Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

As president of Y Combinator, the hugely successful seed-stage investor/accelerator, Sam Altman has a lot of knowledge to share. He covers broad topics such as net neutrality, but also dives into the specifics of starting a company, touching on things like hiring and employee retention. Follow Paul on Twitter @paulg. Sam Altman.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Silicon Valley Cofounder 60

BeyondVC

JANUARY 3, 2019

For the more advanced enterprises who have migrated to the cloud, this will be a year of net new technology and building applications. Seed funds back to basics in 2019: We highlighted the barbelling of VC in the year-end 2017 update and see this continuing in 2019.

Stealth 79

Stealth Advisory Board Cloud Virginia 79

View from Seed

AUGUST 13, 2014

We at NextView Ventures invest exclusively in a startup’s seed-stage round , meaning that many if not most of our deals are made alongside individual angel investors. These angels, however, come in many different shapes and sizes. Cons: They may lack a critical eye and not challenge an entrepreneur after the investment has closed.

Angel Investor 334

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 334

VC Adventure

MAY 5, 2022

This shrinks the gross/net return spread and is good long-term for LPs (assuming in this analysis that the 10% overage invested returns the same or better than the fund as a whole). management fee). But this doesn’t help a fund’s IRR. Some of those companies will be successful. Many will not. We’ll know eventually.

IRR 116

IRR Metrics Valuation LP 116

Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 12, 2012

We at NextView Ventures often invest in a startup’s first round alongside other funds; either seed stage focused ones like ourselves or larger traditional firms. Addressing both of those issues can stem from the motivations as to why someone would want to put their hard-earned cash into a risky early-stage startup in the first place.

Angel Investor 257

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 257

Hunter Walker

MARCH 8, 2014

Your Options Very Likely Worth Something : Options are lottery tickets and most aren’t worth much when you net out the lower cash compensation compared to what a Google would pay you for the same role. Now you might think it’s strange that a VC who runs a seed stage fund is telling new grads to join larger startups.

Liquidity Event 134

Liquidity Event Early Stage Seed Stage Startup 134

Rob Go

OCTOBER 14, 2012

Early Progress: Performance is a difficult thing to measure as a seed stage fund given the time horizons and the fickleness of private company valuations. Net net, I think things have gotten much better for entrepreneurs, which is a good thing for us overall. Y-Combinator was probably half the size.

New Hampshire 50

New Hampshire Croatia Omaha Portfolio 50

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

Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 12, 2012

We at NextView Ventures often invest in a startup’s first round alongside other funds; either seed stage focused ones like ourselves or larger traditional firms. Addressing both of those issues can stem from the motivations as to why someone would want to put their hard-earned cash into a risky early-stage startup in the first place.

Angel Investor 128

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 128

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

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. Basically zero.

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. Basically zero.

Sales Cycle 48

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 48

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 30, 2015

so that's what I said my exits would be as a seed stage fund. Do seed investors have Limited Partners with different return expectations than Series A and beyond investors? I'd say no--they're taking money from the same endowments, high net worths and pension funds as everyone else. But what does the model say?

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Pre-Money Valuation IRR Valuation 60

Rob Go

FEBRUARY 29, 2016

For early stage companies and for our new investment activity: I’m very bullish. When you start a company, or when we make a seed investment, we are thinking about the potential for the product and company over a long 10-year+ time horizon. Here’s how I’d break it down.

Marketing 28

Marketing Dilution Burn Rate Seed Stage 28

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

For startups the early stage funding landscape looks like this: Step 1: The Pre-seed round – you raise $100-$750K. Step 2: The Seed round – you raise $1-$3M (in some cases even $2-5M). Series B is about proving your net revenue model (can you be profitable?). Pre-seed Round of Funding.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

Rob Go

MAY 5, 2014

Seed stage investing has developed significantly over the past 7 years that I’ve been in VC. It’d pretty standard for entrepreneurs to contemplate raising an “institutional seed round” prior to approaching VC’s for series A rounds. Many have said that the institutional seed is the new series A.

Seed Stage 69

Seed Stage Leadership Portfolio Boston 69

The Next Web

OCTOBER 23, 2013

There aren’t a tonne of funds focused on seed-stage funding worldwide, but we can add a new one to the list today. 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.”. Asia Entrepreneur Insider News sparklabs'

Seed Stage 139

Seed Stage Asia Silicon Valley 139

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

4 ] Seed Funding Firms Seed firms are like angels in that they invest relatively smallamounts at early stages, but like VCs in that theyre companiesthat do it as a business, rather than individuals making occasionalinvestments on the side. Angels and even VC firms occasionally do this, but they alsoinvest at later stages.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

Rob Go

AUGUST 21, 2013

One reason he points to is “product/distribution fit” I think this is a really insightful comment, and a really great lens to think through the early stages of building a company and a product. Seed stage founder heuristics. Basically – how “all in” in the founder CEO.

Distribution 48

Distribution Founder Product Seed Stage 48

Rob Go

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

I was surprised to find that it has been more than two years since my post summarizing the state of the seed stage market, and trying to bring a balanced view on the rise of Super Angels and Micro-VC’s. The venture capital market continues to be in transition, and a lot of changes have occurred in the early stages of the market.

Seed Stage 55

Seed Stage Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Early Stage 55

www.currentlyobsessed.com

MAY 28, 2010

It hardly deserves any attention at all in the early stages. The net effect was more money raised, higher valuation and the same percentage of equity sold. For some closing thoughts, I’ll just add that: Valuation tends to be too much of a focus for most early stage companies.

Valuation 42

Valuation Channel Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 42

Hunter Walker

NOVEMBER 25, 2022

The reality is that most hires to early stage startups will be taking a near-term hit to cash compensation or at the very least, earning less than they could if they *only* prioritized salary (and not role, company, or equity upside). And don’t go to the startup if they can’t get above it in some easy or creative way.

Salary 56

Salary Burn Rate Dilution Equity 56

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

But wherever you stand on that, there’s one very real consequence of this explosion in seed funding: There has not been a corresponding explosion in investors willing to lead the next round, the so-called Series A. This time around, there has been an explosion at the early stages, and the very late pre-IPO growth stages.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93