David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

So you’re interested in raising capital from a Revenue-Based Investor VC. A new wave of Revenue-Based Investors (“RBI”) are emerging. I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. Rational burn profile, up to 50% of revenue at close, scaling down.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

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 always reduces risk to plan your business first. Set expectations accordingly.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

pexels A war chest is virtually always a competitive edge in all aspects that count, including employing key staff, public relations, marketing, and sales. The management of a company, its established track record, the size of the market, and the level of risk all play a role in determining a company’s valuation.

Seed Stage 133

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 133

The Startup Magazine

JULY 16, 2021

The lesson of the pandemic era is clear, as market conditions change, business models must evolve. Success is not, as you would think, about having stable business models across market conditions. There is one consideration that should be paramount in your thinking about your business model.

Business Model 167

Business Model Aggregator Revenue Analytics 167

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2014

The real milestone, proving the business model, is that first product sold for full price to a total stranger, leaving him happy. Of course, one sale isn’t really enough, so you need to get the first customer to recommend you to a second, and make sure the rate of sales ramps up quickly enough to keep the business alive and growing.

Business Model 248

Business Model Sales Customer Distribution 248

The Startup Magazine

JULY 7, 2022

All businesses have expenses and should have mechanisms to help them create budgets and track spending. It is common for startups to focus their expense management efforts only on their overall monthly expenses. Reimbursing employees for out-of-pocket business expenses. Start expense management early.

Management 156

Management Startup Finance Business Model 156

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

The goal is to transform dormant or underutilized assets into active capital that supports your business. It is also the time to take a hard look at your business model. Are there new revenue streams you can tap into? Are there inefficiencies that you can iron out?

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Bankruptcy Intellectual Property 140

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 4, 2019

At Wildcat, we recommend benchmarking your startup against the four core architectural pillars of the Traction Gap Framework: product , revenue , team and systems. Revenue Architecture. A comprehensive revenue architecture should be designed to enable a startup to generate and monetize awareness, engagement and usage.

Framework 127

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 127

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

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 always reduces risk to plan your business first. Set expectations accordingly.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

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 always reduces risk to plan your business first. Set expectations accordingly.

Product Development 177

Product Development Cost Developer Product 177

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2018

A version of this article appeared in the Harvard Business Review. The entrepreneur who founded and grew the largest startup in the world to $10 billion in revenue and got fired is someone you have probably never heard of. Sloan’s book My Years with General Motors , written half a century ago, is still a readable business classic.

Michigan 296

Michigan Cofounder Stock Forecast 296

YoungUpstarts

MAY 24, 2019

At Wildcat, we recommend benchmarking your startup against the four core architectural pillars of the Traction Gap Framework: product , revenue , team and systems. Revenue Architecture. A comprehensive revenue architecture should be designed to enable a startup to generate and monetize awareness, engagement and usage.

Framework 113

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 113

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 always reduces risk to plan your business first. Set expectations accordingly.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 23, 2013

Marketo filed for IPO with impressive 80% year-over-year growth in 2012, with almost $60m in revenue. of revenue, force-feeding sales pipelines with an unprofitable product. I know the argument: The pay-back period on sales, marketing, and up-start costs is long, but there’s a profitable result at the end of the tunnel.

Business Model 335

Business Model .Net Revenue IPO 335

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 always reduces risk to plan your business first. Set expectations accordingly.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2016

If you think the job of a CEO is to increase sales, then Ballmer did a spectacular job. He tripled Microsoft’s sales to $78 billion and profits more than doubled from $9 billion to $22 billion. If the Microsoft board was managing for quarter to quarter or even year to year revenue growth, Ballmer was as good as it gets as a CEO.

Azure 120

Azure Business Model Cloud Artificial Inteligence 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2016

If you think the job of a CEO is to increase sales, then Ballmer did a spectacular job. He tripled Microsoft’s sales to $78 billion and profits more than doubled from $9 billion to $22 billion. If the Microsoft board was managing for quarter to quarter or even year to year revenue growth, Ballmer was as good as it gets as a CEO.

Azure 120

Azure Business Model Cloud Artificial Inteligence 120

Gust

JANUARY 5, 2014

The real milestone, proving the business model, is that first product sold for full price to a total stranger, leaving him happy. Of course, one sale isn’t really enough, so you need to get the first customer to recommend you to a second, and make sure the rate of sales ramps up quickly enough to keep the business alive and growing.

Business Model 171

Business Model Sales Customer Distribution 171

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 21, 2020

No surprise during an economic crisis, over 81% of business owners are prioritizing cash flow management and are identifying ways to cut back spending and increase sales, namely by moving services online. Diversifying revenue streams (35%). The survey found the top activities are: Increasing marketing efforts (41%).

Small Business 147

Small Business Cofounder United States Technical Review 147

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

The real milestone, proving the business model, is that first product sold for full price to a total stranger, leaving him happy. Of course, one sale isn’t really enough, so you need to get the first customer to recommend you to a second, and make sure rate of sales ramps up quickly enough to keep the business alive and growing.

Business Model 244

Business Model Sales Customer Distribution 244

The Startup Magazine

JULY 16, 2021

The lesson of the pandemic era is clear, as market conditions change, business models must evolve. Success is not, as you would think, about having stable business models across market conditions. There is one consideration that should be paramount in your thinking about your business model.

