Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

Last week ZipCar began trading and has a market cap of about $1 billion. Kayak was started here in my backyard of Boston… co-founder & CTO Paul English and the product/engineering team is based here in Concord MA. Co-founder & CEO Steve Hafner and the business team are based in Norwalk, CT.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

www.avc.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Employee Equity: How Much? The most common comment in this long and complicated MBA Mondays series on Employee Equity is the question of how much equity should you grant when you make a hire. To be clear, these are hires we are talking about, not co-founders. Or it can be a public market comp analysis.

Equity 64

Equity Employee CTO Hire Fractional CTO 64

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 135

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 135

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Think about this; 7 years ago Nokia owned 50% of the handset market. Fast-forward to today—Apple is the most profitable Smartphone company in the world and in Spain Android commands a market share of more than 90%. Its worldwide market share of Smartphones has dwindled to 5%. Apple owned 0%.

Private Equity 329

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 329

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

But truthfully both Dana and I are more aligned with the lean startup principles and believe you only go FAT when you’ve really proved out your product / market fit. The “private sale” market phenomenon was started in France by Vente-Privee (literally means “private sale”) and was replicated in Germany by BrandsforFriends.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Helping Entrepreneurs Buy And Sell Their Agencies written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Marketing Podcast with Amanda Dixon. In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast , I interview Amanda Dixon. Amanda is the Co-founder at Barney an M&A firm that specializes in the digital marketing space.

Entrepreneur 77

Entrepreneur Technical Review Cofounder Valuation 77

Steve Blank

MAY 19, 2015

Startups focus on speed since they are burning cash every day as they search for product/market fit. Equally important their VP of Marketing had brilliantly executed a stream of social media campaigns (Facebook likes and partnerships, email campaigns, etc.) These shortcuts add up and become what is called technical debt.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Salary Early Stage Software Review 120

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 10, 2023

Hufnagel, who possesses an intrinsically driven personality, leads with passionate optimism that pushes him beyond obstacles—and he looks for employees who share his unbridled enthusiasm. He knows that quality of startup hiring is linked to the tone the founder sets for the company. Famous Entrepreneurs and Hiring the Best Employees.

Hiring 153

Hiring Founder Sweat Equity Cofounder 153

www.entrepreneur.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Money Money Home Financing Taxes Accounting Basics Personal Finance Money Management Payments & Collections IPOs and DPOs Will Crazy Market Moves Kill IPOs and Slash VC Investment? Posted in Franchises 30+ days ago Which Franchise Markets Are Most Profitable? Financing Some Jobs Act Proposals Make Headway. BY Asheesh Advani. |.

Sweat Equity 55

Sweat Equity Equity Fractional CTO CTO 55

VC Cafe

JULY 4, 2022

The WSJ confirmed what we already know: Q2 venture capital investments declined both in size and in valuation. Venture Capital Feels the Stock Market’s Pain, Wall Street Journal. The public markets meltdown continues to have a trickle down effect on venture-backed private companies. Declining investment: U.S. How bad can it get?

Venture Capital 167

Venture Capital Valuation Private Equity LP 167

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

Funding challenges and other issues founders face in the early days of starting up were the focus of interviews with the latest guests on Entrepreneurs are Everywhere , my radio show on SiriusXM Channel 111 (airing weekly Thursdays at 1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern). Will Zell , co-founder and CEO of Nikola Labs wireless power company.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Ohio Columbus Entrepreneur 120

David Teten

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

Download the Startup Options Valuation model here. Such a model is particularly helpful for those founders looking for a co-founder or key employee. Since he graduated, he’s now Founder and CEO of a Latin America-focused based startup, Participa.me (“I participate”).

Employee 155

Employee IRR Startup Mexico 155

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 5, 2019

by Dan Abatte, co-founder of 81-c. Entrepreneurs nowadays want to boast about brand-name investors, huge rounds of funding, and a team of high-skill employees. Are you fresh out of Y Combinator with $1 million in funding at a $10 million valuation? Growth rates don’t pay employee salaries. Making it” is relative.

