Mike Chalfen
21 statements across 1 episodes · 7 bullish · 7 bearish · 1 people on the record · first statement Jul 8, 2022 by Mike Chalfen · said 5 times in 3 episodes since 2022 · across every show →
On the record as a speaker too: Mike Chalfen's record, appearances and statements → this page counts the times other people say the name.
Mentions by year
brought up most by Harry Stebbings (5)
tap a year for its mentions
2024 1 mention in 1 episode
2023 3 mentions in 1 episode
Everything said about Mike Chalfen, oldest first
Jul 8, 2022 neutral
Jul 8, 2022 bullish
Jul 8, 2022 bearish
Jul 8, 2022 positive
Jul 8, 2022 positive
Jul 8, 2022 negative
Jul 8, 2022
Chalfen: Half of Founders Ask Chalfen Ventures to Sole-Underwrite Rounds
“So quite frequently in the last year or two, I've made offers term, you know, issued term sheets to companies saying I can underwrite the round. Or, and I want to invest at least X, which is typically half. And so they've got a choice and actually what's come …”
Jul 8, 2022 negative
Chalfen: Carry handcuffs in VC firms suppress internal dissent
“The venture partnerships solve for stability because it's such a long-term business. And there are these sort of carry handcuffs that sort of you know, vesting that encourage people to try and stick around. And I think that as a result, dissent is very, like, …”
Jul 8, 2022
Chalfen: Initial VC checks shouldn't exceed 11% of fund capital
“So I think you wouldn't want to get over, you wouldn't want to get over, I don't know, 10% of the fund, 10, 11% of the fund with the first check, my view. But if you can pick two businesses which you want to become 15 to 20% of the fund, then that's sort of a …”
Jul 8, 2022 positive
Jul 8, 2022 positive
Mike Chalfen: VC board seats should have a three-year limit
“Like, what drives me mad is everyone's accruing the right to be on the boards round by round. One or two board members get added. There should be a statute of limitations. But after three years, you no longer have the right to be on the board. Boom. And then i…”
Jul 8, 2022 bullish
Chalfen: The Foundry produced 35-40% profit margins for 10 years capital-free
“So, you know, an example is a winner for me from. 1112 years ago called the foundry, which was making the 35 or 40% margins when it was really not very big. And it didn't grow that fast, but it produced a 40% margin, 35, 40% margins for 10 years, growing at, y…”
Jul 8, 2022 negative
Jul 8, 2022
Chalfen: Products VCs Personally Want Address Markets That Are Too Small
“But I learned early in my career that any business opportunity where I or my partners thought was a very good service that they would definitely use, that was almost certainly addressing way too small a market opportunity, right?”
Jul 8, 2022
Jul 8, 2022 negative
Chalfen: Formal boards at the seed stage are net negative
“So my view is that at seed stage, a board is of limited value. The most value is weekly, bi-weekly spending time with teams, helping them solve problems quickly so that they're not waiting for the board in order to say, by the way, I've got this problem. And t…”
Jul 8, 2022
Chalfen: Anti-Fragile VC Portfolios Diversify Risk Types, Not Company Count
“I think what's important to me is that you sort of have a reasonably sort of anti-fragile portfolio construction, not by virtue of having 30 or 20 or whatever number of investments, but by virtue of having different kinds of risks. That you're taking with your…”
Jul 8, 2022 positive
Jul 8, 2022 neutral
Jul 8, 2022 negative
Chalfen: Failed Multiple Times Investing in Service-to-Software Startups
“I think businesses that start in certain services and the objective is to build out and use the service process to build out software to automate. I think that's very, very, very, I found that very hard to do. And so I've invested in businesses like that a cou…”
Jul 8, 2022 negative
Chalfen: Board meetings fail when treated as reporting forums
“You know, I think too many boards are talking shops, but even good boards I think are inefficient. So, you know, with the board, you want to clarify any factual questions up front. Then, you know, so information should come out early, factual questions clarifi…”