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

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2015

How the solution and business model work to fund the business. Investors will impatiently expect a winning business model, customer segment definitions and volume projections. Investors will impatiently expect a winning business model, customer segment definitions and volume projections.

Product 120

Product Intellectual Property Liquidity Event Burn Rate 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2012

Investors like $1B markets with double-digit growth rates. Business model. Marketing, sales, and partners. Describe marketing strategy, sales plan, licensing, and partnership plans. Show breakeven point, burn rate, and growth assumptions. What is the rate of return expected for the investor?

Elevator Pitch 247

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 247

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

After all, a sustainable business model requires repeat customers! Keeping track of gross margin assures you know the value of each additional sale. Keeping track of gross margin by product offering will help you determine what balance of products and services will be best for your business. Gross Margin.

Metrics 146

Metrics Burn Rate Entrepreneur Forecast 146

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2011

Investors like $1B markets with double-digit growth rates. Business model. Marketing, sales, and partners. Describe marketing strategy, sales plan, licensing, and partnership plans. Show breakeven point, burn rate, and growth assumptions. What is the rate of return expected for the investor?

Elevator Pitch 234

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 234

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

Investors like $1B markets with double-digit growth rates. Business model. Marketing, sales, and partners. Describe marketing strategy, sales plan, licensing, and partnership plans. Show breakeven point, burn rate, and growth assumptions. What is the rate of return expected for the investor?

Elevator Pitch 235

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 235

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2015

Even non-profits require money to operate, so every startup needs a business model with plans to bring in income. This means delegating tasks and not micro-managing, as well as more time spent working on the business, rather than in the business. Calculate and manage your financials.

Elevator Pitch 120

Elevator Pitch Burn Rate Startup Metrics 120

Gust

AUGUST 19, 2012

Investors like $1B markets with double-digit growth rates. Business model. Marketing, sales, and partners. Describe marketing strategy, sales plan, licensing, and partnership plans. Show breakeven point, burn rate, and growth assumptions. What is the rate of return expected for the investor?

Elevator Pitch 146

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 146

YoungUpstarts

MAY 20, 2015

. “Looking to scale is a “rinse and repeat” function, as a start-up the job is to identify a repeatable and scalable business model. Once you have these 3 validations, with a few sales, or commitments, then the scaling is on!” ” – Ian Naylor, AppInstitute.

Colombia 100

Colombia Burn Rate Startup Agile 100

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 2, 2019

Benchmarks are typically specific to stage/business model/geo. In Rob Go’s words: For seed and Series A deals, investors will also need to see a high-potential team with founder/market fit , a large and attractive market opportunity , and a business model with increasing returns to scale.

B2C 141

B2C Technical Review Startup Retention 141

Professor VC

JULY 31, 2008

This whole process got me thinking about the textbook business model. of the sale price, respectively, according to the National Association of College Stores. One of the shrewdest groups in the music business and way ahead of their time was the Grateful Dead. Labels: business models , Grateful Dead , textbook.

San Jose 28

San Jose Software Review Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 27, 2011

And, oh by the way, we also really like the idea of the 1M/1M entrepreneurs building valuation and negotiating leverage through these business development efforts, instead of signing off large chunks of their company in form of equity early on. The game has started getting some traction already, and has a good virality index.

Dilution 114

Dilution Revenue Finance Entrepreneur 114

Professor VC

MARCH 10, 2009

The three founders shared a vision, built the exercise machines in the garage, and knocked on doors at health clubs, attended trade shows, and worked the phone to get initial sales. I take CFO roles in early stage companies and participate on the management team during the early financings and business model development phases.

Bootstrapping 28

Bootstrapping San Jose Silicon Valley Software Review 28

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

Market Type Integral to the Customer Development model is the notion that Market Type choices affect the way the company will deploy its sales, marketing and financial resources. In Customer Validation it is when you have enough early sales to declare that you have discovered a repeatable and scalable sales process.

Customer Development 242

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 242

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 9, 2012

Otherwise, sales, marketing, and operational costs will kill you. Next comes sales volume by channel. Your “burn rate” or net cash flow out is usually the single most important survival parameter to a startup. For even more value, you should develop a financial model. This forecast is really their commitment.

Forecast 238

Forecast Burn Rate .Net Business Model 238

Professor VC

APRIL 7, 2011

Others will attempt fire sales. I take CFO roles in early stage companies and participate on the management team during the early financings and business model development phases. Even the ones that do get to cash flow breakeven, will not likely be in a position where they could pay back the debt. Some will just shut down.

