Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2007, 2011) and for the hottest of companies and in bad markets for fund raising (2003, 2008) prices test the bottom end of the range. That’s the deal you get when you’re raising in a good market for startup financing. million post-money valuation with no revenue. There is no such thing as a uniform price.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

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. There was now a public market for companies with no revenue, no profit and big claims.

Silicon Valley 217

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

Cracking the Code

MARCH 12, 2010

Given the predictability of SaaS GAAP revenues on a quarterly basis, the fact that the 08/09 projections were unchanged is not a surprise. Given that the revenues are not growing very fast, this means that most of the companies have reduced their sales force and focused on productivity improvement. Finance Dissertation Help.

Software Review 63

Software Review Technical Review Cloud Forecast 63

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Validated learning about customers Would you rather have $30,000 or $1 million in revenues for your startup? All things being equal, of course, you’d rather have more revenue rather than less. And yet revenue alone is not a sufficient goal. More on that in a moment.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 9, 2009

This strong recovery has highlighted the resiliency of the recurring revenue model in a downturn as well as the stength of the shift to soaftware-as-a-service and cloud computing. In other words, how much of the decline in revenue growth is due to signing up fewer customer vs lower revenues from each new customer. Add RSS feed.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Cloud Europe 48

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

Thursday, November 13, 2008. 1st 2008 = base 100) This number compares to the Nasdaq reaching a low point of -46% and currently showing a -40% drop year to date. Cracking The Code. Thoughts from a Venture Capitalist on Software, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Cloud Computing, Internet and more. Preserving cash is your #1 priority 2.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Valuation Portfolio 48

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

Get instrument rated, and trust the 6Cs of Cloud Finance (more.) Cloud accounting is all about matching revenue and costs to consumption…well, except for professional services! SaaS companies use different metrics to calculate renewals. 1st 2008 with a base value of 100.00 ► 2008. (11). Mind the GAAP!

Software Review 48

Software Review Cloud Technical Review Sales Cycle 48

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

In that presentation, I said that Seed is not the first round of financing any more and that K9’s investments were mostly “pre-seed”. As the check size increases, investors tend to look for more traction, established revenue models, proven unit-economics, and other metrics that were previously associated with later stage companies.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

It is intriguing to see the M&A dynamics in the space, highlighting the interest of tech companies for recurring revenue streams - even SAP announced in their analyst call earlier this month that they were moving from perpertual licenses to five year term licences. on January 1st 2008. 1st 2008 with a base value of 100.00

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review IPO Cloud 48

Cracking the Code

JANUARY 22, 2009

For SaaS companies, we found that MRR is the best metric on which to base sales commissions. While it may make sense to offer very slight adjustments for favorable payment terms and one time revenue, net additions to MRR should dominate the sales rep’s thoughts. How do you clawback revenue from the sales guy? Cindy said.

Software Review 91

Software Review Clawback Sales Salary 91

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 25, 2008

Monday, February 25, 2008. The Index reference point starts on January 1st 2008 at 19,187.81 As I was building the spreadsheet, I also included the revenue multiples for this set of companies, both for the trailing 12-month (TTM) and the forward 12-month (FTM). 1st 2008 with a base value of 100.00 ▼ 2008. (11).

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Europe Venture Capital 48

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 28, 2010

Cristina currently has a couple of large customers in pilot mode, and is starting to show metrics on how much improvement IDES can deliver over existing analytics engines. All this, could, potentially, be done without external financing. At this point, financing discussions are premature and are likely not to yield success.

Partner 117

Partner Belgium Portugal Bootstrapping 117

Cracking the Code

DECEMBER 16, 2006

however, public SaaS companies like Concur, Saba, Taleo, LivePerson and Ultimate are growing 50-100% per year and trading at an average 5x trailing revenue multiples (I excluded salesforce leading the pack with 9x!) whereas traditional software companies of this size have a growth rate of less than 10% and revenue multiples of 2-2.5x.

Software Review 48

Software Review Silicon Valley Technical Review Software 48

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Yes, it’s true that FOMO (fear of missing out) is driving some irrational behavior and valuations amongst uber competitive deals and well-financed VCs. Try charging customers for your product when you have 12 competitors giving the product away free finances by $20 million of VC. The Exit Problem. This never existed a decade ago.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

What micro VCs need to consider is what happens when several of your companies want to grow and require VC financing? Or when the economy turns downward and they all need financing extensions? At GRP we sat out 2007 and much of 2008 for that reason and we’re now looking pretty smart for doing so.

Liquidity Event 308

Liquidity Event Silicon Valley Seed Stage Finance 308

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

— Unremarked and unheralded, the balance of power between startup CEOs and their investors has radically changed: IPOs/M&A without a profit (or at times revenue) have become the norm. Typically, this caliber of bankers wouldn’t talk to you unless your company had five profitable quarters of increasing revenue. Board Control.

Founder 245

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Entrepreneurs and investors who have spent any time dealing with convertible debt seed financing transactions are likely to have encountered the subject of valuation caps. The cap is irrelevant if the next equity financing is at a valuation below the cap amount.) was spun out, and the valuation was set by that financing round.

Valuation 98

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 10, 2008

Friday, October 10, 2008. The Bessemer 10 laws of SaaS - Fall 2008 Release. When we first published Bessemer’s Top 10 Laws for Being "SaaS-y" in early 2008 in conjunction with our annual invitation-only SaaS CEO Summit, we were overwhelmed with the positive response and feedback we received. Great list! Great list!

Software Review 48

Software Review North America Europe Metrics 48

Professor VC

AUGUST 26, 2011

To that last one, there is certainly some truth as the standard time vs. revenue chart in most business plans looks like this: Im not teaching Entrepreneurial Finance this semester for the first time since Fall 2007. What are the key drivers and metrics? Byron Deeter has a good blog post on SAAS metrics. How do you think?

