Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2013

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. Also, investors from the super-hubs (Silicon Valley, New York, or Boston), won’t assume anyone outside their domain has the savvy and resources to make it happen.

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Silicon Valley Las Vegas Phoenix Montana 256

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 10, 2015

David Cancel – Co-founder/CEO of Driftt (Co-founder/CEO of Performable at the time he first joined our group of advisors, after which he became HubSpot’s Chief Product Officer following and acquisition of Performable.). Mike Baker – Co-Founder/CEO of DataXu. Brian Shin – Founder/CEO of Visible Measures.

Software Review 113

Software Review Technical Review Entrepreneur Cofounder 113

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 10, 2015

David Cancel – Co-founder/CEO of Driftt (Co-founder/CEO of Performable at the time he first joined our group of advisors, after which he became HubSpot’s Chief Product Officer following and acquisition of Performable.). Their expertise is focused across the range of software ?and? Mike Baker – Co-Founder/CEO of DataXu.

Software Review 100

Software Review Technical Review Entrepreneur Cofounder 100

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

I asked my coworkers at Palo Alto Software for book recommendations for entrepreneurs to read this upcoming fall. Palo Alto Software and Bplans founder Tim Berry recommends “ The Startup Checklist ” by David Rose. It’s an instant introduction to the high-end tech startup and angel investment scene.

Entrepreneur 65

Entrepreneur Angel Investor Virginia Oregon 65

Haystack

NOVEMBER 12, 2018

In the wake of what is now considered the second-highest enterprise SaaS acquisition in history, below are some quick takeaways that are on my mind: 1/ The Efficiency Of Silicon Slopes – By now it should be no surprise that Utah’s tech ecosystem is on fire. And, every year, it doesn’t materialize that way.

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Acquisition Utah IPO Venture Capital 105

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

This is the fourth article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). Markets like these are very kind to angel investors because you get taken out early and see a nice pop on your investment. Part 1 – Access to Great Deal Flow – is here.

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Cap Table Angel Investor Liquidation Preference Deal Flow 283

Steve Blank

MARCH 16, 2016

Founders can now access the largest pool of risk capital that ever existed –in the form of Private Equity (Angel Investors, family offices , Venture Capitalists (VC’s) and Hedge Funds.). BTW, Angel investors do not have limited partners, and often invest for reasons other than just for financial gain (e.g.,

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Liquidity Event Founder Liquidation Preference Venture Capital 120

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

Any custom manufactured IoT device would require software development as well as hardware customization. Equity investors. The third source of funding is from equity investors. These phases are focused on inorganic growth, mergers, buyouts, acquisitions, and exit preparation for the business. Stages of Funding.

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Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2015

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. Also, investors from the super-hubs (Silicon Valley, New York, or Boston), won’t assume anyone outside their domain has the savvy and resources to make it happen.

Las Vegas 120

Las Vegas Silicon Valley Phoenix Montana 120

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

If you are thinking about angel investors please read this piece I did on Angel Funding Advice. I also did a piece on how to think about pricing on angel deals. We covered the week’s M&A deals : Playdom and Kongregate and why Disney and GameStop made the acquisitions. Not if you don’t have to.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Term Sheet Valuation Stock Options 282

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

It says that selling an airplane ticket for $500 and getting paid a $5 fees by the airlines (1% gross margin) is not the same thing as selling $500 of software that you built (>90% gross margin). Sam did all this analysis before even deciding to build V1 of his software and before we put serious money behind him launching.

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Startup Seed Money DC Software Review 150

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 17, 2017

John Imlay of MSA occasionally took me on road shows with analysts to talk about his new acquisition Peachtree Software. If you decide to be an angel investor, your overall return will likely conform to the public market averages and your peer group unless you find that unicorn that makes you the smartest investor in the room.

Silicon Valley 48

Silicon Valley Atlanta Software Review Early Stage 48

Steve Blank

APRIL 13, 2013

In the few days I was in China I met with several VC’s, angel investors, business press and spoke to hundreds of entrepreneurs. But what made the overwhelming impression for me was finding an entrepreneurial software cluster on par with the Internet software portion of Silicon Valley. Beijing Venture/Angel Ecosystem.

