View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Once a startup has raised seed capital, plenty of theories and advice exist on how to successfully raise a Series A. Recently, we looked at our own portfolio at NextView Ventures to dig a little deeper on how startups actually raise that next round of financing. More on these below.). There was no meaningful difference.

Syndicate 333

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Startup 333

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. 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

BeyondVC

JANUARY 3, 2019

Thanks to all of the amazing founders, advisors, co-investors, corporate partners, and others that helped make 2018 an amazing year. To that point, we are most excited when our founders are able to go from slide deck to product-market fit and Series A and beyond. We are truly grateful for your support. First check to Series A?—?congrats

Stealth 79

Stealth Advisory Board Cloud Virginia 79

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

*This post is part of our “pitch deck” series where we dissect the seed stage pitch deck and discuss the ideal flow for a pitch. Now it’s time to set the stage with the early traction you have. Seed stage VCs are realistic about how much traction a very raw company might have. A) Pre-Product Companies.

Seed Stage 149

Seed Stage B2B Seed Capital Revenue 149

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 12, 2014

Josh Porter is the founder of What to Wear Daily , a service that helps you prepare for your day. He is best-known as the creator of 52 Weeks of UX and was also head of UX at HubSpot, by way of being co-founder of Performable (acquired in 2011). Any success (growth, revenue, or profits) we have will follow from that.

Design 330

Design Product Cofounder Boston 330

View from Seed

OCTOBER 11, 2022

At the seed stage and as companies scale, helping the founders I work with identify and reach their goals, personally and professionally, gives me energy and purpose. And I’ve been fortunate enough to witness their startups scale from ideas to $1B+ businesses (and even an IPO in the case of Poshmark).

North America 156

North America San Francisco Cap Table Cofounder 156

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

Most of these rhyme with what we’ve said in the past, but some have also evolved to fit the changing landscape and our own convictions about what really matters for founders and their investors at the seed stage. Of the last 15 investments we’ve made, 8 have been pre-product or pre-seed style rounds.

North America 36

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 36

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Many assume it was a cakewalk, based on the success LinkedIn has enjoyed over time and the current stature of our founder/CEO Reid Hoffman (now Chairman). Salesforce.com is a startup with 76,000 subscribers (over 2.1M May 26, 2011.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Agile VC

JUNE 17, 2015

I’ve observed what may be an emerging trend, at least in some startups, that I find somewhat unsettling. But I think it’s important to discuss, particularly given today’s heady environment for startups. But I think it’s important to discuss, particularly given today’s heady environment for startups.

Startup 188

Startup Cofounder Seed Stage IPO 188

Agile VC

JUNE 5, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Even for those who don’t care to dive into the numbers, it’s worth a quick glance because co-founder/CEO Andrew Mason wrote a letter which forms the preamble of the full document. Financial Snapshot: 2010 Revenue: $713M. Run Rate Revenue: $2.6B (Q1 2011 annualized).

North America 100

North America Chicago Boston Silicon Valley 100

View from Seed

MARCH 19, 2015

If you’re in the tech startup industry today, you get the sense that every one of your peers wants to take on the entire world. Founders laud their own “end-to-end” thinking. ” Startups launched around seemingly mundane, insular problems glow about their abilities to change the world. Another success.

Product 120

Product Technical Review Marketing Lean 120

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

AUGUST 19, 2021

Elizabeth Yin is the co-founder and General Partner of a venture capital firm that, and I quote from their website, invests in “hilariously early startups” Hustle Fund typically invests $25,000 as a starting point into startups that have yet to show any revenues.

Founder 98

Founder Partner Venture Capital Cofounder 98

View from Seed

JUNE 17, 2015

I’ve observed what may be an emerging trend, at least in some startups, that I find somewhat unsettling. But I think it’s important to discuss, particularly given today’s heady environment for startups. But I think it’s important to discuss, particularly given today’s heady environment for startups.

Startup 120

Startup Cofounder Seed Stage IPO 120

YoungUpstarts

JULY 29, 2013

by Meng Weng Wong, co-founder and social engineer at JFDI Asia. But they’ll sit up and pay attention when you talk about the customers and revenues of the business. Specialists” have deep experience in some area of startup practice, like law, bookkeeping, growth hacking, or platform strategy. Fundraising isn’t easy.

Asia 207

Asia Singapore Cofounder Incubator 207

Agile VC

JUNE 17, 2015

I’ve observed what may be an emerging trend, at least in some startups, that I find somewhat unsettling. But I think it’s important to discuss, particularly given today’s heady environment for startups. But I think it’s important to discuss, particularly given today’s heady environment for startups.

Startup 100

Startup Cofounder Seed Stage IPO 100

View from Seed

JANUARY 26, 2016

In the next post, I’ll talk about how we think about pre-seeds at NextView. It’s become increasingly common for startups to raise several seed rounds, and this has led to a bifurcation in the seed stage between what are known as “pre-seed” (or “genesis”) and institutional seed rounds.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Early Stage Cofounder Finance 120

View from Seed

MARCH 16, 2016

Most impressively, there seems to be a thriving startup of every flavor, with many more joining the list of Pillar Startups on the Guide in 2016 compared to 2015. Look out for bootstrapped CarGurus , one of the leading used-car properties, targeting over $150M in revenue this year. To name a few: 1.

Boston 215

Boston Early Stage Artificial Inteligence Semantic 215

Agile VC

JANUARY 21, 2015

Note: This post also published at NextView’s blog for seed stage companies The View From Seed. The startup ecosystem is often full of hyperbole, which is perfectly understandable when you think about it. Not every startup is going to “crush” their original milestones and financial projections.