San Jose 36

San Jose Technical Review Angel Investor Valuation 36

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2013

Otherwise, sales, marketing, and operational costs will kill you. Next comes sales volume by channel. Your “burn rate” or net cash flow out is usually the single most important survival parameter to a startup. For even more value, you should develop a financial model. This forecast is really their commitment.

Forecast 238

Forecast Business Plan Burn Rate .Net 238

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 19, 2016

Then come the marketing, sales, and accounting considerations. While you absolutely need to keep an eye on earnings and burn rate, human capital is ultimately the fuel that makes the machine run. Developing your product is just the beginning. Your employees, after all, become part of what you sell. Study your game plan.

Startup 100

Startup Burn Rate Cofounder Salary 100

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 26, 2008

Challenge the Status Quo - StubHub entered an industry dominated by a couple of large players who had a vested interest to block the legality of their business of providing a marketplace for the sale of tickets in the secondary market. He definitely had a lot of people tell him that it couldnt be done. Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?

Technical Review 28

Technical Review San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2011

Otherwise, sales, marketing, and operational costs will kill you. Next comes sales volume by channel. Your “burn rate” or net cash flow out is usually the single most important survival parameter to a startup. For even more value, you should develop a financial model. This forecast is really their commitment.

Forecast 230

Forecast Burn Rate Startup .Net 230

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Thanks to you, immediately after I graduated I went on a few assignments for Glazer Capital which gave me the necessary experience that eventually led to my first "real" job out of college as a Pharmaceutical Sales Rep. In terms of entrepreneurship, I think that SJSU is behind. Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught? ► October. (1).

San Jose 43

San Jose Silicon Valley Las Vegas Venture Capital 43

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 12, 2008

Once the point is reached where you want to move ahead, we put the sales hat on and convince our partners about the incredible opportunity that we are lucky enough to be able to invest on the ground floor. While spending time with the entrepreneurs and championing the deal through the group, you tend to become emotionally attached.

San Jose 31

San Jose Technical Review Venture Capital Angel Investor 31

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2010

Otherwise, sales, marketing, and operational costs will kill you. Next comes sales volume by channel. Your “burn rate” or net cash flow out is usually the single most important survival parameter to a startup. For even more value, you should develop a financial model. This forecast is really their commitment.

Forecast 151

Forecast Startup Burn Rate .Net 151

Professor VC

AUGUST 26, 2011

Is the model consistent with the business plan? Does the business model make sense? Do you understand the business and market? The process of building the model forces you to answer the difficult questions related to the business model and give a complete picture of the opportunity.

Silicon Valley 35

Silicon Valley San Jose Hockey Stick Venture Capital 35

pandodaily.com

JULY 18, 2012

But it’s possible that as the secret sauce of new media swings farther from disruptive technology and business models to a focus on curated and quality content, it’s the older entrepreneurs who are in the pole position. There has to be nothing else in the world you can do and possibly be happy. Readers will always read.

Entrepreneur 45

Entrepreneur San Francisco Silicon Valley Technical Review 45

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 15, 2020

I got fired from a software sales job, started a systems integrator called MicroSolutions. Actually keeping the company in business, having it have a sustainable business model, having it pull in the funds that it needs to keep going, that's actually not a greedy thing to do. I'm Mark Cuban. I own the Dallas Mavericks.

Dallas 68

Dallas Employee Government Social Media 68

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 18, 2011

In this case, LinkedIn was the only logical one that came to mind and didn’t see a viable business model short of that result. I was curious about the sale price (not announced in any of the acquisition articles), but was disclosed in Linked-Ins S1 filing at cash proceeds of $2,394,000. Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?

Acquisition 31

Acquisition San Jose Angel Investor IPO 31

philipsmith.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

a year burn rate and your equity is worthless due to numerous recapitalizations and bridge loans from investors then either you don't get it or I'm stupid to do it. This same 'later stage can't pay you anything up front' ruse gets done for sales and marketing types, too. New Business Models.

Silicon Valley 40

Silicon Valley Equity Technical Review Recapitalization 40

Professor VC

JANUARY 20, 2009

At Fliqz, we met or exceeded the sales plan every month during the due diligence process. I take CFO roles in early stage companies and participate on the management team during the early financings and business model development phases. Same principle here. Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught? ► October. (1). ► July. (1).

Venture Capital 28

Venture Capital Silicon Valley San Jose Bootstrapping 28

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

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. You have to know your business model. Most startups launch before theyve figured out what business theyre in. Gattiker said.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

Up and Running

MAY 22, 2018

Every successful small business goes through four stages during its entire existence: Existence : expanding from pilot production to broad-scale production. Survival : generating enough cash flow to stay in business. Success : business model works and is stable, but there is still untapped potential.

Exit Strategy 90

Exit Strategy Angel Investor Search Elevator Pitch 90