Valuation 162

Valuation Cofounder Metrics SEC 162

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 24, 2011

Our co-host for the program was TiE Midwest, based in Chicago. In addition, Priyanshu is also considering an enterprise solution with the notion of cleaning up the profiles of employees (based on social media policies) of objectionable material. The discussion today was around Social Media financing and go-to-market strategy.

Illinois 114

Illinois Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Chicago 114

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 10, 2022

I love working with great people and as a venture capitalist, am fortunate the number of founders I’m impressed by far exceeds our investment capacity. Here’s an example of a founder that I’ve known for a while who recently raised a seed round with different firms than ours. fundraise came about & why it didn’t include me (yet).

Cofounder 89

Cofounder Founder Acquisition Startup 89

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

The extreme example of this are algorithmic investors in the public markets, who design algorithms which trade on the designer’s behalf, as opposed to making trading decisions directly. High-frequency trading, algorithmic by its nature, is estimated to account for at least 50% of US equity markets trading volume. . 1) Market fund.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

The Startup Magazine

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

Investments from capital markets to real estate plummeted. These shares propelled him to billionaire status in 2015 when the firm’s market value soared. He started it in 2009 with 10 employees and sold it to Susino Umbrella in 2014. This company’s valuation peaked at $10 billion in 2013/2014. Source: Pexels. Sean Belnick.

Cofounder 146

Cofounder Venture Capital India Valuation 146

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 9, 2013

Do you ship your product in what you don’t feel is feature complete so that you can be in market first or should you hold back and deliver a product you believe will get better reaction from the market but is 3 months later? It’s why I caution people about whom you choose as your co-founder. Or firing people.

Burn Rate 413

Burn Rate Cofounder Dilution Valuation 413

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Entrepreneurs and investors who have spent any time dealing with convertible debt seed financing transactions are likely to have encountered the subject of valuation caps. Valuation caps can come into play in settings other than seed-stage convertible note financing rounds. Read on for a fuller explanation.

Valuation 98

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 2, 2014

One of my favorite aspects of the tech industry is that behind the noise, the tweets, the press headlines, there’s a depth of operator-founders who build amazing, lasting and valuable companies. For some reason I have always been turned off by the self-promotion founders do in an effort to get coverage. Intentional strategy?

Entrepreneur 132

Entrepreneur Angel Investor Cofounder Founder 132

Altgate

JUNE 25, 2012

Re-posted from post co-authored with Prof. —————– Dead equity — equity held by employees and founders no longer working at the company — is a large and growing problem. For more about this, see Eric Ries’ blog post and excerpt from The Founder’s Dilemmas.). million.

Equity 44

Equity Vesting Cap Table Technical Review 44

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

For starters let me use “CEO” as a proxy to include her “inner circle” which might mean co-founders or might just mean senior execs of the business. The Mind of the Founder. A $1 trillion global market. The mind of a founder is wired differently than most people. Are tacking. Runway of cash.

Startup 417

Startup Dilution San Diego Stock Options 417

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 21, 2016

Bill Gurley wrote an incredible post yesterday titled On the Road to Recap: Why the unicorn financing market just became dangerous … for all involved. “Many Unicorn founders and CEOs have never experienced a difficult fundraising environment — they have only known success. It’s long but worth reading every word slowly.

Marketing 70

Marketing Down Round Startup IRR 70

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 18, 2019

by Chris Grey, co-founder and COO of CapLinked. So founders, listen up: Before envisioning your new company as the next headline-making unicorn, consider all the hard work — and luck — it takes to even reach profitability. That way, founders can set reasonable, attainable goals for their team and their company.

Cofounder 127

Cofounder Startup Private Equity Equity 127

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 29, 2018

Since I first wrote about the Golden Age in 2014, valuations for tech companies have only increased?—?rather The teams are made up of founders who are dramatically younger. The teams are made up of founders who are dramatically younger. The good thing about young founders is that they don’t know what’s not possible, Wood said.

