YoungUpstarts

MAY 12, 2020

Whether or not the pandemic ends within a month or a year, small business owners need to be ready to buckle down, reassess, and even make changes to their business strategy in order to weather the storm (and beyond). Here are seven best pieces of advice for anyone running their own business right now.

Burn Rate 264

Burn Rate Bandwidth Lean Business Model 264

Up and Running

APRIL 27, 2020

There’s a great amount of uncertainty, people losing their jobs, and a direct hit on cash flows that can place businesses in dire straights. Current businesses are finding ways to pivot their business models, revisiting their budgets, and developing new forecasts to minimize their burn rate and maximize their available cash runway.

Software Review 113

Software Review Lean Forecast Business Plan 113

Steve Blank

APRIL 26, 2022

At the turn of the century after the dotcom crash, startup valuations plummeted, burn rates were unsustainable, and startups were quickly running out of cash. Most existing investors (those still in business) hoarded their money and stopped doing follow-on rounds until the rubble had cleared.

Cram Down 404

Cram Down Founder Venture Capital Recapitalization 404

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

In an existing company with existing customers you 1) understand the customers problem and 2) since you do, you can specify the entire feature set on day one. In fact, for decades if you drew this diagram on day one of a startup VC’s would nod sagely and everyone would get to work heading to first customer ship.

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Management Business Model Customer Development 247

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2012

It was great to watch him embrace the spirit and practice of customer development. He was constantly in front of customers, listening, selling, installing and learning. It seemed like once a week Yuri would come back from a customer meeting brimming with new insights. And that’s where the problem was. A Pivot a Week.

Founder 316

Founder Cofounder Advisory Board Burn Rate 316

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Startups that are searching for a business model need to keep score differently than large companies that are executing a known business model. Yet most entrepreneurs and their VC’s make startups use financial models and spreadsheets that actually hinder their success. Managing the Business. Here’s why.

Balance Sheet 298

Balance Sheet Startup Burn Rate Metrics 298

Tim Keane

DECEMBER 14, 2009

   We worked all day building market strategies for customers while we tried to embody our expertise on software that would expand the company's reach.    Interestingly, the consulting business remained and is a mainstay even today.    A low burn rate is a pearl of great price. 

Burn Rate 60

Burn Rate Angel Groups Seed Stage Startup 60

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

As customer and agile development reinvent the Startup, it’s time to ask why startup board governance has not kept up with the pace of innovation. Reinventing the board meeting may offer venture-backed startups a more efficient, productive way to direct and measure their search for a profitable business model. Jonathan Swift.

Silicon Valley 290

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 290

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 15, 2014

At least wait until later, when you ready to scale, and have some “leverage” based on a proven business model, some real customers, and real revenue. Focusing on the burn rate and prioritizing every possible expense will keep overhead down, help you stay lean, and achieve a higher profit earlier.

Bootstrapping 276

Bootstrapping Entrepreneur Startup Burn Rate 276

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

As customer and agile development reinvent the Startup, it’s time to ask why startup board governance has not kept up with the pace of innovation. Reinventing the board meeting may offer venture-backed startups a more efficient, productive way to direct and measure their search for a profitable business model. Jonathan Swift.

Silicon Valley 258

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 258

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2015

When pitching to investors, entrepreneurs always seem to start with a customer pitch, then add a slide or two about the business. In reality, they need a separate pitch about the business, carrying over only a slide or two about the solution. Remember, investors are buying into the business, not the product.

Product 120

Product Intellectual Property Liquidity Event Burn Rate 120

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

Lifetime Customer Value. While everything having to do with your income and expenses is important for any entrepreneur to understand and monitor, the most important number to know by heart at any given time is your LTV: Lifetime Customer Value. How much do you earn per customer? . – James Simpson , GoldFire Studios.

Metrics 146

Metrics Burn Rate Entrepreneur Forecast 146

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2012

Here is how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Define the characteristics of the overall industry, market forces, market dynamics, and customer landscape. Investors like $1B markets with double-digit growth rates. Investors like $1B markets with double-digit growth rates.

Elevator Pitch 247

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 247

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 28, 2013

At least wait until later, when you ready to scale, and have some “leverage” based on a proven business model, some real customers, and real revenue. Focusing on the burn rate and prioritizing every possible expense will keep overhead down, help you stay lean, and achieve a higher profit earlier.

Startup 264

Startup Burn Rate Bootstrapping Valuation 264

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

This post describes a solution – the Customer Development Model. In future posts I’ll describe how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provide the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development. This post describes such a model.

Customer Development 242

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 242

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2011

Here is how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Define the characteristics of the overall industry, market forces, market dynamics, and customer landscape. Investors like $1B markets with double-digit growth rates. Investors like $1B markets with double-digit growth rates.

Elevator Pitch 234

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 234

Gust

DECEMBER 7, 2014

At least wait until later, when you ready to scale, and have some “leverage” based on a proven business model, some real customers, and real revenue. Focusing on the burn rate and prioritizing every possible expense will keep overhead down, help you stay lean, and achieve a higher profit earlier.

Bootstrapping 191

Bootstrapping Entrepreneur Startup Burn Rate 191

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2015

Funding is only one of the critical resources you need to start a business. Maybe more important, you need domain knowledge, relationships and lots of potential customers. Even non-profits require money to operate, so every startup needs a business model with plans to bring in income. Calculate and manage your financials.

Elevator Pitch 120

Elevator Pitch Burn Rate Startup Metrics 120

YoungUpstarts

MAY 20, 2015

While certain processes and strategies may have worked for a business early on, a rapidly increasing customer base and the increased bandwidth needed in response will often bring those very same process to their natural breaking point. Burn rate: Seeing company grow fast is both exciting and overwhelming experience.

