View from Seed

OCTOBER 11, 2022

Through all of this, what has been obvious is her hunger to serve founders and desire to work with entrepreneurs to bring about the kind of world changing impact we seek to be a part of at NextView. We have a model that allows us to be very flexible in how we engage with founders and co-investors.

Cofounder 156

Cofounder San Francisco Portfolio Limited Partner 156

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2018

Despite the fact that the number of IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) for startups have continued to stay low, I still hear it touted often as the preferred exit strategy. I suspect the exuberance for an IPO is still being driven by the highly visible successes of a few companies several years ago, including Facebook, Yelp, and Twitter.

Exit Strategy 128

Exit Strategy IPO Initial Public Offering SEC 128

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2022

Today the rate of startups going public (IPO – Initial Public Offering) is finally up from the dead zone of the last two decades, and is now double the rate back in 1999. Thus, today around 90 percent of successful startups are still acquired by bigger companies versus an IPO, as the safer and preferred method of growth and funding.

IPO 245

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 245

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2022

Some view both of these as a waste of time and burden on the CEO, while other founders surround themselves with insiders and cronies in an attempt to expedite and add credibility to their own interests. Many entrepreneurs I know are confused by the definition and need for an Advisory Board versus a Board of Directors.

Advisory Board 348

Advisory Board IPO Angel Investor Acquisition 348

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 2, 2021

Why should a founder entertain this idea? No founder wants to start a business that would only survive for one or two years. One primary consideration in creating a tech startup is the long-term strategy, per the owner/founder’s goals, especially regarding exit. As a founder, explore all your options to play your cards right.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review LLC IPO Stock 78

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 6, 2014

" Current IPO activity feedback seems to support their excitement. IPO market showed more activity than any other first quarter since 2000, with 64 companies raising $10.6 That is more than double the number of IPOs in the first quarter of 2013. Most startup founders voluntarily exit or are pushed out, and the fun is gone.

IPO 236

IPO Initial Public Offering Startup Small Business Administration 236

VC Cafe

AUGUST 2, 2022

Tim Sweeney, the founder and CEO of Epic is a long term visionary of our online future and the Metaverse. Tim Sweeney, Epic Games’ founder and CEO. billion acquisition of Weta Digital, Peter Jackson’s VFX company, gives Unity capabilities in creating hyper realistic virtual environments using RT3D (real-time 3D) technology.

IP 206

IP Cofounder Valuation Acquisition 206

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

Then there is the pressure to go public ( IPO ), and open your investment to thousands, maybe millions, of small investors. In fact, it’s highly unlikely that you as the Founder will survive. Utilize mergers and acquisitions to accelerate growth. Switch your focus from product development to sales.

Merger 379

Merger Due Diligence SEC IPO 379

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

Even though the Initial Public Offering (IPO) alternative for a successful startup seems to be coming back into vogue, it is relatively rare. IPOs in 2008, the market was up to a still trivial 159 in 2011. Even in most of these cases, the original startup founders were pushed out, or heavily supplemented, with “experienced” executives.

Exit Strategy 239

Exit Strategy IPO Investment Bankers Entrepreneur 239

Haystack

NOVEMBER 12, 2018

Last night, SAP bought the company before it could IPO. 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.

Acquisition 105

Acquisition Utah IPO Venture Capital 105

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2021

That implies that a board of directors has no value to the founder, and is just another burden that to be assumed for the privilege of attracting outside investors or going public. In startups, where the CEO is usually the founder and major shareholder, it is normal for the CEO to chair the board.

Advisory Board 362

Advisory Board IPO Government Acquisition 362

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019

There is a myth among first time tech founders that product is everything. Here are five financial concepts that every startup founder should know to build an everlasting company. The basic lesson that founders can learn about asset valuation is that Accounting is past and Finance is future. Asset valuation. Alpha generation.

