Steve Blank

MAY 13, 2010

But startups can shoot themselves in the foot when founders use consultants at the wrong time or in the wrong way. After a bit more discussion, I discovered the “problem in getting traction” meant revenue was zero. The rest of his story was mostly a blur. Consultants Don’t Pivot, Founders Do. Here’s why.

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Founder Cofounder Business Model Customer Development 208

View from Seed

JANUARY 26, 2016

To ensure you receive the rest, subscribe here. This means that it has rewarded Series A and B investors for chasing momentum and made it less important for these investors to focus on valuation or sound, early unit economics. technical co-founder). This is the first of several blog posts discussing pre-seed rounds.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Early Stage Cofounder Finance 120

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. Patrick Collison , self-made billionaire founder of Stripe. Bill Gates , founder of Microsoft. ValuatIon should be a function of value, not ego. Our goals, their goals.

Founder 187

Founder Startup Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 187

ReadWriteStart

MAY 30, 2022

While investors can seem like a solution to countless problems you encounter as a founder, don’t be too hasty to start eating from their hands. Your employees and cofounders deserve their stakes since they’ve helped you scale to an exit. If you’re in a rush to sell, will your investors allow you to accept less than your valuation? .

Bootstrapping 147

Bootstrapping Startup Equity Silicon Valley 147

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

There are two reasons to raise money: You have a killer idea that is only partially validated, that you think can get to $50M+ of revenue in 5 years with 80%+ gross margins (if margins are lower, you need a lot more revenue)and you need money to get to product-market fit, or. Not all startups need outside investment to grow.

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Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 13, 2011

Revolution is a “stage agnostic&# fund (means they invest early or late) funded entirely by Steve Case , the founder of AOL and co-founded by two other individuals, Tige Savage (yes, pronounced like the golfer, minus the “r&# ) and Donn Davis. And we also talked about what it’s like to work with Steve Case.

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Cofounder Merger Founder Venture Capital 277

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 20, 2010

Q: Your co-founders have been working on some technology in their spare time. The source, size and valuation when funding determines how big of a company you’re claiming to build. revenue) and innovation that large entertainment, media and retail clients will buy. Some started with funding and some were bootstrap.

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Curation Austin Cofounder Ruby 118

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

I discuss category creation with one of the co-authors of Play Bigger , Christopher Lochhead, in episode #232 of Legends and Losers if you would like to really delve into that (it is a very important topic). The rest of the entrepreneur interviews Pat does are very worthwhile listens also. This lesson was first shared at Lucky7 on Jan.

Software Review 48

Software Review Sales Cofounder Analytics 48

Up and Running

AUGUST 19, 2014

I have pitched to hundreds of angel investors over the years as a result of co-founding two tech companies and raising just shy of $1M in angel capital. I’m impressed when entrepreneurs know their numbers inside and out and are realistic about their valuations. My favorite part of pitching to them was the due diligence process.

Angel Investor 161

Angel Investor Technical Review Due Diligence Startup 161

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

Friendster’s valuation set the tone for the entire social networking space. we had no revenue. As a result, we knew that our pitch would need to steer into investors’ biggest concern: the lack of revenue. Then, spend the rest of the pitch backing up those claims and increasing investors’ confidence in your investment thesis.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

And since a startup thatsucceeds ordinarily makes its founders rich, that implies gettingrich is doable too. A lot ofwould-be startup founders think the key to the whole process is theinitial idea, and from that point all you have to do is execute.Venture capitalists know better. Ideally you want between two and four founders.

Startup 105

Startup Cofounder Software Stock 105

betashop.com

OCTOBER 8, 2012

All the rest is noise. When we pivoted from fabulis to Fab, we pivoted towards building a business around the unique tastemaker talents of one of our founders, Bradford Shellhammer. Have amazing co-founders who are better at what they do than you could ever be. Founders need to personally own something big themselves.

Technical Review 108

Technical Review Technology Software Review Valuation 108

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

I gained nearly 20 pounds during those two years, in part because of the growing frustration I felt when I would leave yet another meeting with VCs who I felt didn’t genuinely listen to, understand, or value my experience as a black founder and CEO. startups with billion-dollar valuations) in recent years.

Silicon Valley 48

Silicon Valley Technical Review Venture Capital San Francisco 48

Software By Rob

AUGUST 18, 2010

The only thing that seemed to be consistent about my growth was that my revenue was relatively flat while my user base kept growing. I asked CrazyEgg co-founder Hiten Shah why they decided to drop their free plan back then. This turned out to be a good move since it doubled their revenue that month.

Software Review 78

Software Review Software Revenue Cofounder 78

Professor VC

JUNE 20, 2011

Since the iControl system chronicles all meetings, I was able to find the automatic picture snapped from my first meeting with the founders, Reza Raji and Chris Stevens on April 22, 2004. But of course, the model had us requiring only $10M equity to breakeven and to achieve $185M in revenues in 2008 (the magic Year 5 in all business plans).

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Term Sheet Venture Capital 28

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

Armin Van Buuren is not only the number one DJ, he is also co-founder of a music label called Armada Music. If you want to be a big star, you still need big attention, however as Armada and smart labels like it are realizing, the key to success rests in giving away a lot.

Media 89

Media Marketing Distribution Internet 89

Cracking the Code

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

As the company announces its $530 million Series F at a valuation of $8.5 What was your approach to picking co-founders, and what advice would you give entrepreneurs on this? I think having a co-founder is very important. The co-founder / marriage analogy is apt. The rest is history.

Community 62

Community Cofounder Security Open Source 62

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

The founders were simply wrong about their assumptions about customer needs. It turns out the term “visionary founder” was usually a synonym for someone who was hallucinating. Founders Need to Run the Company Longer. So, almost like clockwork 20 th century startups fired the innovators/founders when they scaled.

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Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 228

The Next Web

AUGUST 14, 2013

This is a guest post by Wade Foster , co-founder and CEO of Zapier, which originally appeared on his blog. But since I’m relatively fresh off of the experience I get asked by first-time founders how they should go about raising money for their startup. Usually those aren’t first-time founders though.

Founder 142

Founder Incubator Cofounder Accredited Investor 142

VC Cafe

AUGUST 15, 2011

Following the acquisition S1 shareholders will own about 55 percent of the combined company and Fundtech shareholders the rest. ICQ FOUNDER SELLS ISRAEL’S DOTOMI FOR $295 MLN. Dotomi founder Yair Goldfinger also co-founded ICQ, the technology known today as instant messaging. ValueClick Inc.

China 90

China Cofounder India 90

Up and Running

DECEMBER 9, 2014

My founders and I started the company about three years ago. The way that I leverage that is when I’m faced with a decision before I go to make the decision and let’s say my executive team and I or my co-founder and I or just myself I get an idea and I think what if we were to do X, Y and Z. Two, revenue.

Small Business 95

Small Business Finance Forecast Metrics 95

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

“Founders don’t think their problems are due to trends. And in fact, overall trends are a second-order effect for founders.” “The real winners here are going to be the seed funds and early stage VCs that can write a $1 million to $2 million check,” says AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93