Steve Blank

JULY 16, 2009

Only in Silicon Valley could we have got funded with this idea, and not surprisingly, it was our technology that had the VC’s confused. His point was that it was in the VC’s interest in having entrepreneurs swing for the fences. It’s nothing personal, but your interests and your VC’s may not be aligned.

Silicon Valley 207

Silicon Valley RSS Video San Diego 207

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

And my advice to students who believe they want to do a startup but are unsure if they want to start one, is to join one that’s already raised their first round of funding. You still need to be comfortable with chaos and uncertainty, but by this time the major risk of where the first round of funding is coming from is gone.

Cofounder 219

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 219

Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

Customer/Market Risk Versus Invention Risk One day I was having lunch with a VC sharing what I learned from my students. It’s something VC’s can ask about, rationally analyze and feel comfortable if you can articulate a defensible technical and patent strategy. How would that change my company strategy?

Vertical 144

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 144

Steve Blank

AUGUST 13, 2009

Since I wasn’t an engineer, my contribution was around the team-building and fund raising. These questions I know will be on top of the list that VC’s will ask.&# What are all the important questions that a VC will or should ask? Touching the Hot Stove – Experiential versus Theoretical Learning « Steve Blank (tags: startups) [.]

Silicon Valley 179

Silicon Valley RSS Technical Review Lean 179

www.readwriteweb.com

MARCH 7, 2011

Before AngelList, investment dealflow was private and networks revolved around a few connected angels and VC?s. Since the angel network was created, transparent angel investing has exploded and entrepreneurs from any background can get funded. To my surprise, VC? Bryce Roberts , a partner at O?Reilly spray-and-pray?

Technical Review 50

Technical Review Due Diligence Startup Angel Investor 50

Steve Blank

MAY 26, 2009

All teams raised their hands and screamed: we hundreds of angels and dozens of VCs, all of them say they will only fund deals with prototypes, beta customers, first revenue and executive teams all in place, and they say it will be 2 years from now because their coffers are out of cash and LPs in default.

Vertical 149

Vertical Silicon Valley Intellectual Property RSS 149

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

According to VCs, there’s been a 65% decrease in up-rounds (where a company gets a bigger valuation) in the last six months and more than 60% of those polled expect a longer wait for an exit. Similarly, the bulk of the companies getting funding are still California-based. 41% of them feel that they qualify for venture capital funding.

Venture Capital 62

Venture Capital Technical Review Sweat Equity Valuation 62

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

After talking to tons of customers and almost as many VC’s, we got Epiphany funded as a company that was going to automate Marketing Departments. As we were out looking for our Series B round, our company had gotten the attention of “name of big VC firm here” who wanted a play in enterprise software. Are These Your Slides?

Silicon Valley 225

Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 225

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2009

Our VP of Business Development had no problems getting meetings and fund raising was easy. VC’s like them because if they can flip them, then they’re a successful business model – for them. << (tags: startups) [.] Reply Dan L , on July 13, 2009 at 7:32 pm Said: Interesting story.

Silicon Valley 122

Silicon Valley Product RSS California 122

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2009

And throughout my career as an entrepreneur I kept asking questions of my VC investors and friends; Where did entrepreneurship come from? Reply DodaPedia » Blog Archive » How to decide where to live , on June 21, 2009 at 7:18 am Said: [.] How did Silicon Valley start? I’ll stop channeling James Burke now.

Silicon Valley 270

Silicon Valley RSS San Francisco Technical Review 270

www.greenhornconnect.com

OCTOBER 3, 2011

It’s always tempting for entrepreneurs to accept seed funding from friends and family in exchange for a promise to repay the money or issue the lender equity in your company when it is formed. Benjamin Hron ( bhron [at] vcreadylaw [dot] com ) is co-founder of VC Ready Law Group, LLC , located in Cambridge, MA. Monthly archive.

IP 40

IP Intellectual Property Limited Liability Company Boston 40

www.chubbybrain.com

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

If you are an entrepreneur seeking funding, try our free Funding Recommendation Engine to identify a list of angels, venture capital and state grant programs that best match your business. I was also actively pursuing raising VC funds with the help of a very talented and well connected friend. It’s free.

