Feld Thoughts

JULY 19, 2018

“Historically, the $10 million valuation mark has been somewhat of a ceiling for seed stage startups. I remember when, in a period of about six months, the ceiling on seed financings vanished. In some cases, these rounds were with experienced founders who had previously had a success and could dictate terms.

Early Stage 105

Early Stage Seed Stage Valuation Finance 105

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

I learned this lesson 127 times between 2000 and 2005. I started investing in 1994 and while there was some bumpiness in 1997 and again in 1999, the real pain happened between 2000 and 2005. I watched, participated, and suffered through every type of creative financing as companies were struggling to raise capital in this time frame.

Cap Table 70

Cap Table Down Round Liquidation Preference Founder 70

500hats.com

AUGUST 2, 2012

While a flood of new VCs came into existence during the late 90’s internet boom, many had difficulty raising new funds after the crashes of 2000-2001 and 2008 , and as a result significantly fewer fund managers exist now compared to a decade ago. In the past ten years there have been several dramatic changes in venture capital.

Silicon Valley 74

Silicon Valley Early Stage Venture Capital Valuation 74

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

Keep the valuations consistent with company progress. Messy cap tables can come back to haunt you when you do a financing or sell the company. Kalanick, former investor BFF turned highly disappointed by founder behavior. If you are the lead founder, if behooves you to sort all this out and get started with a clean organization.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Finance | Tuesdays. Financing a Small Business. Financing A Small Business. Personal Finance. Last spring, Dave Graham , founder of software consulting firm Arizona Bay, learned that a major client, Jumpstart Automotive Media, had been acquired for more than $80 million. Start-up | Mondays. Technology | Thursdays.

Arizona 40

Arizona Equity Iowa Venture Capital 40

Steve Blank

JULY 15, 2010

The two decades from 1979 when pension funds fueled the expansion of venture capital to 2000 when the dot-com bubble burst were the Golden Age for entrepreneurs and venture capital firms. During the decade between 1991 and 2000, nearly 2000 venture backed companies went public. Here’s why. Take a look at the chart below. (It

Venture Capital 297

Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 297

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

I freely admit this (along with nearly everything between 1999-2000) was a mistake. We set our sites on our IPO price and then worked back to our current valuation and showed potential employees what we thought they could earn (with all legal caveats) if the company was successful. And that would be nice. This is mostly true.

Stock Options 294

Stock Options Stock Valuation Liquidation Preference 294

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Finance | Tuesdays. Financing a Small Business. Financing A Small Business. Personal Finance. Before Roving Software could receive its first round of financing from professional investors, in early 1999, he had to put all the stock arrangements in writing. Copyright © 2000 inc.com. Start-up | Mondays.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

The Equity Kicker

MARCH 21, 2017

However, that’s a cyclical dysfunction which hit notable peaks in 2000 and 2015 and which needs to be understood as an unfortunate part of a larger system which overall has been an incredibly positive force for good. Recognise that the system is imperfect, but not broken. Some unicorns are bad, but lots are good.

San Francisco 90

San Francisco Cap Table Angel Investor Valuation 90

The Equity Kicker

AUGUST 25, 2015

I saw that in 2000 and then again in 2008. When the macro economic climate is tough less money flows into venture funds and startups, so fewer deals get done, valuations are lower and more companies fail. And, in case you’re wondering we don’t have any low valuation termsheets out there at the moment. (And,

Valuation 60

Valuation Startup Stock Portfolio 60

David Teten

AUGUST 7, 2019

Likely signs of a Value investment: the company has challenges in filling out the round; the investors have more negotiating leverage than the founders during the closing process; the company has significantly better metrics (e.g. than comparable companies in the same sector that raised at a higher valuation. Requires less analysis.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Valuation Stock NDA 60

Steve Blank

JUNE 22, 2011

Ben and his partner Marc Andreessen (the founder of Netscape and author of the first commercial web browser on the Internet ) are the definition of Smart Money. Prices for both private and public tech valuations exceed any rational valuation to their current worth. with my colleague Ben Horowitz.

Internet 295

Internet Silicon Valley United States .Net 295

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

I’d like to explain as best I can my opinion on what is going on because most of what I hear from entrepreneurs is not only wrong but is reminiscent of what I heard in 1997-2000. I have been talking about my concerns about valuations for the past couple of years because, well, they’ve been rising very rapidly the past two years!

Valuation 150

Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150

Ben's Blog

JULY 16, 2013

You probably thought that valuations would be roughly the same as they were the last time you raised money. 3/31/2000: 73.4. And those are big companies with real earnings, so you can imagine how a private company’s valuation might fluctuate. In June of 2000, I raised money at an $820M post-money valuation.

Down Round 78

Down Round Marketing Preferred Stock Post-Money Valuation 78

The Equity Kicker

JULY 8, 2019

From around 2000, and perhaps coinciding with the need to work harder to win deals as opportunities dried up after the internet bubble burst, individual partners at VC firms began adding ‘helping CEOs win’ to their job descriptions. . Although it is early days, we’re starting to see some positive data for our own portfolio.

Portfolio 84

Portfolio LP Venture Capital Partner 84

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

Sarah also points to the vast global wealth that has to get allocated somewhere as well as a small bump in long term average returns, now that the generally terrible performance of funds from the 2000-2002 time frame (after the tech bubble of the late 90s crashed) no longer factor in to 10 year returns.

LP 154

LP Portfolio Venture Capital IRR 154

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2011

Mostly you read about fundings, product releases, big valuations, and M&A. One investor played chicken with me by threatening not to approve my next-round financing unless I gave him more equity. There are many VCs who have been made partner since 2000 and haven’t previously had an exit of their own.

Entrepreneur 384

Entrepreneur Startup Salary Egypt 384

Ben's Blog

JULY 16, 2013

You probably thought that valuations would be roughly the same as they were the last time you raised money. 3/31/2000: 73.4 And those are big companies with real earnings, so you can imagine how a private company’s valuation might fluctuate. In June of 2000, I raised money at an $820M post-money valuation.

Marketing 46

Marketing Preferred Stock Post-Money Valuation Down Round 46

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2011

Mostly you read about fundings, product releases, big valuations, and M&A. One investor played chicken with me by threatening not to approve my next-round financing unless I gave him more equity. There are many VCs who have been made partner since 2000 and haven’t previously had an exit of their own.

Entrepreneur 176

Entrepreneur Startup Salary Egypt 176

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

VCs are notoriousfor leading founders on. Bootstrapping (= Consulting) Some would-be founders may by now be thinking, why deal with investorsat all? One answer to that is obvious: because you need money to live on.Its a fine idea in principle to finance your startup with its ownrevenues, but you cant create instant customers.

Bootstrapping 77

Bootstrapping Term Sheet Founder Startup 77