The following was co-authored by Ezra Galston of Chicago Ventures (@ezramogee) and Samir Kaji (@samirkaji) of First Republic Bank. Please follow me samir kaji on Twitter and Medium for my thoughts on the world of venture capital. Over the last several years much has been made of the opportunity, or perceived lack thereof in technology centers outside of the Bay Area and NYC. From Steve Case’s Rise of The Rest Tour, to Google for...

  Follow me @samirkaji for my always random, sometimes relevant thoughts on the world of venture investing and startups. Although I spend most of my days closely tracking the emerging venture capital market, I almost fell of my chair when I came across a report from Prequin that noted that nearly 500 first time Micro-VC funds were currently in the market (the vast majority being US based). Micro-VC slowdown does't appear to be...

Follow me @samirkaji for my random, sometimes relevant thoughts about venture capital As expected, when Cyan Banister joined Founders Fund in March of this year, most of the headlines focused on the firm bringing on its first female partner. Although the emphasis probably should have been focused on the firm bringing aboard a tremendous talent who will invariably play a big role in delivering value to the firm, I realize that driving...

Follow me @samirkaji for my always random, sometimes relevant thoughts on the world of venture investing and startups The escalating difficulty of raising Series A capital in recent years has forced many companies to have to raise multiple seed rounds. Terms like pre-seed, seed, post-seed, and seed extensions are commonplace lexicon in early stage financing. Fortunately for companies going through the multiple seed round path, this...

Follow me @samir kaji for my random, sometimes relevant musings about the venture capital world. Last week, we were fortunate enough to serve as one of the co-producers ofRAISE in the Presidio, a 1-day summit focused on helping emerging fund managers build lasting venture franchises. Much credit for the event goes to Akkadian Ventures and Core Ventures Group, who spearheaded the event along with fellow co-producers Top Tier Capital and...