Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Commit to a major customer.

Product Development 177

Product Development Cost Developer Product 177

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Commit to a major customer.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Commit to a major customer.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Up and Running

MAY 15, 2018

Innovative products and business models are the foundations of a promising startup. Creating a scalable business model. Whether you are hoping to expand a small business with a loan or going for a round of venture capital, you will need a scalable business model. Determining how much money to ask for.

SBA 84

SBA Angel Investor Technical Review Startup 84

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 8, 2021

They want to open new offices, generate more revenue, and ultimately, secure higher profitability. . And the revenue from your existing customers alone may not be enough to cut it. . Even fewer are successful with the original business model that spawned them. You can hire more salespeople and practice social selling. .

Startup 127

Startup Retention Acquisition Agile 127

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Commit to a major customer.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

There are two reasons to raise money: You have a killer idea that is only partially validated, that you think can get to $50M+ of revenue in 5 years with 80%+ gross margins (if margins are lower, you need a lot more revenue)and you need money to get to product-market fit, or. Team, Product, Traction, Business Model and Market.

Cofounder 431

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 431

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2022

After many years of working with angel investors seriously trying to find new ventures worthy of their hard-earned money, I find their frustration often exceeds that of entrepreneurs sincerely looking for financial help. Undefined business model or very low gross margins.

Due Diligence 271

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Preferred Stock 271

Growthink Blog

DECEMBER 27, 2017

Business planning and raising venture capital go hand-in-hand. A business plan is required for attracting venture capital. And the desire to raise capital (whether from an individual “angel” investor or a venture capital firm) is often the key motivator in the business planning process. Detail all revenue streams.

Venture Capital 129

Venture Capital Business Plan Technical Review Private Placement 129

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

After many years of working with angel investors seriously trying to find new ventures worthy of their hard-earned money, I find their frustration often exceeds that of entrepreneurs sincerely looking for financial help. Undefined business model or very low gross margins.

Due Diligence 308

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Startup 308

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2019

MySpace, for example, launched in 2003 and boomed for five years without a revenue model. When their deep pockets went empty, Facebook stepped in, but demanded revenue from ads. Don’t count on finding investors supporting growth alone on your new startup. Build a business plan for profitability in your lifetime.

Widget 185

Widget Angel Investor Revenue Early Stage 185

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 31, 2014

But if you want to build a scalable startup you need to be asking how you can you get enough customers/users/payers to build a business that can grow revenues past several $100M/year. startups ignore the rest of the world until they scale in their own country. They intended to get scale for their business by growing in the U.S.

Global 335

Global Australia Silicon Valley China 335

Hearpreneur

AUGUST 5, 2020

Carbon farming is coming upon us rapidly it’s progress is already under the transforming influence of technological innovation, and rapidly gaining widespread attention among Venture Capitalists and angel investors. It helped them to engage already existing customers with the brand and kept the revenues steady. 16- Coffee.

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Software Review Entrepreneur China 157

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 10, 2011

We still have some collective scar tissue: the idea conjures up the hordes of dot-com hopefuls that descended on VC’s and angel investors with little more than a business plan. Therefore, if you want to sell IMVU one day, you’ll need to abandon your business model, even though it’s generating a lot of revenue per customer.

Silicon Valley 167

Silicon Valley San Francisco Lean Investment Bankers 167

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2013

Myspace, for example, launched in 2003 and boomed for five years without a revenue model. When their deep pockets went empty, Google stepped in, but demanded revenue from ads. Don’t count on finding investors supporting growth alone on your new startup. Build a business plan for profitability in your lifetime.

Widget 242

Widget Angel Investor Revenue Early Stage 242

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2017

MySpace, for example, launched in 2003 and boomed for five years without a revenue model. When their deep pockets went empty, Facebook stepped in, but demanded revenue from ads. Don’t count on finding investors supporting growth alone on your new startup. Build a business plan for profitability in your lifetime.

Widget 137

Widget Angel Investor Revenue Early Stage 137

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. When I think about what set those excellent pitches apart from the rest, it turns out that they all shared some of the same qualities. Outline your business model. How much do they pay?

Sweat Equity 122

Sweat Equity Churn Rate Elevator Pitch Forecast 122

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 6, 2012

Twitter, for example, doesn’t have much of a revenue model today, and they are growing, but I’m not sure who can ever sell 140 character tweets. Don’t count on finding investors for that model on your new startup. Build a business plan for profitability in your lifetime.

Widget 234

Widget Angel Investor Early Stage Revenue 234

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2016

After many years of working with angel investors seriously trying to find new ventures worthy of their hard-earned money, I find their frustration often exceeds that of entrepreneurs sincerely looking for financial help. Undefined business model or very low gross margins.

Due Diligence 120

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. You won’t impress investors by claiming that everyone in China needs one, and nobody else has exactly the right features to compete with you. Explain the business model. Industry & market sizing. Funding requirements.

Business Plan 283

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 283

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2011

Twitter, for example, doesn’t have a real revenue model today, and they are growing, but I’m not sure who can ever sell 140 character tweets. Don’t count on finding investors for that model on your new startup. Build a business plan for profitability in your lifetime.

