The Ledger
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Most startups that raised at peak 2014-2015 valuations missed growth targets
“But, you know, two or three years later, some of those companies, and by the way, probably the majority of those Didn't hit their plans that they had given to those investors, and then they're coming back out to the market to try and raise money, and they're s…”
A VP of People should be among a startup's first 10 hires
“If I were starting a company tomorrow, a VP of people would be one of my first five or 10 hires because I could delegate so much of, or not delegate, but I could rely on somebody who is senior in that role and to help me put the right infrastructure in place, …”
The 2014-2015 VC boom generated 40x and 20x revenue valuation multiples
“And in particular today, I think we've got a little bit of a hangover from the funding cycle of 2014, 2015, where there was a huge boom in venture capital funding, and a lot of companies raised money at very high valuations. And, you know, these are ten millio…”
New Relic's Lou Cirne prioritized trusted partners over maximizing round valuation
“Lucerne, a new relic is a great example. You know, a multi-billion dollar public software company today But if you ask Lou, he took money from people that he knew and trusted in Peter Fenton and Dan Skolnick, and he did evaluations that worked for him, but als…”
Founders must shift to executive manager roles at 50 to 70 employees
“What I've seen is it usually happens around 50 employees. When a company gets to about 50 employees, maybe 60 or 70, where the founder has to start transitioning into more of a professional manager type role.”
Hiring senior executives is the biggest struggle for first-time founders
“I think being aggressive and hiring senior executives is probably the single biggest area where I see first-time founders struggle, and I would also add to that that it's the area where we see repeat founders really excel.”
Advice to avoid chasing peak valuations is rarely followed in Silicon Valley
“I would say this is one of the most frequently offered pieces of advice in Silicon Valley that is the least Frequently followed.”
GGV Capital invested in Alibaba in 2003 at a $200M valuation
“GGB was an early investor in Alibaba Group, and back in 2003, the two hundred million dollar valuation.”
GGV turned an $8M Series B into a $75M total investment
“One of our largest investments today is a seventy-five million dollar investment. We started out with an eight million dollar investment of a hundred free in the series B. Today, that company is worth over eight and a half billion dollars, and so we've continu…”
Top VCs like Bill Gurley take more risk later in their careers
“Experienced venture capitalists and some of the most well-known venture capitalists, Bill Gurley, Doug Leone, Jim Getz, the further along they've got in their career, the more risk they take.”
GGV Capital tracks internal investment performance attribution every 90 days
“In our firm, we do a fairly high degree of attribution, and we track performance in a very, very detailed way. We literally go through it every 90 days, and I think at a much more detailed level than most firms.”
GGV offered to lead Electric.ai's Series A but lost to Bessemer
“We actually met Ryan in the Series A. We offered lead the Series A, and he Politely chose Bessemer Venture Partners.”
Quantum Shift lost half its $30M revenue in the 2000 crash
“We had grown to about a thirty million dollar revenue business, it was a recurring revenue business, In 2000, we lost about half of that revenue when the market cratered because 85% of our customers were tech companies”
Qualtrics raised no venture capital for its first 12 years
“Qualtrics, which SAP just acquired for eight billion dollars. They didn't raise their first venture capital until 12 years into the company. I believe it was 18 years old when it was acquired”