Up and Running

DECEMBER 9, 2014

Bates: Good morning and welcome to our CEO panel, “How to Fine-Tune Your Small Business Finances From Funding to Growth” which I think is the direction that we would all like to be going. I’m here with some really phenomenal CEOs who are going to talk to us today about small business finances from funding to growth.

Small Business 95

Small Business Finance Forecast Metrics 95

View from Seed

AUGUST 16, 2019

Is a Founder raising a new round well in advance of cash-out date because she sees an opportunity to put more gas in the tank ahead of what current underlying business metrics would suggest (i.e. Or, is she concerned about small cracks in the business so wants additional cash cushion as an extra safety net (i.e.

Term Sheet 149

Term Sheet Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 149

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

We’ve had two companies where we had to bridge finance them several times before they eventually IPO’d We had a portfolio company turn-down a $350 million acquisition because they wanted at least $400 million. You need shots on goal as not every one will go in the back of the net. Early-stage venture capital is about extreme winners.

Bankruptcy 294

Bankruptcy Bridge Financing Portfolio Angel Investor 294

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup.

Private Equity 118

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 118

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

We’re clearly in the early stages on Twitter monetization but let me offer some views on why we find Ad.ly Banner or AdSense style ads placed either at the top of the page or down the right hand side (often called a skyscraper) would only net Twitter money for users that log into Twitter.com. 30% is the market opportunity.

Technical Review 286

Technical Review Advertising Early Stage Internet 286

View from Seed

AUGUST 13, 2014

So to successfully raise a seed round of capital, founders should possess at least a basic understanding of the different types of angel investors they’ll encounter. It can also help founders better approach angels in the first place. Cons: Potentially not much value-add beyond initial financing round. The Grouped Angels.

Angel Investor 334

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 334

Eric Friedman

AUGUST 18, 2021

Dan is the co-founder of Standard Treasury, a Y Combinator backed company. He is also co-founder and Managing Partner of Deciens Capital, an early stage investment fund. How do you get to that point if you have that kind of a view of the world, of founders, and of this space? On Sushi and VC. Everything we do.

Silicon Valley 88

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Cofounder Africa 88

David Teten

JANUARY 10, 2012

Howard Lindzon is Co-Founder and CEO of StockTwits, a social network for traders and investors to share real-time ideas and information. With a unique vision for starting and successfully managing innovative companies, he is the Managing Partner of Social Leverage, a holding company that invests in early stage web businesses.

Technical Review 128

Technical Review Technology North Carolina Switzerland 128

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Tim Friedman, Founder, PE Stack , said, “If I could offer one piece of advice to today’s managers, it would be to take the time to understand the demands of the modern institutional LP. Data companies focused on early-stage startups include Aingel , fundsUP , Preseries , PredictLeads , and Sploda. 3) Raise capital.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

What most founders don’t realize is: Every stage of a startup requires a different set of metrics and milestones and founder skills. Knowing these will help a founder position her pitch to get investors’ attention. Founders need to keep their eye on the prize — not just the next funding round. Business Model.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

Austin Startup

JUNE 26, 2019

Many people have reached out sharing knowing and kind words about our journey and choice to wind down our venture, as well as their appreciation for my choice to pull back the curtain on what is statistically a common road for many founders. It details a landscape founders like me are excited to sink their teeth into? Of course not!

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup B2C Sweat Equity 54

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2017

As a VC, burn rate is one of the most discussed topics I have with teams who are pitching me for raising capital and it is one of the most common discussions points I have with founders in companies that I’ve backed. So let me walk you through the discussion points I have with founders. million for 18 months.

Burn Rate 212

Burn Rate Startup .Net Venture Capital 212

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 7, 2014

There weren’t a lot of seed funds in 2007 so this was often done by angels, funding consortia or sometimes early-stage funds that existed then (First Round Capital, True Ventures, SoftTech VC, etc.). 5 million was always the classic definition of an A-round between the late nineties (crazy financings aside) and say 2007.