Software Review 79

Software Review Startup Technical Review Vesting 79

www.singlefounder.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Myth #1: I need to get VC funding to make my company successful. Does your definition of a successful company involve getting VC funding, working for a few years, and then selling it off for gobs of money, never to return to work again? Plenty of VC’s watch the companies they helped fund go down all the time.

Software Review 40

Software Review Software Startup Massachusetts 40

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Specifically we’re working on building information stream handling tools (reducing large lists of incoming links and text into topical tags that can be searched or manually dug through) as well as connecting ads to a users interests (same tags now used for relevant ads/plugins). Examples here.

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

Altgate

DECEMBER 16, 2010

@altgate Startups, Venture Capital & Everything In Between Skip to content Home Furqan Nazeeri (fn@altgate.com) ← Pre-Money Valuation vs Number of Founders Where Do Tech VCs Invest? ← Pre-Money Valuation vs Number of Founders Where Do Tech VCs Invest? Below is a chart of some data from the 2010 CompStudy survey.

Liquidation Preference 39

Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet Valuation 39

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

As a VC, I have sat through many presentations like this, and in most cases the service is actually interesting and compelling. Good numbers will enable you to raise funding easily, and bad numbers may indicate that this is not a viable business.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

devver.wordpress.com

NOVEMBER 9, 2010

Tim keeps a journal which he updates, tags, and adds ideas. You will be at conferences, sales calls, giving presentations, and fund raising. Angels and VCs aren’t funding research efforts, don’t just chase after big impossible goals. The Idea People should keep a journal of ideas. I highly recommend this!

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire Part-Time VPE Architecture Ruby 40

www.reincubate.com

FEBRUARY 1, 2010

Tags: startup cto job description startupcto. © 1996 - 2010 Reincubate Limited. XML sitemap. VAT registered #867 0159 09. Highlights: What do you need to raise investment? The problem with development consultancies How to recruit strong technical staff for start-ups Call: +44 (0) 844 3579899 Email: Tweet: @reincubate.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO Technical Review CTO Hire 40

cdixon.org

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

VC’s will either not like your idea, or else like it and possibly want to fund you. They vastly prefer funding an existing team than taking an idea and building a team. link] Closer To The Ideal » Blog Archive » If you have an idea for a startup, talk about the idea with everyone. [.] link] Yaniv Nizan.

Stealth 68

Stealth Startup NDA Cofounder 68

Steve Blank

MAY 18, 2009

Filed under: Customer Development , Family/Career , Technology | Tagged: Steve Blank , Entrepreneurs , Startups , Early Stage Startup , Tips for Startups « The Curse of a New Building Going to Trade Shows Like it Matters – Part 1 » 33 Responses William , on May 18, 2009 at 5:44 am Said: Heh. Reply Michael F.

Founder 297

Founder Silicon Valley RSS China 297

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Nine times out of ten, the meeting ends with them asking me for introductions to VCs. Little do they know that, even if they could raise VC, it’d start them down the wrong path. If you want to waste nine months trying to raise VC money for that idea, great. I wasn’t thinking in terms of VC, never even entered my mind.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

thenetsetter.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Archives Team Badges & Banners Netsetter Directory Twitter Updates Email Updates Rss Updates Do You Need to Be a Developer to Found a Web Startup? I believe this applies specially to startups which have not been able to raise any significant funding, which is likely to represent most of them in the near future.

Web 40

Web Technical Review Developer Cofounder 40

VC Cafe

JULY 2, 2012

As every month, VC Cafe is re-posting the “Invest in Israel” Newsletter, published by the investment promotion center of Israel’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor , which offers many helpful tools for prospecting investors. For the Invest in Israel archive, click here. to JVP and Carmel, the highest performing funds. .

Latvia 109

Latvia Lithuania Russia 109

www.readwriteweb.com

JUNE 13, 2011

Thats the image that you should take away from the funds press release today with a headline that invokes The Fast and the Furious at least. Speed, risk, victory - you get the picture. Those winners are StoryTree , Culture Kitchen , and Volta. startupcto

Programming 45

Programming Silicon Valley Ireland Startup 45

Steve Blank

MAY 7, 2009

Filed under: Marketing , Technology , Venture Capital | Tagged: Steve Blank , Venture Capital , Entrepreneurs , Early Stage Startup , Tips for Startups « Customer Analytics – From Those Who Should Know SuperMac War Story 10: The Video Spigot » 14 Responses Michael F.