Founder 118

Founder Valuation Dividend Startup 118

NZ Entrepreneur

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

Startup founders are our ambitious problem solvers. Startup founders are driven to solve problems and make a difference – many want to literally change the world. Sometimes that will include pivoting the company, sometimes that will see the chair step in to act as CEO so the founder can fully recharge. Risk and reward.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Software Review New Zealand Due Diligence 88

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2023

None of these investment banks offer traditional banking services, as you would expect from one of the following: Retail banks Commercial banks Credit unions Savings and loans As startup founders, you first need to deal with one of these traditional banks, probably a commercial bank. Commercial banking is also known as business banking.

Early Stage 182

Early Stage Silicon Valley Private Equity Initial Public Offering 182

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

GameFly filed in 2010 and remains in registration, though 2011 has seen a positive start for VC-backed IPOs with 14 in Q1 2011. Kayak was started here in my backyard of Boston… co-founder & CTO Paul English and the product/engineering team is based here in Concord MA. Kayak Software Corporation. 2010 Net Income: $8 million.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 26, 2020

None of these investment banks offer traditional banking services, as you would expect from one of the following: Retail banks Commercial banks Credit unions Savings and loans As startup founders, you first need to deal with one of these traditional banks, probably a commercial bank. Commercial banking is also known as business banking.

Silicon Valley 362

Silicon Valley Private Equity Initial Public Offering Term Sheet 362

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2019

Some view both of these as a waste of time and burden on the CEO, while other founders surround themselves with insiders and cronies in an attempt to expedite and add credibility to their own interests. I suggest a few simple considerations will clarify the alternatives. How much are you willing to spend on your board?

Advisory Board 247

Advisory Board IPO Angel Investor Startup 247

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2020

Many startup founders I know avoid establishing a formal advisory board or board of directors for as long as possible, with the excuse that this is just another burden, or it has more risk than value to the founder. You need board members who are these influencers, or know them well.

Advisory Board 336

Advisory Board Startup IPO Government 336

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Why do these founders get to stay around? Because the balance of power has dramatically shifted from investors to founders. — 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.

Founder 245

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245

Hunter Walker

MAY 13, 2023

Especially in the early days of mobile/iOS engineering, if you hired strong technical talent into your early stage company, you basically created an acquisition outcome floor. I was on both sides of these transactions – buying startups for Google/YouTube and angel investing in high quality technical founders.

Early Stage 117

Early Stage Cap Table Acquisition Sales 117

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 15, 2010

I think everybody heard about this acquisition. On the founder’s side it’s about taking money off of the table and / or having strategic reserves for big acquisitions. In the former case many people scoffed at paying up for Google at IPO. That said, the founder is Stewart Butterfield , who co-founded Flickr.

Venture Capital 271

Venture Capital Affiliate Valuation San Francisco 271

View from Seed

DECEMBER 4, 2019

At the same time, despite some realizations in recent years through M&A, PE acquisitions, and IPOs, the general sense I get from LPs is that the level of distributions don’t quite line up with the unrealized performance. This would suggest that TVPI would be performing well. The post How is the VC Asset Class Doing?

LP 256

LP IRR Distribution Portfolio 256

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. Every Flexible VC structure allows founders to access immediate risk capital while preserving exit, growth trajectory, and ownership optionality. . Flexible VC 102: Variations.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Haystack

DECEMBER 29, 2018

More and more angels will be minted as the 2019 IPO class emerges. Governments blocking acquisitions, the curtailment of company expansion, more scrutiny on overseas operations of U.S. Traditional seed funds have gotten bigger, many armed with opportunity funds on top. Hundreds of new micro funds somehow keep getting into the market.

Technical Review 165

Technical Review Venture Capital Russia China 165

Duct Tape Marketing

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

A Startup Journey With GrubHub Founder Mike Evans written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Questions I ask Mike Evans: [1:46] Could you give us a high-level overview of the startup of Grubhub to IPO to what you’re doing now? Marketing Podcast with Mike Evans. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Mike Evans.

