

Announcing K9 Ventures II – A $40M technology-focused micro-VC fund - sid_viswanathan
http://k9ventures.com/blog/2012/07/19/announcing-k9-ventures-ii-a-40m-technology-focused-micro-vc-fund/

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joshfraser
Manu invested in Torbit and is on our board. He's been great. One of the
things I've grown to appreciate is that he wants founders to continue to lead
the company. With Manu you don't have to worry about being replaced with adult
supervision. That's not true with all VC's.

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therealarmen
I like all of the criteria laid out for portfolio investments, save #5: _The
entire team should be located in the SF Bay Area._ I'm seeing this requirement
more and more often among venture firms. Clearly K9 Ventures has had success
with their investments, so they are free to allocate their money as they
choose.

I have nothing against the Bay Area. I went to school here, live here, and
started my company here. However, if I want to start another venture down the
road I feel like I'd have no choice but to start it here. And not having
choice only hurts the entrepreneur.

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diego
Those are his criteria, not yours. He lives in the Bay Area and wants to be
close to all the companies he invests in. As an entrepreneur, you'd have to
start a company here _if_ you'd like Manu to invest in you. If you want to
start it someplace else, then he may not be the right investor for you. It's
that simple.

What I like about Manu's criteria is that they are very clearly laid out. Not
all investors make it so easy to know what they expect out of companies, so
they end up wasting a founder's time.

Disclosure: I've known Manu since the late 90s, and he invested in my company
(IndexTank).

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therealarmen
I definitely appreciate how clearly everything is laid out. Some VCs have
ridiculously wishy-washy copy on their website. If I had a nickel every time I
read about "investing in big ideas" I'd have a $1M seed round in no time.

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rahulvohra
Awesome. I remember discussing Rapportive with Manu back when we started and
although we didn't end up working together (maybe he didn't want too many
companies that would sell to LinkedIn :p ?), the quality of his insights was
off the charts.

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anandkulkarni
Agreed, this is great news. It was the same for us at MobileWorks: he was one
of the first investors we spoke with during this process, and his advice was
terrific – it led us to where we are today.

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cpeterso
On first glance, I assumed "K9 Ventures" was going to be Kickstarter's new
micro-VC fund that invested in their own users' projects. Then I counted the
letters and realized the "Kickstarter" would be "K10" or "K9R". <:)

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mmettler
Manu invested in card.io and is absolutely fantastic. He is extremely
tactical, constantly pushed us to focus on the numbers that matter, and most
importantly, provided gobs of awesome counsel. He should be your first call if
you're looking to raise money.

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joshuamerrill
I love this thread: it's populated either by founders of Manu's portfolio
companies, or entrepreneurs who pitched him and got valuable advice instead. I
fall into both categories: the former in my current company, the latter in my
previous one.

I think anyone who knows Manu can attest that a great investor provides so
much more than money. In fact, this is part of his investment thesis, and, in
my opinion, helps to explain why his first fund was such a success.

So if you're raising your seed round and you haven't talked with Manu, you
should be asking yourself: why?

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joshu
Congrats to Manu! (we were classmates)

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twohey
Manu and I started the PhD program the same year at Stanford and it's been my
privilege to know him. He's consistently constructive and intelligent and I'd
encourage anyone who is thinking about starting a business meeting his
criteria to talk to K9.

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eande
At an event I had the chance to talk to Manu and quickly came to the same
conclusion as many posts say, he is a great guy. Good to see the micro fund
happening and I expect many more great and interesting investments. Someone to
follow.

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plusbryan
Awesome news Manu, congrats!

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ericz
Congrats Manu!