Business Plan 140

Business Plan Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital 140

bhargreaves.com

MARCH 7, 2010

2010 03 /07 CATEGORY Uncategorized TAGS dev shops development getting it built software startups tech themoreyouknow View Comments [link] Victor Wong I would say that if you have a strong development team and need contract developers who can work well remotely and under your project manager, then you can also bring in a development shop.

Hiring 40

Hiring Technical Review Agile Software Review 40

www.readwriteweb.com

MARCH 7, 2011

He began as part of Salt Lake Citys Wasatch Venture Fund (now Epic Ventures ), an affiliate of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, in March of 2001. I tend towards a more concentrated approach to seed investing where we make fewer, larger, investments and take an active role in working with the companies we fund.

Silicon Valley 46

Silicon Valley Semantic Social Network Cofounder 46

www.readwriteweb.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

The site was torn down and rebuilt, but not without costing them a hefty fortune in VC cash and possibly spelling the demise of the biz. Tags: startupcto. See Also Elegant.ly Lesson learned KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. Designers want to design for themselves but never can.

Web 42

Web Design Startup Flash 42

Software By Rob

DECEMBER 10, 2008

Im a serial web entrepreneur here to share what Ive learned in my 11 years as a self-funded startup founder. I cover topics that affect software and web startups of all sizes, but mostly relating to startups you can fund yourself. Because they are venture capital funded so they don’t depend on sales profit to sustain them.

Programming 30

Programming Technical Review Software Review RSS 30

Steve Blank

JULY 9, 2009

Why should we – our VC’s had already told us what geniuses we were by fighting to even get into the deal to fund us. That’s what VC funded companies do, don’t they? There was zero proof in the marketplace that was the case. Alarm bell two should have started ringing – for me and my board.

Silicon Valley 139

Silicon Valley RSS California Video 139

Steve Blank

AUGUST 10, 2009

Funded by military contracts, these 1950′s microwave tube startups would help build Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial culture and environment. Unlike the other Stanford tube spinouts which were funded with military contracts, Watkins-Johnson would be one of the first venture capital funded companies in the valley.

Silicon Valley 155

Silicon Valley RSS SBIC California 155

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

Nicola Corzine of the Band of Angels Acorn Fund discusses this at length in our interview with her. Tags: startupcto. By definition, the capital investment needs to be relatively low such that the investors and the entrepreneurs all make a healthy return on investment.

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

in this concept and seed stage, creative writing, passion, and shoe leather combine in hopes of convincing an investor to fund the company or the new division. The CEO refines his or her fund-raising pitch and hits the street and the phone searching for additional capital.

Silicon Valley 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

Nicola Corzine of the Band of Angels Acorn Fund discusses this at length in our interview with her. By definition, the capital investment needs to be relatively low such that the investors and the entrepreneurs all make a healthy return on investment. As I take you through todays roundtable pitches, you will see this come up over and again.

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

Altgate

APRIL 26, 2009

The survey also collects information about the background of the executives and of the company (like location, size, funding, industry, etc.). ← Law Firm Wilson Sonsini Now Preparing Term Sheets For Free More on the “VC Math Problem&# → [link] Family Enterprise Compensation Strategies [.] Bookmark the permalink.

Term Sheet 60

Term Sheet Venture Capital Startup 60

Altgate

DECEMBER 7, 2008

Everyone, including VCs, tend to focus on managerial skill. For example, in the hundreds of VC pitches I’ve given, not once was I asked questions about my (relatively poor) market timing skill. ← Startup Failures On The Rise UK Government To Launch VC Fund To Rescue Startups → Comments are closed.

Venture Capital 44

Venture Capital Marketing Dilution Government 44

www.reincubate.com

FEBRUARY 1, 2010

Tags: startup programming language startupcto. © 1996 - 2010 Reincubate Limited. XML sitemap. VAT registered #867 0159 09. Highlights: What do you need to raise investment? The problem with development consultancies How to recruit strong technical staff for start-ups Call: +44 (0) 844 3579899 Email: Tweet: @reincubate.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO Technical Review CTO Hire 40