Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Posted on September 14, 2009 by steveblank Over the last 30 years Wall Street’s appetite for technology stocks have changed radically – swinging between unbridled enthusiasm to believing they’re all toxic. On top of all this it was considered very bad form not to have at least four additional consecutive quarters of profits after an IPO.)

Silicon Valley 223

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 223

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Term-sheets and Valuations: Thinking about Negotiations.   I’ve sat down with entrepreneurs and a copy of a term sheet guide I like [ “Term Sheets & Valuations - A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Venture Capital Term Sheets & Valuations ” by Alex Wilmerding, Aspatore Press.] The Valuation Question.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Start Up Blog

MAY 13, 2019

Last Friday night, I did a TV interview on ABC regarding Uber’s long awaited IPO. An IPO is when a company first becomes a publicly traded stock that anyone can buy and hold. The Valuation: Uber was priced at $45 USD per share giving it a valuation of around $82 billion USD.

IPO 48

IPO Valuation Stock Cost 48

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

The value ascribed by subsequent investors (in a secondary); buyers (acquisition); or the public markets (IPO). Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap. Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap. Typical business stage. An already proven business model and its already valuable assets.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 1, 2019

What was one of the highest flying start-ups with a private market valuation of $47B was brought down to Earth when trying to IPO. The major point that often gets forgotten is that no business model is the same. Great start-ups can be built in many categories and with many different business models.

Valuation 116

Valuation Vertical IPO Business Model 116

Start Up Blog

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

– – – The Tale of 2 Tech IPO’s. Given that everyone is so in love with technology investments, it seems many players are claiming to be something they are not. In fact, almost every business relies on software in some way. DOOR DASH – IPO. AIRBNB IPO. Valuation around $30b.

IPO 62

IPO Valuation Software Venture Capital 62

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2018

I’m a technologist, so I always love to learn about the product, but every investor needs to make sure you have a business, as well as a product. Unfortunately, customers look for value in solving their problem, and new technologies alone scare them, so these solutions don’t get bought by customers, or funded.

Product 145

Product Intellectual Property Liquidity Event Exit Strategy 145

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 25, 2015

The key reason for the explosion in capital flowing into the industry, and therefore the large increase in practitioners, had nothing to do with 1970’s performance, early stage investing, or technology. So contrary to the piece, it wasn’t VC were good at early stage technology, it was that they had newfound capital and a big exit window.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital SBIC Technical Review Silicon Valley 70

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

The signals are loud and clear : seed and late stage valuations are getting frothy and wacky, and hiring talent in Silicon Valley is the toughest it has been since the dot.com bubble. With Netscape’s IPO , there was suddenly a public market for companies with limited revenue and no profit. Carpe Diem.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

Steve Blank

JULY 15, 2010

The collapse of the IPO market and dysfunctional math in the venture capital community has stacked the odds against you. Most of the startups they invested in either died by running out of money before they found a scalable business model or ended up in the “land of the living dead” by never growing (failing to Pivot.).

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 299

Growthink Blog

APRIL 15, 2015

Now given that the company has yet to even come close to breaking even, this can be viewed as either a great validation of Domo''s business model, or as more evidence of the “Bubble Mania” of the current technology financing landscape and a screaming signal to get out while you still can.

Valuation 48

Valuation Venture Capital Finance Acquisition 48

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, September 22, 2008 The three drivers of growth for your business model. The AARRR model (hence pirates, get it?) He also has a discussion of how your choice of business model determines which of these metric areas you want to focus on. Choose one.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

If I’m interested I get to spend more time with them, if I’m not I don’t have to – A few companies per month come in that have fascinating business ideas that warrant my spending more time trying to understand their people, company, technology and market.

Technical Review 312

Technical Review Due Diligence Spain Warrant 312

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2012

Solution product & technology. Describe your technology patents and “secret sauce”. Business model. What is the current valuation of the company? What is the planned exit strategy (IPO, merger, sale, including likely candidates)? Fuzzy terms like “not user-oriented” or “too expensive” are not helpful.

Elevator Pitch 247

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 247

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

. — Unremarked and unheralded, the balance of power between startup CEOs and their investors has radically changed: IPOs/M&A without a profit (or at times revenue) have become the norm. Technology cycles have become a treadmill, and for startups to survive they need to be on a continuous innovation cycle. Board Control.

Founder 252

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 252

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 26, 2011

PS.there are various companies in this article I have or have had business involvements with. Election years tend to be good for technology diffusion. What's the business model? That aside, here are ten areas I think you'll see some interesting things happening in 2012. Reader beware.). Open Government.

Technology 116

Technology Valuation Community Restful 116

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

As a startup advisor and investor, I recommend a pitch deck with about 10 slides backed up with a written business plan of approximately 20 pages, both containing quantified answers to the following key questions. What is the business problem you are solving? How does your business model make money?

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Advisory Board Liquidity Event Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2011

Solution product & technology. Describe your technology patents and “secret sauce”. Business model. What is the current valuation of the company? What is the planned exit strategy (IPO, merger, sale, including likely candidates)? Fuzzy terms like “not user-oriented” or “too expensive” are not helpful.

Elevator Pitch 234

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 234

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 26, 2014

As further market proof of the power of Drupal in the enterprise, Acquia has received about $100 million in funding in the past 3 months, which puts its valuation at over $1 billion. They kind of invented this business model. Google has optimized this open source to freemium model in almost all of its products.

