Independent rating of Leapfrog Ventures VC fund
Overall rating:
24 reviews
About Leapfrog Ventures VC fund
Website:
Founded:
1999
Number of funds:
2
Number of investments:
50
Number of exits:
18
Headquarters:
Organization type:
Venture Capital
How Leapfrog Ventures VC fund invests
Rounds:
Average ticket size:
4.61M USD
Smallest investment:
14.3K USD
Biggest investment:
21.5M USD
Would lead round:
Yes
Would coinvest:
Yes
Countries where invested:
Sectors of interest:
Analytics, Payments, Mobile, Big Data, mHealth, Wireless, Telecommunications, TV, Software, Security, Real Time, Predictive Analytics, Non Profit, Lifestyle, Internet, Health Care, Fitness, Financial Services, Finance, E-Commerce, Data Visualization, Data Mining, Cyber Security, Computer, Communities, Business Development, Apps, Advertising
Founders' reviews of Leapfrog Ventures VC fund
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
Great Feedback and Coaching
My company is outside the core of Leapfrog Ventures and normally I would not approach such a VC. However, I was attracted by having two principals who are entrepreneurs and MIT engineers. ie I felt these partners are the type that truly earned their stripes and they are not some green finance geeks who could not manage the local 7-11 yet acts like he is God's gift to Venture Financing (you know the type I am describing). I was pleasantly surprised to get a quick response indicating that this was outside their core (which of course I already knew). However, knowing my company is outside their core, I thought that would be a good place to practice the pitch and ask some feedback. I was pleasantly surprised that Peter agreed to meet me for an hour and listen to the pitch and provide feedback. Within about 24 hours of initial contact, I met Peter in Menlo Park. He listened to the pitch attentively and provided some great feedback on the pitch, on the story, on what is missing. He provided some suggestions on addressing the (internal) questions that a VC would have listening to the pitch that I needed to proactively address. Most VC's don't even offer any feedback and Pete not only offered feedback but also provided some coaching and good advice. Truly you can tell that he is a class act. To top it all, he took the time to do this in mid December when everyone is usually really pressed for time. Bottom line, this is a super classy VC and I would highly recommend Leapfrog
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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Didn't Invest but Good Response
I contacted Pete with my plan and he responded very promptly stating that he really liked that concept, however, they were at the end of their investing period for fund II and were focusing on later stage deals. His feedback was great and positive and encouraging. I was hoping to get a referal from him to any other firms but that didn't happen. Overall though, Pete was great with his response.
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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Smart Guys
Pete S. and Andy weren't interested in my company, but they asked smarter questions than most of the VCs I've pitched, and they gave me quality advice. So it wasn't a wasted meeting. I saw the comments from others that they aren't into technology. All I can say is that they were very up to date on my product area, and more importantly they had a very good understanding of the dynamics of my business. Maybe the difficulty is that when you're dealing with a two-person firm, they can't be equally knowledgeable about every part of the industry.
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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Appreciate the Fact They Got Back to Me with Advice
I really appreciated the fact that Andy took the time to get back to me with feedback. Most VCs I've approached don't care enough to even respond, which I think is very unprofessional.
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Leapfrog Treats the Entrepreneur as a Partner.
We received B round funding from Leapfrog for our SaaS start-up. But they are much more valuable then just their money, especially for a first time CEO like myself. They are smart, direct, adding great value in terms of business perspective and mentoring. Because of their operating backgrounds and experience they help anticipate what’s around the next corner and provide perspective on what it will take to build a big-time company. They truly understand the tangibles and intangibles of a start-up, demonstrating real empathy as a business partner. And they are always there when you need them. Highly recommend.
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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Good People, Experience Shows
The partners at Leapfrog are good people. Yes, they are direct, but they give you direct feedback which is better than just niceties. They will challenge your assumptions, and why shouldn't they, its their money you are spending. If you have the data and can justify your decisions, they will support you 100%.
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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Nice People , Did Not Prepare
Very nice people . Were not prepared at all in terms of the space. My advice is to send material early on ,and make sure they understand the space you are in. As usual it is easier to sell , than educate and sell in the same session.
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Nice Niche on Sand Hill Road
Besides being completely transparent and no-nonsense guys, Leapfrog also fills a large niche on Sand Hill Road for two reasons â€"
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Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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Efficient, Straight forward, and Reasonable
Leapfrog's diligence process was quick and mostly painless. They were able to get to a decision with minimal running around which was nice and different from some other VCs that seemed to ask for a mountain of paperwork just because they could.