Silicon Valley 267

Silicon Valley China Venture Capital Merger 267

Steve Blank

JULY 15, 2010

If you take funding from a venture capital firm or angel investor and want to build a large, enduring company (rather than sell it to the highest bidder), this isn’t the decade to do it. It includes venture funded startups in all industries, from software to biotech. Software startups are most likely to exit as an acquisition.

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Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 297

Feld Thoughts

JULY 7, 2010

Seeing the reaction to Bilski, what has struck me is how surprised and disappointed some people are with the weak will of the Supreme Court to act to limit the damage that software patents are causing, and will keep causing, to innovation in the U.S. Software innovation continues, by the way, in spite of the patent system, not because of it.

Software 132

Software IP South America Investment Bankers 132

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 26, 2014

There’s a lot of buzz about the Amazon acquisition of TWITCH this week. As a personal friend of the original investor, I’m very happy for this transaction – after 7 years of work, repositioning, and sticking to it their vision has paid off. Acquia, Inc. Drupal was launched in 2001, and Acquia started in 2007.

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Founder Los Angeles PHP Open Source 42

Austin Startup

APRIL 27, 2019

this post is all about the resilience required to keep going as an entrepreneur, not as an angel investor. the business was the same and through acquisitions it became to be worth $1.33 built by acquisition), Austin is now home to some great B2C organically -built successes in the making with startups like Dosh and EverlyWell.

B2C 51

B2C Austin Cofounder IPO 51

Transformify

AUGUST 1, 2019

Carlos, a lot has been said about diversity and inclusion but there is little to no guidance of building diverse teams post-mergers and acquisitions. Prior to that, it was a group of smaller companies put together through mergers and acquisitions. Lilia Stoyanov is CEO and angel investor at Transformify.

Merger 70

Merger Acquisition Securities and Exchange Commission America 70

Steve Blank

APRIL 13, 2013

In the few days I was in China I met with several VC’s, angel investors, business press and spoke to hundreds of entrepreneurs. But what made the overwhelming impression for me was finding an entrepreneurial software cluster on par with the Internet software portion of Silicon Valley. Beijing Venture/Angel Ecosystem.

Silicon Valley 159

Silicon Valley China Venture Capital Merger 159

Gust

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

There are 450+ back episodes online, and it’s safe to say that if you listen to it regularly, within a few months you will know more about what makes angel investors tick than do 98% of the rest of the world…including other angels! Create your Gust profile to show off your venture in the best possible light.

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Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2015

As an angel investor, I hear many entrepreneurs making negative comments about competitors or asserting they don’t have any competitors. The best way to support your acquisition potential for $100 million -- or going public -- is to find a competitor who has shown it can be done.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Liquidity Event Exit Strategy Angel Investor 120

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 20, 2019

That first real job was as the first employee of Petcom, a company started by a husband and wife team that grew to about 20 people before the oil and gas market for software evaporated in 1985. I’m also a writer, run a foundation with my wife Amy, and do a lot of random things that support entrepreneurship.

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LP Angel Investor Cofounder Leadership 108

Up and Running

DECEMBER 1, 2015

Noah Parsons, COO at Palo Alto Software says, “If you’re in Silicon Valley and/or building any kind of tech startup, it’s considered the norm to offer equity as part of a compensation package.”. “If Offer equity if you plan for your company to grow quickly, or if you’re seeking investment from VCs or angel investors.

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Equity Employee Stock Options Vesting 60

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2010

VC’s invested in things that ran on electrons: hardware, software and silicon. The advantage of commodity software stacks drops initial startup costs for Internet Commerce companies. But scaling customer acquisition may take the same amount of dollars as a traditional software startup. ). Lean Angels.

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Lean Internet Silicon Valley Venture Capital 258

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

I’ve seen hundreds of startups pitch to angel investors and venture capitalists, and most of them—at best— are just okay. For example, here’s an appropriately detailed financial forecast for a SaaS (software as a service) business: We leverage the site traffic and customer base of partners A, B, and C.