Founder 42

Founder Los Angeles PHP Open Source 42

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

Solution product & technology. Describe your technology patents and “secret sauce”. Business model. What is the current valuation of the company? What is the planned exit strategy (IPO, merger, sale, including likely candidates)? Fuzzy terms like “not user-oriented” or “too expensive” are not helpful.

Elevator Pitch 235

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 235

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

Many entrepreneurs scare away potential investors by claiming that their technology represents “truly disruptive technology.” Explain the business model. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment.

Business Plan 283

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 283

Tim Keane

MARCH 9, 2011

.  Depending upon whether he chooses to retain or sell the business in the future, the same sorts of scenarios as previously discussed – probably apply. Example four: substantial milestone-based progress that does not generate cash but will attract an acquirer or facilitate an IPO.     Search.

Finance 83

Finance Bootstrapping Startup Equity 83

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

Many entrepreneurs scare away potential investors by claiming that their technology represents “truly disruptive technology.” Explain the business model. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment.

Business Plan 290

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 290

Gust

AUGUST 19, 2012

Solution product & technology. Describe your technology patents and “secret sauce”. Business model. What is the current valuation of the company? What is the planned exit strategy (IPO, merger, sale, including likely candidates)? Fuzzy terms like “not user-oriented” or “too expensive” are not helpful.

Elevator Pitch 146

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 146

ReadWriteStart

MAY 30, 2011

As an entrepreneur it can be dizzying to watch Groupon and Living Social grow so quickly, raising huge venture rounds at massive valuations while contemplating multiple billion dollar acquisitions and IPOs. eBay certainly has enabled purchases and built a very large business doing this. Trends Enabling this Change.

Advertising 116

Advertising Business Model Revenue Mobile 116

Growthink Blog

MAY 21, 2012

Obviously the Facebook IPO has absolutely dominated the business news this past week, and for very good reason. Not only was it the biggest technology IPO in history, but the company in just a few short years has embedded itself into the very fabric of the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. read more.

IPO 81

IPO Valuation Search America 81

Gust

AUGUST 5, 2012

Many entrepreneurs scare away potential investors by claiming that their technology represents “truly disruptive technology.” Explain the business model. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment.

Business Plan 182

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 182

Growthink Blog

FEBRUARY 25, 2015

It is an extremely cool piece - profiling seven (two companies on the list had multiple rounds) of the highest flying technology companies in the world. And the emphasis is clearly on the World - as four of the seven companies profiled ( Didi Dache , Flipkart , Meituan , and Xiaomi ) have businesses focused outside of the United States.

Venture Capital 48

Venture Capital Private Equity United States China 48

Ben's Blog

AUGUST 17, 2020

When speaking with founders and private growth investors, we hear countless references to “multiples paid” on current or near-term revenue; both obsess over this because a higher multiple translates to a higher valuation. How valuation multiples work Why did multiples become a shortcut-heuristic for estimating valuations in the first place?

Valuation 36

Valuation Balance Sheet Cofounder Forecast 36

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Many entrepreneurs scare away potential investors by claiming that their technology represents “truly disruptive technology.” Explain the business model. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it requires at least 100M users and $50M investment.

Business Plan 186

Business Plan Exit Strategy Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 186

Growthink Blog

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

Now let's turn to the only topic that self-interested and red-blooded investors really care about when it comes to Facebook and its IPO. Over the last two weeks, we have discussed the lessons of liquidity , sector, and outliers to be learned from the extraordinary returns earned by Facebook's early investors.

Silicon Valley 78

Silicon Valley Private Equity Early Stage Equity 78

abovethecrowd.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2015

Every successful technology company raises money throughout its lifecycle, perhaps starting with a seed investment and progressing through Series A, B, C, late-stage investments, and, for the most successful companies, an IPO. An unprecedented 80 private companies have raised financings at valuations over $1B in the last few years.

IPO 40

IPO Liquidation Preference Valuation Technical Review 40

Agile VC

JANUARY 13, 2016

Was this simply a shift in sentiment among the tech & business media? A realignment of valuations by late stage investors? Technology leverage inherent in a world of ubiquitous connected computing. But growth dried up (due to competitive pressures, changes in business model, etc) and today Zynga has a market cap of $2.2B

Technical Review 157

Technical Review .Net Revenue Software Review 157

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Yes, it’s true that FOMO (fear of missing out) is driving some irrational behavior and valuations amongst uber competitive deals and well-financed VCs. IPO markets had burned an entire cycle of retail stock investors and many institutional investors to boot. I believe it’s truly morning in the technology sector. And the future?

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Microsofts originalplan was to make money selling programming languages, of all things.Their current business model didnt occur to them until IBM droppedit in their lap five years later. Its not what people learn in classes at MIT and Stanford that has made technology companiesspring up around them. Its the same with technology.

Startup 105

Startup Cofounder Software Stock 105

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

Friendster’s valuation set the tone for the entire social networking space. Press and analysts characterized LinkedIn in one of two ways: “LinkedIn is an interesting niche that might be worth paying attention to” or “LinkedIn is the Friendster for business”. The general rule is one business model drives the business.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

Cracking the Code

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

The Deutsche Bank report has a very interesting chart on the topic presenting the Free Cash Flow margins vs. the revenue growth four years post IPO for select software leaders: As you can see, with 20% Free Cash Flow margin and a 50% growth rate, Salesforce is well positioned in the pack! SaaS 13 Index Valuation. My Investments.

Software Review 48

Software Review Software Technical Review Cloud 48