Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2015

For early-stage startups, the goodwill component can easily exceed the size of all the financial elements together, or can just as easily mark a company with good financials as not investable. For startups, the entrepreneur and founder is almost always the face of the company. Strategic proficiency.

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Leadership Technical Review Due Diligence Valuation 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2020

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over twice as many companies, according the Crunchbase. The cost of entry for tech startups continues to go down. Many have disappeared, and others have forgotten how to be agile and innovative.

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Angel Investor Venture Capital Silicon Valley Startup 314

VC Cafe

AUGUST 2, 2022

As an early stage investor in the world of gaming and metaverse technology at Remagine Ventures, I find these companies have the potential to set the agenda, become the potential platforms for developers building in this space and future acquirers/consolidators of startups building the next generation of the Internet. Here we go! Epic Games.

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IP Cofounder Valuation Acquisition 206

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Just look at the disruptive challenges that businesses face today– globalization, China as a manufacturer, China as a consumer, the Internet, and a steady stream of new startups. Perhaps that’s because where established companies might see risks or threats, startups see opportunity. Building Innovation Internally is Hard.

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Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 325

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2014

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over 60 times as many companies, according the Center for Venture Research. The cost of entry for tech startups continues to go down. Super Angels have greater scope to match talent with a startup.

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Angel Investor Silicon Valley Startup Portfolio 260

Agile VC

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Startup IPO Market: A Fickle Mistress. What will happen for the startup IPO market? The very strongest companies can still likely get out if they really wanted, but may not command the valuations they hoped for in more bullish times. How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC.

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IPO Marketing Silicon Valley Technical Review 100

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Master of 500 Hats: Startup Metrics for Pirates (SeedCamp 2008, London) This presentation should be required reading for anyone creating a startup with an online service component. In my opinion, every startup needs to "pick a major" among these three drivers of growth. Choose one. The AARRR model (hence pirates, get it?)

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Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

The signals are loud and clear : seed and late stage valuations are getting frothy and wacky, and hiring talent in Silicon Valley is the toughest it has been since the dot.com bubble. What are they, how do they differ and what can startup do to take advantage of them? The world of building profitable startups ended in 1995.

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Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Post-money valuation probably no higher than $12M (2). Pre-money valuation was initially set higher but was adjusted to match the Ser B valuation. Pre-money valuation was approx. Pre-money valuation was approx. Pre-money valuation was at least $250M (2).

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Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Salesforce.com is a startup with 76,000 subscribers (over 2.1M I also joke with Reid Hoffman that this was back in the days before he was “Reid” Reid’s an incredible entrepreneur, startup investor, and human being. How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. May 26, 2011.

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Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

ReadWriteStart

MAY 30, 2022

The Proud Owners of a Startup. Today, as the proud owner of a startup, you’re probably much better at managing your money. It might take the experience of growing and exiting two or even three startups before you know how to do that. . Let’s take a deeper look at why your startup probably doesn’t need funding.

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Steve Blank

JANUARY 4, 2010

A lot of entrepreneurs think that their startup is the next big thing when in reality they’re just building a small business. How can you tell if your startup has the potential to be the next Google, Intel or Facebook? A first order filter is whether the founders are aiming for a scalable startup. The Scalable Startup.

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Hockey Stick Venture Capital Startup Cofounder 276

The Startup Magazine

MAY 30, 2019

A new kind of company, built to leverage new technologies, new media channels, new working practices and new consumer markets, Crowdify is agile, adaptive, responsive and forward thinking — but also grounded and focused on product and brand strategy and return on marketing investment.

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Marketing Agile Social Network Valuation 76

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

The past year was a wild ride for startups and founders, giving a whole new meaning to the ”rollercoaster” aspect of being an entrepreneur. A combination of competition for top talent and an effort to bring employees back to the office drove startups in Israel to throw extravagant parties and all-inclusive retreats abroad.

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Founder Startup Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 187

Growthink Blog

FEBRUARY 14, 2011

In contrast, the “tabula rasa” of startups has traditionally been the best milieu for out-of-the-box strategy and innovation to thrive. As for startups, pre Global Internet, it was easy to stay in the “idea bubble.” Typically, as companies grow and age, they naturally become more tactical, more execution - focused.

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Up and Running

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

So it is no wonder that when an entrepreneur starts their second or third business, they incorporate the lessons they learned from their first startup. While there are dozens of lessons I could take away from these entrepreneurs’ experiences, I want to highlight three common mistakes founders make in the early stages of a startup.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

In fact, there is plenty of evidence that too much money can undermine a startup more quickly than squeezing pennies. Salaried staff will never have the commitment of co-founders that depend on the success of the startup. Another good reason for skipping investors is to shorten the whole startup cycle.

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 28, 2008

Ill exclude those non- lean startups who basically exist for the purpose of raising bigger and bigger sums of money. Most important slide: valuation Promising results Key questions: can you monetize that traffic? (or The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? how big is the market?

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The Equity Kicker

JUNE 21, 2012

One way to think about that is when penetration moves from say 0.25% to 5% – that is typically when companies can grow really fast and valuations sky rocket as analysts and incumbents come to recognise that a major market shift is underway. Agile Diagnosis - web and mobile app for doctors to improve speed and accuracy of diagnosis.

