reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

we had no revenue. You may happen to emphasize the right points that pique an investor’s interest, but you shouldn’t leave your financing up to chance. Second, understand the broader financing climate. As a result, we knew that our pitch would need to steer into investors’ biggest concern: the lack of revenue.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

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

K9 Ventures

APRIL 27, 2011

Their business model was to provide retailers with a new interface for shopping for soft goods — something that hasn’t changed a whole lot since Web 1.0. In August/September 2009, the founders and I agreed to work together to raise a round of financing for the company. Modista had built Shopping 2.0.

Software Review 134

Software Review Technical Review IP Finance 134

Steve Blank

JANUARY 4, 2010

Now with customers and early revenue, it was out raising its first round of venture money. Staring at us in the board meeting were three term-sheets from brand name VC’s and an unexpected buy-out offer from Google. They grow their business via profits or traditional bank financing. Take No Prisoners.

Hockey Stick 276

Hockey Stick Venture Capital Startup Cofounder 276

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Technographics vendors such as Builtwith , Datanyze , HG Data , Stackshare, and Stacklist help CEOs identify the right tech platform on which to build their business; they’re also helpful for investors to due diligence a company’s tech stack choices. Lighter Capital, a Revenue Based Investing VC, offers a Cost of Capital Calculator.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Up and Running

JULY 26, 2013

A: Just focus on the market need, your business model, your team, what you’ve accomplished to date that is relevant to the investment, and your funding needs. A: The best moment for a Pitch is anytime you have someone that wants to know more about your business. Here is a Quoro discussion on this topic: [link].

Elevator Pitch 79

Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Term Sheet Business Model 79

Professor VC

JUNE 20, 2011

Financing, that is.I Now that iControl has raised over $100M, this got me thinking back to our original business plan. One truth of start-up financing is that it generally takes twice as long and twice as much money to accomplish your milestones. I took a look back at our original financial model we presented to VCs in 2004.

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Term Sheet Venture Capital 28

Pascal's View

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

Dan Primack posted an article in Term Sheet last week titled Yelp This: IPO Market Is Killing It. Clovis Oncology is set to price a $160 million offering, despite having a whopping $0 in revenue. Also on the docket is Lashou Group, which only reports $16 million in revenue for the first nine months of 2011.

IPO 31

IPO Term Sheet Marketing United States 31

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

When I was an entrepreneur there was no public information about how term sheets worked or how investors thought. forward revenue for SaaS businesses when in the years before it had been less than 5x. Why Financing in Falling Markets is So Damn Difficult. All of these are false. And so it goes.

Valuation 150

Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 22, 2018

Just because you have revenues and someone else doesn't doesn't mean We could have a whole conversation as to why certain groups are pitching or why they or not, and ways to increase the attempts to get funding--but I think what gets lost too often is the fact that getting funding is really difficult for everyone.

Founder 100

Founder Conversion Naming Term Sheet 100

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. This, of course, doesn’t mean that we discourage entrepreneurs to seek financing.

Programming 116

Programming Silicon Valley Bootstrapping Technical Review 116