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Good Group. One of the Better Ones.
You get a decent deal from these guys. Not a bad group. They are a little young about some things.
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Turned Down but Gave US the Rationale
We just had an excellent experience with Leapfrog Ventures. While they did say NO, they told us exactly why and their rationale made sense. They spent some time and thought explaining their feedback to us which was very helpful. It also gave us a blueprint for what we need to do next.
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Leapfrog Ventures
Last week, I pitched to Pete Sinclair. He was the most knowledgable and best prepared VC I have presented to. He validated several of our key points and problem-solved with us in remaining issues. Very different from other VCs!
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Pete Sinclair Rocks!
Pete Sinclair rocks! Just signed a term sheet with him. We had 2 other term sheets, one from a top tier VC and choose him. Reason: Simple. Cutting all the VC top tier BS aside, we feel he is someone who would roll up his sleeves and build this company with us.
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Overall a Great VC Partner
I worked with Leapfrog (Pete Sinclair) post Peter Rip leaving, and I would highly recommend Leapfrog/Pete S as a fund to work with. As an entrepreneur, I highly value "no BS" input/feedback which Pete does not hesitate to provide - vs. the "run-around" you get with other VC's. In addition, his operational experience and insights were invaluable.
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How to Get Through a Pitch Uninterrupted
One thing about Leapfrog - they all made the meeting and they actually heard the entire pitch without interrupting. But make sure the partners are all on the same page - or staying around a while.
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Working with Leapfrog and Pete Sinclair Has Been Great!
Having pitched a good number of VC to get our first round of funding we found many that were nothing more then a potential check book. The guys at Leapfrog with their marketing and operational background have been phenomenal to work with.
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Pete Sinclair is as Smart as They Come
Too often VC's are simply nothing more than money guys. They have little to no operating experience and therefore can provide little to no real added value or advice. Nothing wrong with getting access to the money but hopefully there is something more to a venture capital relationship than a valuation and a round. Bucking this trend is Pete Sinclair who is an experienced serial enterpreneur in his own right. As a result he has insights and experience that can only be gained by having sat in a CEO's chair. This is refreshing in a world made up of Suits (that just happen to dress casually since they are in California)...
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Not Sure How They are Now Without Peter
I only ever associated Leapfrog with Peter Rip and I am not sure how they are now that he has moved on to Crosslink, or if they are even still investing in new deals. You might want to get a better opinion of the other two partners there as most of the ratings here are closely linked to Peter Rip
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Good Insight, Fair Deal
My experience with LeapFrog has been very positive on the whole. They are able to make decisions quickly, are willing to invest in a Contrarian idea. My experience is that Pete is very technical and has been able to give me a good management perspective on a technical issue that came up, therefore I disagree with a previous post saying that they do not understand technology. I have not had much experience with the other partners
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Peter and Pete
I disagree with some of the other comments here. Peter and Pete invested in our company because of the technology IP (we had lots of Ph.Ds). They are super smart and were quick to "get the idea" and made a decision to invest in 48 hours. You can't expect anymore than that. Their governance has been very even handed and fair.
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Quick Decisions, Good Terms, Good Operating Assistance
Being a smaller firm, the Leapfrog Ventures partners were able to come to a decision quickly. Some larger partnerships that we talked to took a long time to get consensus within their teams before generating term sheets. We decided to go with Leapfrog for a Series A, instead of some much larger funds, because they were quick decision makers and we agreed on some decent terms. We also thought that they might be more amenable to working with founding management teams, rather than some other firms that have a reputation for being more invasive.
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They are Willing to Take Chances and Buck the Trend
Have gotten funding from these guys twice - my last company returned nicely for them. To be honest we were pitching an at fist glance less then sexy technology that none of the other VCs seemed to get at least not during the dot.com era. Pete Sinclair was one of the few VCs that saw and understood the potential when we sought A financing. When we went for series B a lot of the firms that turned us down during the A round suddenly wanted in on the B. The point I'm trying to make is that these guys will take chances; they don't only go with the flow that the rest of the VC community rides. I've found them and particularly Pete to be a good partner.
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Not Into Technology" I Have to Agree
I've pitched Mark and Peter and would fully agree that they are not particularly technology saavy. Nice, pleasant but not cutting edge.
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Good People, Not Into Technology
I have pitched Peter Rip and Pete Sinclair. They are intelligent and certainly understand startups. They do not, however, appear sure-footed when it comes to technology-intensive products. I believe someone with a Web 2.0 kind of play could do much worse than Leapfrog.