Let Me Know How I Can Be Helpful

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Last week on VC Twitter — Week of August 4th 2019
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Last week on VC Twitter — Week of August 4th 2019

VCs thank Jerome Powell for forcing LPs to allocate more money to VC

VC Starter Kit
Aug 5, 2019
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Last week on VC Twitter — Week of August 4th 2019
vcstarterkit.substack.com

In SF it is every Patagonia toting venture capitalist’s favorite time of year, Fogust. Here’s what happened last week, there’s some more info about each below:

📉 Fed cuts interest rates

🚔 SEC comes after Rothenberg for $30M in penalties

🥡 Doordash buys Caviar from Square for $410M

🆕 Coatue (hedge fund) starts a $700M early stage fund

💰 Rounds: Wish at $11B + Holloway


Top VCStarterKit Tweets / Replies

Twitter avatar for @vcstarterkitlet me know how i can be helpful @vcstarterkit
@justGLew VC Twitter is a fundamental component of the VC hierarchy of needs
Image

August 2nd 2019

26 Retweets172 Likes
Twitter avatar for @hunterwalk👨🏻‍💻☕️ @hunterwalk
@vcstarterkit "The most powerful pseudonymous tech account since Startup L Jackson" says VC @hunterwalk Newsletter blurbing is the new social proof

August 4th 2019

25 Likes

Re: Why VCs say “Let me know how I can be helpful”

Twitter avatar for @maiabMaia Bittner (SF) @maiab
So a big part of the reason I say it is to clarify, even though I can’t invest for whatever reason and maybe think their business is shitty now, I think it’s cool that they’re doing a startup and I want them to KEEP GOING. I don’t want my rejection to discourage them.

August 4th 2019

7 Likes
Twitter avatar for @lpolovetsLeo Polovets @lpolovets
@vcstarterkit Nice post. Very helpful :) Re: "can you introduce me to [big-shot VC]?" It's true that this'll almost never happen, but it's not just b/c it takes a lot of social capital from the investor. It's b/c demand for intros to big-shots is huge, so the bar for intros is way higher.

August 4th 2019

24 Likes

Last Week on VC Twitter

📉 Fed cuts interest rates

Viewed in isolation, this is probably good for venture fund managers. The median venture capital firm might not have the best track record of producing returns, but when other assets classes are yielding ~2% (10Y Treasury Notes), it’s not hard to see why LPs would choose to allocate more money into venture capital (the median venture fund produces 10-15% IRR).

🚔 SEC comes after Rothenberg for $30M in penalties

This is not looking good. Going off of the Techcrunch article, it looks like investor funds were clearly misappropriated and the SEC is now out for their pound of flesh.

Lesson: Don’t defraud your LPs. You will get caught (eventually) and the SEC will come after you

Twitter avatar for @chrisfralicChris Fralic @chrisfralic
One of at least 6 incredible quotes from the article... “He raised $45.9 million across six funds from 200 investors but took “fees” on their capital that far exceeded what his firm was entitled to and modified accounting entries to look like investments”
The SEC wants disgraced VC Mike Rothenberg to cough up more than $30 million – TechCrunchNearly three years ago, TechCrunch reported on suspected fraud committed by Mike Rothenberg, a self-described “millennial venture capitalist” who’d made a name for himself not only by eponymously branding his venture firm but for spending lavishly to woo startup founders, includin…techcrunch.com

August 3rd 2019

21 Retweets122 Likes

🥡 Doordash buys Caviar from Square for $410M

You might claim this was a great investment on Square since they acquired Caviar for $90M (in an all stock deal), but when we look at the deal terms and rumors it looks more like Square just wanted to unload the unit.

Twitter avatar for @hunterwalk👨🏻‍💻☕️ @hunterwalk
@DelRey @mengxilu @iankar_ Yes. Also, and i have a ton of respect for all parties involved, twitterverse calculating ROI like this forgets that they operated the unit for FIVE YEARS - so the profit or loss from that need to be added in. This is #FakeMath [groan]
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August 2nd 2019

2 Retweets19 Likes

🆕 Coatue (hedge fund) announces a $700M early stage fund

Coatue picks up Dan Rose (new hire, former FB) who joins Arielle Zuckerberg (formerly at Kleiner Perkins) and Matt Mazzeo (formerly at Lowercase). This isn’t entirely unexpected, Axios had a scoop on their $500M raise last November.

Twitter avatar for @JessicalessinJessica Lessin @Jessicalessin
Exclusive: Coatue is raising a monster early-stage fund. I really enjoyed breaking the news and interviewing @thomas_laffont and Dan Rose, who talked about joining the firm after Facebook.
In Ambitious Gamble, Hedge Fund Coatue Launches $700 Million Early-Stage Venture FundIn 1999, Philippe Laffont opened a small tech hedge fund called Coatue that withstood the dot-com bust, thanks to smart investments in companies like Tencent and Apple. Today, he is one of the industry’s hottest managers—with $17 billion under management.Now, Mr. Laffont and his brother Thomas ...theinformation.com

August 1st 2019

9 Retweets38 Likes

Both their existing team and the investments that the firm have made since look solid.

Will more hedge funds start spinning up early stage funds? Let us know if you are thinking of doing so; we can do bulk shipments of VC Starter Kits so that your team is ready to make early stage investments.

💰 Rounds: Wish at $11B + Holloway raises & releases their guide to raising VC

Everyone’s favorite shopping app, ContextLogic (better known as Wish) raised a fresh round of ~$300M at an $11.2B valuation.

Twitter avatar for @Katie_RoofKatie Roof @Katie_Roof
Wish valued at $11.2 billion in its latest financing round. Revenue is "obviously in the billions" said @hanstung. He also said U.S.-China tensions have led to price increases, but that price points are still so low that it's had little impact on sales
E-commerce Startup Wish Valued at $11.2 BillionE-commerce startup Wish, which has turned selling low-cost products from China into a big business, has earned the support of investors despite growing trade tensions between the U.S. and China.wsj.com

August 2nd 2019

1 Retweet17 Likes

Holloway just raised a round and fittingly released their guide to raising Venture Capital

Twitter avatar for @camillerickettsCamille Ricketts @camillericketts
I was really honored to be featured in @holloway’s Raising Venture Capital Guide ✨ Huge thanks to @DidYouWriteThat, one of the best editors I’ve ever worked with. Highly recommend checking out their work 📚
holloway.comHolloway — Knowledge you can rely onComprehensive, practical Guides, each researched, written, and refined by experts.holloway.com

August 2nd 2019

3 Retweets56 Likes
Twitter avatar for @StrictlyVCStrictlyVC @StrictlyVC
Here's the pitch deck that Holloway used to raise $4.6 million from NEA and the New York Times for its online 'how-to' manual business
Here’s the pitch deck that Holloway used to raise $4.6 million from NEA and the New York Times for its online ‘how-to’ manual businessCofounder and CEO Andy Sparks said he wanted to create a library of reliable, well-vetted reference material for complex topics like venture funding.dlvr.it

August 1st 2019

1 Retweet8 Likes

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Last week on VC Twitter — Week of August 4th 2019
vcstarterkit.substack.com
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