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500 Startups

500 Startups23 posts

500 Startups is an American Seed Accelerator started by Dave McClure in 2010. The Company has invested in over 300 Internet startups.

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24 Jul, 2015

Discusses follow-on investments

Interview0 Comments

Following Sam Altman’s commitment to offer follow-on investments to all companies that go through Y Combinator, McClure says 500 Startups has a different approach:

We make follow-on investments when we think we are going to make money and we don’t when we don’t think we are going to make money. It’s pretty simple. I think if other investors are worried more about my opinion than they are about the company’s performance, there is already a problem. I recognize it happens but that’s just part of the market. We generally wait until after Demo Day and after they have a term sheet from another investor. Signaling is important before Demo Day but we don’t worry about it after Demo Day.

McClure says 500 Startups does follow-on investments for 20-30% of its companies.