View from Seed

JUNE 16, 2015

Editor’s note: Local tech media company BostInno (a division of the American City Business Journals) hosts an annual Boston State of Innovation conference. I was recently asked to sit on panel with my fellow VC peers and some top entrepreneurs from the Boston tech community. I’ll speak to NextView in a second.).

Boston 120

Boston Syndicate Syndication eCommerce 120

Gust

OCTOBER 12, 2011

During the summer of 2010, I developed a workshop, A New ACEF Valuation Workshop for Angels and Entrepreneurs. To provide some reference points, I surveyed thirteen angels groups in North American to determine their recent experience in negotiating the pre-money valuation of pre-revenue companies. 2011 Angel Group Valuation Survey.

Angel Groups 125

Angel Groups Valuation Pre-Money Valuation St. Louis 125

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

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. Im a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur turned East Coast VC. I co-founded NextView Ventures , a seed-stage VC firm based in Boston, in 2010. link] leehower.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Agile VC

AUGUST 22, 2011

I have the great privilege of meeting lots of entrepreneurs every day and hearing about the startups they’re building. Even Amazon isn’t a platform… yes they have AWS but it accounts for <3% of their revenue and isn’t terribly profitable given the capex & opex currently going into growing it. Not Groupon.

Silicon Valley 113

Silicon Valley Seed Stage Startup Syndicate 113

Agile VC

DECEMBER 5, 2011

Objective Logistics has created a game layer on top of very sophisticated scheduling algorithms which increase revenue, save time, and improve customer and staff satisfaction. Im a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur turned East Coast VC. I co-founded NextView Ventures , a seed-stage VC firm based in Boston, in 2010. Read More ».

Silicon Valley 100

Silicon Valley Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication 100

Agile VC

JANUARY 12, 2012

Even the best entrepreneurs often hear “no” from potential investors. As a result, we frequently spend time with entrepreneurs before they’ve started fundraising or while they’re still contemplating various pathways for funding their businesses. Im a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur turned East Coast VC.

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndicate Syndication 100

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

A company that in time can generate $100M+ in revenue and have an enterprise value measured in the hundreds of millions or more (what some VCs refer to as a “venture scale” outcome). Im a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur turned East Coast VC. I co-founded NextView Ventures , a seed-stage VC firm based in Boston, in 2010.

South Korea 124

South Korea Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndicate 124

Rob Go

JANUARY 9, 2012

Geography: Of the 16 investments, 9 are currently headquartered in Boston, 4 are in NYC, 2 are in SF, and 1 has s presence in both Boston and Chicago. The main focus of our fund is in the Boston-New York corridor. Repeat Entrepreneur: 6. Tom Brady Entrepreneur : 4. Introduced by an entrepreneur: 3.

Portfolio 46

Portfolio Syndicate Syndication Cofounder 46

Agile VC

JANUARY 27, 2012

Revenue ramp of Groupon and Zynga –> Kleiner famously said Zynga was the fastest growing company they’d ever invested in , no mean feat for the original backers of Google, Amazon, Netscape, etc, and Groupon might be the fastest ever startup to reach $1B in revenue. Read More ». What’s Your Favorite Future?

Hockey Stick 113

Hockey Stick Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndicate 113

Agile VC

MAY 23, 2012

E-commerce accounts for the vast majority of LL Bean’s revenue today ( it crossed 50% in 2010 though was as low as 15% in 2000 ), but because LL Bean is over a hundred years old and started as catalog & physical store retailer we typically don’t refer to it as an internet company. . link] leehower. Your welcome. .

Internet 182

Internet Silicon Valley IPO Seed Stage 182

Agile VC

MARCH 18, 2012

Costolo clearly wants to position Twitter as a complementary part of the media ecosystem (which it is by and large) rather than a competitor, and there remains a chance that Twitter will have other forms of revenue besides ads. Here’s why: Virtually all of Twitter’s revenue comes from advertising.

Media 113

Media Advertising Silicon Valley Revenue 113

Agile VC

MARCH 8, 2012

For SaaS or other recurring revenue businesses these figures might be on a bookings basis rather than GAAP revenue, but conceptually they’re similar. Bill Gurley’s post last year does a great job analyzing why some businesses are valued at 10x+ revenue and most aren’t. Zynga – 8x+ trailing revenue.

IPO 100

IPO Silicon Valley Revenue Seed Stage 100

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

How They Make Money : Facebook’s primary revenue stream is of course selling advertising on Facebook.com, which in total accounts for 85% of revenue. The next chunk comes from Facebook’s platform, in essence “taxing” the revenues of app developers like Zynga, which represents 15% of revenue.

IPO 100

IPO South Korea Venezuela Revenue 100

Rob Go

JANUARY 8, 2014

We are constantly re-evaluating our strategy and processes as a firm, but overall we have remained extremely focused and consistent because we think we offer a good product to our customers (entrepreneurs) which will lead to good results for our shareh0lders (LPs). 1/3 are post product but pre-revenue.

Syndicate 45

Syndicate Syndication Portfolio Advertising 45

Rob Go

JANUARY 7, 2013

Actually, growth equity firms I find are best at this, because they have very specific financial criteria that they look for, such as ranges for revenue, ebitda, growth, etc. Geography: 20 / 25 investments are based in the Boston and New York areas. Tom Brady Entrepreneurs: 8. Introduced by other entrepreneurs: 6.

Portfolio 49

Portfolio Seed Stage Cofounder B2B 49

Agile VC

APRIL 13, 2012

Here in Boston the same dynamic as Silicon Valley has been afoot… at least in the software/internet sphere, the majority of startups have migrated from the suburban loop of Rt 128 back into the urban core of Boston & Cambridge. Im a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur turned East Coast VC. link] leehower. Read More ».

Silicon Valley 185

Silicon Valley San Francisco San Jose Startup 185

Agile VC

AUGUST 12, 2011

For entrepreneurs seeking to build big companies on a rapid trajectory, raising larger scale venture capital rounds is likely a necessity at some point after the initial seed funding. Also a lot of other entrepreneurs frequently ask us questions like “What milestones do I need to hit to raise a Series A round from a larger VC fund?”

Seed Stage 113

Seed Stage Silicon Valley B2B Acquisition 113

Agile VC

MARCH 30, 2012

Some believe that there are “new” revenue models being created by consumer web companies, like virtual goods or “freemium” services. Their first revenue stream is simply inserting affiliate links to e-tailers into the pinboards that users create. Im a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur turned East Coast VC.

Business Model 113

Business Model Silicon Valley Advertising B2B 113