Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2020

These are professional investors, like Accel Partners , who invest institutional money in qualified startups, usually with a proven business model, ready to scale. This is the primary source of non-personal funds for very early-stage startups. Look for a warm introduction to make this work. Fund your startup yourself.

Equity 436

Equity Small Business Administration SBA Syndicate 436

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2019

To refresh your memory, angel investors are typically high net worth individuals, accredited by the SEC and willing to invest their own money in a high-potential startup for a share of the ownership. They don’t get excited by early stage research, development, or marketing hype. Crowdfunding is not the best platform here.

Non-disclosure Agreement 299

Non-disclosure Agreement Angel Investor Bootstrapping SEC 299

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2009

Filed under: Customer Development , Technology | Tagged: Customer Development , Early Stage Startup , Entrepreneurs , Startups , Steve Blank « SuperMac War Story 6: Building The Killer Team – Mission, Intent and Values Story Behind “The Secret History” Part IV: Library Hours at an Undisclosed Location » 17 Responses Michael F.

Silicon Valley 305

Silicon Valley RSS Startup Agile 305

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

02:06] Can you share your experience starting with an early-stage company (Hubspot) that eventually went public? [07:11] I think the net of it is it went from HubSpot teaching a business model to follow to more of a partner program where you're reselling technology.

Metrics 72

Metrics Analytics Forecast Software Review 72

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2018

These are professional investors, like Accel Partners , who invest institutional money in qualified startups, usually with a proven business model, ready to scale. This is the primary source of non-personal funds for very early-stage startups. Look for a warm introduction to make this work. Fund your startup yourself.

Entrepreneur 240

Entrepreneur Equity Small Business Administration SBA 240

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital doesn’t publish frequently, but his essays on market trends and Benchmark portfolio companies are a window into how VCs view the world and the kinds of business models that they find most interesting. But, he also has great advice on growth strategies for early-stage companies. Sam Altman.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Silicon Valley Cofounder 60

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

Open Source Business Models, speakers for Web 2.0 I have to say that it has netted far more than I would have thought. Early Stage Marketing and Branding – Farida Fotouh. Attorney and Startup Business Advisor – Aaron Shec. event I did last fall.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2014

These are professional investors, like Accel Partners , who invest institutional money in qualified startups, usually with a proven business model, ready to scale. This is the primary source of non-personal funds for very early-stage startups. Look for a warm introduction to make this work. Fund your startup yourself.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Startup Equity Small Business Administration 283

Growthink Blog

FEBRUARY 28, 2011

So-called “super angels” – wealthy, technology-savvy high net worth individual investors - and NOT traditional venture capitalists, are now the preferred funding source for the most dynamic entrepreneurs in the hottest technology sectors. social networking hype of 2006-2007. Here’s why: 1. The result? Our favorites? technology companies.

Social Network 63

Social Network Technical Review Stock Early Stage 63

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

By definition, angels are accredited investors, who invest their own money for a percentage of the business. Each has met legal securities minimums for net worth and professionalism, to reduce the risk to entrepreneurs. Early stage research and development won’t excite angels. Most share expertise as well as money.

Angel Investor 120

Angel Investor Accredited Investor Venture Capital Startup 120

Hunter Walker

MARCH 8, 2014

At a more mature technology company you’re protecting and extending your business model. Between the two is a hypergrowth stage where your initial product has great traction but there’s still urgency and risk in execution. You have the resources to build and launch, which means your work will see the light of day.

Liquidity Event 134

Liquidity Event Early Stage Seed Stage Startup 134

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

These are professional investors, like Accel Partners , who invest institutional money in qualified startups, usually with a proven business model, ready to scale. This is the primary source of non-personal funds for very early-stage startups. Look for a warm introduction to make this work. Fund your startup yourself.

Equity 120

Equity Small Business Administration SBA Syndicate 120

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. Founder Earnings = Net Income + any amount of founders’ salaries over a certain threshold. GSD Capital. “ GSD Capital partners with early-stage SaaS founders to fund growth initiatives.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 23, 2013

Nearly all of the ones who''d been successful went through a natural process of customer development—what we call the “empathy” stage—followed by a tight focus on stickiness, then virality, then paid acquisition, and finally scaling. We often tell founders that a business plan is nonsense. It''s that the business model is complex.

Analytics 167

Analytics Lean Widget Metrics 167

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

Beyond understanding your business strategy, investors will also want to understand your financial forecasts. They want to know how your business will function from a financial standpoint — what is typically called your “ business model.” In a business plan, this section is often called “sources and uses of investment.”.

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Business Plan Forecast Balance Sheet Exit Strategy 138

David Teten

AUGUST 21, 2019

2) To sell their businesses when they want – early, mid term, or never.” . When you raise early stage VC, you can’t sell early because the VCs won’t agree to it. Focus on lower-risk business models; no requirement for a ‘swing for the fences’ model.

Revenue 60

Revenue Liquidation Preference Equity Cofounder 60

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

Especially at the early stages. A business like that will just have a really hard time raising money at the early stages, and if that’s feedback you are getting from at least 2 people, you may want to consider adjusting your plan and raise from angels and/or bootstrap for a long time.

Sales Cycle 54

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 54

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

Especially at the early stages. A business like that will just have a really hard time raising money at the early stages, and if that’s feedback you are getting from at least 2 people, you may want to consider adjusting your plan and raise from angels and/or bootstrap for a long time.

Sales Cycle 48

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 48

Up and Running

MAY 15, 2018

Innovative products and business models are the foundations of a promising startup. However, you’ll also need a steady flow of funds, especially in the early stages, to turn those ideas into reality. Creating a scalable business model. Your business model should support your growth goals.

