2.5
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Lesson Learned
Fund: Atlas Venture US
Posted by Anonymous on 2008-06-23
Initial meeting with Axel went very well. He seemed interested, had obviously read the materials and asked good questions...maybe too good. I found out later that they were considering investing in a company in a related space. It's never fun to have someone "go to school" on your business but unfortunately that's the way the game is played. It pays to ask every VC whether they are considering other companies in your space.
PRIVATE: Members OnlyReasonable First Pitech Experience
Fund: Atlas Venture US
Posted by Anonymous on 2007-09-21
Asked decent questions
PRIVATE: Members Only (492 Characters)Axel Bichara Was No Bs
Fund: Atlas Venture US
Posted by Anonymous on 2007-08-16
I have enjoyed my few meetings with Atlas, in particular Axel Bichara.
He might be the only "honest" VC I know in Boston!
Speicifically I pitched him for funding a business in 2003 and he was dead-on with his on-the-spot analysis of how best to grow my business, discouraged me from raising VC money, and instead growing from revenue, maintaining ownership, and push for a quick liquidity.
I remember the quote like it was yesterday: "You should consider angel money; if you raise VC money, they'd just wreck it and you'll have nothing."
Now maybe it was his way of quickly saying "not interested" and getting rid of me; and if so, then he was brilliant at it! But I've stayed in touch since and he's been helpful on other matters.
Axel was polite, smart, intuitive, didn't waste my time, & sharp business insight.
I'd look forward to taking a deal to him in the future
PRIVATE: Members OnlySharp, Involved, Committed
Fund: Atlas Venture US
Posted by Anonymous on 2007-08-10
Pitched them once, helped with due diligence once (and completely understood why they passed), and was recruited by them to join a founding mgmt team. I enjoyed all our encounters. The founders credited Atlas for enormous help defining strategy and refining scope and I watched long enough to know how involved and committed they were. Among my group of colleagues (we've been funded by a dozen Boston VCs across several ventures), we all put Atlas at or near the top of local firms if we want real help and involvement.
PRIVATE: Members Only (226 Characters)Slow, Scatterbrained Process
Fund: Atlas Venture US
Posted by Anonymous on 2007-07-31
They didn't end up pulling the trigger with us but I can say they had approximately the worst process I have encountered. Hard to get a hold of them or keep appointments early in the process, very brief and superficial engagement on our deal, a lot of "we like this and think we'd do it" before eventually and after long gaps saying..."actually we can't do it because of reason Z that we've never talked about before".
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