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Agile Valuation Mobile Startup 98

Steve Blank

JULY 15, 2010

VC’s invested their limited partners’ “risk capital” in a portfolio of startups in exchange for illiquid stock. Most of the startups they invested in either died by running out of money before they found a scalable business model or ended up in the “land of the living dead” by never growing (failing to Pivot.). Startup Lifecycle Today.

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Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 297

Agile VC

APRIL 30, 2019

2019 is off to an exciting start for IPOs of VC-backed startups. In the last decade or so, high profile consumer IPOs have often gotten lofty valuations. I don’t follow the Chinese startup market as closely as I follow the US, but Alibaba’s 2014 IPO was a similar watershed moment. Reading Time: 3 minutes.

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crowdSPRING Blog

MAY 8, 2015

We just love sharing articles about fonts, logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, economics and other interesting stuff! Steve Blank On Why Most Startups Fail, And It’s Got Nothing To Do With Technology – buff.ly/1IhCLrF. – buff.ly/1EY9ktL.

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Small Business Design Social Media Startup 48

Agile VC

OCTOBER 1, 2013

I believe we’re going to look back in 2-5 years and realize that we’ve been in a once a decade boom for internet & software startups. And as I’ve mentioned valuations in the private investment sphere have largely rationalized in the last 12-18 months. It doesn’t feel much like a boom actually.

IPO 147

IPO Cloud Valuation Mobile 147

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. The startup process has become demystified – information is everywhere. Not every startup ended up this way. Board Control.

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Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245

Agile VC

JANUARY 21, 2015

The startup ecosystem is often full of hyperbole, which is perfectly understandable when you think about it. Not every startup is going to “crush” their original milestones and financial projections. Not every round of funding is closed at a “monster” valuation. Do No Harm. Don’t Blindside Them.

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Cofounder Seed Stage Employee PR 188

Eric Friedman

JUNE 11, 2019

Typically a startup wants a POC with a LargeCo. A strong bluff if you have no backup, but a reasonable move if you have a team and want to move onto the next company/prospect/project as a small agile team. and they move at a glacial pace. Understanding what the team you are talking to actually needs this month/quarter/year is critical.

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Term Sheet Stock Options Early Stage Agile 68

Up and Running

AUGUST 19, 2014

An angel investor is a high net worth individual who invests their own money into startup companies in the hopes of gaining a return on their money. I was the CEO of both startups, so it was my job to pitch to the angels. The post How to Impress Angel Investors and Make It into “Startup Heaven” appeared first on Bplans Blog.

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Angel Investor Technical Review Due Diligence Startup 161

Agile VC

MAY 21, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. There’s also a meaningful cohort of newly public companies that now have valuations of $1B+ who could seriously contemplate an acquisition of $100M+ for stock or cash… Yelp, Zillow, Tripadvisor, Jive Software, Splunk, and others. How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. May 21, 2012.

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Acquisition Silicon Valley B2B Seed Stage 162

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

As many of you know, in the past I’ve done a series of posts deconstructing the S-1s of VC-backed internet startups going public. A few years ago this was sort of a novelty… not that many startups were going public and not that many bloggers or mainstream journalists took the time or had familiarity with combing these SEC filings.

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IPO Aggregator B2B Internet 194

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 28, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Startups in NextView’s portfolio frequently receive inbound interest from other VC investors who are intrigued about what they’re doing, and I often talk with other early-stage entrepreneurs how to approach similar situations. How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC.

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Agile VC

JANUARY 21, 2015

The startup ecosystem is often full of hyperbole, which is perfectly understandable when you think about it. Not every startup is going to “crush” their original milestones and financial projections. Not every round of funding is closed at a “monster” valuation. Do No Harm. Don’t Blindside Them.

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Cofounder Seed Stage Employee PR 100

Agile VC

JANUARY 27, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Something has clearly changed within the last 5-6 years in terms of the speed with which monster startups are created in the software and internet space. Multi-billion dollar valuations for late stage startups like Dropbox, et al. Are Google-Scale Outcomes More Frequent?

Hockey Stick 113

Hockey Stick Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndicate 113

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. The goal of their startup in this stage becomes “getting funded.”

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 29, 2017

I’m a big believer of lean startup. Getting things done well takes considerable testing and hinges on agile changes; striving for perfection is the opposite mentality. Thanks to Dan Eyman, Meld Valuation ! #24 Thanks to Annkur P Agarwal, Pricebab ! #6 Image Credit: Johannes Kanter. Image Credit: Jeff Kear.

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Entrepreneur LLC Cofounder Montana 48

Agile VC

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Providence Equity invested $100M at a $1B valuation not because of their technology or product, but because the network owners contributed a lot of valuable content… or at least access to it for 2years. How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. How To Think About The Future. And Why 20%?

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YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 14, 2017

and also being involved in other startups I have seen a number of pivots, some of them worked well and others in hindsight probably needed some more thought, but all have been a learning experience! One of the great benefits of a startup is their ability to be agile and adapt quickly to a changing environment. Technology pivot.

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Technical Review Architecture Revenue Channel 157

Agile VC

JANUARY 13, 2016

Looking back at 2015, the standout theme in the VC/startup ecosystem was unicorn hunting. People started thinking of startup unicorns like this: Illustration for WSJ: Chris Silas Neal. A realignment of valuations by late stage investors? We’re off to a fresh start here at the beginning of 2016. What happened?

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Technical Review .Net Revenue Software Review 157