Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Five Quarters of Profitability During the 1980’s and through the mid 1990’s startups going public had to do something that most companies today never heard of – they had to show a track record of increasing revenue and consistent profitability. They taught you about customers, markets and profits.

Silicon Valley 223

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 223

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

I’m honored to be at a university noted for knowledge, and in a city with 2000 years of history – home of Gaudí one of the 20 th century’s greatest innovators. Perhaps that’s because where established companies might see risks or threats, startups see opportunity. Thank you for the kind introduction. Now look around.

Private Equity 326

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 326

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2014

We both agree that the later-stage valuations are being driven up to a point that feels irrationally priced [he uses b-round SaaS valuations as an example and I am willing to be even more broad based]. Most of those industries are fee-based and are competing on revenue growth. I don’t totally agree with that view.

Valuation 309

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Later Stage Non-Compete 309

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Silicon Valley is still emerging from the tech bubble and massive downturn of late 2000-2002. Salesforce.com is a startup with 76,000 subscribers (over 2.1M As I’m fond of saying, startup fundraising isn’t about convincing skeptics but rather finding true believers.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 15, 2020

Up until late August, Lightning Labs had capped the channel capacity and payment size for users of their popular implementation of the network to ~$2000 USD and ~$500 respectively to better protect user funds with experimental software. . And >40% of that revenue is coming from in-game purchases. 3) Exchanges + HFTs.

Networking 168

Networking Global OTC Security 168

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

The signals are loud and clear : seed and late stage valuations are getting frothy and wacky, and hiring talent in Silicon Valley is the toughest it has been since the dot.com bubble. What are they, how do they differ and what can startup do to take advantage of them? The world of building profitable startups ended in 1995.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

August 20, 2017: This is another in my series of posts all leading up to a book on Startup Decision Making. One of the most common mistakes I see in startups is making decisions that lose sight of the context , including the past, present, and future. Sooner or later everybody in a startup knows what everyone else is getting paid.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

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. VC’s invested their limited partners’ “risk capital” in a portfolio of startups in exchange for illiquid stock. Startup lifecycle in an IPO Market.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 299

The Equity Kicker

AUGUST 25, 2015

Startups and venture funds run for 5-10+ years, are likely to see a recession at some point in their lives (maybe two) and hence need to be able to survive and prosper in both recessionary and growth environments. But at same time market crashes changes things for startups. I saw that in 2000 and then again in 2008.

Valuation 60

Valuation Startup Stock Portfolio 60

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 7, 2011

"Every investor and entrepreneur knows there is something scary about the current startup economy. At least nine out of ten high-quality angel-funded startups face an unnecessary death, because there is no Series A money to help them survive critical expansion. Is 2012 going to be 2000 all over again? Valuations.

Angel Investor 104

Angel Investor Valuation Startup Revenue 104

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 30, 2015

Will this bubble also end in a blaze of glory with companies shutting down left and right in a massive startup apocalypse? I have a feeling that a lot of these "on demand" companies aren''t going to be as gamechanging as we think--and will come back down to earth with valuations that look more like temp agencies than the next big thing.

Hockey Stick 60

Hockey Stick Valuation Startup Maryland 60

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Advisor. ); STARTUP. Jumpstart was one of Grahams first clients; it signed on shortly after he founded Arizona Bay, in 2000. In the past few years, hundreds of small companies have been snatched up by private equity firms willing to agree to ever-rising valuations. Entrepreneur news from reporter Eric Markowitz. Newsletters.

Arizona 40

Arizona Equity Iowa Venture Capital 40

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2010

Recently I’ve been debating with a number of young startup companies that are raising money in the next few months, “what is the right about of capital to raise at a startup?&#. 24 months for most tech startups is usually too much money. - Your revenue will take longer to ramp then you think. add a buffer.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Startup Silicon Valley Warrant 319

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

I have been close to the tech & startup sectors for more than 20 years and I can’t think of a period in which I felt more optimistic about the innovation and value creation I see in front of us. The number of startups being created has increased by an order of magnitude. Thank you, Aaron Sorkin! The Funding Problem.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

View from Seed

JANUARY 20, 2015

The startup ecosystem is often full of hyperbole, which is perfectly understandable when you think about it. Not every startup is going to “crush” their original milestones and financial projections. Not every round of funding is closed at a “monster” valuation. Do No Harm. Don’t Blindside Them.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Startup Employee PR 120

Agile VC

JANUARY 21, 2015

The startup ecosystem is often full of hyperbole, which is perfectly understandable when you think about it. Not every startup is going to “crush” their original milestones and financial projections. Not every round of funding is closed at a “monster” valuation. Do No Harm. Don’t Blindside Them.

Cofounder 188

Cofounder Seed Stage Employee PR 188

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 23, 2012

Witness, for example, this terrific Fast Company article on Bill Nguyen , serial entrepreneur who’s seventh startup “Color” famously raised $41m for a new mobile app before it even launched. invested, IPO’ed in 2000 for $32/share — stock price now $2. The launch, by the way, was a failure. Surely not.