Silicon Valley 35

Silicon Valley San Jose Hockey Stick Venture Capital 35

Up and Running

DECEMBER 16, 2020

What’s more, one of the least appreciated or understood parts of owning and running a successful business is the importance of building and maintaining a credit profile that makes borrowing easier and provides options for financing that a poor profile doesn’t. Do you have the revenue and cash flow to make periodic loan payments?

Small Business 123

Small Business SBA United States Early Stage 123

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 27, 2022

Are there ways that you’ve seen local businesses use this in a way that might effectively drive revenue? [19:23] Not quite that far back, uh, but let's start at about 2008, which was probably the date that Facebook really became a business tool or started the journey becoming a business tools. John Jantsch (02:20): Yeah.

Community 68

Community New York Small Business New York City 68

Ben's Blog

MARCH 24, 2011

Similarly, in recent high profile private financing rounds for private technology companies with valuations over $1B, the valuation multiples were at or below corresponding multiples for publicly traded companies such as Google. For example, the 1998 IPO class had average revenue of $120 million (and net losses of $65 million to boot).

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Database 78

Cracking the Code

MAY 25, 2010

A few highlights from the different keynotes and speakers On top of Jason, we also had the chance of having many great speakers at the event and here are a few quotes and notes that I have taken during the different keynotes and panels: Joe Payne, CEO of Eloqua moderated the panel on Revenue Performance Management. ► 2008. (11).

Software Review 74

Software Review Cloud IPO Jordan 74

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 14, 2013

If you’re still doing SEO by optimizing for keywords, you should know: it’s not 2008 anymore. Ignore vanity metrics, segment super deep and don’t just rely on built-in reports. Also, vanity metrics are not insightful. Whenever you’re looking at a metric, ask yourself: what am I going to do with this?

PPC 123

PPC Analytics Conversion SEO 123

VC Adventure

APRIL 16, 2020

It also makes $600 million in loans available to “Main Street” businesses — “small and mid-sized businesses that were in good financial standing before the crisis, by offering four-year loans to companies employing up to 10,000 workers, or with revenues of less than $2.5 billion,” the U.S.Treasury said in a release.

Small Business 110

Small Business SBA United States America 110

gtziralis.com

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

This indeed is a healthy approach and it seems to work pretty well to begin with it, especially in the pre-product, or also in the pre-revenues early stage of a technology company. December 2008. November 2008. October 2008. September 2008. August 2008. April 2008. March 2008. February 2008.

Early Stage 40

Early Stage Founder Search Employee 40

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Mo was graduated from Wharton, worked in investment banking, spent 6 years at IAC (including in an operational role for Connected Ventures which includes College Humor, Busted T’s and Vimeo) before joining Spark Capital in 2008. Mo & I both have double majors with one being finance / econ. Founded in 2008 by Mehdi Maghsoodnia.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Los Angeles Oakland Asia 217

Cracking the Code

MARCH 10, 2008

Monday, March 10, 2008. I found this approach interesting, but it seems to me that gross margin is a more relevant benchmark than revenues, given that the GM of saas companies varies by type of application and size of the company (for example NetSuite went from about 50% GM three years ago to close to 70% today). Cracking The Code.

Sales 79

Sales Software Review Marketing Technical Review 79

Cracking the Code

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

Tuesday, September 02, 2008. The Deutsche Bank report has a very interesting chart on the topic presenting the Free Cash Flow margins vs. the revenue growth four years post IPO for select software leaders: As you can see, with 20% Free Cash Flow margin and a 50% growth rate, Salesforce is well positioned in the pack! ▼ 2008. (11).

Software Review 48

Software Review Software Technical Review Cloud 48

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 30, 2011

The site has 11 million page views a month, and Jeu expects 2011 revenues to be about $250k. Jeu is trying to figure out his financing options, and the majority of the discussion today was around target market, product roadmap, and monetization models, which are the factors that would drive investment strategy.

India 115

India Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 115

ConversionXL

APRIL 12, 2017

Jared Spool: Is Design Metrically Opposed? Useless measures and silly metrics. Metric: A measure we track (usually over time). A metric should tell you what you will do differently. No, the first 2% is more valuable in terms of revenue. Design must drive metric collection, not the other way around.

San Antonio 86

San Antonio Metrics B2B Analytics 86

Cracking the Code

JULY 6, 2007

SaaS business metrics: why are they different? I was surprised today when I went through the NetSuite IPO filling (S1) to see that it looked very much like any Enterprise software document - not a single mention of churn or % of recurring revenues. Different models require different performance metrics. Friday, July 06, 2007.

Software Review 66

Software Review Metrics Valuation Technical Review 66

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 4, 2008

Monday, February 04, 2008. A few times per year, Bessemer organizes a CxO event for our portfolio companies and we decided to focus our first session of 2008 on Software-as-a-service (SaaS). What metrics should I be using to drive a saas business? If you want to learn more on SaaS metrics, you can read my previous blog post.

Software Review 48

Software Review South Korea IPO Portfolio 48

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 28, 2009

They asked for my advice, and we went through a number of recommendations that readers of this blog will already be able to guess: adding revenue opportunities, engagement loop optimization, and some immediate split-testing to figure out whats working and whats not. Its a version of the law of compounding interest.

San Francisco 79

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 79

Lightspeed Venture Partners

DECEMBER 3, 2010

The online video networks are doing terrific business, and even Yahoo is benefiting from increased brand spend, seeing revenue growth for the first time in a while. The key driver of this renewed confidence from brand advertisers is better measurement of brand metrics that can show the impact of online advertising beyond clickthrough.

Internet 113

Internet eCommerce Advertising Flash 113