SBA 84

SBA Angel Investor Technical Review Startup 84

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

One could make the argument that the most important KPI should be LTV, which is “a prediction of the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer.” The only way is to gather information and assemble it in a predictive model, which features extracted data extrapolated and used to predict customer behavior.

Metrics 121

Metrics Acquisition Conversion Revenue 121

Berkonomics

MARCH 30, 2012

There is still abundant money available for early stage investment, but many of the rules have changed, as well as the processes for accessing these resources. The great majority of investors who did invest in “idea stage” businesses, lost fortunes when the Internet “bubble” burst at the beginning of the last decade.

Intellectual Property 76

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Small Business Administration SBA 76

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Data companies focused on early-stage startups include Aingel , fundsUP , Preseries , PredictLeads , and Sploda. Lean Case provides standard business models & metrics, so you can apply a standard approach to business planning, modeling, and profitability tracking. What’s Your VC Tech Stack?

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Ben's Blog

MAY 15, 2020

Finally, we’ll zoom out and assess the big picture: how various categories of company may be impacted long-term, how this crisis compares to 2008 (and what that means for early-stage founders), and the industries and business models that are now prime for growth. The data’s clear.

Founder 36

Founder Conversion Technical Review Cash Position 36

Startup Company Lawyer

MAY 26, 2012

First, crowdfunding involving the sale of securities triggers the prohibitively expensive registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as generally no exemptions are available in many crowdfunding models. Some companies utilize pure donation models. More than $500,000: Audited financial statements.

SEC 58

SEC Securities and Exchange Commission Accredited Investor Private Placement 58

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

Keep in mind that there is no “one way” to raise money Different investors will almost certainly have different models, and different regions may have different math. For startups the early stage funding landscape looks like this: Step 1: The Pre-seed round – you raise $100-$750K. Business Model.

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Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 431

BeyondVC

OCTOBER 11, 2007

Companies that sell at the early stages should understand that while they may forego going big, if they do not sell today for strategic value then they would have to live up to their hype and be bought in the future for real revenue. Can you really build a company or is this just a feature for a bigger player?

Net Present Value 60

Net Present Value Strategic Investors Early Stage Revenue 60

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2009

We were focused on revenue, but we didnt understand that revenue is not important for its own sake in an early stage company. No business model, either. All my products and ideas focus on early cash and a business model that works from the first day. Heck, Id already seen Friendster flame out.

San Francisco 94

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 94

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 2, 2010

Whether you buy this or not for public equities, the market for early stage private companies has always been wildly inefficient. I take CFO roles in early stage companies and participate on the management team during the early financings and business model development phases.

Angel Investor 28

Angel Investor Angel Groups San Jose Venture Capital 28

abovethecrowd.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2015

As another example, consider that most public marketplace companies, such as ebay or GrubHub, report revenues on a “net” basis rather than gross (approximately 80-90% of revenues go to supplier partners, so this is the proper conservative representation). You should not pay a net revenue multiple for a gross revenue disclosure.

IPO 40

IPO Liquidation Preference Valuation Technical Review 40

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

Do that – nothing else but one product / company / focus and get to $1M in sales with atleast $15% net profit. Friends & Family – High net-worth individuals with a passion for you and your industry. When it comes to early stage investing – it’s all gut. Once you’ve done that – then. do something else. A few thoughts.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

The Next Web

OCTOBER 23, 2013

SparkLabs , the company behind the accelerator program in Korea , is expanding its scope with its first seed-stage fund that will “help great startups go global.”. Moon is interested in companies dealing with big data, and he’s broadly keen on general consumer plays, enterprise business models and the growth of education technology.

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Seed Stage Asia Silicon Valley 139

Up and Running

MAY 8, 2018

That’s a net profit of -$217.25 (WTF!). Here are the steps I took to lift the hood on my early-stage venture and make that critical decision. To be precise, sales in the initial period amounted to $146.09 (five sales at $27, one at $12) and total expenses amounted to—$363.34. So, I decided to find out.

Sales 71

Sales Revenue Conversion Acquisition 71

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 10, 2008

You validated our business model and added huge value to our efforts. However, as we know from the cable industry, subscription businesses can be very profitable over time. To answer the second question and make sure you are building a profitable business, the key indicator to look at is the Customer LifeTime Value (CLTV).

Software Review 48

Software Review North America Europe Metrics 48

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 22, 2017

After years working in fashion PR/Marketing in NYC and Milan, and then as a co-founder/owner of a Brooklyn-based rock ’n’ roll play space for kids under 5, I found myself becoming overly excited about my friends starting new businesses. 14 – Concept Behind the Business Model. 22 – Know What the Business Was.

Naming 48

Naming Entrepreneur LLC Software Review 48

Up and Running

JULY 14, 2015

Peter: Techstars is probably the most famous accelerator but the idea of the accelerator versus the incubator because there is living field, because there’s this very early stage fields for them both. If you really want to get some sort of business out of that idea, this might be what it takes. Jonathan: Okay.

Incubator 60

Incubator Email Startup Oregon 60

Scalable Startup

MAY 1, 2013

In the So Cal startup ecosystem, most of the companies launched are “safe”, evolutionary extensions of current business models and features, enhancing existing business ideas around the world. would we find a company like this” In 2012 sales were over $130 million last year with $100 million net profit.

Southern California 20

Southern California Silicon Valley Angel Investor Hawaii 20

Lightspeed Venture Partners

JULY 23, 2011

The entrepreneurs are leveraging the outsourced infrastructure along with Internet based low cost distribution to test and refine business models. The so called “Super Angels” who are a new class of risk capital providers have emerged to support such early stage Internet business model experimentation.

Silicon Valley 113

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Early Stage Technical Review 113