Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Over the same 30 years, Venture Capital firms have honed their skills and strategies to match Wall Streets needs to achieve liquidity for their portfolio companies. One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is misunderstanding the role of venture capital investors. What Do VC’s Do?

Silicon Valley 217

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

How else can you explain this headline matching a story about a professional social network still trying to explore revenues raising $17mm on an $80mm valuation? venture capitalists are now asking tougher questions about start-ups' revenue and profits.". Perhaps I need to rethink that. But second, how do you back this up?

Venture Capital 114

Venture Capital Marketing Term Sheet Software Review 114

Cracking the Code

JANUARY 28, 2008

Thoughts from a Venture Capitalist on Software, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Cloud Computing, Internet and more. Monday, January 28, 2008. Happy New Year 2008! The second part of the year has seen a lower flow of blog posts, but part of my 2008 resolutions are to remedy to this shortfall, so be prepared for a strong 2008.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Los Angeles Europe 48

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 23, 2011

It would have been easy to explain the difference by changes in the 2010/2011 revenue growth projections but unfortunately that is not the case. revenues while large caps are trading at 6.4x. 1st 2008 with a base value of 100.00 Venture Capital. (3). ► 2008. (11). SaaS Multiples: Recovery or Bubble?

Software Review 101

Software Review Technical Review Valuation Europe 101

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2010

If you want to raise venture capital more easily the advice could be quite practical and counter-intuitive. Many companies that are raising B or C venture capital rounds right now raised their initial money in 2005-2008. It is 2010. But pass they will. Time suck. before the world changed).

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Common Stock Dividend 289

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

Ah, but today’s Internet companies have real revenue! I said, “It’s much easier now than it was in 2008/09.&# And time is the enemy of all deals so start sooner rather than later, as anybody who was planning to raise in October 2008 will tell you. That happened a lot in 2002 and again in 2008.

Saudi Arabia 309

Saudi Arabia Valuation IPO Technical Review 309

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

Next, take a look at your actual revenue each month – not forecast, but real revenue coming in each month. Subtract your monthly gross burn rate from your monthly revenue to get your net burn rate. All your assumptions about customers, sales cycle and most importantly, revenue, burn rate and runway are no longer true.

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Our guest this week on #TWiVC was Dana Settle , partner at Greycroft Partners , a venture capital firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Note that these are “gross” revenue numbers. Founded in August 2008 in Palo Alto, CA, by Sam Christiansen and Keith Lee. CEO hinted to WSJ that it may go public in early 2011.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In the first post in this three part series I described why I believe the VC market froze between September 2008 – April 2009. It’s my job to invest wisely in entrepreneurs who are capital efficient, who innovate in ways that pay off economically in good markets or bad and who plan for worst-case scenarios.

Technical Review 269

Technical Review Stock Hawaii Early Stage 269

David Teten

DECEMBER 8, 2010

" "Because the light is so much better" The US financial regulatory apparatus looks terrible now because of the Madoff scandal (which was not a hedge fund) and the 2008 financial meltdown (caused by the large banks/mortgage companies, bad regulation, quasi-government agencies like Fannie/Freddie, and consumers who took on too much debt).

Networking 122

Networking Private Equity SEC Software Review 122

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

So as of 2008 total LP commitments were still at nearly $250 billion. Our current fund was raised in 2008/09.] After all, most people don’t understand that “venture capital is a get rich slowly&# scheme. Revenue must come from a primary source (as opposed to advertising or other third party sources).

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

The Venture Capital industry as a whole does a terrible job of giving things the right name and so we end up keeping the same name, but changing the meaning out from under it. Moving up stream is a natural evolution of a venture fund, especially as you get more money and more partners. Scaling venture capital breaks it.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 3, 2011

In How To Defend Your Dream Against All Odds , Alex and I explore the company's journey to $200 Million in revenue, while their VCs wrote them off. Zoho is already over $100 million in revenue and is seeing tremendous traction. From 2008 to 2010, Mitra was a columnist for Forbes. Statisco Economic Analytics.

North Carolina 116

North Carolina San Diego Entrepreneur Balance Sheet 116

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

They already have several customers including some telcos, and are at about $350,000 in revenues. Gio expects to get to about $500,000 by the end of this year and asked me for advice on venture funding. Because customer financing equals revenue, not equity. Yes, venture capital is very good for scaling businesses rapidly.

Cloud 115

Cloud Silicon Valley Incubator Finance 115

SoCal CTO

MARCH 5, 2007

However, Elgg could power 100,000 networks and it would make no difference - there is no revenue stream as we give everything away under a GPL license. Common revenue streams are consulting, training, support, customization, upgraded versions for corporate applications, etc. I understand his frustration.

