The Real Deal - Valor Ventures

4 Questions To Find Out When You’re Ready To Raise Money

For every recurring revenue dollar of tuning you can do before you raise capital, it'll count 5 or 6 times in the valuation you can negotiate. Here's more you can...
Private Wealth is the South’s Biggest Engine

The biggest driving wind of change in the South isn't the Gulf Stream and hurricanes. It's private wealth heading to Coastal venture capital outside of our region, and here's why.
Testing Times for Investors: Public vs Private Markets?

Now that the golden age of private markets has arrived and public markets are shrinking to less than 50% of their hey-day, how do you translate public market investing sensibilities...
1 Metric Matters on Multiples: See the Mulesoft CRM Acquisition by Salesforce

This one factor predicts 74% of the multiple on software companies with good margins.
Investing in Atlanta vs. S&P 500: Which is Better for Investors?

$100,000 invested in the S&P 500 back in 1998 would today be worth $272,380. That same investment in an index of publicly traded Atlanta companies would be worth $344,890. Over the...
Atlanta’s Biggest Tech Export

Top cities for venture capital like San Francisco and Denver need Atlanta's tech and sales talent. Here's the latest numbers.
Why Georgia Just Ranked As a Top 10 Venture Capital State

Georgia venture capital deals tripped the Top 10 states last quarter, with Atlanta alone bringing in 19 new fundings. Across the country, the trend held. Most new company investments (64%)...
How Valor Invests: 2018

Valor Ventures will make 4-5 investments in 2018. Here's how you can be one of them.
Genetics & Gene Therapy: Key Role Opens for SaaS Startups

In the near future, look for big SaaS startup winners coming from the "front end" of healthcare--not the vendor/payments/cashflow side, but the optimization of therapies like gene therapy and genetics.
Recapping 2017 Southern Venture Capital Deals–$4B+ and Counting

Get a feel for 2017 venture capital deals in the South by looking at this table of recent VC investments in the region this year. See if you still think...
From Code to Culture

You've probably heard there's two types of founders--those who want to be rich, and those who want to be royalty. For technical experts who transform themselves into team builders, from...
42% Of Startups Fail Post Funding For This 1 Reason ->Here’s the Fix

42% of startups fail--after successfully raising a round of funding--for this one reason.
Hard Truths About Founders and the Pain of Failing

There’s lots written about the glory of failing. That’s crap. Winning is more fun. So since that’s true, and since you’re a driven, persistent entrepreneur who runs at cliffs, it can...
Portfolio Firm Aerobo Earns Wings In Billion Dollar Drone Startup Investing Boom

Drone startup portfolio firm Aerobo shares what's creating success as over a billion dollars of new investment pour into the drone startup world.
Founders Pose Smart Questions at Valor’s Fundraising Friday | Capital Factory Austin Edition

A diverse and engaged group of startup founders gathered this morning around breakfast tacos for Valor's Fundraising Friday series at Capital Factory.
The Big Venture Capital Opportunity in 3 Simple Slides

Whether you're a startup or an investor, these three big images show a lot about the trajectory of top entrepreneurs.
Venture capital intern positions available — apply now

Want to learn the venture capital business? Consider a few months as a venture capital intern at Valor. Based in Atlanta, we also offer virtual internships in key startup cities...
3 Things to Know Before Investing in AI

I spoke at VentureBeat's MobileBeat in San Francisco about investing in AI. Here are 3 quick takeaways.
Term Sheet Negotiation – 3 Things To Look For

Term sheet negotiation is tough, but if you focus on these three things, you can align your interests and your investors and come away with a deal you both find...
Artificial Intelligence Investing: Learning ROI and Labor ROI

AI companies have a couple of benefits--in addition to the standard labor ROI you get from adding automation to a manual process, there's the ROI that comes from preserving learning...
Diligencing Bias: How Limited Partners Can Crack VC Firm Culture

After this last week in social media, it's clear the undercurrent of sexual harassment and bias in venture capital is at a tipping point. How do responsible limited partners diligence...
Want Less Bias in Venture Capital? #DecencyPledge Just Won’t Do

A decency pledge, HR policy or safe spin out strategy referral are all lipstick on a pig when it comes to venture capital's gender and minority bias shortcomings. Fortunately, there...
Great founders and the uncomfortable space of “never satisfied”

Great founders live in the uncomfortable space between their bold vision and the feedback of real--and often comfort-seeking--customers.
NVCA Calls Out Valor Among Emerging Managers Pushing VC Forward

This week, our team was honored to be featured by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) in their article on emerging managers pushing the VC industry forward.
Valor Ventures Answers Questions at 500 Startups

Founders at the 500 Startups Diversity & Inclusion Summit asked Valor Ventures partners Robin Bienfait and Lisa Calhoun questions about first checks in Atlanta.
Venture Capital First Checks Promise Better Returns, Harder Paths

In venture capital, first check writers or seed stage investors promise a premium on performance. As a percentage of capital invested, fewer and fewer VCs are stepping up to that...
Venture capital: go big or go bold?

