Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

Notice that I didn’t say I wouldn’t invest in a founder with an MBA; there are many amazing entrepreneurs and investors with MBAs, such as my friend Aneel Bhusri of Workday. Like many first time founders, I ran over that landmine. In particular, Bill Sahlman’s Entrepreneurial Finance course was excellent.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

Notice that I didn’t say I wouldn’t invest in a founder with an MBA; there are many amazing entrepreneurs and investors with MBAs, such as my friend Aneel Bhusri of Workday. Like many first time founders, I ran over that landmine. In particular, Bill Sahlman’s Entrepreneurial Finance course was excellent.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

philipsmith.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Silicon Valley Frontlines. True founders - the gritty, enthusiastic, determined, change-the-world, passionate types - will do this for a long time, including well after they start paying others on staff some real cash. Life in the Valley. New Business Models. Tech Business Environment. Fundraising.

Silicon Valley 40

Silicon Valley Equity Technical Review Recapitalization 40

Steve Blank

APRIL 14, 2013

business models. But for the last decade “innovation” in Chinese software meant something different than it did in Silicon Valley. Entrepreneurs in Beijing were knowledgeable about Silicon Valley, entrepreneurship and the state of software and tools available for two reasons. Perhaps it’s the weather.

China 215

China Silicon Valley Non-Compete Intellectual Property 215

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

So what’s wrong the product development model? The first hint lies in its name; this is a product development model, not a marketing model, not a sales hiring model, not a customer acquisition model, not even a financing model (and we’ll also find that in most cases it’s even a poor model to use to develop a product.)

Customer Development 238

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

David Teten

MARCH 18, 2021

(co-written with Stephane Nasser , co-founder of OpenVC , an open-source initiative to collect and analyze all VC theses.). OpenVC is a new, open-source initiative to collect and analyze all publicly available VC theses, to help founders more efficiently find the right investors, and vice-versa. Technical founders .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital Deal Flow 78

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. Is there a profitable business model? How many are there?

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 10, 2011

This week, the startup tribe from Harvard Business School is making their annual trek to Silicon Valley. It’s a common refrain around Silicon Valley to disparage the role of MBA’s in entrepreneurship. Except when a startup is busy “pivoting” all the time, running around in circles.

Silicon Valley 167

Silicon Valley San Francisco Lean Investment Bankers 167

ReadWriteStart

MAY 5, 2011

The smart home business is still in the very early stages in India, and it will take some time before Evolutech ramps up. In addition, I asked him to do a competitive analysis on the pricing models of the various mobile app platforms and come back to me with both sets of market data, namely, customer research and competitive analysis.

Costa Rica 115

Costa Rica Incubator Silicon Valley India 115

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2009

Which at this stage of the company was marketing and financing. Our “Hollywood meets Silicon Valley” story played great in Silicon Valley, they ate it up in Hollywood, and the business press tripped over themselves to talk to us. Rocket Science seems to be a bit of an extreme case though.

Silicon Valley 122

Silicon Valley Product RSS California 122

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 11, 2019

She’s also a founding member of All Raise, a non-profit committed to improving diversity in both funders and founders. What I was interested in seeing was that a lot of these founders believe that they’re not just creating technology, they're creating change and culture. We didn't have signage on the door front.

Founder 68

Founder Lean Venture Capital Cofounder 68

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2023

We wholeheartedly believe in the potential of each company we select; the smaller batch size allows the NextView partners, who possess deep operating and founding experiences at companies like LinkedIn, PayPal, eBay, and Blue Apron, the space to spend meaningful one-on-one time with each founder every single week.

Programming 156

Programming Sacramento San Francisco Founder 156

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

What most founders don’t realize is: Every stage of a startup requires a different set of metrics and milestones and founder skills. Knowing these will help a founder position her pitch to get investors’ attention. Founders need to keep their eye on the prize — not just the next funding round. Business Model.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. RBI normally requires founders to pay back their investors with a fixed percentage of revenue until they have finished providing the investor with a fixed return on capital, which they agree upon in advance.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

By Daniel Sokolovksy, Co-Founder and CEO, WARP and Troy Lester, Co-Founder and CRO, WARP The dissolution of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was more than just a bank collapse, it was a reality check for both startups and the VCs that fund them. As a founder, ask yourself – does your business actually warrant VC funding?

Early Stage 112

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 112

Steve Blank

AUGUST 15, 2016

But to do it, you need to actually have a sustainable business model. Starting a business is too risky. The show follows the journeys of founders who share what it takes to build a startup – from restaurants to rocket scientists, to online gifts to online groceries and more. Wanting to create impact is great.

Cofounder 142

Cofounder Entrepreneur Africa Sales Cycle 142

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

That’s because obtaining a pre-money valuation for a concept level technology company in excess of $1 million is difficult, particularly for a startup founder without a proven track record. By contrast, obtaining a pre-money valuation of $5 million for a business with a new viable product and even very minimal sales is somewhat reasonable.

Private Equity 94

Private Equity Pre-Money Valuation Equity Startup 94

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 11, 2011

One theme seems to come up over and again, especially from geographies outside Silicon Valley: lack of a reliable pipeline of deals. On the topic of business models, Spencer proposed building traffic and then selling the company, which I pushed back on. She is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and strategy consultant.

Silicon Valley 105

Silicon Valley Columbus Ohio Incubator 105

Duct Tape Marketing

JUNE 28, 2023

She is a leading venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, where she mentors tech startups and helps them go public. 11:53] Is there anything about what’s going on right now in the current business environment that you think makes us a strong time? [15:25] Go to inbound.com to get your ticket today. (01:03): So there's that.

