Austin Startup

MARCH 8, 2021

Pictured left to right: three Sputnik-backed female founders?—?Jennifer Jennifer McEwen (founder of Datum), April Dominguez and Nikki Dominguez (co-founders of Handsome) As a female-led and majority female-run VC, today and every day we celebrate women. Here’s to the strong, bright women we’ve backed and many more to come!

Early Stage 63

Early Stage Cofounder Washington Startup 63

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2014

In reality, very few executives or professional stars from large corporations survive in the early-stage startup environment. At a small company, if you''re constantly demanding more support, you risk turning your net impact into overhead-creep rather than value creation. Never cover your a$$.

Startup 258

Startup Early Stage Technical Review .Net 258

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 10, 2011

Instead the business press dumped on the founders for “selling out.” Many founders mentioned this as a reason not to incorporate or grow their companies in Finland. And what’s great for the mass of society – a government safety net verging on the ultimate nanny state – makes it impossible to fail.

Finland 324

Finland Naming Russia Government 324

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2013

In reality, very few executives or professional stars from large corporations survive in the early-stage startup environment. At a small company, if you're constantly demanding more support, you risk turning your net impact into overhead-creep rather than value creation. Never cover your a$$.

Early Stage 264

Early Stage Entrepreneur Technical Review .Net 264

View from Seed

MAY 2, 2019

This is the logical path that one would think is pretty “standard” for early stage companies. There may be some twists and turns along the way, like a bridge or seed extension, but I think something like this is plan A for most founders. The challenge with pre-seed rounds is that pricing will sometimes be pretty dilutive.

Early Stage 214

Early Stage Dilution Valuation .Net 214

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 10, 2011

In reality, very few executives or professional stars from large corporations thrive in the early-stage startup environment. At a small company, if you're constantly demanding more support, you risk turning your net impact into overhead creep rather than value creation. Never cover your a$$.

Startup 263

Startup Early Stage Technical Review .Net 263

Gust

OCTOBER 5, 2014

In reality, very few executives or professional stars from large corporations survive in the early-stage startup environment. At a small company, if you’re constantly demanding more support, you risk turning your net impact into overhead-creep rather than value creation. Never cover your a$$.

Startup 165

Startup Early Stage Technical Review .Net 165

ReadWriteStart

JULY 12, 2019

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the buzz surrounding AI/machine learning and early stage startups peaked in 2018. These capabilities create four startup types, each bringing something different to the AI table: • Aspirational: Most startups fit into this category, and their founders claim AI/ML deep in the pitch deck.

Artificial Inteligence 132

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Software Review Startup 132

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 23, 2010

In reality, very few executives or professional stars from large corporations thrive in the early-stage startup environment. At a small company, if you're constantly demanding more support, you risk turning your net impact into overhead creep rather than value creation. Never cover your a$$.

Startup 238

Startup Early Stage Technical Review .Net 238

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

LP’s who invest in funds are typically university endowments, public & private pension funds, insurance companies, large corporations and very high net worth individuals called “family offices.&# To give you an indication of how bad, for example, university endowments are suffering check out this chart. That’s OK.

Technical Review 311

Technical Review LP Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2012

Yet, I find that startup founders often fixate on one or two sources, often to the detriment of their business. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups. If you don't know any “high net worth” individuals, use your advisors to find them. Friends and family.

Technical Review 257

Technical Review Bootstrapping Venture Capital Incubator 257

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2021

The sudden arrival of the global pandemic has shifted the playbook for founders and venture capitalists. As high-conviction, seed stage investors, we are inherently relationship-driven, and we value meeting exceptional founders face-to-face. I can have a wider reach and a higher volume of 30 minute meetings with founders.”.

Venture Capital 350

Venture Capital Cofounder Early Stage Seed Stage 350

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2011

Yet, I find that startup founders often fixate on one or two sources, often to the detriment of their business. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups. If you don't know any “high net worth” individuals, use your advisors to find them. Friends and family.

Technical Review 233

Technical Review Bootstrapping Startup Venture Capital 233

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 7, 2015

by Ajay Kapur, CEO and Founder of Moovweb. Net-net: Customers expect seamless experiences across all channels and devices. Ajay Kapur is CEO and Founder of Moovweb , where he drives the company’s vision, strategy and growth. Below are six key mobile holiday shopping trends we’re seeing take shape for 2015: 1.

Mobile 100

Mobile Software Review eCommerce .Net 100

David Teten

MAY 9, 2012

HBSAANY is comprised of New York City tri-state area Harvard alumni who are venture capitalists and other accredited investors investing in early-stage, private companies around the United States. Women-owned businesses, according to the Forte Foundation represent about 775,000 new startups per year. domestic market.

Venture Capital 154

Venture Capital Programming Accredited Investor New York 154

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

An investor called the founder, spoke for 30 minutes on the phone and committed to funding having never met the team. Where I think Robert’s comments are slightly wrong is that AngelList is a net positive for VCs. If I were a founder I would personally start with these kinds of seed funds. Isolated incident?

