Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Cash flow is a basic survival metric for every startup. Investors check your burn rate to assess your efficiency, and project your remaining runway before you run out of money and into a brick wall. It doesn’t take a financial genius to recognize that you need to keep your burn rate low.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

With the Covid-19 virus a worldwide pandemic, if you’re leading any startup or small business, you have to be asking yourself, “What’s Plan B? If you’re running a startup or small business, your first priority (after your family) is keeping your employees and customers safe. Burn Rate and Runway. “Winter is coming.”.

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

crowdSPRING Blog

OCTOBER 24, 2014

These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! 10 Best Practices For Email Marketing For Small Business and Startups – crowdspring.co/1t8KeUm. Small Business and Startups: Number One Leadership Skill – crowdspring.co/1CKROUS.

Social Media 95

Social Media Small Business Design Media 95

ReadWriteStart

JULY 9, 2023

Startups are romanticized, and sometimes it’s misleading for people who want to launch their own company. Mostly, stories about startups revolve around dropping out of university, from zero to hero narratives, and other quite fairytale-like ideas. A newcomer to the startup market may simply have no idea about all the nuances.

Intellectual Property 122

Intellectual Property Startup Burn Rate Metrics 122

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2021

Waste in a startup is any activity that burns resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. While his book goes well beyond controlling waste as an element of growth and success, I was struck by how relevant the waste points are for every startup and every small business.

Startup 404

Startup Lean Metrics Matching 404

David Teten

NOVEMBER 26, 2019

Instead of budget approvals, monitor key metrics and give managers more flexibility. However, in a startup the most common scenario is that projections get missed. Sean Colrock, Director of Client Partnerships at Wiss & Company , suggests at a minimum you track: cash on hand; fume date; and burn rate.

Agile 60

Agile Management Forecast Silicon Valley 60

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

That’s why we asked nine members from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) what metrics all founders should be aware of — always. Cash is the life-blood of any startup, and you should always have a pulse on how much of it you have left and how long it’s going to last. . – Ben Rubenstein , Yodle. No Specific Metric.

Metrics 146

Metrics Burn Rate Entrepreneur Forecast 146

Up and Running

OCTOBER 7, 2019

However, as a founder of a small business or startup, you’re juggling many things. You need to use your time and resources productively by focusing on the right metrics so you can use data to help you implement improvements that matter. The first step is to formulate a KPI strategy by selecting the right metrics to track.

Founder 71

Founder Retention Metrics Technical Review 71

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

You transition from “startup” to real business and it turns out that having an entire team be efficient is more important than that boundless energy but destructive nature of constantly changing direction from the CEO. Great startups have budgets. They can show the projections on what this does to burn rate.

Operations 150

Operations Metrics Early Stage Non-Compete 150

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. Startup Metrics. Here’s why. Managing the Business.

Balance Sheet 298

Balance Sheet Startup Burn Rate Metrics 298

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

They need to raise money before building anything substantial after determining that they needed a little dough to follow the Lean Startup methodology. Three months in, the burn is now at $70k/month. No updates, screen comps, or metrics have been publicly shared yet. In startup time, that feels like forever.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

Up and Running

JUNE 18, 2013

We’ll be using LivePlan to display these metrics. Keep an eye on both your monthly burn rate and any major payables to make sure you’re financially viable in the immediate future. Looking at your burn rate again (monthly ongoing expenses), project forward to see how much runway you have until you run out of cash.

Metrics 79

Metrics Burn Rate .Net Finance 79

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2015

A popular startup myth claims you don’t need one, since investors never read them. In my perspective as an advisor and mentor to many entrepreneurs, there are a set of basic strategies that can be applied to every startup to dramatically improve the odds of success, no matter what the business domain.

Elevator Pitch 120

Elevator Pitch Burn Rate Startup Metrics 120

Up and Running

AUGUST 21, 2014

One of the most important things a startup can do is make sure that they are keeping track of their data. In this webinar, we take time to discuss the different metrics that startups—and established businesses—should be tracking. In terms of pre-purchase, traffic and content metrics.

Metrics 84

Metrics Startup Churn Rate Forecast 84

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

I work with a lot of startups. The minute you try to monetize now they have metrics with which to beat you up and say you’re business has limitations.” The company with no revenue and a $150k burn rate that raised $2.5 Startup Advice' I have seen much of that behavior over the past 2 years get worse.

Burn Rate 412

Burn Rate Dilution Revenue Valuation 412

View from Seed

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Over the summer, based on feedback from our portfolio and the broader startup community, NextView created pre-formatted board deck templates for seed-stage startups — part of our Growth Guides series. A seed-stage mobile startup’s housekeeping section might look something like this: Section 3: Core Metrics.

Seed Stage 331

Seed Stage Cap Table Metrics Burn Rate 331

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 2, 2019

One question that keeps coming up when speaking with early stage entrepreneurs when it comes to funding, is what metrics the company needs to hit to raise seed/series A/B etc: What’s a good conversion rate? Is my churn rate below the category average? 500 Startups created a helpful primer on key B2C metrics.

B2C 141

B2C Technical Review Startup Retention 141

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. Board meetings that guide startups haven’t changed since the early 1900’s. The combination of Venture Capital and technology startups is only about 50 years old. Here’s how.

Silicon Valley 290

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 290

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. Board meetings that guide startups haven’t changed since the early 1900’s. The combination of Venture Capital and technology startups is only about 50 years old. Here’s how.

Silicon Valley 258

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 258

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2015

Your customers don’t care if you are targeting a billion-dollar market and growing at double-digit rates, but investors will skip small or shrinking opportunities. Large and growing markets imply a high startup growth potential, with high odds of scaling and success. First to market” is not sustainable by a startup.

