Hunter Walker

AUGUST 31, 2023

The idea of working at a company whose entire business model revolves around catering to buyers in the HR space felt like such a breath of fresh air. HW: I’m always surprised when someone considering ‘joining a startup’ has put a lot of thought into industry/vertical but not into stage of company.

Employee 113

Employee Startup Vertical Leadership 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. Government grants and industry partners are you best bet here, but Angel investors might give you $250,000 to $1 million, if you have the right business case and credentials. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

That approach may work for an entrepreneur who just sold a successful business for a huge profit, but it doesn’t work for the rest of us who are not proven successes yet, or don’t even have a business yet. At these stages, it’s all about you, and your ability to communicate and execute effectively. Lack of intellectual property.

Due Diligence 308

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 308

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Seed-stage compatible: Like traditional equity VC investors, Flexible VCs accomodate early-stage investment risk within their portfolios better than a traditional RBI funder. Eligible for favorable treatment under Qualified Small Business Stock exemption, if structured as equity. Typical business stage.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Austin Startup

MAY 11, 2017

We make a majority of our investments in those sectors and prioritize proven business models. 645 Ventures: A New Era of Venture Capital Investing Arena Growth Partners We help great leaders build great businesses. A New Kind of Venture Firm AutoChrome Autochrome is an inception and seed stage venture capital fund.

Private Equity 48

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage 48

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020

A team of great domain experts or very senior team members may struggle mightily when tasked with the early stage challenges of building and selling a disruptive product. We like to look at companies with a blank sheet of paper and ask “what is the biggest lift for this business in the next 1-2 years?”

Seed Stage 254

Seed Stage Early Stage Founder Portfolio 254

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

Especially in the early stages, so much about the company may change in how they think about product or go-to-market — and change multiple times — before raising an institutional round. NVV: Let’s talk about the seed stage specifically. Business model? Traction and revenue?

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 27, 2014

My partner Erik Rannala has had a similar experience, having worked as a VC at Harrison Metal before moving down to LA to co-found our seed stage venture firm. It’s probably not too controversial to say that the median level of sophistication of early stage entrepreneurs in Los Angeles is lower than that of Bay Area.

Los Angeles 138

Los Angeles Southern California Silicon Valley Technical Review 138

View from Seed

OCTOBER 28, 2019

Over the past few years, “pre-seed” as a distinct category has emerged within the early stage fundraising landscape. The milestones and the funding rounds to accomplish everything before that are much more specific and idiosyncratic to the specific startup based on the business model, sector, team composition, etc.

Seed Stage 247

Seed Stage Finance Dilution Early Stage 247

Women Entrepreneurs Can

NOVEMBER 19, 2022

A Venture Capital Firm is a firm that invests in startups and early-stage companies. Early-Stage Investments vs. Mid-Stage Investments. Investing in a startup company carries a high degree of risk, particularly at the early stage. Pre-Seed Investments.

Venture Capital 52

Venture Capital Early Stage Liquidity Event SEC 52

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

*This post is part of our “pitch deck” series where we dissect the seed stage pitch deck and discuss the ideal flow for a pitch. Now it’s time to set the stage with the early traction you have. Seed stage VCs are realistic about how much traction a very raw company might have.

Seed Stage 149

Seed Stage B2B Seed Capital Revenue 149

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2018

Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. Government grants and industry partners are you best bet here, but Angel investors might give you $250,000 to $1 million, if you have the right business case and credentials. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 184

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 184

Up and Running

JUNE 14, 2010

And the beneath-the-surface rumblings were about how it was screwing up the venture capital business model. In The Rise of Super Angels over at Small Business Labs, Steve King offers a good summary of a new trend. He says, summarizing the Giga Om post: Unlike traditional VCs, super angels actively invest in seed stage companies.

Disintermediation 66

Disintermediation Venture Capital Angel Investor Seed Stage 66

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital doesn’t publish frequently, but his essays on market trends and Benchmark portfolio companies are a window into how VCs view the world and the kinds of business models that they find most interesting. But, he also has great advice on growth strategies for early-stage companies. Sam Altman.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Silicon Valley Cofounder 60

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

What’s the difference between an angel round and pre-seed round and why do I believe we’ll see more pre-seed rounds taking place in 2024? While the answers are somewhat semantic, the pre-seed funding round is making a comeback in 2024 startup financing.

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. Government grants and industry partners are you best bet here, but Angel investors might give you $250,000 to $1 million, if you have the right business case and credentials. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 232

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 232

David Teten

DECEMBER 12, 2017

As a globally focused LP in early stage VC funds, we at Blue Future Partners have observed a growing trend of firms investing substantially in software tools, whether developing proprietary solutions or adopting off the shelf tools. But what tools are they using themselves to automate their own processes? Methodology.

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 60

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2016

Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. Government grants and industry partners are you best bet here, but Angel investors might give you $250,000 to $1 million, if you have the right business case and credentials. Congratulations!

Matching 120

Matching Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers 120

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

How would Billy Beane have done as an early stage investor? Below is a short description of their philosophy: "The part of our philosophy that makes us most different from other startup investors is that we dont believe gut feel is a reliable indicator of potential at the seed stage. ProfessorVC. Steve Bennet. at 2:32 PM.

Technical Review 38

Technical Review Early Stage San Jose Angel Investor 38

Professor VC

JANUARY 27, 2011

I strongly believe (at least for very early stage technology ventures) that you will get diminishing returns and arguably negative returns once you get past an initial threshold of team, product, market and financial diligence. This could include 2 short meetings and a couple of phone calls. Not exactly extensive diligence.

