YoungUpstarts

MARCH 14, 2016

Once the most heavily funded startup in New York City, according to then-CEO Jason Goldberg, Fab blew through $200 million of its $336 million in VC cash without settling on a business model. It made risky bets in untested markets and tried to grow bigger than its customers were ready for. Go it alone.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Securities and Exchange Commission New York City Cofounder 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. The final product works great, and all the early users love it.”

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 19, 2010

First is that there are, perhaps, a thousand people in the world of entrepreneurship who know what they are doing when it comes to dealing with issues like financing, positioning, market sizing, customer validation, customer acquisition and other seemingly obvious topics that all entrepreneurs need to deal with.

Silicon Valley 114

Silicon Valley Technical Review Startup Early Stage 114

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

Whether it is in the emerging markets or in the U.S., And EVEN if you ARE an experienced entrepreneur, all but just a few VCs still want to see customer validation, business model validation and traction, before they will invest. Her main questions were around customer acquisition and financing. Very encouraging!

Cloud 115

Cloud Silicon Valley Incubator Finance 115

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 13, 2019

If you can prove a business model, traction, and potential for a tremendous scale with the right backing, you could be a ripe target to be acquired. . Whether a brand new bootstrapped startup or corporate giant, your altitude, sustainability, and traction has everything to do with your team. IP & Technology. Your Brand.

Intellectual Property 101

Intellectual Property IP Acquisition Startup 101

Tim Keane

MARCH 9, 2011

Can you bootstrap your way to positive cash flow?   If the answer is relatively soon, then bootstrapping is a very serious consideration.    Even if it isn’t soon, early bootstrapping can reduce risk and increase chances for success, resulting in more aligned interests for entrepreneurs and investors.

Finance 83

Finance Bootstrapping Startup Equity 83

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

I’ll give you an example with my own startup LaunchBit and how our understanding of the problem and the customer became more refined over time: V1: Helping online marketers get customers profitably. V2: Helping online marketers who have previously bought ads in email lists get customers profitably. Or in between?

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

I’ll give you an example with my own startup LaunchBit and how our understanding of the problem and the customer became more refined over time: V1: Helping online marketers get customers profitably. V2: Helping online marketers who have previously bought ads in email lists get customers profitably. Or in between?

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

On the other hand, it’s a whole universe and you’d need an interesting perspective on why you should go attack that market and face all that competition and noise and everything that’s in the market. So when you’re thinking about marketing positioning to me, that side of it is the interesting side of it.

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2018

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. The final product works great, and all the early users love it.”

Angel Investor 184

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 184

Austin Startup

MARCH 2, 2019

validate your idea while you also use your own judgment about market timing. As Bill Gross spoke about at 2015’s TED conference, market timing is the single biggest factor for startup success (a worthy watch). I’m also a product of bootstrapped entrepreneurs?—?my I served as Chairman leading up to the acquisition.]

Advisory Board 51

Advisory Board Cofounder Greece Bootstrapping 51

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

Seed-stage, meanwhil e, is technically that critical period when you need funding to do solution- and business-model development, to prove that your new product or service works, before you try to sell it to customers. Most investors won’t touch a first-time entrepreneur at this stage. Here they are: A crowdfunding campaign.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Finance Early Stage Startup 120

The Startup Toolkit

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

The company becomes valuable and someone buys the whole thing (acquisition). Within the second category, there are 3 types of acquisitions which each behave quite differently: The company has failed, but manages to sell off something of value (patents, team, etc) on the way out (asset sale or talent acquisition).

Dividend 50

Dividend Acquisition Founder Bootstrapping 50

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. The final product works great, and all the early users love it.”

Angel Investor 232

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 232

Hearpreneur

DECEMBER 8, 2019

On the heels of seeing the 10% influencer base increase the referrals process yielded, the team at Intellifluence pushed to create a brand-to-brand referral program as well, intent on creating user acquisition flywheels wherever possible. What makes me really proud though is we’ve been 100% bootstrapped for our 3.5

Entrepreneur 115

Entrepreneur Technical Review Vertical Las Vegas 115

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 1, 2012

Why the obsession with raising money, what if you don’t want a huge company, what if you want to bootstrap, don’t you know raising money isn’t a measure of correctness or success, … I agree! Market size Suppose the total addressable market is small. Market risk is most startups’ biggest risk.

Customer 320

Customer Revenue Acquisition Cofounder 320

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2016

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. The final product works great, and all the early users love it.”

Matching 120

Matching Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers 120

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. According to Brian Parks, “Bigfoot provides RBI, term loans, and lines of credit to SaaS businesses with $500k+ ARR. Our wheelhouse is bootstrapped (or lightly capitalized) SMB SaaS. Bigfoot Capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Tim Keane

OCTOBER 2, 2007

. | We Only Need 1% of The Total Market! Is Business Model Analysis Important To You? Investors love entrepreneurs who understand their business model, and can describe it accurately. In my mind, a "business model" reveals the structure of the profit engine that underlies the venture.

Business Model 60

Business Model Wisconsin Angel Investor Bootstrapping 60

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

A business like that will just have a really hard time raising money at the early stages, and if that’s feedback you are getting from at least 2 people, you may want to consider adjusting your plan and raise from angels and/or bootstrap for a long time. It just means VCs will shy away from it.