Southern California 267

Southern California Angel Investor Early Stage Silicon Valley 267

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

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

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

Almost every successful company is a mixture of very hard work by the founders mixed with a pinch of luck, good fortune and perseverance. 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. The right number of deals will depend on your strategy.

Bankruptcy 294

Bankruptcy Bridge Financing Portfolio Angel Investor 294

Gust

JUNE 17, 2012

Yet, I find that startup founders often fixate on one or two sources, often to the detriment of their business. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups. If you don’t know any “high net worth” individuals, use your advisors to find them. Friends and family.

Technical Review 164

Technical Review Bootstrapping Venture Capital Incubator 164

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

Reid Hoffman

SEPTEMBER 28, 2021

” Making early-stage investment capital accessible to a broader range of founders is the impetus behind my own investments in companies like Concrete Rose Capital , 645 Ventures , and Village Global , among others. But inequitable access to seed-stage capital is a pervasive structural issue. .”

Technical Review 28

Technical Review America Silicon Valley Government 28

Eric Friedman

JANUARY 23, 2022

I finalized my notes for the ODX Accelerator program, the early stage accelerator I am building at On Deck , and I wanted to summarize here. I love the start of programs, when teams are excited – all at the earliest stages of company creation. What equity you give early stage advisors matters. Fundraising.

Early Stage 78

Early Stage Equity .Net Vesting 78

BeyondVC

JANUARY 3, 2019

Thanks to all of the amazing founders, advisors, co-investors, corporate partners, and others that helped make 2018 an amazing year. To that point, we are most excited when our founders are able to go from slide deck to product-market fit and Series A and beyond. AWS Reinvent Survivor Dinner with founders, Fortune 500 execs, and VCs.

Stealth 79

Stealth Advisory Board Cloud Virginia 79

Rob Go

APRIL 19, 2017

Recently, I’ve been spending a fair bit of time with a number of the new early-stage investors in Boston. As more early-stage investors emerge in Boston, some folks have asked me whether I feel any discomfort around the many new “competitors” on the scene. There are a lot of new folks in the space.

Early Stage 34

Early Stage Boston Artificial Inteligence Term Sheet 34

Hunter Walker

APRIL 17, 2022

It might seem like I’m s g on those folks, but actually it’s perfectly sane set of decisions (VCs are generally risk averse, that’s why they’re usually not founders)! But I am aiming at early career tech workers and mid career executives who tell me they want to join a startup but are addicted to that FAANG salary+bonus+RSU.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Salary Early Stage .Net 120

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

This is the home of Jason Cohen, software startup founder, bootstrapper, investor, and mentor. His blog is full of personal stories, gentle advice, and guidance that will be useful to any startup founder. David Cohen is the founder and Managing Partner of Techstars, the #1 ranked internet startup accelerator in the world.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Silicon Valley Cofounder 60

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

Dave Kerpen, founder and CEO of Likeable Local , just published an interview with me on Linkedin, which I’ve included below. million households in the US with a net worth of $1 million or more. Angel investors are generally former entrepreneurs and/or executives, who invest in privately-held, early-stage companies.

Angel Investor 114

Angel Investor Technical Review Venture Capital Pre-Money Valuation 114

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

If you’re an early stage company, that number may be zero. Subtract your monthly gross burn rate from your monthly revenue to get your net burn rate. But remember no winter lasts forever and in it smart founders and VCs will be planting the seeds for the next generation of startups. Prepare for a long cold winter.

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

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). Typical VC investments begin at $2 million and quickly rise to $5 million and above, depending upon the size of the fund and stage of investment.

Private Equity 118

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 118

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 1, 2010

Yet, I find that startup founders often fixate on one or two sources, often to the detriment of their business. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups. If you don't know any “high net worth” individuals, use your advisors to find them. Friends and family.

Technical Review 149

Technical Review Bootstrapping Startup Venture Capital 149

David Teten

DECEMBER 16, 2015

Net Income (Loss). For early stage companies, the metrics that matter might typically center around activation, engagement and retention. Net MRR Churn %. Identify the metrics that matter. The most common financial metrics ffVC asks companies to compare vs. budget are: Gross Revenue. Gross Profit. Payroll Expenses.

Metrics 60

Metrics Analytics Balance Sheet .Net 60

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. The Previous-Colleague Angel. The Financial Angel. The “Sport Fisherman” Angel.

Angel Investor 334

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 334

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

RBI normally requires founders to pay back their investors with a fixed percentage of revenue until they have finished providing the investor with a fixed return on capital, which they agree upon in advance. For background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control. Decathlon Capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

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.

Burn Rate 212

Burn Rate Startup .Net Venture Capital 212

Version One Ventures

JULY 22, 2014

At the same time, funding opportunities have expanded for early-stage start-ups. AngelList makes it easier for founders to reach angels and there are hundreds of accelerators and incubators to choose from. More money is flowing in from a new crop of angels, newly wealthy from a number of tech IPOs.

Finance 167

Finance Seed Money Bootstrapping Angel Investor 167

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