Cap Table 399

Cap Table Silicon Valley Term Sheet Finance 399

Haystack

OCTOBER 2, 2019

Those of us in the early-stage tech ecosystem by now well know that saying “there are a LOT of seed and new startups” is a gross understatement. What I will say is many institutional investors require them, and fair or not, most investors view the pitch deck as a proxy for how the founders will present to customers.

Deal Flow 106

Deal Flow Cap Table Early Stage Institutional Investors 106

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

Two founders have spent $200K of personal and family funds over a one year period to start the company, get a prototype site up and running, and have already generated some “buzz” in the Internet community. On the other hand, if the pre-money valuation is $4M, the founders ownership remains at a healthy 80% level.

Valuation 270

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation NPV Intellectual Property 270

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

Two founders have spent $200K of personal and family funds over a one year period to start the company, get a prototype site up and running, and have already generated some “buzz” in the Internet community. On the other hand, if the pre-money valuation is $4M, the founders ownership remains at a healthy 80% level.

Pre-Money Valuation 246

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation NPV Intellectual Property 246

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 17, 2020

Let’s take a few minutes to examine the kind of equity financing available to small or early stage businesses. There is an exemption from the requirements that these investors be accredited with net worth or income minimums to qualify legally to invest in your company. The post When should you go for equity financing?

Equity 62

Equity Finance Liquidity Event Angel Groups 62

David Teten

AUGUST 21, 2019

Most founders who are raising capital look first to traditional equity VCs. Revenue-Based Investing (“RBI”) is a new form of VC financing, distinct from the preferred equity structure most VCs use. For more background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control. But should they? Optionality.

Revenue 60

Revenue Liquidation Preference Equity Cofounder 60

Gust

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

Two founders have spent $200K of personal and family funds over a one year period to start the company, get a prototype site up and running, and have already generated some “buzz” in the Internet community. On the other hand, if the pre-money valuation is $4M, the founders ownership remains at a healthy 80% level.

Valuation 187

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation NPV Intellectual Property 187

Hunter Walker

MARCH 8, 2014

If you’re graduating this spring and starting a career in tech, I’ve got one piece of advice: go work at a midstage startup (I’ll define that as B/C rounds of financing – eg Twilio, Stripe, Airbnb, Warby). There aren’t yet four layers of management between you and the founders. Here’s why: 1.

Liquidity Event 134

Liquidity Event Early Stage Seed Stage Startup 134

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 26, 2011

The investments by the founders created two transactions. This is one of the reasons that Dick and Jane chose to use QuickBooks, even at this very early stage, as it guarantees that their books will conform to double entry accounting. The net $50,100 from financing activities all went into equity on the Balance Sheet.

Balance Sheet 128

Balance Sheet Cofounder Cap Table Delaware 128

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

Two founders have spent $200K of personal and family funds over a one year period to start the company, get a prototype site up and running, and have already generated some “buzz” in the Internet community. On the other hand, if the pre-money valuation is $4M, the founders ownership remains at a healthy 80% level.

Valuation 234

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation NPV Startup 234

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup.

Private Equity 106

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 106

keen.io

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

The founders had been dropping hints that they wanted me to join them. To begin answering this question, I started on a quest to understand startup financing. These were the best resources I found: Equity for Early Employees in Early Stage Startups. Startup Equity for Early Employees.

Salary 50

Salary Equity Startup San Francisco 50

Gust

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Cautionary note: No competent VC is actually fooled when you show up after raising $6M in seed financing and say you’re now raising an A! There weren’t a lot of seed funds in 2007 so this was often done by angels, funding consortia or sometimes early-stage funds that existed then (First Round Capital, True Ventures, SoftTech VC, etc.).

Cap Table 136

Cap Table Silicon Valley Term Sheet Non-Compete 136

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Tweet View Comments Sarah Lacy Feb 19, 2010 Pepperdine has a new study out that attempts to shed some light on the clubby, shadowy world of private finance. Paglia, Pepperdiine’s Denney Academic Chair and Associate Professor of Finance. Think Again. Not a big shock, but things don’t look pretty, especially in the venture capital world.

