Category Archives: Returns

Mar 31
Fred Destin

Why Series B is usually the hardest

 Tom Tunguz and Danielle Morrill both came out with data suggesting Series B are hard.  Tom calls it the “hardest round to raise”, based on his numbers.  Let me try to address why that is.   Let’s assume we’re in …

5 Comments
Nov 25
Fred Destin

Snapchat and that old no revenues debate

Like many others in the field I was left scratching my head about Snapchat recently.  Not because of the reported $4 billion offer but because of the explosion of age-old arguments about how scandalous it is for a company with …

22 Comments
May 13
Fred Destin

The Singularity hits Venture Capital (Wilson/Kauffman Redux)

I mean, really, who still wants to be a venture capitalist ?  It’s fast moving from job to have for new HBS grads with flat abs and trophy girlfriend (or vice versa) to labour of love for guys or gals …

9 Comments
Sep 10
Fred Destin

What your investor does with reserves when you underperform

Let's look at how investors manage a portfolio of startup investments and what that means for you as an entrepreneur.  You may not like it. When investors commit to your company, they will invest some money upfront (say $2M) and …

4 Comments
Feb 9
Fred Destin

Majors have no ownership in YouTube

Through Ratiatum based on this filing ,and also at PaidContent.  It seems unclear whether the music majors received any form of ownership in YouTube / Google, contrary to stories floated at the time.  Industry insiders generally consider that the YouTube …

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Jan 15
Fred Destin

Alarm:clock and acquisition maths

Alarm:clock takes issue with the multiple paid by Cisco on the acquisition of Ironport, citing an 8X multiple that does not compare favourably to Secure Computing’s acquisition of Cyphertrust. I always get slightly annoyed by shortcuts in reasoning, and this …

2 Comments
Sep 27
Fred Destin

Managing towards a downturn

The EuroVC market is hot hot hot !  Valuations are up, deal sizes are increasing fast to accomodate ownership requirements, and any respectable VC fund could probably close a deal a week given the quality of the dealflow.  There is …

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Aug 21
Fred Destin

Private Equity: where does all the risk go ?

I was inspired to write this post by an amusing article in Friday’s Financial Times (John Plender: Private Equity folks could do wonders with Microsoft) where he playfully builds the rationale for a buyout of Microsoft followed by the biggest …

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