Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

Non-credible funding request or unreasonable valuation. Investors are looking to buy a chunk of the business, not the product. They need to know how much money you need, and what portion of the current business you are willing to offer for the investment. Future unproven projections don’t set today’s valuation.

Due Diligence 308

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 308

thebarefootvc

JANUARY 27, 2014

Do I think we are in a valuation bubble? I think that later stage valuations are frothy (for reasons I explain below) while earlier stage valuations are starting to stabilize from previous highs (with the exception of the superstar serial entrepreneur) - turns out scaling in a sea of competition (both startup and entrenched) is not so easy.

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Valuation Venture Capital Investment Bankers 63

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

” Venture debt gives you those options, and particularly for companies that wind up doing well, then on your same cash-out date, you’d likely have achieved a better milestone thanks to fueling your spend, which would translate into a better valuation. NVV: Let’s talk about the seed stage specifically.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap. Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap. Seed-stage compatible: Like traditional equity VC investors, Flexible VCs accomodate early-stage investment risk within their portfolios better than a traditional RBI funder. Typical business stage.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 6, 2014

I remain the major shareholder in a number of what we consider “built-to-last” companies, all with strong valuations and ROI potential. Here are a few of my “rules” for young investors and inventors on the new VC paradigm path for starting new businesses: Remove the costs.

San Francisco 154

San Francisco Business Model Silicon Valley Coder 154

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

What’s the difference between an angel round and pre-seed round and why do I believe we’ll see more pre-seed rounds taking place in 2024? While the answers are somewhat semantic, the pre-seed funding round is making a comeback in 2024 startup financing.

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2018

Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. Government grants and industry partners are you best bet here, but Angel investors might give you $250,000 to $1 million, if you have the right business case and credentials. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 184

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 184

View from Seed

JUNE 11, 2019

I believe it’s more important to optimize on the right lead investor vs. the highest valuations at the seed stage (within reason). The strongest investors usually aren’t cheap, but typically don’t do things outside of the normal bounds for a company at the seed stage.

Syndicate 202

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Lead Investor 202

Women Entrepreneurs Can

NOVEMBER 19, 2022

Pre-Seed Investments. Investing in a startup at the pre-seed stage is a great way to get in early on to the next big thing. A standard financial tool used in early-stage startups is a convertible loan note. This allows you to skip the complicated valuation calculations. Seed Rounds.

Venture Capital 52

Venture Capital Early Stage Liquidity Event SEC 52

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. Government grants and industry partners are you best bet here, but Angel investors might give you $250,000 to $1 million, if you have the right business case and credentials. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 232

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 232

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2016

Non-credible funding request or unreasonable valuation. Investors are looking to buy a chunk of the business, not the product. They need to know how much money you need, and what portion of the current business you are willing to offer for the investment. Future unproven projections don’t set today’s valuation.

Due Diligence 120

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2016

Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. Government grants and industry partners are you best bet here, but Angel investors might give you $250,000 to $1 million, if you have the right business case and credentials. Congratulations!

Matching 120

Matching Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers 120

Hunter Walker

MAY 4, 2014

Not every company is raising money at the valuation you modeled. Second, we did an investment where we actually decided to own more than 10% because of the nature of the business model. For a seed stage fund like Homebrew, chasing hot markets seemed like madness.

Software Review 100

Software Review Vertical Seed Stage Portfolio 100

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

RCSMs premise is that they can reach an investment decision (and valuation) based on an application completed by the founders and take gut feel out of the decision process. They have launched a valuation tool that is free to try out. Labels: due diligence , early stage investing , moneyball , valuation. Steve Bennet.

Technical Review 38

Technical Review Early Stage San Jose Angel Investor 38

David Cohen

JULY 28, 2013

Companies in the UK that are raising a seed round typically have to go through the same diligence as a company raising an Series A round in the US. So there’s more diligence, more spreadsheet work and a lot more focus on actual valuations.

Seed Stage 62

Seed Stage New York Cofounder Bootstrapping 62

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 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

Rob Go

FEBRUARY 5, 2012

Usually financial metrics are pretty sparse at early stages and investors have a hard time giving companies “credit” for steady, linear progress. For seed stage companies, typically, it’s about: Compelling founder(s). You need to show me that the “real” business model can work.

Business Model 65

Business Model Seed Stage Valuation Vertical 65

Rob Go

JANUARY 7, 2013

We focus on investing in seed stage companies. We have pretty strong guidelines internally about how much capital we want to invest in a given company, at what valuation, and thus, what ownership we are looking for. Type of Product and Business: Consumer vs. B2B. Business model (intended or actual).

Portfolio 49

Portfolio Seed Stage Cofounder B2B 49

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2023

We will leverage the standard YC post-money SAFE document with a valuation cap, no discount , and a pro-rata side letter. Pre-Seed & Seed stage startup teams who could benefit from capital and engaged, hands-on mentorship from the NextView partnership & extended advisor network. Let’s do this! . Who You Are.

Programming 156

Programming Sacramento San Francisco Founder 156

David Teten

DECEMBER 12, 2017

645 Ventures , a New York City based VC firm, is one of the pioneers of a data-driven investment model to the seed stage. We are taking a mathematical (weighted coefficients estimation, probabilistic modelling, etc), human-system hybrid approach to early stage investing through this tool.

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 60

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 26, 2010

Seed stage investing is all about the team, so there may be something to this idea. Serial entrepreneurs would be more likely to have larger personal investment in the company, have taken outside investment at higher valuations and possibly less open to taking big "bet the company" type risks.

San Jose 28

San Jose Silicon Valley Venture Capital Angel Investor 28

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. Usually you get seed money from individual rich people called"angels." At this stage the company is just a bet. Thereis no rational way.

Startup 105

Startup Cofounder Software Stock 105

grasshopperherder.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Valuations. If there is traction, ok…there are some benchmarks and you can look at seed stage funding rounds. I was approached with one sweat equity offer that placed the valuation of the company at >$5 million pre-money and before even a seed round of funding. If you think I’m wrong, awesome.

Sweat Equity 41

Sweat Equity Equity Cofounder Non-Compete 41

View from Seed

APRIL 20, 2020

The program will be 100% virtual for now, replacing the diffuse mentorship model of most programs with a focus on few companies that get much more hands-on engagement with the NextView partners and our close knit set of advisors. We will leverage the standard YC post-money SAFE document with a valuation cap and no discount.

B2B 436

B2B Seed Stage B2C Programming 436

David Teten

MARCH 18, 2021

Valuation: $1M – $3M. 2) Business model-defined funds. For example, Point Nine Capital focuses on B2B SaaS and marketplaces at the seed stage, across many industries. B2B vs B2C) within the business model preference. . By contrast, Right Side Capital has a very tight thesis : .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital Deal Flow 78

Up and Running

MARCH 29, 2017

At the same time, I was starting to realize that both the elegance of cloud-based software and the business models it enabled were what really got me excited. Seed round funding mechanics follow a pattern. At the seed stage, the mechanics of getting money from investors is fairly straightforward.

Term Sheet 60

Term Sheet Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation 60

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

– Mike [link] Reply Jeff Skinner , on May 24, 2010 at 9:28 am said: Steve, you don’t know me though I use your ‘Customer Development process’ video in my classes (Entrepreneurship at London Business School). Jeff skinner Faculty, London Business School. Can we touch base on this.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Seed Stage Valuation Guide. broken vc model. Business Culture. Business Model Canvas. Business plan. business symbiosis. valuations. Useful blogs and links for startups. Best of Y-Combinator Startup Advice. Best of Y- Combinator Startup Advice. Raising Venture Capital. VC Experts.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53