Venture Capital 62

Venture Capital Technical Review Sweat Equity Valuation 62

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

Two Sigma is a technology and finance company in Soho filled with incredibly bright engineers and developers, so I’m really excited about leveraging that partnership in a number of cool ways. Most firms still have founders involved and they live fund to fund the way startups live customer to customer.

LP 112

LP New York City New York Chad 112

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

looking for good samples with founder friendly terms 11 Answers Mark Suster , Venture Capitalist, Angel investor & 72 votes by Ty Danco , Brandon Wu , Jen Cheng , (more) Ty Danco , Brandon Wu , Jen Cheng , Anon User, Chris Stewart , Tristan Louis , Ravi Kannan , Vin Turk , Shane Lennon , Nicholas Swanson , Sachin Agarwal , Mircea Pa?

Term Sheet 41

Term Sheet Startup Angel Investor Wiki 41

K9 Ventures

MAY 14, 2011

In my view the terminology being used for early stage investors by the press and the media is not as clear as it should be. I’ve talked about this on several occasions when I’ve been at conference and on panels, but I figured it would make sense to do a post explaining my taxonomy of the early-stage investing world.

Preferred Stock 125

Preferred Stock Seed Stage Incubator Early Stage 125

Rob Go

JUNE 8, 2014

Raising capital is really difficult, no matter what people say about the influx of seed and early-stage dollars into the startup eco-system. Getting access to a breadth of network and resources is pretty helpful in the early stages of a company when you are under-resourced and have no scale. Maintain flexibility.

Dilution 69

Dilution Early Stage Angel Investor Venture Capital 69

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

The culture is driven by the 20-something irreverent founder with huge technical chops who in a “David vs. Goliath” mythology take on the titans of industry and wins. But markets have changed and I think investors, founders and experienced executives who want to join later-stage startups can all benefit from playing the long game.

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital LP Valuation Later Stage 363

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

This time around, there has been an explosion at the early stages, and the very late pre-IPO growth stages. “Founders don’t think their problems are due to trends. And in fact, overall trends are a second-order effect for founders.” Sarah Lacy is the founder and editor-in-chief of PandoDaily.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93

Up and Running

JULY 1, 2015

All these requirements need to be financed. Many entrepreneurs use bootstrapping, which means financing your company by scraping together funds in unconventional ways. For Adam Falla, founder of a cleaning startup, that meant renting out his apartment. There are other alternative ways to jumpstart your business engine.

Bootstrapping 60

Bootstrapping Angel Investor Venture Capital Finder 60

Rob Go

NOVEMBER 6, 2011

The gist of the story is that there has been a significant increase in seed stage investments activity over the last 2 years, and many companies are now coming back into to the market for their next round of financing. Investors who have been in the early-stage investing game for some time know that markets come and go.

Seed Stage 49

Seed Stage .Net Portfolio Valuation 49

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. Whats is the best way to find a co-founder for your startup? I’m part of an early startup made up of four friends, we’re all motivated and really dedicated to our startup. Once you’ve done that – then.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Rob Go

MAY 5, 2014

A lot of folks can pull together a few million bucks from high net worth individuals and start operating as a “seed fund” One could go about writing dozens and dozens of $20K checks, catch a winner, and then build on that to gradually raise more money. There are a few ways to do this.

Seed Stage 69

Seed Stage Leadership Portfolio Boston 69

Cracking the Code

DECEMBER 11, 2015

I outlined five of these financial KPIs for SaaS, which I called the 5 C’s of SaaS Finance : Customer Monthly Recurring Revenue (CMRR); Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC); Churn; Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV); and Cash. Bonus: European founders should spend a week in San Francisco. You get the idea.

San Francisco 48

San Francisco Churn Rate Silicon Valley Engineer 48