Airbnb's Recent $112M Funding for Founder Control - Kara Swisher - News - AllThingsD
Here’s some electric weekend reading for those interested in the push and pull between venture investors and start-ups in the frothy Web 2.0 environment. In an email to Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky (which I obtained, embedded below), former Facebook exec Chamath Palihapitiya, who now runs an investment fund called the Social+Capital Partnership, is passing on participating in the recent $112 million round for the hot online rental site that was announced in July.My mouth fell open, literally, as I read the extremely private email from investor Chamath Palihapitiya (pictured) to Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky . The message in the email was fine, even reasonable.
Chamath Palihapitiya’s Statement On Airbnb Email Fiasco « UNCRUNCHED
Founded in 1999 by Tim Westergren , Pandora was able to raise some money right before the dotcom bubble burst. Once that money ran out, however, Pandora struggled to raise more cash and "spent over two and a half years essentially broke." Westergren's pitch to over 300 VCs during that period fell on deaf ears, as investors were extremely cautious about their commitments after the dotcom crash, and the music industry online was in disarray.
How Pandora Survived More Than 300 VC Rejections
A good echo to Justin Kan's famous post: "startups don't die, they commit suicide" by Oct 2
If all that's wrong with your upcoming pitch to potential investors, there is NO WAY its going to go badly as the meetings this story is about. We asked a few VCs and entrepreneurs to share some of their more memorable pitching disasters. We came up with stories about entrepreneurs dressing like avocados, VCs leaving broke CEOs with the check, and people falling asleep in meetings – plus more delightfully awful details.
The 12 Worst Train Wreck Meetings Between Startups And VCs You Will Ever Hear
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