Get an overview of some of the recent, volatile benchmarks in venture capital investors are paying attention to.
The One Type of Validation Your Startup Needs

There are several types of validation out there for startups--but only a couple move the needle for making you more investable. Here's what you need to know about idea validation,...
Wall Street Journal Underscores Valor’s New Investment in Agtech Leader MyAgData

The average farmer on the MyAgData platform saves $1350/yr in premium, and the average agricultural insurance provider saves $12 million a year. That's not even going into the huge savings...
Reflecting on Startup Runway and Seed Capital for Startups

Startup Runway is making a difference for startups and investors. Here's how you can participate.
Scaling Your Sales Without a CRM

Some companies with a really good list convert 50% of the calls in that first week---would 60 new customers in week one work for you? Try this tech-free SaaS scale...
Hypergrowth Startups: Your First Marketing Hire

Here are some interview questions for a first marketing hire.
When No From a VC is Good News

The investing bar is not just for founders. It's for VCs too. Here's how we measure ourselves against an investment opportunity.
VC vs. Angel Investing

There are six big differences between angel investing and VC to keep in mind. Notice any others?
Southeast Startups: +$50 Billion in 5 Years

Southeast startups have brought in over $50 billion in exits in just the last five years. Take a look at this bar chart to see the trend ahead.
Four Predictions for Artificial Intelligence in 2017

2017 holds a lot of opportunity in artificial intelligence, particularly for investors.
2017 Venture Capital Outlook: Not Your Dad’s VC

The optimism behind "what's next" is driving record levels of investing, record VC fundraising, and stronger exits--like that 30% bump in the median exit size we had last year. The...
The Kind of AI Our Fund is Tracking: 5 examples

It’s poised to be an exciting year in artificial intelligence. Sure, there’s a TON of hype in this space. Last year, artificial intelligence deals topped a billion for the first...
What We’re Hunting In 2017

A quick summary of what we're looking for in 2017 investments.
Artificial Intelligence: Top 10 Priorities from White House Report

Fortunes will be made, and lost, from early investors in artificial intelligence. A whole new tech infrastructure, from chips to code to customers is being restacked. The White House issued...
What’s Real Hypergrowth?

Here's the big difference between fast growth startups and hypergrowth startups.
Top Artificial Intelligence Acquisitions 2016

2016 saw a few dozen acquisitions in artificial intelligence--most in the 100 million and above range and from West Coast major technology brands. In 2017, the pivot will be toward...
Balancing raising money with raising a company

For startups, it's tempting to make raising money the business plan, but here's why you should avoid it and what you should consider instead.
Startup Accounting Gotchas and Good-to-Knows

Startup accounting can free you, instead of frustrate you.
How Investors Hunt Value: Opal Group’s Emerging Manager Summit

Top investors, like endowments, family offices and pension funds, are seeking strong new relationships to drive growth in these low-interest rate environments. Valor was proud to sponsor Opal Group's Emerging...
2017 Business Planning Worksheet

Here's a template startups can use to simplify annual business planning.
3rd Quarter Open Letter

Thanks for following Valor's story. Here are the quarterly highlights.
4 Disruptive Trends in Venture Capital

Deeper data analysis. Greater transparency. The hunt for value is clarifying for sophisticated investors. Are you seeing these 4 big trends touching you?
Learning From Atlanta Acquisitions in the Past 10 Years

In a few hours drive around Atlanta, there's been an exit over $50 million at a rate of almost one per month for the last decade. Take a look at...
What Your Product/Market Fit Answer Really Says About Your Startup

How startups answer the product/market fit question reveals more about their vision than their product/market fit reality.

For every recurring revenue dollar of tuning you can do before you raise capital, it'll count 5 or 6 times in the valuation you can negotiate. Here's more you can...

The biggest driving wind of change in the South isn't the Gulf Stream and hurricanes. It's private wealth heading to Coastal venture capital outside of our region, and here's why.

Now that the golden age of private markets has arrived and public markets are shrinking to less than 50% of their hey-day, how do you translate public market investing sensibilities...

This one factor predicts 74% of the multiple on software companies with good margins.

$100,000 invested in the S&P 500 back in 1998 would today be worth $272,380. That same investment in an index of publicly traded Atlanta companies would be worth $344,890. Over the...

Top cities for venture capital like San Francisco and Denver need Atlanta's tech and sales talent. Here's the latest numbers.

Georgia venture capital deals tripped the Top 10 states last quarter, with Atlanta alone bringing in 19 new fundings. Across the country, the trend held. Most new company investments (64%)...