Cofounder 188

Cofounder Seed Stage Employee PR 188

Agile VC

JANUARY 12, 2012

How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Good investors try to be clear in terms of what they look for in terms of progress and milestones of the startups they invest in. As I’ve stated before, I’m a big believer in being deliberate and explicit in startup fundraising.

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndicate Syndication 100

Agile VC

JANUARY 21, 2015

Note: This post also published at NextView’s blog for seed stage companies The View From Seed. The startup ecosystem is often full of hyperbole, which is perfectly understandable when you think about it. Not every startup is going to “crush” their original milestones and financial projections.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Seed Stage Employee PR 100

Agile VC

DECEMBER 5, 2011

How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Objective Logistics has created a game layer on top of very sophisticated scheduling algorithms which increase revenue, save time, and improve customer and staff satisfaction. How To Think About The Future. December 5, 2011. Author howerl.

Silicon Valley 100

Silicon Valley Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication 100

Hunter Walker

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

When Homebrew launched two years ago, Satya and I knew that smart hardware was going to be important to our Bottom Up Economy thesis but also that neither of us yet had meaningful experience working alongside the best hardware entrepreneurs at the seed stage where we invest. Then Make Investments. Write Lead Checks 2014-15.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Cofounder Incubator Leadership 48

Hippoland

JUNE 26, 2016

Check out my side project Hustleathon , which helps founders get over their fear of rejection. I’m a seed investor – what would I expect? If you are super duper early and don’t have meaningful revenue, show me what you’ve learned by testing the market. If you’re a post-seed company, I also want to see your data over time.

Email 91

Email Seed Stage Cofounder Demand 91

Hippoland

JULY 19, 2016

For most companies, growing your revenue (or user base for consumer apps) while you’re fundraising is incredibly important, especially since the typical raise will span over a couple of months (in a good case scenario). However, for seed stage companies that have small teams, this is incredibly difficult.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Cofounder Acquisition Early Stage 48

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

In other words, they are facing conditions of extreme uncertainty, just like startups. But, as any startup can tell you, this opens up a tremendous set of opportunities for the rest of us. What is the right revenue model? Just like with startups, this is a hybrid question. 12comments: Dougvs said.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

David Cohen

JULY 28, 2013

Over the course of the day I met a lot of interesting people and gained a little more insight into the specific struggles and challenges of the UK startup community. He ended up not only being interested, but actually becoming a cofounder. Startups Travel' You see the same ideas in London as you see in New York.

Seed Stage 62

Seed Stage New York Cofounder Bootstrapping 62

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.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

Everyone has their own definition of momentum (user numbers, revenue, channel partners, biz dev deals, whatever). Almost every deal I’ve ever funded I’ve gotten to know the founders over time. Mostly by early stage investors talking about getting smaller exits. Tags: Raising Venture Capital Startup Advice.

Early Stage 360

Early Stage Startup Venture Capital Seed Stage 360

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Want to start a startup? You need three things to create a successful startup: to start withgood people, to make something customers actually want, and to spendas little money as possible. Most startups that fail do it becausethey fail at one of these. Most startups that fail do it becausethey fail at one of these.

Startup 105

Startup Cofounder Software Stock 105

Jeff Hilimire

AUGUST 30, 2013

And I’ve been dying to get my hands back into a true startup. Now, the city’s most buzzed-about techpreneur thinks Atlanta has the chops to also build sustainable business-to-consumer mobile startups. David Cummings , who last year sold his marketing automation startup for $95 million, will launch a “mobile app studio.”

Atlanta 77

Atlanta B2C Georgia Los Angeles 77

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

In brief, a cap acts to place a limit on the conversion price of a convertible note such that investors are guaranteed a minimum number of shares for their bridge loans if the startup does a priced equity round at a high pre-money valuation – “high” meaning above the cap, which is often a heavily negotiated term. (The

Valuation 98

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

Rob Go

JANUARY 7, 2013

As a founder, it feels like a long time, but it’s really a blip on the radar in the scheme of things. Actually, growth equity firms I find are best at this, because they have very specific financial criteria that they look for, such as ranges for revenue, ebitda, growth, etc. We focus on investing in seed stage companies.

Portfolio 49

Portfolio Seed Stage Cofounder B2B 49

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

But outcome-differentiation is probably lacking – people who use Mailchimp use it to increase revenue by selling more products / services via their emails. Often as an entrepreneur, it’s hard to know whether your product is differentiated, because you don’t know what other startups are out there. Basically zero.

Sales Cycle 54

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 54

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

But outcome-differentiation is probably lacking – people who use Mailchimp use it to increase revenue by selling more products / services via their emails. Often as an entrepreneur, it’s hard to know whether your product is differentiated, because you don’t know what other startups are out there. Basically zero.

Sales Cycle 48

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 48

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 11, 2019

Ann Miura-Ko is a founding partner at Floodgate , a seed-stage VC firm. She’s also a founding member of All Raise, a non-profit committed to improving diversity in both funders and founders. Ann will be speaking at this year’s Lean Startup Conference in October about all of this and more. I've been in venture now twice.

Founder 68

Founder Lean Venture Capital Cofounder 68

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 28, 2022

With the rise of startups and growing businesses , it has become more critical for investors to have a thorough understanding of equity to be aware of all of the advantages they are receiving from the companies they have invested in. The market regards equity as an ownership “share” in a corporation’s income revenue stream.

Valuation 108

Valuation Equity Warrant Common Stock 108

Gust

OCTOBER 20, 2011

In 2011, the valuation of pre-revenue, start-up companies is typically in the range of $1.5–$2.5 Diversification across industry sectors is not as easily achieved for angels as could be accomplished in public markets, but can be achieved by co-investing with trusted angel colleagues in a broader set of businesses.

Valuation 146

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Intellectual Property Technical Review 146