First Growth Venture Network

Today wat the kickoff of the fourth “vintage” of the First Growth Venture Network. This group helps to connect top startups with venture funding. Tidal was chosen from tons of applicants and we’re in good company with First Growth alums like Birchbox, ChallengePost and 20×200.

It was a great session getting to know the other companies, getting some initial feedback on our pitches, and getting the scoop from some of the top investors out there.

Aileen Lee of Kleiner Perkins and Joe Apprendi, founder of Collective Media and a partner at Revel Partners talked a bit the gap between <$2 million dollar seed rounds and larger A and B rounds. Seed funding has become easier but it has also made the bar higher for later rounds, where there isn’t necessarily more money. It’s the superstars that break out of the pack and have an easy time getting those larger rounds.

There were also some great discussions on the goals of early PR (align it to business goals) and remote teams (unless they’ve worked together before try your best to skip them).

It was a great, big day. Check out the TechCrunch writeup announcing this year’s class.