Q&A

Crowdsourced knowledge from the inside

Hard-to-find questions and answers on every part of being a venture capitalist

Hi all, curious how you all conduct due diligence on a startup? Is it all over email? Do you use a standard template? Do you have founders fill out a form?
Any ideas on the best way to securely share a video recording?
Anyone have shareable data sources on compensation ranges for senior roles (CXO, VP of ___ ) broken out by stage?
Hey everyone, I’m currently assisting with a Techstar’s cohort. I was wondering if anyone had any good resources for financial models and pitch decks?
Can anyone recommend VC portfolio management software/platforms to get portfolio insights/easy monitoring? I’ve seen vestberry so far and wonder what the standard is.
One of our portfolio companies is looking for a good legal firm with deep construction experience that can help them structure their terms and marketplace so they aren’t carrying a huge amount of liability on these jobs – anyone have a recommendation?
Hi all! A startup I know is looking to sell their business (consumer goods sector) and is looking 1. for recommendations for brokers and 2. any advice anyone may have. Business was doing super well pre-covid (took a bit of a hit during covid but who didn’t) but founders are now looking to do different things with their lives. Any and all recommendations are welcome!
Has anyone participated/gone to any great professional development programs/classes/conferences that have been helpful or worthwhile?
Does anyone have a good portfolio construction template or return/monte carlo template?
Does anyone have recommendations for an insurance carrier for a small-mid sized fund ($30MM)?
Helping a portco evaluate debt options with different terms/lengths/fees. What’s the correct way to determine the best option? Model out cash flows and choose the option with the highest IRR?
Does anyone know of any resources for VC salaries in the UK? E.g some indication on pay by seniority, bonuses, carry, etc.?
Does anybody have experience helping their startups with SOC 2 compliance? I’m trying to better understand a) how much of a problem this is for startups and b) whether investors are helping recommend service providers here.
Hey everyone! Does anyone have any VC-related employee performance evaluation-related resources (specifically for analysts, associates, & principals) that they can share? For some context, I’m on the hunt for a performance evaluation framework that can help me think through and set appropriate performance metrics, KPIs, etc. Any thoughts or resources would be much appreciated!
Hi everyone, I’m looking for a lawyer to help us lead a Series A investment. Any recommendations? (Would love someone female/diverse) Thank you!
Does anybody have recommendations for EA services/firms?
Hi all! Anyone use Tracxn for outbound deal sourcing? I’ve got an intern looking at it and would love advice from someone who’s already doing it.
Has anyone found a platform for streamlining the portfolio company on boarding process? We’ve start to use process street and my feelings are mixed
Anyone got advice on how to best add family offices and fund-of-funds to your prospective LP pipeline?
Anyone have a good web designer/developer agency or freelancer they recommend?
Hi everyone, have any of you partnered with CVCs or corporates in general to support your portfolio companies? Curious to hear if you have any learnings on what works and what doesn’t.
Best email tracking tool to track opens for emails? Also for using in conjunction w Superhuman (whose email tracking is not good enough, I’ve found)
Is anybody willing to share the KPIs they set for themselves as an investor? I think that most of us track the number of emails sent, company meetings, and checks written , but I’m curious to hear what other metrics this group is monitoring.
Has anyone/built/stolen seen a good resource on Emerging Manager programs? I know CalPERS, Texas Teachers, and NYSTRS (via Artemis) have them, but I am hoping someone has put together a list of some sort.
Early stage pricing question (asking for a port co): It’s a B2B Enterprise (cloud) company, planning to launch beta in a month or so. They are currently still iterating on pricing but are trying to figure out the importance of nailing down pricing now vs. “cross that bridge when they come to it”. Some of their considerations are whether to negotiate beta pricing with each paid beta user, or decide on a fixed (symbolic) price for all. Furthermore, the question of how important it is to nail down “standard” (post-beta) pricing with deep market landscape research and analysis, vs. just moving quickly, experimenting and growing, then worrying about price later.