Open Source 150

Open Source Business Model Technical Cofounder Southern California 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 9, 2007

Kevin Federline Search Engine Realistic Entrprenuer's Guide to Venture Capital Time Rich, Time Poor and Apple F2F Still Matters 8 Ways the Internet has Changed Software Marketing. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

Kevin Federline Search Engine Realistic Entrprenuer's Guide to Venture Capital Time Rich, Time Poor and Apple F2F Still Matters 8 Ways the Internet has Changed Software Marketing. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Search Engineer 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 13, 2007

Kevin Federline Search Engine Realistic Entrprenuer's Guide to Venture Capital Time Rich, Time Poor and Apple F2F Still Matters 8 Ways the Internet has Changed Software Marketing. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles Internet 150

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. 1st 2008 with a base value of 100.00

Software Review 63

Software Review Technical Review Cloud Forecast 63

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2007

Kevin Federline Search Engine Realistic Entrprenuer's Guide to Venture Capital Time Rich, Time Poor and Apple F2F Still Matters 8 Ways the Internet has Changed Software Marketing. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Networking Southern California Los Angeles 150

Altgate

DECEMBER 17, 2009

pre-revenue and maybe even pre-product), I recommend a discretionary plan, particularly when you're dealing with annual plans. And finally, once the business has achieved greater scale and size (50+ people, $10MM+ revenue, etc.)  But today I got an interesting question the answer I wanted to share here.

Venture Capital 47

Venture Capital Metrics Startup Software Review 47

SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2007

Kevin Federline Search Engine Realistic Entrprenuer's Guide to Venture Capital Time Rich, Time Poor and Apple F2F Still Matters 8 Ways the Internet has Changed Software Marketing. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

Cracking the Code

DECEMBER 1, 2009

1st 2008 with a base value of 100.00 Venture Capital. (3). ► 2008. (11). The Bessemer 10 laws of SaaS - Fall 2008 Release. Churchill Club 2008 Top 10 Tech Trends. Happy New Year 2008! The recession created opportunities! Add RSS feed. Subscribe via email. Cracking The Code on Facebook.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Cloud Europe 48

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

As the venture capital business has come roaring back in the last 5 years, startups are awash in available capital. Companies horde cash and squeeze the most revenue and margin from the money they use. Instead of measuring success in dollars of profit, …firms focus on measuring capital efficiency.

Private Equity 325

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 325

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 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

SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

Kevin Federline Search Engine Realistic Entrprenuer's Guide to Venture Capital Time Rich, Time Poor and Apple F2F Still Matters 8 Ways the Internet has Changed Software Marketing. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

Altgate

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

But did you know that founder Markus Frind has just 3 employees for his $10MM+ revenue business? Unfortunately they will be very expensive (30-50% or more of gross revenue). PlentyOfFish has 11 million registered users, is the #1 dating site in the UK and Canada and the #2 in the US by audience share. PR/Marketing.

Software Review 65

Software Review Offshore Startup Boston 65

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 5, 2018

All these companies sourced venture capital (VC) to launch their companies. This is why, as of 2008, the average VC fund is $350 million. This provides capital for eight to fourteen companies per fund. Even with Venture Capital, Most Startups Fail. The average successful VC-backed startup raises $41 million.

Startup 182

Startup Acquisition Portfolio Venture Capital 182

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

But as sweet as that success has been (we invested pre-revenue in a small team) today my even more important news was the further expansion of our partner ranks. He first came to see me in 2008 when we was raising money for his 1st startup – NextMedium. I’ve known Hamet for 5 years. I stayed close. And he followed through.

Partner 340

Partner Los Angeles South Africa Cap Table 340

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

The seminal application of the collaborative web--Github--was launched in April 2008. That makes the cost savings of joining collectives and giving up ownership in your own revenue less compelling, and therefore pushes more people to be freelancers and super small business owners. It's a web where 1+1 really does equal more than 2.

Web 127

Web Curation Open Source Demand 127

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. million post-money valuation with no revenue. We had companies pitching us that had almost no revenue at all and they were raising $10-15 million in capital at a $40-50 million pre-money valuation.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

Cloud accounting is all about matching revenue and costs to consumption…well, except for professional services! 1st 2008 with a base value of 100.00 Venture Capital. (3). ► 2008. (11). The Bessemer 10 laws of SaaS - Fall 2008 Release. Churchill Club 2008 Top 10 Tech Trends. Mind the GAAP!

Software Review 48

Software Review Cloud Technical Review Sales Cycle 48

Scalable Startup

JULY 20, 2013

In 2008 I was working on a post-merger integration project for a small company being acquired by a Fortune 100 behemoth. Angel Investor early stage founder Hawaii SaaS Scalability startup startup CEO Tom Nora angel investor CEOing first revenue leadership software Software Development The Next Level tom nora twitter venture capital'

Mobile 22

Mobile Hawaii Angel Investor Early Stage 22

Cracking the Code

JANUARY 22, 2009

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. 1 of MRR generates $12 of annual revenue, so $1 commission equals 1/12=8.3% of Year One Revenue Sounds high, but is that considered a reasonable package?

Software Review 91

Software Review Clawback Sales Salary 91

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2010

We discussed whether investing in the second largest player in a category makes sense given that Groupon is 10x the revenue, 3.5x But LivingSocial is reportedly doing around $180,000 per day in gross revenue. If this figure is accurate – it’s certainly a very large business even when you look at net revenues.

IPO 236

IPO .Net Venture Capital Strategic Investors 236

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 19, 2012

I don’t know exactly when the agency to product transfer happened at Buddy, or at what point you can start calling yourself a software company (when service revenues dip below subscription/license revs?), 6/15/2008 – Application network of its own apps plus agency business plus ad network.

Software 105

Software Media Social Media Advertising 105