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The Post Seed Conference (Dec 2 in SF)

After my last mobile gig ended, I also took some time to reevaluate what firms I was working with. While I’ve had a bumpy ride into the world of venture, I have also been super lucky to work with friends at great firms. As Labor Day rolled around, I had the chance to deepen some of those relationships as Venture Advisors to two firms — GGV and Bullpen Capital. They’re both at very different stages of the market, so it works. And, it’s a blast. I’ll write more about the transition and experience soon.

In my work with Bullpen, we work in the early-stages of the market, right before companies are ready to talk to the larger, more traditional funds. You may have picked up people using all kinds of labels, and even I’ll admit, it’s tiring and hard to keep straight. There are folks who invest early, folks who invest a bit later, and plenty of folks who invest when things are working. Over the summer, my colleague Paul Martino had an idea — convene a conference on this very topic, and let’s discuss it, and figure it out. As is the case with many moves, Martino was right — I’m pleased to announce that on Tuesday, December 2 in San Francisco, Vator, Venture51, and Bullpen are co-hosting the first-ever “Post Seed Conference,” gathering the best and brightest minds on the current state of early-stage financing for a one-day, single-track event for investors, founders, limited partners, and members of the startup, technology, and financial press.

Learn more here and buy your tickets now: beta.postseed.co (contents in this link is evolving, but you can order tickets now; we also created a ticket for founders priced at $349.)

When I say the “best and brightest minds” with respect to early stage financing, I mean it. We have three (3) keynote 1:1 sessions lined up, and these folks are some of the best in the game: One-on-one fireside chats with Keith Rabois, Naval Ravikant, and Chris Dixon. We are going to dig into every contested aspect of the early-stage ecosystem today — notes, caps, signaling, upstream financing, syndicates, and more. (I’m going to close the event with a 1:1 with Naval, which I’m of course really excited about. We all know Keith is going to say some awesome stuff, and Chris is certainly one of the most original thinkers on financing out there. And, these are just the keynotes.)

Additionally, we’ll have a number of panels as well, and among the topics we’re set to cover (full agenda will be posted soon):

  • How are leading early-stage VCs thinking about the gap between seed and Series A, and navigating through it?
  • Crowdfunding platforms are helping to create this gap, but can they also help to fill it with capital?
  • What does it take to get a true Series A round done in 2015?
  • Will $5 million be the new $500k in the Internet of Things and Wearables Era?
  • Learn whether pro rata is a right or privilege.
  • If there’s a bubble, how do you not pay up?

I’m happy to answer any questions if you have ’em. If you use AngelList, invest in early-stage companies, are a founder or thinking of starting a company, if you’re a limited partner in the asset class or thinking about investing in the category, or if you cover the early-stage startup world, this conference will be a great way to not only dial into today’s current issues, but also meet with a great set of speakers and panelists and press to meet face-to-face. On behalf of Bullpen, hope you can make it.