The Pareto principle states that when thinking of cause and effect, 80% of the effect is driven by 20% of the cause. In our industry, this can be translated to 80% of the returns are driven by 20% of the funds or companies. As part of our portfolio construction efforts at Top Tier, we set out to…
After talking to CEOs, LPs and consultants during several recent annual meetings, it has become clear that liquidity is the hot topic. CEOs who have been running companies over 5+ years said more than half of their investors are pushing them to be IPO ready or think seriously about the eventual sale of the business.…
With Snap’s IPO looming, speculation on its success is rampant. As one of our portfolio companies, we too are watching closely. In the last two years, 50 tech companies have listed on U.S. exchanges. Of those, 80% have closed higher than the IPO price at the end of the first day, achieving an average “IPO…
As a Fund of Funds manager, we at Top Tier focus on constructing our portfolios with what we believe are the right types of managers (healthcare/tech), investing in the right stage (seed, series A-C, Growth), in the right geography (New York, San Francisco, LA, other) for the current market. We also consider our manager’s ability…
Another year has flown by, and it’s time once again to search for ‘Best Gifts For Him/Her’ or ‘Unique Swap Gifts’ as you attempt to get that special gift for everyone on your list. In order to help alleviate the stress commonly associated with holiday shopping, we have pulled together some of our favorite products…
At TTCP we are seeing more venture firms both in the U.S. and abroad focus on team succession. There are several probable catalysts for increased succession planning: (1) VCs are finally seeing carry which allows individuals to make way for the next generation of partners; (2) the epicenter of startups has moved from the suburbs…
It has been nearly five weeks since the conclusion of the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games, a period of time showcasing 15,000+ athletes from 200+ nations competing in a combined 800+ events across 30+ sports held at 30+ athletic venues. Along with over 3.5 billion people worldwide, we at Top Tier cheered with excitement…
In recent years the rise in prominence of smaller, typically seed stage focused venture funds has transformed the landscape of early stage investing. This rise is driven by many factors, most notably the dramatic decrease in the financial, human, and resource capital required to start and grow companies. At the same time, mobile innovation has…
Upon June’s Brexit decision, TTCP analyzed our UK holdings, comparing the returns and multiples of the country to our other holdings. We shared our findings last month here on the Top Tier blog. As we dug further into the data, we discovered some other interesting geographic trends. We looked at all realized exits in our…
Recently there has been a lot of discussion in the venture capital industry about valuations. Are they too high? Are venture returns still attractive? We’ve all seen the charts showing that pre-money valuations are on the rise year-over-year. We find it difficult to draw comparisons over time because a shift in the nomenclature of funding…