VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 21, 2023

It’s not just the competition against the incumbents and the large tech platforms that founders has to worry about, but most importantly is the company’s performance and product market fit. The benchmarks are based on the US market.

Retention 109

Retention Conversion Churn Rate B2C 109

Steve Blank

MAY 17, 2022

Deep Learning /Neural Nets – a subfield of machine learning. Neural nets are effective at a variety of tasks ( e.g., image classification, speech recognition). A deep learning neural net algorithm is given massive volumes of data, and a task to perform – such as classification. See here.). Examples: Brand24 , MonkeyLearn.

Artificial Inteligence 417

Artificial Inteligence Software Review Algorithm Technical Review 417

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

When I started Version One Ventures in 2012, every experienced VC shared the same rule of thumb: we had to return 3x net consistently to stay in business (i.e. 3x the invested capital net of fees over a period of about ten years for a net IRR in the low twenties). So, is 10x the new 3x ?

Venture Capital 201

Venture Capital IRR Private Equity Seed Stage 201

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

Gross Burn vs. Net Burn. Burn rate in case you don’t know is the amount of money a company is either spending (gross) or losing (net) per month. (it Net burn is the amount of money you are losing per month. I often see companies burning $100,000 per month (net) looking to raise $6-8 million.

Burn Rate 383

Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net Valuation 383

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2014

We’ve been dying to tell you all for a while that we had raised a new venture capital fund and of course given SEC filing requirements the story was somewhat already scooped by the always-in-the-know Dan Primack a few weeks ago. Family Offices (of high-net-worth individuals or families). We raised $280 million.

Las Vegas 396

Las Vegas St. Louis Southern California San Diego 396

David Teten

MARCH 5, 2021

What can we learn from the best 40 venture capital investments of all time? For example, a profitable firm at which 30 percent of leaders are women could expect to add more than 1 percentage point to its net margin compared with an otherwise similar firm with no female leaders. “For How do we reconcile these two sets of data?

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 78

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series of posts and I need to file this one under both Raising Venture Capital and Startup Advice. The last couple of years has also seen the huge initial success of Ycombinator, the Lean Startup and many other product driven approaches to going to market. I care about your assumptions going in.

Business Plan 334

Business Plan AJAX Venture Capital Technical Review 334

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 9, 2019

Although some founders take venture capital in exchange for equity, that’s not the only way to do it. To learn more about the pros and cons of venture capital — and founders’ funding alternatives — I caught up with Mark McKee. That creates a market where equity funding is top of mind. Oftentimes, it is.

Venture Capital 105

Venture Capital Equity SBA Finance 105

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

As I like to say, “If you’re really on to an enormous idea then other people in the market are going to spot that and want to compete with you. If you have a market lead then raising capital and making investments now will help you as others enter the market. If you don’t, somebody else WILL!”

Startup 418

Startup Revenue Technical Review Flash 418

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2010

billion invested during the same three-month period in 2009, according to the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Many of the large endowments that invest in the venture industry have seen their net worth plummet. The market is coming back, but it is still well under water. Get in a recession-proof sector.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Startup United States 225

Pascal's View

AUGUST 28, 2010

6) The most efficient fuel for this IPO engine is venture capital. The study reveals that, both on average and for all but seven years between 1977 and 2005, existing firms are net job destroyers, losing 1 million jobs net combined per year. Microsft, Apple, Google, Cisco—have been funded by venture capital.”.

Venture Capital 56

Venture Capital America Initial Public Offering IPO 56

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2022

The most common failures are solutions looking for a problem, lack of a defined market, or an inadequate revenue model. The value proposition must clearly define the target customer, the customer’s problem and pain, your unique solution, and the net benefit of this solution from the customer's perspective. Target market.

Business Model 256

Business Model Distribution Viral Green 256

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Techventure 2011 – one of Asia’s topmost events for the venture capital community to engage with the latest technology entrepreneurs organized by Asiasons WFG and presented by National Research Foundation (NRF) and Singapore Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SVCA) – will celebrate its 15th year on October 13 and 14.

