recently rated:

Rated by 12

4.4 4.2 4.2 2.9 4.1

3.9

Y Combinator

 

$$$$$ Mountain View, US West

top rated funds:

Rated by 12

4.4 4.4 4.1 4.3 3.5

4.1

Andreessen Horowitz

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 15

3.7 4.4 4.0 3.7 4.1

4.0

Rincon Venture Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Santa Barbara, CA, US West

Rated by 12

4.4 4.2 4.2 2.9 4.1

3.9

Y Combinator

 

$$$$$ Mountain View, US West

Rated by 43

3.6 3.8 4.2 4.2 3.8

3.9

True Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Palo Alto, US West

Rated by 11

3.9 4.2 3.2 3.6 4.0

3.8

Mangrove Capital Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Luxembourg, Europe

Rated by 44

3.8 4.1 3.4 3.7 4.0

3.8

RRE Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ New York, US East

Rated by 106

4.7 3.8 3.7 3.1 3.6

3.8

Sequoia Capital

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 33

3.9 3.8 3.8 3.4 4.1

3.8

Altos Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 32

4.0 4.1 4.0 2.8 4.1

3.8

406 Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Boston, US East

Rated by 64

3.9 3.8 3.8 3.4 3.9

3.7

First Round Capital

Certified

$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

Rated by 23

3.6 3.5 4.0 3.7 4.0

3.7

DFJ Mercury

Certified

$$$$$ Houston, US Central

Rated by 27

3.8 3.6 3.8 3.8 3.6

3.7

FLOODGATE

Certified

$$$$$ Palo Alto, US West

Rated by 11

3.6 3.7 3.6 3.8 3.4

3.6

Flywheel Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Santa Fe, US West

Rated by 18

3.6 3.6 3.9 3.5 3.5

3.6

August Capital

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 10

4.0 3.8 3.9 2.8 3.7

3.6

Updata Partners

 

$$$$$ Red Bank, US East

Rated by 63

3.7 3.5 3.4 3.4 3.9

3.6

Trinity Ventures

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 21

3.5 3.6 3.6 3.2 3.4

3.5

Wellington Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Munich, Europe

Rated by 12

3.2 3.6 3.4 3.0 4.2

3.5

DN Capital

 

$$$$$ London, Europe

Rated by 30

3.3 3.4 3.3 3.7 3.7

3.5

Clearstone Venture Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Santa Monica, US West

Rated by 28

3.7 3.0 3.0 4.0 3.3

3.4

The Founders Fund

Certified

$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

Rated by 14

2.8 3.5 3.7 3.2 3.7

3.4

Merus

 

$$$$$ US West

Rated by 49

3.7 3.4 3.1 3.4 3.2

3.4

Menlo Ventures

 

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 16

3.9 3.7 2.9 2.9 3.6

3.4

Versant Ventures

 

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 10

3.6 3.4 3.9 2.7 3.3

3.4

DFJ Esprit

Certified

$$$$$ London, Europe

Rated by 13

3.0 3.8 3.5 3.2 3.4

3.4

Fidelity Growth Partners Europe

Certified

$$$$$ London, Europe

Rated by 16

3.9 3.6 3.1 2.9 3.5

3.4

GRP Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Los Angeles, US West

Rated by 60

3.9 3.3 3.0 3.5 3.4

3.4

New Enterprise Associates

Certified

$$$$$ Menlo Park, US West

Rated by 17

3.5 3.4 3.4 3.5 3.2

3.4

Scale Venture Partners

Certified

$$$$$ Foster City, US West

Rated by 18

3.2 3.4 3.3 3.0 3.6

3.3

Blumberg Capital

Certified

$$$$$ San Francisco, US West

Rated by 39

3.4 3.4 2.9 3.4 3.5

3.3

Polaris Venture Partners

 

$$$$$ Waltham, US East

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Now

We had a couple of meeting with True over a period of a couple of years and one partner meeting where they may have been close to investing in our first round though obviously I cant be sure. What I can say is that every single person was extremely friendly, thoughtful, prepared and respectful during the pitch I gave (which was not great) and during the review period afterward. Even though they didn't wind up investing, John Burke wound up referring me to several eventual customers that netted hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for us. I can't recommend them highly enough and they'll be my first stop whenever I start my next company.

Early on in 2011 when i was first starting my company i was approached by a Keiretsu member who claimed he was interested in investing in our first round (we had several rounds and then a very successful public exit afterwards) He suggested I fly out to SF from the east coast and I met with him in person at my expense after several phone calls. He tried to first pitch me on a "virtual incubator" where he would provide advice and consulting and a 3-5k "stipend" for 15% of my company. This was before i had raised any money but even as a first time entrepreneur with limited experience this seemed ridiculous. This was all over the phone but then I invited him to participate in my round and thats what precipitated the meeting in SF. At the meeting he informed me that I had a "lot of work" to do in order to get the necessary materials together for due diligence in front of his "investor colleagues" at the Keiretsu Forum. Of course he offered to "help" with this in exchange for "sweat equity" that he would provide in lieu of an actual funding amount. Only once he had gotten equity for his 'sweat' would he then actually consider investing. I balked at this and challenged him to invest as others began to commit to the round - he refused and told me that I would never be able to build a company as I lacked the business saavy to build a great company. Well its 4 years later and we just exited after building a fantastic company - had he invested in the round he would be somewhere between 8 and 10x depending on his timing. These guys are complete scammers - oh and had I actually taken him up on his multiple offers to swindle equity i would have then had to PAY to get in front of his Keiretsu brethren. These guys are complete frauds and just like the idea of being investors. They are playing a role they either cant afford or are too afraid to commit to. The fees they collect are literally the only thing that is keeping them going and they eat and drink those fees at their showcase shams every month RUN AWAy from these guys - if there were more regulations around angel group investing these guys would be in jail for fraud.

We were offered terms and rejected them. We had another meeting in NYC the same day or would not have met with them. I went through the steps to do diligence on GHV to determine whether it was a legitimate opportunity to raise money for our company and determined that it was not.

We rejected GHV terms because:

-They were asking us for money.
-They agreed to provide references, but would never provide them when pressed.
-They were not engaged enough to understand our forecasting leading us to think that they didn't care.
-They would not commit to a valuation. Their contract placed valuation at the discretion of a third party allegedly paid by GHV.
-They refused to put dates and process around the diligence process.
-I could find no record of their ownership of any of the companies they identify as portfolio companies.
-They meet in shared space in the Chrysler building. Not in itself an issue, but they have absolutely no footprint. The space appears to be rented temporarily as needed.

My gut was that Manny's real business is skimming around 15K from start-ups in a "diligence" process that never happens. I was able to confirm with the associate who made our initial contact and is no longer with the firm that in two years of working there he had seen no closed investments and thought that something illegal was happening. I reported the details of our interaction with GHV to the SEC enforcement division.

The Javelin team has been super helpful at all stages, from pitching our Series A to growth hacking. We love working with them, look forward to board meetings, and have nothing but positive things to say about the managing partners Jed and Noah.