Valor Ventures will make 4-5 investments in 2018. Here's how you can be one of them.

In the near future, look for big SaaS startup winners coming from the "front end" of healthcare--not the vendor/payments/cashflow side, but the optimization of therapies like gene therapy and genetics.

Get a feel for 2017 venture capital deals in the South by looking at this table of recent VC investments in the region this year. See if you still think...

You've probably heard there's two types of founders--those who want to be rich, and those who want to be royalty. For technical experts who transform themselves into team builders, from...

42% of startups fail--after successfully raising a round of funding--for this one reason.

There’s lots written about the glory of failing. That’s crap. Winning is more fun. So since that’s true, and since you’re a driven, persistent entrepreneur who runs at cliffs, it can...

Drone startup portfolio firm Aerobo shares what's creating success as over a billion dollars of new investment pour into the drone startup world.

A diverse and engaged group of startup founders gathered this morning around breakfast tacos for Valor's Fundraising Friday series at Capital Factory.

Whether you're a startup or an investor, these three big images show a lot about the trajectory of top entrepreneurs.

Want to learn the venture capital business? Consider a few months as a venture capital intern at Valor. Based in Atlanta, we also offer virtual internships in key startup cities...

I spoke at VentureBeat's MobileBeat in San Francisco about investing in AI. Here are 3 quick takeaways.

Term sheet negotiation is tough, but if you focus on these three things, you can align your interests and your investors and come away with a deal you both find...

AI companies have a couple of benefits--in addition to the standard labor ROI you get from adding automation to a manual process, there's the ROI that comes from preserving learning...

After this last week in social media, it's clear the undercurrent of sexual harassment and bias in venture capital is at a tipping point. How do responsible limited partners diligence...

A decency pledge, HR policy or safe spin out strategy referral are all lipstick on a pig when it comes to venture capital's gender and minority bias shortcomings. Fortunately, there...

Great founders live in the uncomfortable space between their bold vision and the feedback of real--and often comfort-seeking--customers.

This week, our team was honored to be featured by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) in their article on emerging managers pushing the VC industry forward.

Founders at the 500 Startups Diversity & Inclusion Summit asked Valor Ventures partners Robin Bienfait and Lisa Calhoun questions about first checks in Atlanta.

In venture capital, first check writers or seed stage investors promise a premium on performance. As a percentage of capital invested, fewer and fewer VCs are stepping up to that...

Get an overview of some of the recent, volatile benchmarks in venture capital investors are paying attention to.

There are several types of validation out there for startups--but only a couple move the needle for making you more investable. Here's what you need to know about idea validation,...

The average farmer on the MyAgData platform saves $1350/yr in premium, and the average agricultural insurance provider saves $12 million a year. That's not even going into the huge savings...

Startup Runway is making a difference for startups and investors. Here's how you can participate.

Some companies with a really good list convert 50% of the calls in that first week---would 60 new customers in week one work for you? Try this tech-free SaaS scale...

Here are some interview questions for a first marketing hire.

The investing bar is not just for founders. It's for VCs too. Here's how we measure ourselves against an investment opportunity.

There are six big differences between angel investing and VC to keep in mind. Notice any others?

Southeast startups have brought in over $50 billion in exits in just the last five years. Take a look at this bar chart to see the trend ahead.

2017 holds a lot of opportunity in artificial intelligence, particularly for investors.

The optimism behind "what's next" is driving record levels of investing, record VC fundraising, and stronger exits--like that 30% bump in the median exit size we had last year. The...

It’s poised to be an exciting year in artificial intelligence. Sure, there’s a TON of hype in this space. Last year, artificial intelligence deals topped a billion for the first...

A quick summary of what we're looking for in 2017 investments.

Fortunes will be made, and lost, from early investors in artificial intelligence. A whole new tech infrastructure, from chips to code to customers is being restacked. The White House issued...

Here's the big difference between fast growth startups and hypergrowth startups.

2016 saw a few dozen acquisitions in artificial intelligence--most in the 100 million and above range and from West Coast major technology brands. In 2017, the pivot will be toward...

For startups, it's tempting to make raising money the business plan, but here's why you should avoid it and what you should consider instead.

Startup accounting can free you, instead of frustrate you.

Top investors, like endowments, family offices and pension funds, are seeking strong new relationships to drive growth in these low-interest rate environments. Valor was proud to sponsor Opal Group's Emerging...

Here's a template startups can use to simplify annual business planning.

Thanks for following Valor's story. Here are the quarterly highlights.

Deeper data analysis. Greater transparency. The hunt for value is clarifying for sophisticated investors. Are you seeing these 4 big trends touching you?

In a few hours drive around Atlanta, there's been an exit over $50 million at a rate of almost one per month for the last decade. Take a look at...

How startups answer the product/market fit question reveals more about their vision than their product/market fit reality.

Let's stay in touch