Cofounder 48

Cofounder Austin Technical Review Advisory Board 48

Up and Running

APRIL 11, 2016

Step 2: Market research and idea validation. How do you know you’ve picked a niche in the real estate market that actually has a target audience? These questions and many more like them can be answered in the initial market research phase. Do market research early. Do market research early.

Reputation 60

Reputation Cofounder Naming Business Plan 60

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 7, 2017

But employee option pool is important enough that I wanted to briefly expand upon my comment above. Employee options pools, typically created at the point of financings, shouldn’t be treated as haggling over dilution, but rather a strategic resource that will help founders build the best team and, by extension, a more valuable company.

Equity 94

Equity Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Founder 94

Altgate

AUGUST 25, 2012

Re-posted from post co-authored with Prof. —————– Dead equity — equity held by employees and founders no longer working at the company — is a large and growing problem. For more about this, see Eric Ries’ blog post and excerpt from The Founder’s Dilemmas.). million.

Equity 28

Equity Vesting Cap Table Technical Review 28

Steve Blank

JANUARY 4, 2010

A first order filter is whether the founders are aiming for a scalable startup. In fact, Google’s offer for $15 Million was equal to the highest valuation from the venture firms. The question was: what did the founders want to do? They hired a world-class team with co-founders and early employees who shared their vision.

Hockey Stick 299

Hockey Stick Venture Capital Startup Cofounder 299

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

The past year was a wild ride for startups and founders, giving a whole new meaning to the ”rollercoaster” aspect of being an entrepreneur. A combination of competition for top talent and an effort to bring employees back to the office drove startups in Israel to throw extravagant parties and all-inclusive retreats abroad.

Founder 187

Founder Startup Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 187

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 4, 2016

by Omar Soliman, co-founder and CEO of College Hunks Hauling Junk and Trash Butler. The current technology revolution has created a mystical land of insane valuations, young billionaires, and elusive “unicorns.” Omar Soliman is the co-founder and CEO of College Hunks Hauling Junk and Trash Butler.

Balance Sheet 100

Balance Sheet Cofounder Valuation Social Network 100

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Sales & Marketing | Wednesdays. Employee Benefits. SALES & MARKETING. Online Marketing. Bringing Innovation to Market. Back in 1997, Randy Parker was staring at a blank whiteboard, wondering where hed find the money to hire the employees and consultants he needed to build his new product. "We Newsletters.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

All of this is according to Paul Graham, co-founder of the early-stage investment fund Ycombinator. The result is that many venture capital firms are now making smaller angel investments in an attempt to get close with startup founders that are likely to raise bigger funding rounds later on.

Angel Investor 84

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 84

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

All of this is according to Paul Graham, co-founder of the early-stage investment fund Ycombinator. The result is that many venture capital firms are now making smaller angel investments in an attempt to get close with startup founders that are likely to raise bigger funding rounds later on.

Angel Investor 83

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 83

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Uber , Zenefits , Tanium , Lending Club CEOs of companies with billion dollar market caps have been in the news – and not in a good way. Why do these founders get to stay around? Because the balance of power has dramatically shifted from investors to founders. If the founder was lucky, he got to stay as chairman or CTO.

Founder 274

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 274

www.mint.com

MARCH 9, 2010

What is the post-money valuation of your last round? Post-money valuation” is the value of the company after the last round of money was put in (again, lines of credit and promises don’t count). But you should beware of boards that are only the founders and their family and friends. Who is on your board of directors?

Software Review 68

Software Review Startup Post-Money Valuation Technical Review 68

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

Many cups of coffee and pizzas later, the weekend culminates in a round of presentations from the teams, which clearly articulate the startup’s pitch: problem, market, solution, team, etc. Very cool concept and I want to thank the founder Adil Mohammed for inviting me to take part in it. Know your market. Be a salesman.

Elevator Pitch 102

Elevator Pitch Incubator Technical Review Startup 102