Founder 82

Founder Chicago Kansas Startup 82

View from Seed

DECEMBER 6, 2018

To analyze what’s become of the OG Unicorns, it’s first worth noting that at the time of the 2013 post about 2/3rds of the 39 on the list had already been realized via IPO or $1B+ acquisitions. Most startups that hit this level did so via IPO or acquisition value. IPO value, $2.8B IPO value, $1.5B

IPO 120

IPO Valuation San Francisco Silicon Valley 120

Austin Startup

APRIL 27, 2019

Bob Fabbio was the founder and CEO of eRelevance and he was the man in the arena here?—?and For all of us Austin fans, I’m talking about Cotter Cunningham, the founder and CEO of RetailMeNot. HomeAway is another one of our five tech IPOs in the last five years. But I digress?—?this and I bet he’ll be back. It is worth $3.4

B2C 51

B2C Austin Cofounder IPO 51

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2016

Despite the fact that the number of IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) for startups have continued to decrease, I still hear it touted often as the preferred exit strategy. I suspect the exuberance for an IPO is still being driven by the highly visible successes of several companies a few years ago, including Facebook, Yelp, and Twitter.

IPO 120

IPO Initial Public Offering SEC Stock Options 120

ReadWriteStart

JULY 18, 2011

Clavier began his presentation at the beginning of a company's lifecycle, asking how many co-founders a startup ought to have. If you like this kind of advice, check out my coverage of a talk by Paul Palmieri, Co-Founder and CEO of mobile advertising service Millennial Media, titled " Investing in Your Influencers. ".

Investment Bankers 153

Investment Bankers Technical Review Cofounder Due Diligence 153

Haystack

NOVEMBER 24, 2018

It’s been a few years now since BlackBerry made phones, and this represents its largest purchase to date (by a factor of 3) since its 2015 acquisition of Good Technology. 5/ The Crowd Saw X, We Saw Y: One of my favorite quotes about startups and technology comes from Instagram’s co-founder Systrom.

Acquisition 62

Acquisition Artificial Inteligence Balance Sheet Cofounder 62

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Many assume it was a cakewalk, based on the success LinkedIn has enjoyed over time and the current stature of our founder/CEO Reid Hoffman (now Chairman). Google is still a private company (their IPO was Aug 2004). Yes… he was a very successful PayPal exec and previously co-founder & VP Product of SocialNet.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 26, 2014

There’s a lot of buzz about the Amazon acquisition of TWITCH this week. Will Amazon try to acquire all of Acquia before the inevitable IPO? Angel Investor Drupal founder PHP Revenue Growth SaaS Scalability startup startup CEO venture Cash Flow CEOing leadership scalability tom nora venture capital' What will come next?

Founder 42

Founder Los Angeles PHP Open Source 42

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 3, 2017

Some view both of these as a waste of time and burden on the CEO, while other founders surround themselves with insiders and cronies in an attempt to expedite and add credibility to their own interests. Many entrepreneurs I know are confused by definition and need for an Advisory Board versus a Board of Directors.

Advisory Board 174

Advisory Board IPO Angel Investor Acquisition 174

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

This method was perfected by Gil Elbaz and his team at Applied Semantics in LA and in what some have called “ the most important acquisition ever made by Google ” they acquired the company for $102 million before Google had even IPO’d.

Los Angeles 376

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Seattle 376

Rob Go

DECEMBER 28, 2011

IPO’s/Exits. Still led by its founder, Steve Kaufer. Kayak: Registered for an IPO but on hold. Raised $174M in its IPO in April, current market cap ~$550M. in its IPO, current market cap of $282M. Ebay’s third largest acquisition in the last 3 years. Tripadvisor: An amazing entrepreneurial story.

Technical Review 54

Technical Review Boston Software Review IPO 54

The Startup Toolkit

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

As a founder, you get a pile of money in one of four ways: You generate profits and keep some (dividends). The company becomes valuable and someone buys the whole thing (acquisition). It gets very big and very valuable and you go public (IPO). Most big ($100mm+) acquisitions follow this pattern.

Dividend 50

Dividend Acquisition Founder Bootstrapping 50

View from Seed

MARCH 3, 2015

Ellie Mirman was the first marketer hired by the CMO of HubSpot, the Boston-based marketing software startup that IPOed in 2014. NextView Ventures: Thinking back to before anyone knew HubSpot or the company was headed towards an IPO, where did you even start to market the company? Did you feel that pressure to deliver immediately?

Marketing 120

Marketing Sales Cycle Startup CTO Hire 120