Gil Penchina Quotes

I think one of the key differentiators I bring to the table as a venture capitalist is a solid understanding of the public markets and how they operate.

The key to making money in angel investing is saying no. You meet with 100 companies and say no to 99 of them.

I've had a very good stretch with startup investing, and I think it's very important to know when to hold your chips.

If I had a do over, I'd indubitably start investing in startups earlier in life!

I'm a very active angel investor in a number of different companies.

I focus on consumer Internet. Sometimes it's a working prototype; sometimes it's an idea on a napkin. I don't do a ton of deals a year, and I really like working with startups - it's the only way I can invest. It fits my ADD brain.

I think the mistake people make most often when they invest in other kinds of startups is they say, 'This is totally different.' And so the things that matter, like making a product that people desperately want, like talking to customers, they throw this out the window. That is a recipe for heartache and tears.

I always tell my partners that our job is to fund all the companies we can that can be worth $10 billion or more. That's such a difficult constraint, we can't have any other constraints.

If your business had no risk, you could go get a bank loan and call it a day. VCs like risks - without them, venture capital wouldn't exist. But they need to be risks that VCs are good at assessing and managing.

My venture investing career has three phases, all roughly 6-8 years long. The first, at Euclid, was software to Internet. The second, at Flatiron, was Internet to bubble. And the third, at USV, has been web 2 to mobile. I have always used a new firm to denote a new investment phase for me. Throw away the old. Start with the new.

I have definitely refocused Lowercase Capital on later-stage deals and my existing portfolio.

A startup job is an investment, after all: Venture capitalists may wager money, but you're staking something more precious - your time. And unlike VCs, you can't spread your risk by betting on a bunch of companies at once. Start with TAM. That's 'total addressable market,' and if it's not big enough, there's no point in talking.

Startup investing is one of my things, but it is not my everything.

So much of venture capital is pattern recognition.

Most firms do two investments a year. They may talk to between 50 and 100 and do a couple, whereas we're talking to thousands and doing several hundred.

Anybody who runs is a VC. Anybody who stands still is a well-disciplined VC.

Given my venture capital background, I know the tech sector well.

When the venture industry started, it was enough to just have money and then it was enough to sort of have this big fuzzy brand. But now startups are getting a lot smarter.

The great skill of investment is to know when the right time is to get out. Getting in's easy.

Startups are constantly raising money, sometimes before they have even hired a lawyer.

Individual investors beware: If you're constantly worried about a crash, you're probably making some big mistakes - and losing a lot of money in the process.

In an ideal world, you raise a lot of money and then there is a downturn, before you start investing so you get better deals. But it doesn't always happen that way.

I don't know the venture fund terms. I don't know what a seed round is. I want nothing to do with it.

I started to invest in very-early-stage companies where, even though I wasn't the founder, I could help shape the early strategy and culture.

When you get into investing, your default stance should be 'No,' because most deals suck. Most deals won't make money. Most companies will fail.