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David Teten

Founder, Versatile VC · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

investorfounderauthor@dteten ↗LinkedIn ↗teten.com ↗

David Teten is the founder of Versatile VC and a partner at Orange Collective. He previously served as a partner at ff Venture Capital and founded the Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of Greater New York.

22statements → 14claims → 4claims resolved → 75%fully supported → 3.95/5average certainty → 2.36/5average debate potential → 4.7/5argument clarity · the sources → 4said about them ↓

3 supported 0 partly supported 1 contradicted 2 not yet assessed 8 not checkable as stated how the 14 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

5 predictions · 9 assertions · 2 opinions · 4 insights · 2 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 14 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 4 are resolved, 2 are not yet assessed, and 8 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how David argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Prediction Held up
Teten: AngelList Will Expand Into Series A and Series B Rounds
“Absolutely.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 18:18 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital

Their most notable contradicted claim

Assertion Contradicted
Teten: 12 Academic Studies Show Angel Returns Median 18% to 54%
“We have collected 12 different academic studies on angel investing, which show median returns of 18% to 54%.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 14:24 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
100% certainty 3
50% certainty 4
100% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

Argument clarity: do they answer the question? how? →

4.7 / 5 directness 5 · coherence 4.8 · precision 4.8 · compression 4.5

answered every one of 12 assessed questions directly

This is a score against a rubric. It is not a rank. Every host question → answer exchange is scored with names hidden on directness, coherence, precision and compression, 1–5 each, on meaning alone: disfluencies are ignored, and only raw unedited episodes count. This is the score that measures thought. Every scored exchange, scores shown → · The rubric and its checks →

How they sound: speaking style how? →

213 words/min while actually speaking · 31.6 um and uh per 1k words

Measured by listening to the audio itself: 3,232 words across 1 episode of raw-level tape, transcribed verbatim with every um and uh kept, each one attributed only where the alignment onto our timed stream is unambiguous. These are measurements of speaking style. We do not rank them: across this corpus, fluency and argument quality are nearly uncorrelated (ρ≈0.2), and smooth talking does not signal clear thinking. How it's measured →

How the interview went all their pushback → series average →

Across 1 rated episode:

