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The Changing Venture Landscape

Both Sides of the Table

In 2001 companies IPO’d very quickly if they were working, by 2011 IPOs had slowed down to the point that in 2013 Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures astutely called billion-dollar outcomes “unicorns.” These days $10 million is quaint for the best A-Rounds and many are raising $20 million at $60–80 million pre-money valuations (or greater).

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The Great VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) – Part 1 of 3

Both Sides of the Table

Just ask anybody who was trying to close funding the fateful week of September 11, 2001 or even March 2000. The pricing problem – So an investor put $5 million at a $10 million pre-money valuation in a company with a great beta product but no real customers. It is no wonder why they had less time for new deals.

Burn Rate 263
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On Bubbles … And Why We’ll Be Just Fine

Both Sides of the Table

In addition to FOMO it is partly driven by massive increase in valuations for earlier-stage companies who raised money at bit seed prices but who still have product risk. million pre-money valuation is now raising $1 million at a $12 million valuation the next investor has nowhere to go but up (or sit out the investment).

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What to Expect When You're Expecting Venture Capital Returns

This is going to be BIG.

One of the first things I did when I joined the venture asset class as a lowly institutional LP analyst in 2001 was to build the VC fund cashflow model. Do seed investors have Limited Partners with different return expectations than Series A and beyond investors? Series A's are done as a $5mm round on a pre-money valuation of $15mm.

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Valuations 101: Scorecard Valuation Methodology

Gust

This method compares the target company to typical angel-funded startup ventures and adjusts the average valuation of recently funded companies in the region to establish a pre-money valuation of the target. In most regions, the pre-money valuation does not vary significantly from one business sector to another.

Valuation 146
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Time is the Enemy of All Deals

Both Sides of the Table

We were trying to optimize around a few criteria: price, size of round, number of syndicate partners and, of course, terms. million at a $15 million pre-money valuation. Many companies that were in the process of raising money did not. I lived through this again September 2001. Yes, this was stupid.