Product 120

Product Intellectual Property Liquidity Event Burn Rate 120

David Cohen

MARCH 1, 2017

As an investor, I’m often asked what sort of burn rate is appropriate for a growing company. This question seems to come up right after a Series A raise when the startup feels flush with cash, has some level of product/market fit, and is wondering how much and how fast to try to grow.

.Net 91

.Net Burn Rate Cloud Metrics 91

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

Some will demonstrate strategically justifiable metrics and have fantastic ‘up round’ exits; others may see liquidation preferences kick in which will negatively impact founders and employees; others may fulfill the adage “IPO is the new down round” , which has been the case for more than half of the public companies on our list.

Liquidation Preference 70

Liquidation Preference Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net 70

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2015

private companies grow so quickly that their metrics catch up with their valuations. 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). public stocks go up and privates can grow into IPOs; or. start raising early.

Balance Sheet 150

Balance Sheet Valuation Burn Rate Stock 150

BeyondVC

DECEMBER 10, 2009

Financial models for startups are important from a big picture perspective, but I never like to get mired in the full details as things always change in the early stages. The other day I met with an entrepreneur I was advising as he prepared to raise his next round of funding.

Churn Rate 112

Churn Rate Burn Rate Startup Metrics 112

K9 Ventures

MAY 28, 2015

When a startup is just getting started it first needs to build its product/service. Once a startup has its initial product, or even a minimum viable product, it needs to start iterating on its revenue model the same way that it iterates on its product. I call this Revenue Development and have written about it before. >$0/month.

Revenue 48

Revenue Startup Burn Rate Cofounder 48

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. Board meetings that guide startups haven't changed since the early 1900's. The combination of Venture Capital and technology startups is only about 50 years old. Here's how.

Silicon Valley 117

Silicon Valley Balance Sheet Metrics Early Stage 117

Mucker Lab

MARCH 8, 2016

To use a startup fundraising analogy, our first fund was a small friends and family round; our second fund was a seed round that allowed us to validate the core hypotheses of our business; and Mucker III is our Series A. This is our third fund, which might make us seem like grumpy, rich, old VCs. We understand.

Burn Rate 60

Burn Rate Limited Partner Bootstrapping Portfolio 60

The Equity Kicker

JANUARY 10, 2020

It’s got a big burn rate, it’s too big to pivot, and it goes bust. And what are the metrics for customer love? But it’s by no means the only option, especially at the startup stage. For a high growth business, that can mean a 100% increase in key metrics and a much bigger valuation next time.

Partner 68

Partner Early Stage Portfolio Metrics 68

The Equity Kicker

JULY 16, 2015

What follows is a generalised model for startup team building. Companies with lots of cash sometimes add people more quickly, but that drives the burn rate up, often without a compensating increase in the chance of success. Start tracking key metrics and build a company dashboard. Develop brand values and core messaging.

eCommerce 60

eCommerce Burn Rate Early Stage Hiring 60

Up and Running

OCTOBER 1, 2014

Statdragon is a Saas platform that allows businesses to access and analyze metrics about their existing videos and optimize their video marketing strategy. To complicate things further, your startup is also frequently a side hustle while you hold down a day job. Nelson has some tips: Know your burn rate.

Bootstrapping 107

Bootstrapping Cofounder Portland Burn Rate 107

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 21, 2016

Every company goes through tough times – there is always bad news, so you are not alone, and if your investors have done multiple startup investments, they should know that very well. You should also include your burn rate and runway.

Burn Rate 48

Burn Rate Acquisition Revenue Metrics 48

Rob Go

FEBRUARY 29, 2016

I’m getting asked every day how the volatility in the market is impacting us at NextView and impacting startup companies overall. Mid stage companies need to look at their burn rates and try to do whatever possible to extend runway, focus on proving really great PMF and solid unit economics, and try to survive until better days.

Marketing 28

Marketing Dilution Burn Rate Seed Stage 28

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 27, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Friday, March 27, 2009 Cash is not king Cash on hand is just one important variable in a startup’s life, but it’s not necessarily the most important. These successful startups managed to have enough tries to get it right. What matters most is the number of iterations the company has left.

San Francisco 117

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 117

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Friday, March 13, 2009 Dont launch Heres a common question I get from startups, especially in the early stages: when should we launch? In fact, in most situations its a bad idea for startups to synchronize these events. Most startups arent so fortunate. My answer is almost always the same: dont.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

BeyondVC

JUNE 11, 2007

There is also another market metric that is driving a renewed interest in web-based companies for these lenders- they are getting funded by VCs (venture debt lenders mostly like to do deals with strong financial sponsors which increases their likelihood of getting paid back) and these startups are better able to manage their burn rates reducing risk (..)

Intellectual Property 60

Intellectual Property Covenant Warrant Equity 60

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

In February of last year, Fortune magazine writers Erin Griffith and Dan Primack declared 2015 “ The Age of the Unicorns ” noting — “Fortune counts more than 80 startups that have been valued at $1 billion or more by venture capitalists.” Next came Rolfe Winkler’s deep dive “ Highly Valued Startup Zenefits Runs Into Turbulence. ”

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

Up and Running

MAY 22, 2018

For any startup founder pitching their idea to investors, landing the deal is never a guarantee. Demonstrating to investors that you have a handle on key business metrics as they relate to your business model and forecast is essential. Nerdy term: Burn rate. So, what are they doing wrong?

Exit Strategy 90

Exit Strategy Angel Investor Search Elevator Pitch 90