Business Model 78

Business Model Aggregator Revenue Analytics 78

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2017

Entrepreneurs always work hard to create an innovative product or service, but often count on standard seller marketing for sales. Kristin Zhivago, in her classic book “ Roadmap to Revenue ,” makes the point that the selling system is broken, since sellers no longer sell the way customers are buying. Their perception is your reality.

Small Business 147

Small Business Revenue Technical Review Business Model 147

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2017

An effective tool I see used more and more, as a prelude to a more detailed business plan, is the Business Model Canvas , first introduced by Alexander Osterwalder back in 2008. In my experience as a new business advisor, a business is nothing until people are aligned and work in sync. Key activities. Try this one.

Business Model 143

Business Model Intellectual Property Startup Angel Investor 143

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

Write your business plan and develop your business model with this in mind so you can avoid these issues. . You can choose from a few different types of business plans depending on your needs. If you’re seeking investment, you need a traditional business plan. Team: Who is on your management team?

Business Plan 154

Business Plan Technical Review Forecast Software Review 154

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 23, 2019

It’s a well-known fact of business that customers must be the focus of a successful business model; hence the now-cliched idiom “the customer is always right”. But in this customer-focused model, some businesses make the mistake of neglecting to focus on their employees. Happy employees are less likely to leave.

Employee 113

Employee Customer Software Review Salary 113

Up and Running

AUGUST 24, 2020

Here are just a few things you can do by leveraging data analytics: Gain a better understanding of changing customer preferences Discover new business opportunities Identify and eliminate bottlenecks in your operations Minimize and better allocate advertising costs Provide greater customer support through automated chat. Here are our 4 tips.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Analytics Forecast Artificial Inteligence 131

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 10, 2017

Investors want to see in-depth financial reports that reinforce the startup has an organized business model with potential for revenue growth. These software programs are more efficient for managing a company’s finances. Professional accounting systems like Sage and Xero can help startups in this area.

Software Review 124

Software Review Technical Review Due Diligence Startup 124

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

More and more startups are pursuing Revenue-Based VCs , but “RBI” doesn’t fit everyone. As two fund managers employing Flexible VC, we think it is a healthy addition to the ecosystem and will yield more predictable and stable healthy returns for investors. Flexible VC 101: Equity Meets Revenue Share. Of the Inc.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2017

Every business needs to develop a revenue model even before a product. The alternatives range from giving the product away for free (revenue from ads), to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing). Freemium model – people pay for upgrade.

Revenue 166

Revenue Affiliate Advertising Retention 166

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2022

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. Unfortunately, the market is changing so fast these days that any upward climb can level off quickly, as the core business growth begins to stall.

Hockey Stick 265

Hockey Stick Guerilla Acquisition Startup 265

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2012

Entrepreneurs always work hard to create an innovative product or service, but often count on standard seller marketing for sales. Kristin Zhivago, in her book “ Roadmap to Revenue ,” makes the point that the selling system is broken, since sellers no longer sell the way customers are buying. Don’t start from how you want to sell.

Technical Review 234

Technical Review Business Model Revenue Social Media 234

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

While the impact on small businesses and workers in the “gig-economy” hasn’t made the news, it will be worse for them. They have fewer cash reserves and less margin of error for managing sudden downturns. But next the question is, ‘What happens to my business?”. What does your new business model look like?

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

Steve Blank

APRIL 21, 2011

This week they were testing their hypotheses about the sales “Channel” – how a company delivers its value proposition (i.e. Physical channels include Direct Sales, Rep Firms, Systems Integrators, Value-added Resellers, Distributors, Dealers, Mass Merchandisers, and Original Equipment Manufacturers. All that we expected.

Channel 233

Channel Artificial Inteligence San Francisco Business Model 233

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 29, 2024

Designing Your Business Model Crafting a business model is like building a blueprint for your venture. Revenue streams are another critical component of your business model. Revenue streams are another critical component of your business model.

Intellectual Property 138

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Business Model Bootstrapping 138

Up and Running

APRIL 30, 2020

” It’s been a favorite management tool of mine since my time as VP for a market research firm, and it’s a method I used for decades growing a software company from zero to well over $10 million in annual sales. Will businesses open slowly? Impact on sales: If sales go down 30%? Or will it take time?

Forecast 120

Forecast Balance Sheet Burn Rate Software Review 120

ConversionXL

JUNE 2, 2022

DocuSign combines both to fuel its sales funnel. ABM is a company-wide strategic approach to finding and converting specific accounts that add long-term value to your business, both financially and through industry standing and pulling power. Alignment can make all the difference to a business. The result?

Lead Generation 94

Lead Generation Marketing Sales Cycle Campaign 94

Up and Running

MARCH 14, 2018

Your revenue or business model. Impress the investors with what you and your team have accomplished to date (sales, contracts, key hires, product launches, and so on). Customer acquisition: Marketing and sales strategy. This is usually one of the most skipped sections of an investor pitch and a full business plan.

Hockey Stick 164

Hockey Stick Exit Strategy Technical Review Angel Investor 164