South Africa 66

South Africa Africa Global Silicon Valley 66

Steve Blank

AUGUST 15, 2016

But to do it, you need to actually have a sustainable business model. Starting a business is too risky. The show follows the journeys of founders who share what it takes to build a startup – from restaurants to rocket scientists, to online gifts to online groceries and more. Wanting to create impact is great.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Entrepreneur Africa Sales Cycle 120

Life Beyond Code

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

Through this journey, we have raised the visibility of fundamental issues like the causes of exorbitantly high infant entrepreneur mortality, and alerted the entrepreneur community with a simple observation: Entrepreneurship = (Customer + Revenue + Profits); Financing is Optional. The rest of the services are for paying members only.

Programming 116

Programming Silicon Valley Bootstrapping Technical Review 116

Up and Running

DECEMBER 9, 2014

Bates: Good morning and welcome to our CEO panel, “How to Fine-Tune Your Small Business Finances From Funding to Growth” which I think is the direction that we would all like to be going. I’m here with some really phenomenal CEOs who are going to talk to us today about small business finances from funding to growth.

Small Business 95

Small Business Finance Forecast Metrics 95

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

Siddhesh has already validated his business and is catering to home buyers, sellers, and brokers, generating revenues from advertising and sponsorships as well as brokerage revenue sharing. As I keep reiterating, 99% of the businesses that go out for financing get rejected. He wants to penetrate the Indian market. ServiceSutra.

Brazil 115

Brazil India Entrepreneur 115

Steve Blank

JULY 25, 2011

Scientists and engineers as founders and startup CEOs is one of the least celebrated contributions of Silicon Valley. ESL, the first company I worked for in Silicon Valley , was founded by a PhD in Math and six other scientists and engineers. Why It’s “Silicon” Valley. It might be its most important.

Engineer 305

Engineer Silicon Valley United States Venture Capital 305

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

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. Silicon Valley, New York). Yet boards of large companies exist to monitor efficient strategy and execution of a known business model.

Silicon Valley 290

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 290

Austin Startup

MARCH 1, 2018

Intro to the Austin EdTech Startup Scene Come meet Sean Duffy , founder of EdTech Austin and let him tell about everything going on in EdTech in Austin! Attracting VC Funding Outside Silicon Valley Panel We do a lot of things differently in Texas, including fundraising. as in pro wrestling?—?you’re and easy to remember?—?framework

Technical Review 89

Technical Review Austin Texas Cofounder 89

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

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. Silicon Valley, New York). Yet boards of large companies exist to monitor efficient strategy and execution of a known business model.

Silicon Valley 258

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 258

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 24, 2011

The discussion today was around Social Media financing and go-to-market strategy. Additional work in figuring out the precise go-to-market consumer, academic institution, or enterprise - each is a different business), and consequent business model and pricing model will help enhance the company's valuation.

Illinois 114

Illinois Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Chicago 114

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 16, 2011

Zendesk is heavily financed by Benchmark and Charles River and has 10,000 customers. The company already has paying customers and a validated business model. The founders, Sunil Guttula and Abinasha Karana, are experienced IT professional with 15 years of experience between them solving various enterprise IT problems.

India 123

India Bootstrapping Non-Compete Entrepreneur 123

Start Up Blog

OCTOBER 11, 2018

Firstly, there are a lot of businesses calling themselves a startups , when in reality, they’re really just new, small businesses. Startup = A new type of business trying to uncover a business model which doesn’t exist yet. The Silicon Valley ethic now runs deep – despite the current tech-lash.

Startup 144

Startup Silicon Valley Cofounder Distribution 144

Gust

AUGUST 22, 2012

One commonly used approach is to identify widely felt “pain points” in the target market; build a workable solution to address them using particularly effective or efficient means; and if the business model pencils out, work like crazy to execute, execute, execute.

Technical Review 172

Technical Review Egypt Morocco Russia 172

K9 Ventures

JUNE 12, 2012

Some days in Silicon Valley it feels like there are more investors than there are entrepreneurs. This situation is not always in the best interest of founders. Founders typically get their equity in a company once — at the time of founding and then get diluted with each subsequent round of financing.

Venture Capital 117

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Founder Seed Stage 117

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 13, 2011

You then become dependent on outside financing, and that is a slippery slope. Please remember, free is not a business model. a healthcare IT business for managing compliance requirements for pharmaceutical and medical device companies, recording transactions that involve payments to physicians. I said, no.

Business Model 122

Business Model New Hampshire Dallas Entrepreneur 122

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

Tracy DiNunzio isn’t your typical Silicon Valley startup founder. Unfortunately Tracy would learn first hand not much later that the business model has two components: both buying and selling. She found non-traditional financing. She’s a painter and a self-proclaimed Bohemian. She never gave up.

Silicon Valley 363

Silicon Valley Cofounder Entrepreneur Startup 363

Steve Blank

JANUARY 25, 2010

In this post we’re going to offer a new definition of why startups exist : a startup is an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. A Business Model. Ok, but what is a business model ? A business model describes how your company creates, delivers and captures value.

Agile 335

Agile Startup Silicon Valley Business Model 335

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

Managewith.us - Collaborative Task Manager Mavenlink - manage project communications, documents, schedules, budgets, payments Industrial Logic – Agile eLearning Misc Office Help Google Apps – cloud mail server, calendar, docs, etc.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

Lightspeed Venture Partners

OCTOBER 7, 2012

I’ve been writing up reviews of this season’s Shark Tank pitches from a silicon valley VCs perspective. The first company started as a BBQ catering business, and eventually focused in on their most popular product, a dip made of blended up chicken plus various sauces. BACK 9 DIPS. Fair enough too.

Technical Review 110

Technical Review Technical Cofounder Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 110