Colombia 100

Colombia Burn Rate Startup Agile 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

Here is how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Define the characteristics of the overall industry, market forces, market dynamics, and customer landscape. Investors like $1B markets with double-digit growth rates. Investors like $1B markets with double-digit growth rates.

Elevator Pitch 235

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 235

Gust

AUGUST 19, 2012

Here is how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Define the characteristics of the overall industry, market forces, market dynamics, and customer landscape. Investors like $1B markets with double-digit growth rates. Investors like $1B markets with double-digit growth rates.

Elevator Pitch 146

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 146

Early Growth Financial Services

MARCH 26, 2013

If you haven’t yet found a viable business model that will allow you to acquire customers at a lower cost than the lifetime value of that customer, you simply are not ready to scale. Your burn rate … Continue reading → But you can ready your company by focusing on your finances first.

Burn Rate 53

Burn Rate Startup Business Model Finance 53

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 13, 2011

As customer and agile development reinvent the startup, it's time to ask why startup board governance has not kept up with the pace of innovation. Reinventing the board meeting may offer venture-backed startups a more efficient, productive way to direct and measure their search for a profitable business model. Here's how.

Silicon Valley 117

Silicon Valley Balance Sheet Metrics Early Stage 117

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 15, 2020

In his view, "It's never selfish to keep your company in business. It's never selfish to try to do the right thing for your employees, your customers, and your stakeholders." Consumers, particularly Gen Z and millennials, are becoming more used to looking for a social component from the companies that they do business with.

Dallas 68

Dallas Employee Government Social Media 68

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 27, 2011

This partnership speaks to a core philosophy of the program where we encourage entrepreneurs to get as much customer validation as possible before raising too much money, use other people's channels if you can get to them, don't burn too much cash, and all that good fiscal conservative stuff. Brainscape. Note, I said, validated.

Dilution 114

Dilution Revenue Finance Entrepreneur 114

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

However, liked the team, and Dennis Mink, FootFeeds CEO, convinced me of the value in check-ins as a white label service for brands to market to their customers. I take CFO roles in early stage companies and participate on the management team during the early financings and business model development phases. ► October. (1).

Technical Review 38

Technical Review San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley 38

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

This got me thinking about the business model that Mike Keiser has built at the resort and a lecture began to form in my head. Also, if the weather gets really bad, they offer a full refund voucher good for your next trip - all about customer retention. Labels: Bandon Dunes , business models , golf. Steve Bennet.

Oregon 28

Oregon San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

Professor VC

MARCH 10, 2009

In other parts of the country, this is business as usual: Identify a customer need Build a product Sell the product In the valley, the knee jerk reaction is to start with the powerpoint deck and look for the venture capital drug. Jon Fisher purposely avoided raising venture capital in his ventures. Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?

Bootstrapping 28

Bootstrapping San Jose Silicon Valley Software Review 28

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 9, 2012

In reality, you need to set these projections as goals for your own use, to convince employees as well as investors that you have a business which is challenging, but achievable. Unless your volumes are in the millions or higher, the difference between manufacturing cost and customer price better be 50% or greater. Cash flow is king.

Forecast 238

Forecast Burn Rate .Net Business Model 238

Professor VC

JULY 31, 2008

Last year, I tried out a custom textbook through one of the major publishers, which seemed like a great way to go. I assembled textbook chapters, Harvard Business Review articles, cases, and notes to pull together my own textbook. This whole process got me thinking about the textbook business model. Steve Bennet.

San Jose 28

San Jose Software Review Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2013

In reality, you need to set these projections as goals for your own use, to convince employees as well as investors that you have a business which is challenging, but achievable. Unless your volumes are in the millions or higher, the difference between manufacturing cost and customer price better be 50% or greater. Cash flow is king.

Forecast 238

Forecast Business Plan Burn Rate .Net 238

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 19, 2016

While you absolutely need to keep an eye on earnings and burn rate, human capital is ultimately the fuel that makes the machine run. He wants to hire “someone who is not afraid to go figure it out on her own, who has the capacity to discover what is needed and then present the business case for how to get that skill.”.

Startup 100

Startup Burn Rate Cofounder Salary 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2011

In reality, you need to set these projections as goals for your own use, to convince employees as well as investors that you have a business which is challenging, but achievable. Unless your volumes are in the millions or higher, the difference between manufacturing cost and customer price better be 50% or greater. Cash flow is king.

Forecast 230

Forecast Burn Rate Startup .Net 230

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 16, 2008

Perhaps, its that old joke: Q: What two industries call their customers "users"? I take CFO roles in early stage companies and participate on the management team during the early financings and business model development phases. Still a good time to revisit what I did over my summer vacation. Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?

San Jose 28

San Jose Technical Review Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2010

In reality, you need to set these projections as goals for your own use, to convince employees as well as investors that you have a business which is challenging, but achievable. Unless your volumes are in the millions or higher, the difference between manufacturing cost and customer price better be 50% or greater. Cash flow is king.

Forecast 151

Forecast Startup Burn Rate .Net 151

BeyondVC

OCTOBER 6, 2003

It feels like 1999 again when the ASP (application service provider) business model was all the rage. Siebel’s enterprise license revenue model is coming under real pressure as large enterprises are getting tired of spending millions of dollars upfront with no real ROI. Siebel and IBM team on hosted CRM service.

Burn Rate 60

Burn Rate Business Model Hosting Revenue 60

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Marketing launch) Make a new product available to customers in the general public. In particular, a marketing launch can help you do three things (courtesy, as is most of my marketing advice, of The Four Steps to the Epiphany ): Drive customers into your sales pipeline. Do your customers really read TechCrunch?

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168