Technical Review 31

Technical Review Due Diligence Silicon Valley San Jose 31

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2016

That approach may work for an entrepreneur who just sold a successful business for a huge profit, but it doesn’t work for the rest of us who are not proven successes yet, or don’t even have a business yet. At these stages, it’s all about you, and your ability to communicate and execute effectively. Lack of intellectual property.

Due Diligence 120

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 120

K9 Ventures

JUNE 12, 2012

While it it may not feel that way, the data suggest that there is indeed too much capital in the system — especially so at the seed stage, with more and more individuals and larger funds trying to invest in companies at this stage.). This is because excessive capital becomes toxic for an early stage company.

Venture Capital 117

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Founder Seed Stage 117

Hunter Walker

MARCH 8, 2014

At a more mature technology company you’re protecting and extending your business model. Between the two is a hypergrowth stage where your initial product has great traction but there’s still urgency and risk in execution. You have the resources to build and launch, which means your work will see the light of day.

Liquidity Event 134

Liquidity Event Early Stage Seed Stage Startup 134

K9 Ventures

JUNE 12, 2012

While it it may not feel that way, the data suggest that there is indeed too much capital in the system — especially so at the seed stage, with more and more individuals and larger funds trying to invest in companies at this stage.). This is because excessive capital becomes toxic for an early stage company.

Venture Capital 105

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Founder Seed Stage 105

Early Growth Financial Services

JANUARY 20, 2014

As an early-stage venture capital investor with a keen emphasis on the seed stage, I spend a lot of time at startup accelerators working with first-time entrepreneurs. The quick answer is market, team, business model, projections, and the ask…prioritized in that order of importance. By Marlon Nichols.

Seed Stage 52

Seed Stage Venture Capital Limited Partner Early Stage 52

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

I recently got together with Aaron Shechet and an early stage startup to discuss the direction the company might want to take. In my case, I am breaking down “business” to its fundamentals, which begins with a definition of what, exactly, is a “business.” We occasionally get involved with very early stage startups.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Southern California Startup SEO 150

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

Especially at the early stages. A business like that will just have a really hard time raising money at the early stages, and if that’s feedback you are getting from at least 2 people, you may want to consider adjusting your plan and raise from angels and/or bootstrap for a long time. Basically zero.

Sales Cycle 54

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 54

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

Especially at the early stages. A business like that will just have a really hard time raising money at the early stages, and if that’s feedback you are getting from at least 2 people, you may want to consider adjusting your plan and raise from angels and/or bootstrap for a long time. Basically zero.

Sales Cycle 48

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 48

Mucker Lab

APRIL 6, 2023

Are there types of companies, market segments, industries, or business models where PLG does not make sense? What should an early-stage startup founder focus on if they want to implement PLG? But for early stage founders, I think there are two particular scenarios where PLG can be really helpful.

Product 78

Product CTO Hire Startup Fractional CTO 78

Hippoland

OCTOBER 16, 2016

In this post, I’m going to very *simplistically* dive into some high level categories and talk about how early stage investors consider each. Does the team know exactly what they need to do to go into business? These are some of the most important criteria to investing in seed-stage teams. Really really fast.

Startup 48

Startup Vertical Early Stage Bootstrapping 48

Hearpreneur

MAY 4, 2019

And Bionic Ventures is a vehicle for our partners to make early-stage investments into strategic portfolios when they don’t have their own corporate venture capital arm (or they want to invest in earlier stages than their CVC is set up to do).

Cofounder 66

Cofounder Founder Entrepreneur Venture Capital 66

Rob Go

JANUARY 7, 2013

Amidst the mass of new initiatives, new firms, new strategies, etc that constantly pop up in the early stage investing landscape, it’s helpful to have a clear articulation of what VC’s are focused on and how they see the world. We focus on investing in seed stage companies. Our Focus at NextView. Consumer: 9.

Portfolio 49

Portfolio Seed Stage Cofounder B2B 49

Rob Go

FEBRUARY 5, 2012

Usually financial metrics are pretty sparse at early stages and investors have a hard time giving companies “credit” for steady, linear progress. For seed stage companies, typically, it’s about: Compelling founder(s). You need to show me that the “real” business model can work.

Business Model 65

Business Model Seed Stage Valuation Vertical 65

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

Keep in mind that there is no “one way” to raise money Different investors will almost certainly have different models, and different regions may have different math. For startups the early stage funding landscape looks like this: Step 1: The Pre-seed round – you raise $100-$750K. Business Model.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Etc… At the pre-seed stage, a big way to stand out is if you have a V3 statement (as opposed to a V1 statement). The way you get to a V3 statement is to start running the business and charging customers. Although this post is about what I look for, every investor (incl pre-seed investors) looks for this.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Etc… At the pre-seed stage, a big way to stand out is if you have a V3 statement (as opposed to a V1 statement). The way you get to a V3 statement is to start running the business and charging customers. Although this post is about what I look for, every investor (incl pre-seed investors) looks for this.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

The Next Web

OCTOBER 23, 2013

There aren’t a tonne of funds focused on seed-stage funding worldwide, but we can add a new one to the list today. SparkLabs , the company behind the accelerator program in Korea , is expanding its scope with its first seed-stage fund that will “help great startups go global.”. Asia Entrepreneur Insider News sparklabs'

Seed Stage 139

Seed Stage Asia Silicon Valley 139