How to get funded by IDG's Alex Rosen

Rosen's job is to sift through a field of 700 to 800 start-ups a year and find gems

Alex Rosen is a partner at IDG Venturs, an early-stage venture capital firm. In this interview, you can learn about Rosen's and IDG's investment philosophy.  IDG typically looks at 700 tp 800 start-ups a year and invests between four and 10. These figures are similar to the more established firms (e.g. Morgenthaler has five VC partners and invests in about 10 a year across its partners). IDG places about $1 million to $5 million to work in a Series A or B round, though at times IDG will make seed rounds. The average investment amount has been $3 million, with reserves for follow-on rounds.

Even though most VCs like to take roughly a 20% stake in a company when they invest, IDG doesn't have a hard and fast rule about it. The average percentage in a company is 16%, said Rosen, adding the firm takes as low as 5% to 6% and as high as upper 20%. 

Recent deals Rosen has been behind include Flowdock, which recently won our Vator Splash SF event, Expect Labs and Krux Digital.

Don't forget to check out Alex's top 10 reasons raising capital is optimal right now.