The New Rules Of Early Stage Venture Capital Valuation And Potential Responses

In our current economic environment, you would have to be hiding in a cave not to see, hear and feel valuations sliding downwards across the eco-system. It started in January 2022 when large-cap, mid-cap and then smaller-cap public companies started to fall in price. Past a certain point, we began to see private equity and venture capital investors applying these lessons to late stage private companies. In the time since February, we have seen the slide come all the way through the business food chain until it reached the startup. READ MORE

8 Questions to Ask as a Founder Before Signing a Term Sheet

I’m often asked what traits I look for in founders. As I recently told GGV’s NextGen Fellows, one of the key things I look for is the ability to be an incredibly fast learner.

It’s really hard to build a startup into a successful company, and the phases change so rapidly that nobody is born with or has all the requisite skills and experiences to achieve at every phase of growth. READ MORE

Buyout Firms Are Finding It Harder to Hang Onto a Key Source of Fees

It’s getting harder for the private equity industry to hang on to long-term assets while still raking in the fees they throw off.

Institutional investors are souring on so-called continuation funds, which private equity firms deploy when they want to keep managing assets in traditional buyout funds that are about to mature -- often to avoid taking portfolio companies public prematurely or being forced to sell them at unfavorable prices.  READ MORE

The Venture Capital Landscape Is Changing, and Perhaps Not for the Better

Startup companies have traditionally looked for the most experienced venture capitalists they could find to get their businesses off the ground and support their growth. That’s not always the case anymore, according to a study by University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School Associate Professor Rich Mathews and his co-author Naveen Khanna of Michigan State University. They argue that startups straight out of the gate are often deciding to work with new venture capitalists rather than established ones. READ MORE

What do start-ups expect from venture capital funds when it comes to ESG?

Venture capital (VC) plays a transformative role in society given the nature of the disruptive business models and companies VC funds invest in. Even though these funds take up minority stakes in companies, that typically gets diluted in subsequent rounds of funding. VC funds through their active-engagement model can set the foundation for long-term and sustainable value creating companies. READ MORE

More Startups Scale Up To Serve Freelance And Contract Workers

There are plenty of rankings showing the largest employers in every locale. But really, around the world, the biggest employer of paid workers is the same: No one.

Rather, a vast and growing portion of the labor force consists of some form of freelance, contract, gig or self-employed workers. In a number of professional categories around tech and digital media, in particular, those numbers are taking off. READ MORE