Tag Archives: Venture Capital
Raising Capital: About Fit and Timing
I was in New York last week speaking with existing and prospective investors in my investment fund, Greybull Stewardship. The match-making activity between capital seeking returns and opportunities seeking capital is truly amazing in the United States. Nothing brings this home like New York City… Continue reading
Old School Myths About the Ideal Time for Raising Capital (of the Right Type)
Old school myths from last century have stuck around to this century — especially about when to raise capital. Modern companies often have the freedom to make a decision about when to seek capital because they do not need capital at a certain point in… Continue reading
Competitive Advantage Leads to Persistently Good Performance — Like Top Tier VC Firms
It is good to be the incumbent. Usually. They have often built competitive advantages over time. Except maybe in the ever-changing world of technology, it is usually an advantage for a business to have been around a long time and to have established customers, suppliers,… Continue reading
New Twist on Venture Capital with Better Risk-Adjusted Investment Returns
A higher return investment can have a broad distribution of potential outcomes, as conveyed by this graph from Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital Management (the graph is from his book The Most Important Things Illuminated). This graph is a more helpful way to understand risk… Continue reading
Built to Last or Built to Flip?
Is your business built to last or built to flip? No question influences your business strategy more than this one. There is no right answer — either strategy is fine. However, making sure that you have alignment throughout your organization on this question is very… Continue reading
Investment Returns of Venture Capital vs Greybull Stewardship
Investment returns in venture capital as an asset class have not been good for a long time. To me, that result is somewhat predictable. Great investment returns are not going to come from anything where you have to swing for the fences with every investment… Continue reading
Founder & VC Misalignment More Often Than Thought
The misalignment between vc’s and founders is painfully obvious from the quotes below from the IPO S-1 filing of Applied Medical Corp. (Dan Primack of Fortune did the reporting and should get the credit). First is the company stating why they are going public (bold emphasis mine). … Continue reading
You Are What You Eat (or Where You Get Your Investment)
“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are,” said French lawyer and epicure Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. Similarly, tell me where you got the investment for your business and I will tell you what is in store for your business. Each… Continue reading
Sign Up
RSS Feed