Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2018

A critical stage for most first-time entrepreneurs is getting their idea developed into at least a prototype to validate their technology. This process costs money, which professional investors are not willing to contribute, since their interest is in scaling a proven product and business model into a growth business.

Early Stage 225

Early Stage SBIR Technical Review Seed Stage 225

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan.

Technical Review 257

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Offshore 257

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Product Development 177

Product Development Cost Developer Product 177

Hunter Walker

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Incentives and the Cobra Effect [Andrew ‘Boz’ Bozworth/Facebook] – So I don’t know if the story Boz references here is fully accurate or has taken on some metaphorical expansion, but it’s worth sharing. This triggered entrepreneurs to start breeding cobras to collect the bounty.

Venture Capital 65

Venture Capital China Government Early Stage 65

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 3, 2022

Helping Entrepreneurs Get To Where They Want To Go Faster written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Elizabeth Gore and Carolyn launched Hello Alice with the goal of helping entrepreneurs thrive with access to funding, resources, mentorship, and more. 2:20] Why the Lewis Carroll reference? [2:59]

Entrepreneur 79

Entrepreneur Technical Review Networking Community 79

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2016

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Offshore 120

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

V: Should you raise venture capital from a traditional equity VC or a Revenue-Based Investing VC? With a portfolio that includes food, tech, and services, the fund is industry-agnostic and focused on the overlooked and underrepresented with high-margin business models. II: Who are the major Revenue-Based Investing VCs?

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

It included one firm who I asked not to call Salesforce.com as a reference (they were our largest pilot customer) and in their kindness they called Marc Benioff (the CEO) and asked his opinion. On December 3rd Brad Feld wrote a one paragraph blog post titled “ Raising Venture Capital &# in which he linked to my blog.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Note: When I say “seed stage startup,” I’m specifically referring to software/app startups that are eitherpre-product or early product. Startup X launches with XX millions of dollars of seed capital from a star-studded list of investors”. … Venture Capitalist have investors as well. TVR stands for: Team / Vision / Relationship.

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Startup Venture Capital 100

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2012

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. This is the dreaded “due diligence” process. Market need and size validation.

Technical Review 237

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Private Equity 237

www.xconomy.com

JUNE 9, 2012

New San Diego VC Firm Emerges as ‘The Moneyball of Venture Capital’. Here’s some big news for San Diego’s innovation economy: There’s a new venture capital firm in town—and its investment methodology represents a fundamentally different approach to the conventional business model for venture investing.

San Diego 40

San Diego Venture Capital Technical Review San Francisco 40

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2010

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. Tags: entrepreneur investor due diligence founder business. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 225

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Private Equity 225

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

. × At Greylock , my partners and I are driven by one guiding mission: always help entrepreneurs. It doesn’t matter whether an entrepreneur is in our portfolio, whether we’re considering an investment, or whether we’re casually meeting for the first time. Entrepreneurs often ask me for help with their pitch decks.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Blog About Log in Register Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition In the many thousands of articles advising entrepreneurs on what they have to focus on to build successful startups, much has been written about three key factors: team, product and market, with particular focus on the importance of product/market fit.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

Gust

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. This is the dreaded “due diligence” process. No validated pain, no deal.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Private Equity 152

David Teten

AUGUST 15, 2013

1) Corporate Venture Capital. Most VCs (including ff Venture Capital ) collect money from independent limited partners in order to form their fund. Some corporations emulate this model by creating their own wholly-owned VC entities, typically with one LP: the corporate balance sheet. 4) Accelerators.

Startup 114

Startup Technical Support Venture Capital Balance Sheet 114

Steve Blank

JULY 1, 2014

a language corporate innovation groups can use to communicate to business units and finance. Teams can prove their competence and validate their ideas by showing investors evidence that there’s a repeatable and scalable business model. data that investors, accelerators and incubators can use to inform selection.

Sacramento 311

Sacramento Framework Customer Development Lean 311

Up and Running

JULY 2, 2014

Picking the right attorney in your startup is as important as picking the right business partner. You can’t underestimate the importance of selecting an attorney who “gets” your business model, your market opportunity, and most importantly, your fundraising and exit strategy. Best of luck to you in your startup venture!

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Angel Investor Due Diligence Dilution 118

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

For a Series A round you want to prove you have built a repeatable and scalable sales/revenue model and understand all parts of the business model. Series B is about proving your net revenue model (can you be profitable?). Team, Product, Traction, Business Model and Market. Business Model.

