Walking into the Homebrew (named after the famed 1970’s hobbyist computer club) offices in SF provides for a very different experience than what would be normally expected from a typical venture capital firm. Amidst rows of desks reserved for Homebrew portfolio company teams, sit Homebrew founders Hunter Walk and Satya Patel. No opulent Partner offices and no unnecessary frills. Consistent with their operating DNA and Homebrew’s...

2014. An interesting year within venture circles to say the least. From the largest ever M&A of a venture backed company to the rapidly expanding billion-dollar club to the Micro-VC boom, we saw a little bit of everything last year. Reflecting back on the year, I wanted to share some thoughts and observations of mine specifically around the early stage financing market. I apologize in advance for the semi-ramble as I’m still working...

Founded by Jack Ma in China in 1999 to becoming the largest IPO in U.S. history, Alibaba represents one of the most compelling tales of a Asia based start-up that has had a significant impact on the U.S. market. However, U.S. based tech startups continue to be the dominant source of disruptive technology for global markets. Perhaps surprising to many, early adopters of newer technologies typically have not been U.S. or Europe based...

  Without equivocation, consumer technology has completely transformed our daily behavior over the past decade: It’s changed how we communicate to the world (Twitter/Medium). It’s changed how we share our lives (Facebook/Snapchat/LinkedIn). It’s changed the way we travel (Uber/AirBnb). It’s changed how we manage various aspects of our lives (Dropbox/Mint/Fitbit/GrubHub). As such, it’s easy to see why...

The tech world has been put on notice. Shortly after Benchmark’s Bill Gurley expressed concern about the tech community given bloated cash burn rates and valuations of companies, a16z founder Marc Andreessen expressed even stronger trepidation with the industry, offering up terms such as “vaporize” and “worry”. Coming from industry titans like Bill and Marc (along with USV’s Fred Wilson who relayed similar sentiments), these words carry...

Recently, I penned a few notes regarding recent exponential rise of “Micro-VC” (loosely defined as firms that raise sub-$50MM-$100MM funds to invest in seed stage companies). According to CB Insights, at least 135 firms such firms exist today! Jeff Clavier, founder of SoftTech VC is without a doubt a pioneer in the institutional seed investing space. The SoftTech team has made over 150 investments since inception (including companies such...

  New start-up formation has happened at breakneck speeds over the past few years, thanks in no small part of course to game changing advances in technology and early stage financing, (Amazon Web Services, open source computing, Micro-VC, etc.). And these shifts have given rise to massive innovation across a variety of sectors. One area that’s particularly interesting is the burgeoning urban innovation sector.Tumml is an...

Just over a year ago, I posted a blog post about the state of the “Micro-VC” market. As a refresher, Micro-VC firms are venture firms that typically have the following characteristics: Primarily initially invest at the seed stage. Invest on behalf of 3rd party Limited Partners. Most commonly have fund sizes that are sub-$50MM. I’m not a huge fan of the Micro-VC moniker but will use it here for lack of a better term. At any rate,...

  We recently sat down with Ann Miura-Ko, General Partner at Floodgate, as she gave her views on the evolving nature of entrepreneurship within tech. Named as the most powerful women in startups by Forbes, Ann has led investments in several disruptive companies, including Lyft, TaskRabbit, and ModCloth. Ann also teaches entrepreneurship at the school of engineering at Stanford. Can you share Floodgate’s history and investment thesis?...

  We recently sat down with Rob Siegel, General Partner at XSeed Capital, a seed fund based out of Portola Valley, to discuss founding team cohesion and the role it plays in a company’s success. Rob’s investment areas include enterprise software, business operations where computational technology helps automate/improve company performance, and computing platforms that shape both business and consumer behaviors. He sits on...