host pushback ▾ 3/10
pushed back at the host 3/10
setup questions received 45%

Everything David Teten said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Opinion
Teten: Traditional Two-Partner VCs Are Threatened by AngelList
“But I think that the modal VC, two partners, and an admin, and maybe an analyst, is under threat from AngelList, because they can't possibly have the level of granular knowledge of different sectors that individual angels do.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 17:19 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Opinion
Teten: Sell Amazon Stock Due to Weak Retail Pricing Power
“I would probably sell On the grounds that, ah, it's not clear to me if when they eventually turn on the monetization spigot, ah, it will be impossible for other people to compete with them. In other words, the whole theory of Amazon, not unlike a lot of early-…”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 21:00 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Teten: Early-Stage VCs Spend 80% of Time on Deals They Reject
“One of the great frustrations of our friends who work at, ah, most other VCs at our stage is they spend 80% of their time talking with companies with whom they can't consummate an investment.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 7:40 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Teten: AngelList Is Becoming the Operating System of Venture Capital
“We are certainly monitoring AngelList because there is no question that they are working up the food chain to make themselves the fundamental operating system of this asset class.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 16:21 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Prediction Held up
Teten: AngelList Will Expand Into Series A and Series B Rounds
“Absolutely.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 18:18 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Insight
Teten: Seed Stage VCs Should Be Generalists
“The philosophy of FF Venture Capital is that as seed stage investors, we should be generalists. We should keep our doors open wide to the broadest possible array of companies.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 4:08 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Teten: ff Venture Capital Maintains a One-in-Six Portfolio Write-Off Rate
“We have a one out of six write-off rate, which is well below industry norms, and that attracts to us over 2000 inbound companies per year, and we filter through them for the approximately one dozen new companies per year in which we invest.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 6:04 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Teten: Generic VCs Lacking Differentiation Will Struggle in Upcoming Fundraising Cycles
“The generic VC, meaning the GC that doesn't have an edge, and the conventional VC that doesn't have something special that they bring to the table, will, I suspect, find themselves challenged in the next two fundraising cycles.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 9:13 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Teten: Only a Handful of VC Firms Build Full Platform Teams
“Besides us and Google ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, first round capital OpenView does some work on this area. A lot of other firms talk about it, but they've hired one or two people, right? They don't have a whole set of resources”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 13:01 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Assertion Contradicted
Teten: 12 Academic Studies Show Angel Returns Median 18% to 54%
“We have collected 12 different academic studies on angel investing, which show median returns of 18% to 54%.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 14:24 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Prediction Not publicly verifiable
Teten: Most of the 500+ Crowdfunding Sites Will Fail
“There are also over 500 crowdfunding sites, and most of them will fail, so we're glad we invested in one of the clear winners of that game.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 16:14 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Assertion Supported
Teten: ff Venture Capital Is Largest East Coast Seed Fund by Headcount
“FF Venture Capital is, we believe, the largest by headcount seed-focused VC on the East Coast.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 3:42 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Teten: Algorithmic Deal Sourcing Will Grow but Never Replace Traditional Methods
“So it will be a, an increasingly important tool in the VC's toolkit. But it will never be the only tool.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 7:21 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Disclosure
Teten: ff Venture Capital Employs No Staff Dedicated Exclusively to Deal Origination
“Ah, in our model, we have no one at FFVC, despite our large headcount, whose job is origination.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 7:57 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Insight
Teten: Delivering Real VC Value-Add Is Difficult Due to Low Scalability
“It's easy to talk about value-add, but it's harder to deliver, particularly given the limited scalability of the VC model.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 12:19 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Insight
Teten: VC Platform Models Reduce Partner Cash Compensation for Future Gains
“What that means is they're foregoing current management fees. In the hope that 10 years later, they're gonna have greater capital gains. That is a very long-term bet. Of course, VCs are supposed to make long-term bets, but unless this is a difficult bet, becau…”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 13:12 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Teten Predicts Market Downturn Will Shrink Non-Core VC Platform Teams
“When the market turns down, which it will, I think you will see some shrinkage in this model by the people who are not fully dedicated to it and who haven't built it out as a core part of their business.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 13:49 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Teten: Cash Returns in Early-Stage VC Take at Least 10 Years
“And in the best case scenario, it can take 10 years to actually see cash returns.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 14:40 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Insight
Teten: Founders Pitching Investors Must Read Edward Tufte on Data Visualization
“Anyone who prepares presentations to investors must read his book on this topic and you will be much more effective.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 22:38 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Teten: ff Venture Capital Employs Nine Accountants Providing Startup CFO Services
“We have a team of nine accountants who provide outsourced CFO services to our companies.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 10:44 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Assertion Supported
Teten: ff Venture Capital Uses Addepar to Run Its Back Office
“We not only invested but became a client. We run part of our back office on Adapart because we, of course, own interests in about 80 different companies with lots of different types of securities and amounts and so on, and we need some mechanism to track all o…”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 19:43 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital
Disclosure
Teten: ff Venture Capital Employs Three Engineers to Build Internal Tools
“We also have three in-house engineers who are building tools for us that are not broadly available.”
David Teten Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 22:18 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital

The other half of the tape: David Teten's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 3 times in 2 episodes on 20VC. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 3

Statements about David Teten, by other people (1)

Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Teten Authored Most-Read Deal Origination Study in Journal of Private Equity
“He also led the first ever study of best practices of venture capital and private equity funds in originating new deals, and it's the number one all-time most read study in the Journal of Private Equity, what an incredible stat that is, and the first ever stud…”
Harry Stebbings Dec 9, 2015 ▶ 0:26 20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Venture Capital

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
00112120152016episodesmentions
01120152016episodes it came up in
0010.52120152016episodesmentions per episode
2016 2 mentions in 1 episode
2015 1 mention in 1 episode

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
20 VC 095: How VCs Find Startups and How To Add Value Once Invested with David Teten @ ff Dec 9, 2015 17m
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