IPO 240

IPO Flash Bootstrapping Private Equity 240

ReadWriteStart

MAY 25, 2018

Cryptocurrency startups, much like the dot-coms, are experiencing an influx of capital that’s boosting the valuations of solid, innovative companies along with their relatively worthless counterparts — Dogecoin comes to mind as a cautionary tale. In November 2000, an index of 280 internet stocks was down by $1.7

South Korea 114

South Korea Silicon Valley Sweden Africa 114

Up and Running

OCTOBER 17, 2017

As an entrepreneur, instead of looking for an internship or part-time job while at school, I found that leveraging the available collegiate resources such as professors’ advice, library, connections, and things as little as a printer to pursue a startup venture was a great extracurricular activity. Keep a cash cow: Your monthly revenue goal.

Cofounder 125

Cofounder Revenue Valuation Design 125

Agile VC

JANUARY 21, 2015

The startup ecosystem is often full of hyperbole, which is perfectly understandable when you think about it. Not every startup is going to “crush” their original milestones and financial projections. Not every round of funding is closed at a “monster” valuation. Do No Harm. Don’t Blindside Them.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Seed Stage Employee PR 100

Ben's Blog

JULY 16, 2013

If you run a startup and are currently raising money, you probably planned for a somewhat different fundraising environment than the one you find yourself in today. You probably thought that valuations would be roughly the same as they were the last time you raised money. 3/31/2000: 73.4. You can plan a pretty picnic.

Down Round 78

Down Round Marketing Preferred Stock Post-Money Valuation 78

Ben's Blog

JULY 16, 2013

If you run a startup and are currently raising money, you probably planned for a somewhat different fundraising environment than the one you find yourself in today. You probably thought that valuations would be roughly the same as they were the last time you raised money. 3/31/2000: 73.4 Outkast, Ms. How could this be?

Marketing 46

Marketing Preferred Stock Post-Money Valuation Down Round 46

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

million at a $15 million pre-money valuation. We moved into the legal process and final due diligence in January and February of 2000. Morgan Stanley had proposed a higher valuation to let them in. Our final closure was the first week of March 2000. million at a $15 million pre-money valuation.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

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

Altgate

MARCH 8, 2009

I say ecosystem as opposed to industry because it is not just the VC funds themselves that are imploding, instead the collapse includes entrepreneurs and startups that were funded by VCs, angel investors, service providers like lawyers, bankers and accountants as well as limited partner investors in VC funds.

Later Stage 34

Later Stage Early Stage Venture Capital Portfolio 34

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

billion in annual subscription revenues not including advertising or eCommerce). MySpace would liked to have owned YouTube but didn’t have the public stock valuation to purchase them at the price that Google did. Murdoch seethed at these “startups&# getting rich off the back of MySpace.

Social Network 318

Social Network Networking Internet Technical Review 318

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 2, 2020

The stats about Israel’s tech ecosystem have become part of its Startup Nation Mantra – Israel boasts the highest number of startups per capita (6587 companies according to SNC), the highest VC dollars per capita, the % of GDP spent on R&D is only second to Korea, it has over 350 multi national R&D centres etc.

Venture Capital 183

Venture Capital Acquisition IPO 183

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

Want to start a startup? Investors evaluate startups the way customers evaluate products,not the way bosses evaluate employees. If youre making a valianteffort and failing, maybe theyll invest in your next startup, butnot this one. No one is interestedin a startup thats a "bargain" because everyone else hates it.

Bootstrapping 77

Bootstrapping Term Sheet Founder Startup 77

Ben's Blog

MAY 24, 2021

There are a number of trends concerning IPOs and capital formation to note: First, the raw number of IPOs has declined significantly: From 1980-2000, the US averaged roughly 300 IPOs per year; from 2001-2016, the average fell to 108 per year. 1999-2000 51.6% Time Period IPO Pop % Above IFR 1999-2000 51.6% 1999-2000 37.5%

SEC 36

SEC Accredited Investor IPO Technical Review 36

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 9, 2011

There were over 2000 participants and around 100 speakers from all over the world. Representatives from banks, VCs, publicly traded companies, and local startups showed up to the “gala event.” The US markets have generally proven themselves as giving better valuations, and long term liquidity.”.

IPO 92

IPO Cofounder Europe 92

Up and Running

DECEMBER 9, 2014

I have been involved in startups since I graduated from college in 1996. My background with entrepreneurialism is this is my sixth startup. One, I’m an entrepreneur or in the startup stage of a business. This is really an exciting panel to be a part of. Bates: Fantastic. Thank you Sabrina. Joshua Reeves: Thanks, John.

Small Business 95

Small Business Finance Forecast Metrics 95

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

I believe the massive valuation increases in cryptocurrencies we’ve witnessed of late are not based on any fundamentals other than speculation and a drive for a quick profit by many who have gained from the market hype. Why would pouring hundreds of millions into even earlier stage startups with even less or no oversight be a good idea?

Government 280

Government Distribution Stock United States 280