Startup 243

Startup Widget Angel Investor Early Stage 243

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

The Small Business Tips Series is supported by Bantam Live , a web-based collaboration workspace with “Social CRM&# for small business teams. The web and technology bubble has a lot in common with the rest of the business world in that there are essentially two disparate groups — the haves and the have nots.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. You won’t impress investors by claiming that everyone in China needs one, and nobody else has exactly the right features to compete with you. Explain the business model. Industry & market sizing. Funding requirements.

Business Plan 290

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 290

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 21, 2010

Twitter, for example, has no revenue model today, and they are growing, but I’m not sure who can ever sell 140 character tweets. It’s hard to find investors for that model today. Build a business plan for profitability in your lifetime.

Widget 227

Widget Angel Investor Early Stage Revenue 227

Up and Running

MAY 28, 2015

I’m in my seventh year now as a leader and an angel investment group where we just announced an investment last Thursday, and I’m very familiar with how this works for angel investors. Tell your angel investors a story about need. Depending on who the investors are, some want more, some want less.

Lean 60

Lean Business Plan Video Software Review 60

Gust

AUGUST 5, 2012

Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. You won’t impress investors by claiming that everyone in China needs one, and nobody else has exactly the right features to compete with you. Explain the business model. Industry & market sizing. Funding requirements.

Business Plan 182

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 182

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2010

Fairchild Semiconductor became the progenitor of a flood of Silicon Valley chip companies and at the same time the adoption of the limited partnership as the model for Venture Firms gave VC’s their own profitable business model. The test is, ask them how they differ in their investing philosophy from the rest of their firm.).

Lean 262

Lean Internet Silicon Valley Venture Capital 262

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 7, 2011

Just because an angel investor that made tens of millions of dollars gives $50k to a startup, and got 9 of her friends to do the same thing, doesn't mean that company deserves to get a $5 million check. Facebook is doing billions in revenues. LinkedIn has great revenue growth. The have actual revenues that are growing.

Angel Investor 104

Angel Investor Valuation Startup Revenue 104

K9 Ventures

JULY 19, 2012

Several of the portfolio companies have gone on to do their Series A (HighlightCam, Zimride, Occipital), Series B (CrowdFlower, DNAnexus) and Series C (Twilio, Lytro) rounds led by top tier venture firms, and the seed-stage companies all continue to track well on building product, team, and/or, revenue (imagine that!).

Technology 132

Technology Seed Stage San Francisco Limited Partner 132

K9 Ventures

JULY 19, 2012

Several of the portfolio companies have gone on to do their Series A (HighlightCam, Zimride, Occipital), Series B (CrowdFlower, DNAnexus) and Series C (Twilio, Lytro) rounds led by top tier venture firms, and the seed-stage companies all continue to track well on building product, team, and/or, revenue (imagine that!).

Technology 132

Technology Seed Stage San Francisco Limited Partner 132

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. You won’t impress investors by claiming that everyone in China needs one, and nobody else has exactly the right features to compete with you. Explain the business model. Industry & market sizing. Funding requirements.

Business Plan 186

Business Plan Exit Strategy Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 186

Professor VC

JULY 31, 2008

happens every year, but the speed at which summer travels relative to the rest of the year catches me by surprise. This whole process got me thinking about the textbook business model. Similar to the textbook business, the music business BN (before Napster) was controlled by the labels. Thursday, July 31, 2008.

San Jose 28

San Jose Software Review Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

Up and Running

APRIL 24, 2018

If you’ve never written a business plan before, take a look at these sample medical startup business plans. At first, you need to focus on developing your business model and validating it. That’s why having a revenue-minded focus from the early stages helps to secure funding.

SBIR 73

SBIR Startup Artificial Inteligence Intellectual Property 73

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

I’ve pitched in taxi cabs, I’ve pitched on street corners, in board rooms, on stage in front of 400 angel investors. The opportunity when I got to pitch on stage in front of 400 angel investors was for the largest angel investor conference in the Pacific northwest called Angel Oregon, and we competed with 60 other companies.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Software Review Due Diligence Exit Strategy 60

ReadWriteStart

MAY 29, 2013

Of fourteen companies , about a third of them are targeted towards disrupting old industries rife with inefficiency, old business models and decades-old practices. They realized that type of business wasn’t scalable. As of last week, Freight Farm had already raised $450,000 in revenue.

Boston 60

Boston Startup Coder Algorithm 60

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

I would focus on one product and set a goal to generate $1M in yearly revenue from it. Outsourcing is something a big company, with a known customer / problem (that has revenue & traction) does to save cost. I don’t have any formal business training and I actually think it’s served me well. Once you’ve done that – then.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Microsofts originalplan was to make money selling programming languages, of all things.Their current business model didnt occur to them until IBM droppedit in their lap five years later. You could sense them squirming on the hook, but you knew there would be no rest for them till theyd signed up. This money isnt revenue.

Startup 105

Startup Cofounder Software Stock 105