Singapore 162

Singapore Private Equity Asia Venture Capital 162

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 21, 2015

and the emergence of new industries, markets and customers. In the 1920’s companies moved from monolithic functional organizations (sales, marketing, manufacturing, purchasing, etc.) Venture capital firms, as we know them only date back to the 1970s.) In addition, firms found themselves now managing diverse product lines.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Venture Capital United States Technical Review 120

David Teten

JULY 12, 2012

To begin with, the best PR you can build is through satisfied customers with high Net Promoter scores. ff Venture Capital recently hosted an event in its offices to feature two of its portfolio companies: MovableInk and Parse.ly. Building on my earlier post about free publicity , I wanted to share some additional thoughts.

Venture Capital 122

Venture Capital PR Technical Review Startup 122

Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

I was still unprepared; I had no idea that I also needed to learn about go-to-market strategy and distribution. The risk-averse argument is that a strong network is a safety net. Networks are both safety nets and trampolines. I think a lot of entrepreneurs don’t fully understand how venture capital works.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

I was still unprepared; I had no idea that I also needed to learn about go-to-market strategy and distribution. The risk-averse argument is that a strong network is a safety net. Networks are both safety nets and trampolines. I think a lot of entrepreneurs don’t fully understand how venture capital works.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

Up and Running

MAY 15, 2018

Funding is crucial for improving technology, hiring the right people, and launching a comprehensive marketing strategy to get a foothold in the market. However, sourcing enough money to start your new venture can be difficult. Creating a scalable business model. Sure, it should be unique. There is no single approach here.

SBA 84

SBA Angel Investor Technical Review Startup 84

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 2, 2014

When people ask me how they can become a VC, I point them to my partner Seth Levine’s excellent blog posts How to become a venture capitalist and How to get a job in venture capital (revisited). The post My First Experience As A Venture Capitalist appeared first on Feld Thoughts. An accidental one.

San Francisco 159

San Francisco Boston Venture Capital Angel Investor 159

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

This analysis can help you determine sales projections, staffing, and marketing costs. The lifetime value of a customer is the current value of net future cash flow attributed to the customer. TX Zhuo is a managing partner of Karlin Ventures , an L.A.-based Lifetime Value/Cost of Acquisition. Follow the company on Twitter.

Metrics 200

Metrics Churn Rate Startup Acquisition 200

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 8, 2013

I probably get around a dozen e-mails a week asking me how to get into venture capital. On top of that, anytime I talk to anyone who wants to get involved in startups but isn''t sure what they want to do, inevitably, I hear, "And then I was thinking maybe I should look into venture capital, too.". Few firms persist.

Venture Capital 167

Venture Capital Early Stage Portfolio Private Equity 167

Eric Friedman

AUGUST 18, 2021

I lovingly call him the curmudgeon of fintech – in this episode we go deep into how he is building a venture capital firm and practice, not just running a fund and how he views the world of fintech investing. One of the ones that really bothers me is how Venture Capitalists try and conflate what they do as being complicated.

Silicon Valley 88

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Cofounder Africa 88

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. . In liquid markets, most of the calories expended on technology and analytics are focused on trade selection, or “ origination ”. 2) Market .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

I’m not recommending that you saturate your discussions with lingo, but responding with a blank stare once-too-often won’t convince anyone that you can build the next world-changing business or outpace the market. This term refers to an initial venture-capital investment, often wrongly sought to seed early product development.

Software Review 120

Software Review Sweat Equity Accredited Investor Angel Investor 120

Duct Tape Marketing

MARCH 6, 2024

Navigating Failure: The Science of Failing Well in Entrepreneurship written by Tosin Jerugba read more at Duct Tape Marketing The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Amy Edmondson, the Novartis professor of leadership and management at the Harvard Business School.