Sales Cycle 54

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 54

The Next Web

AUGUST 5, 2013

B: No, the business is bootstrapped. A: But what about dev, marketing, customer service etc? B: It limits my market drastically, but it’s still big enough for me to live comfortably off of. Talent acquisition. of all businesses. These small businesses are the backbone of American capitalism.

Chile 122

Chile Canada Bootstrapping IPO 122

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

A business like that will just have a really hard time raising money at the early stages, and if that’s feedback you are getting from at least 2 people, you may want to consider adjusting your plan and raise from angels and/or bootstrap for a long time. It just means VCs will shy away from it.

Sales Cycle 48

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 48

Hippoland

AUGUST 8, 2018

One thing I’ve noticed is that almost every repeat, previously-successful-founder focuses on the same thing for their respective startups: customer acquisition. In other words, if you can get 1000 people to come to your website consistently for under $5, then this business model works for you. Marketing first.

Founder 48

Founder Sales Cycle Affiliate Retention 48

Hippoland

AUGUST 8, 2018

One thing I’ve noticed is that almost every repeat, previously-successful-founder focuses on the same thing for their respective startups: customer acquisition. In other words, if you can get 1000 people to come to your website consistently for under $5, then this business model works for you. Marketing first.

Founder 48

Founder Sales Cycle Affiliate Retention 48

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 27, 2011

Persistent is breaking out of the mold of labor arbitrage, and looking at new and exciting business models. My friend Tony Scott did an outstanding interview with Anand Deshpande , their CEO recently in which Anand discussed his vision for where he wants to take the OPD business. Brainscape. Note, I said, validated. Safarclick.

Dilution 114

Dilution Revenue Finance Entrepreneur 114

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

What matters is proving the viability of the company’s business model, what investors call “traction.&# Of course this is not at all true of many profitable small businesses, but they are not what I mean by startups.) Most importantly, they have lots of data about the unit economics of their business.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Tim Keane

OCTOBER 3, 2007

« Is Business Model Analysis Important To You? We Only Need 1% of The Total Market! It means that the entrepreneur hasnt done the hard work of figuring out a business model at a detailed level, nor allocated the total investment required to achieve their goals. Markets are inherently unstable.

Wisconsin 60

Wisconsin Marketing Business Model IP 60

Tim Keane

JUNE 21, 2011

How to prepare a sales forecast for a business plan. First develop a business model. your ability to scale your sales efforts, future costs in acquisition, product, etc., presence of new competitors emerging over time, size of the served market, ability to expand, etc. First develop a business model.

Forecast 68

Forecast Business Plan Sales Wisconsin 68

online.wsj.com

SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Loading… Business. Loading… Markets. Loading… Market Data. Media & Marketing. Small Business. Marketing & Strategy. In early 2011 an acquisition by a Fortune 500 company fell apart. All Business Categories. Business Connections. Business Opportunities.

Venture Capital 107

Venture Capital Software Review Rhode Island North Dakota 107

Hippoland

OCTOBER 16, 2016

High infrastructure companies Traditionally, software investors have loved being in the software industry because the capital costs are low and also because you can get something into the market quickly. In the beginning, this may not be a problem — you can bootstrap. The thing about this category is that it’s REALLY HARD.

Startup 48

Startup Vertical Early Stage Bootstrapping 48

Austin Startup

MAY 3, 2017

Buyout companies  — In a low interest rate and the slow-growth environments of recent years, companies like Apple, Facebook, and Google focus on acquisitions instead of focusing on capital expenditures and development of internal investment projects. Sounds like Texan resilience and who in Texas doesn’t know the etymology of “bootstrapping”??

Texas 48

Texas Startup Silicon Valley Bootstrapping 48

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 26, 2008

Challenge the Status Quo - StubHub entered an industry dominated by a couple of large players who had a vested interest to block the legality of their business of providing a marketplace for the sale of tickets in the secondary market. Bootstrapping 101. He definitely had a lot of people tell him that it couldnt be done.

Technical Review 28

Technical Review San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

Hearpreneur

OCTOBER 23, 2019

Also my business’s growth gives me the opportunity to pull other flailing business people in my industry a leg up through acquisitions. Even though it expands my territory in terms of business, other members of the community of businesspeople benefit and their families prosper as well. That is typically phase 1.

Entrepreneur 67

Entrepreneur Employee Community LLC 67

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Updated Business tools for Startups. Whether you’re wondering what site search you should use or what is the best email marketing tool, knowledge is power. Also includes the most popular platforms, based on a year of data on business buy and sell marketplace, Flippa.com. Inbound Marketing vs Interruption marketing.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Not everybody can, especially if they need to run with the idea to get to market. Pitching to investors before building is a waste of time especially if they do not understand the timing to enter the market. By now it is useless except bragging rights as traction and market disruption have been lost. From Nothing To Something.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

Tim Keane

JUNE 13, 2006

In other words, if you are forecasting 100 orders in the next quarter, at $10,000 each, I’d ask how many potential orders there are in the market, whether there is any existing competitive experience, and how you derived your timing. This includes selling costs, marketing costs, and so forth.

Wisconsin 60

Wisconsin Entrepreneur Startup Angel Investor 60

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Id break down into two separate pieces - financial analysis and business/market analysis. always focus on the business model and assumptions, but there are too many unknowns to put much faith in the future cash flow projections. On the other side, you have Market Analysis (96%) followed by gut (67%). ► May.

San Jose 33

San Jose Angel Investor Venture Capital Mezzanine 33