Sweat Equity 122

Sweat Equity Churn Rate Elevator Pitch Forecast 122

Duct Tape Marketing

JULY 27, 2023

So I think the first thing on how most deals are structured, so when you are a angel investor and you're investing a small amount of money, and typically you'll invest through a platform like AngelList or a local Angel Association mm-hmm. , Ben Young (07:50): Yeah, good question. And you're like, dividend.

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Cofounder Artificial Inteligence New Zealand Analytics 56

Board Effect

MAY 10, 2019

Those who still need additional funds may turn next to angel investors , high-net-worth individuals who are willing to provide funding for small startups and entrepreneurs. The goal of venture funding is to get a very high return, usually in the form of an acquisition of the startup or IPO.

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Venture Capital Startup Elevator Pitch Angel Investor 49

Start Up Blog

AUGUST 25, 2013

In 1983 Alan worked on some of the first attempts at creating software which could translate human languages. Which I am assuming is either a reference to them paying too much for acquisitions, or not making money for a long time themselves ?? Sometimes the best advice is fun & functional. . Really hard.

Australia 80

Australia Startup Valuation Cofounder 80

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

We make initial investments of $250-500K in the seed rounds of software and internet startups and reserve capital for follow-on rounds. We typically lead or co-lead these seed round with other co-investors including other seed VCs, large lifecycle VC firms, and angel investors.

LP 100

LP Seed Stage Silicon Valley Limited Partner 100

ReadWriteStart

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

I'd like to hear from venture capitalists, angel investors, incubators, and accelerators on this topic. Perhaps, to begin with, Taariq uses his software to offer the solution as a service project and charges for building a certain set of analytics queries to address key performance indicators. CricketWeekly.

Incubator 116

Incubator Silicon Valley Idaho Entrepreneur 116

Lightspeed Venture Partners

MAY 5, 2016

Over the years we’ve had the privilege of working with amazing founders and helping them grow from infancy to IPO or acquisition in many cases. Brian Kasser most recently led the global Software and SaaS Practice for Russell Reynolds Associates, based in Palo Alto. We know the scrappiness and the elbow grease required.

Silicon Valley 60

Silicon Valley Advisory Board Flash Pennsylvania 60

Scalable Startup

SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

How can other regions will ever match the MACHINE: Stanford, Andreesen, Draper, Valentine, Doerr, Facebook/Apple/Google Millionaires, 4 Generation VC firms, Hardware/Software partnerships, over 100 Billon $ market cap cos. This foundation still drives the area and the world, even thought it gets less attention now than the software side.

Silicon Valley 22

Silicon Valley San Francisco Angel Investor Hawaii 22

Gust

DECEMBER 27, 2012

You should know every metric regarding customer acquisition, conversion and retention. A comprehensive list of things you might want is listed in the answer to What materials or software should I use to pitch a VC? , Your goal in all this is to try to find a lead investor.

Software Review 164

Software Review Term Sheet Technical Review Angel Investor 164

Transformify

AUGUST 8, 2019

Aubrey, Atlassian has developed a remarkable strategy around talent acquisition, employer branding, onboarding and retention. Lilia Stoyanov is CEO and angel investor at Transformify. She believes that leading with empathy is the key to creating highly effective teams. What does diversity hiring mean to you? About Transformify.

Silicon Valley 99

Silicon Valley Retention Salary United States 99

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

The distribution of investors should mirrorthe distribution of startups, which has the usual power law dropoff.So One reasonstartups prefer series A rounds is that theyre more prestigious.But if angel investors become more active and better known, theyllincreasingly be able to compete with VCs in brand.

Startup 93

Startup Valuation Non-Compete Deal Flow 93

Up and Running

APRIL 22, 2019

If you’re interested in starting a software as a service (SaaS) business, you’ll want to start with the basics. SaaS (software as a service) means that users access software through their internet browser or a web-based app. Pricing models and customer acquisition. You can think of it as a software license.

Software 94

Software Intellectual Property Cloud Seattle 94

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

He is also an active angel investor in companies like Klout and Meetup. Quigo Lands Overture as Client, Rejects Their Acquisition Offer. After rejecting the offer, Mike had a team of his best people waiting to ‘kill’ him for turning down an acquisition that would have changed their lives forever financially.

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Semantic Acquisition Valuation Angel Investor 302