Dividend 72

Dividend Software Review Technical Review Silicon Valley 72

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2011

These days, we all have to rely on a few trusted sources to digest and filter information, net out the relevant messages, and steer us with links to accurate details. Mark is a serial entrepreneur who is now active in the venture capital community for early-stage startups. Both Sides of the Table , by Mark Suster.

Curation 230

Curation Technical Review Entrepreneur Cofounder 230

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

That’s a sizeable amount, especially in comparison to the US venture capital industry, which similarly invests over $20 billion annually. In 2013, 298,800 angels invested in 70,730 entrepreneurial ventures, according to the 2013 Angel Market Analysis by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire.

Angel Investor 114

Angel Investor Technical Review Venture Capital Pre-Money Valuation 114

David Teten

NOVEMBER 26, 2019

Or executives fail to take advantage of a great marketing opportunity with a December 31 deadline because they do not have budget. . Disclosure: Graphite Financial is a spinoff of ff Venture Capital , where I was formerly a Partner. However, in a startup the most common scenario is that projections get missed.

Agile 60

Agile Management Forecast Silicon Valley 60

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Think about this; 7 years ago Nokia owned 50% of the handset market. Fast-forward to today—Apple is the most profitable Smartphone company in the world and in Spain Android commands a market share of more than 90%. Its worldwide market share of Smartphones has dwindled to 5%. Apple owned 0%.

Private Equity 325

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 325

David Teten

JANUARY 10, 2012

The first panel will focus on public markets and will discuss the use and effectiveness of social media tools and data mining technologies in harnessing the wisdom of crowds to generate investment ideas. This is another joint event between HBS Angels of NY and the HBS Club of New York. He joined Goldman Sachs & Co.

Technical Review 128

Technical Review Technology North Carolina Switzerland 128

David Teten

JULY 12, 2013

I emphasize that the best PR you can build is through satisfied customers with high Net Promoter scores. ff Venture Capital recently hosted an event in its offices to feature two of its portfolio companies: MovableInk and Parse.ly. Contributed Articles Marketing Public Relations' Host an event. Photo source: [link].

PR 114

PR Public Relations Startup Technical Review 114

Lightspeed Venture Partners

JULY 23, 2011

The dramatic reduction in the cost of starting a technology business combined with readily available risk capital has created a near perfect market for anyone with an idea and some risk tolerance to become an entrepreneur. In most cases the outcomes of such experiments are determined with less than $1M in invested capital.

Silicon Valley 108

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Early Stage Technical Review 108

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

But VC is an “illiquid asset&# so funds didn’t disappear quickly - In 2000/01 the stock market quickly adjusted punishing investors in the NASDAQ and in individual public technology stocks. What accelerated this was the collapse of the public stock markets. Staying “lean&# is not an option.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

David Teten

MARCH 24, 2014

ff Venture Capital is both an investor and also runs our back office on Addepar.). So the retail market is notoriously irrational. They go to market stressing that their model is highly proprietary. UltraQuant’s real strategy is to create a pure, blind index of the market. It is not investment performance.

Software Review 114

Software Review Due Diligence Venture Capital Portfolio 114

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 30, 2015

You incorporate expected company returns, mortality rates, and fee structures to try to predict how a venture capital fund works from a cash in, cash out, and NAV standpoint. And no, the numbers don't exactly add up--but they're more than close enough for venture capital. It's also not the "average fund".

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Pre-Money Valuation IRR Valuation 60

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

Shots on Goal Being great as a startup technology investor of course requires a lot of things to come together: You need to have strong insights into where technology markets are heading and where value in the future will be created and sustained You need be perfect with your market timing. I’ve definitely been wrong on market value.

Bankruptcy 294

Bankruptcy Bridge Financing Portfolio Angel Investor 294

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

The Valley has obsessed with a quick up-and-to-right momentum story because we were thought to live in “winner take most” markets. 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. It literally drove FOMO.

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital LP Valuation Later Stage 363