Cofounder 431

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 431

Austin Startup

OCTOBER 15, 2017

What seems to be the best way to create customers and revenue may result in a business model that is out of vogue with the investment world and shortchanges you on enterprise valuation. Heck, there was no venture capital in Dixie in that era. He forgot a major highlight of the business model, and the damage was done.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Nevada Silicon Valley 48

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

“Hi [entrepreneur], I hope all is well. It looks as though you’ve built a very interesting business, and I’d love to spend some time getting a better understanding of your future plans for the company and if there is an opportunity to partner with [My Firm]. He’s on a fishing trip. They’re flattered.

Programming 294

Programming Entrepreneur Private Equity Equity 294

Austin Startup

MAY 29, 2019

As I mentioned at the beginning of this series/ebook, over the years I’ve noticed that I tend to frequently share certain Lucky7 posts with entrepreneurs we’ve backed , team members at data.world, or other startup investors I know. In totality, these posts are at least as long as most business books.

Networking 48

Networking Fractional CTO CTO Hire B2C 48

Steve Blank

MAY 26, 2009

Verticals Are Different I began to realize that entrepreneurs (and their professors) act like every vertical market and industry has the same set of rules. Entrepreneurs who have experience in the vertical market they’re entering do this analysis automatically. The verticallity of a particular market refers to its height in the tree.

Vertical 154

Vertical Silicon Valley Intellectual Property RSS 154

YoungUpstarts

JULY 1, 2019

Money makes the world go ‘round, and your business is no exception. Savvy entrepreneurs know there are numerous ways to fund their start-up. And some of the best use the methods below to get the fuel for their businesses. Grants are a big opportunity to get some money to start your dream business. Venture Capital.

Finance 127

Finance Angel Investor Offshore Equity 127

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

Last week, the House of Representatives passed the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act (H.R. 2930) , commonly referred to as Crowdfunding. Since small businesses are responsible for the vast majority of new jobs, legislators believe that these new rules will make it easier for entrepreneurs to raise capital and ramp up hiring.

SEC 54

SEC San Jose Angel Investor Accredited Investor 54

genylabs.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Defining Small Business Innovation. 2010 Top 10 Small Business Trends. Intuit Future of Small Business Resources. The Changing Face of Entrepreneurs. The Connected World of Entrepreneurs. When we reference organizations that have provided us funding in the last year we will note it. Small Business Blogs.

Equity 40

Equity Technical Review San Jose Stock 40

Life Beyond Code

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

One Million by One Million is a global initiative that aims to nurture a million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars each in annual revenue and beyond by 2020, thereby creating a trillion dollars in global GDP and ten million jobs. SM: In September 2008, when the first Entrepreneur Journeys book was released, D.D.

Programming 116

Programming Silicon Valley Bootstrapping Technical Review 116

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

Home Books for Startups Guide Secret History-Bibliography Steve Blank Startup Tools Steve Blank Entries RSS | Comments RSS Email Subscription Get Steve Blank via your RSS Feed RSS - Posts RSS - Comments Categories Air Force (12) Ardent (10) Audubon (1) Big Companies versus Startups: Durant versus Sloan (39) Business Model versus Business Plan (..)

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

Steve Blank

JANUARY 21, 2013

Jim Hornthal splits his time between venture capital, entrepreneurship and education. First, it allowed us to use the classroom time to dive deep into each team’s discovery narrative as it related to that week’s section of the business model canvas. Today he is the co-founder and Chairman of Triporati, LaunchPad Central.

Lean 287

Lean Cofounder Dividend Business Model 287

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

A fter years of talking with many of you in the Israeli startup industry, investors and entrepreneurs alike, I was invited to present some tips for entrepreneurs at the Launch48 conference in London this weekend. Note that the tips refer mainly to web ventures. View more presentations from Eze Vidra. Patented Technology?

Elevator Pitch 103

Elevator Pitch Incubator Technical Review Startup 103

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 30, 2009

Endianness” refers to the byte order of data stored in external memory. You know you have achieved product/market fit when you start getting orders (or users, eyeballs or whatever your criteria for success was in your business model.) At best it is a way to inform an entrepreneurs instinct and reduce risk.

Customer Development 283

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 283

Growthink Blog

MAY 23, 2011

An entrepreneur starts a company in classic " bootstrap " fashion - with a combination of sweat equity and their own financial resources. The angel then introduces the entrepreneur to his or her wealthy friends and business connections who, based on the good reputation of the referring angel, also invest.

Angel Investor 112

Angel Investor Venture Capital Sweat Equity Cram Down 112

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Please see later version of this post on May 16, 2010 Entrepreneurs are often not experts in the area of term-sheet negotiations and all of the surrounding issues.   Investors sometimes “present” the terms they’d like and expect the entrepreneurs to react. Term-sheets and Valuations: Thinking about Negotiations.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68