Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

One of the ways our VC’s kept track of our progress was by taking a monthly look at three financial documents: Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement. To be clear – Income Statements, Balance Sheets and Cash Flow Statements are really important at two points in your startup. Financials. Web Metrics.

Balance Sheet 300

Balance Sheet Startup Burn Rate Metrics 300

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

Others, Lee acknowledged, may never see their balance sheets add enough zeros to justify the title. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen warned in a tweetstorm that startups with high burn rates would “vaporize.” I’m encountering an increasing number of companies with burn rates in the stratosphere.

Liquidation Preference 70

Liquidation Preference Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net 70

Berkonomics

JULY 1, 2021

First, the VC’s ordered that the company ramp its burn rate (monthly losses in cash) to over $800,000 a month, which I could not fathom. We members of the board never saw, (never asked) and the CFO never mentioned the balance sheet and cash position. Board member orders a ramp in spending that kills the company.

Balance Sheet 62

Balance Sheet Cofounder Cash Position Burn Rate 62

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2015

keep your burn rate under control relative to your balance sheet (ie how much cash you have) and your income statement (how much cash you’re burning). I’m betting on the middle option but time will tell. So final thoughts if you’re a CEO, I believe now as I did before the minor correction.

Balance Sheet 150

Balance Sheet Valuation Burn Rate Stock 150

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

The Appendix of your business plan has one of the leading cause of death of startups: the financial spreadsheets you attached as your Income Statement, Balance Sheets and Cash Flow Statements. Spread out in front of everyone around the conference table were the latest Income Statement, Balance Sheets and Cash Flow Statements.

Revenue 231

Revenue Balance Sheet Hockey Stick Burn Rate 231

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 18, 2014

First, the VC’s ordered that the company ramp its burn rate (monthly losses in cash) to over $800,000, which I could not fathom. We never saw, and he never mentioned the balance sheet and cash position. So those expenditures were not reviewed by the board which had not been given a balance sheet to examine.

Balance Sheet 71

Balance Sheet Burn Rate Cash Position Forecast 71

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

Traditional startup board meetings spend an insane amount of wasted time using Fortune 100 company metrics like income statements, cash flow, balance sheet, waterfall charts. The only numbers in those documents that are important in the first year of a startup’s life are burn rate and cash balance.

Silicon Valley 292

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 292

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

If you don’t have a strong balance sheet and can’t hire more people that’s fine — but understand this may lead to slower growth. They don’t want high burn rates but they will never fund slow growth. I know this seems obvious but I promise you that even smart people forget this when talking about profitability.

Stock Options 227

Stock Options Startup Dilution Venture Capital 227

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

Traditional startup board meetings spend an insane amount of wasted time using Fortune 100 company metrics like income statements, cash flow, balance sheet, waterfall charts. The only numbers in those documents that are important in the first year of a startup’s life are burn rate and cash balance.

Silicon Valley 263

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 263

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

The startup industry may be “resetting,” which doesn’t mean a “crash” but rather just a resetting of valuations, timescales, winners/losers, capital sources and the relative emphasis of growth rates vs. burn rates. Optimize for a W more than % dilution in these circumstances.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate Cap Table Balance Sheet Dilution 150

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 13, 2011

The Wrong Metrics : Traditional startup board meetings spend an insane amount of wasted time using Fortune 100 company metrics like income statements, cash flow, balance sheet, waterfall charts. The only numbers in those documents that are important in the first year of a startup's life are burn rate and cash balance.

Silicon Valley 117

Silicon Valley Balance Sheet Metrics Early Stage 117

Professor VC

APRIL 11, 2008

In fact, for a good laugh, I just went back and checked our accounting system, and at the end of one quarter in 2005, we were down to $143 cash on the balance sheet. For a while, it seemed like we were constantly walking along the edge of a cliff and had several near death experiences. Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught? ► October.

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Venture Capital Balance Sheet 28

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2016

We had grown into a more reasonable burn rate so raising capital meant we would have many years of cash on the balance sheet. The company has rediscovered frugality and knows the value of a strong balance sheet. We targeted $20 million in a raise and ended up pulling in $30 million.

Balance Sheet 150

Balance Sheet Burn Rate Valuation Forecast 150

Professor VC

AUGUST 26, 2011

How much needs to be shown in the form of a cashflow statement, and balance sheet? [SB] It is good to have a top down that is consistent with your bottoms-up, so I’d recommend doing both. Also, do you show accounts payable/receivable in these as they are not accurate or real? [SB] Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught? ► July. (1).

Silicon Valley 35

Silicon Valley San Jose Hockey Stick Venture Capital 35

Up and Running

APRIL 2, 2020

Building your balance sheet. Also, for your crisis plan, be sure that you know your burn rate and runway , which is how quickly you are using up your cash reserves and how long you have before you run out of cash. H ow to do a sales forecast. How to build a profit and loss . How to forecast cash flow .

Forecast 157

Forecast Salary Business Plan Balance Sheet 157

Professor VC

JANUARY 20, 2009

million from Lighthouse Capital Partners , which ultimately became critical to our balance sheet and they turned out to be a great partner as we worked through the equity financing process. We decided to raise some venture debt as an insurance policy and extend our cash runway. We drew $1.5 Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?

Venture Capital 28

Venture Capital Silicon Valley San Jose Bootstrapping 28

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

Companies raised too much money in 2005-08 and had high burn rates. On the positive side, corporate profits are up, their balance sheets have been repaired and they have recapitalized themselves to have lower amounts of debt relative to equity. tl;dr summary. VCs were very active in this period. So no new deals got done.

Stock 305

Stock Technical Review Marketing Greece 305