View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

Most series A funds are looking to own 15-20% of a company after their investment. Don’t focus on the outlier examples, usually outliers happened not by starting out with an outlier ask (more on that later). A large fund looking to write $10+ checks might not take a company seriously if they have a $4M ask.

Valuation 418

Valuation Founder Conversion Demand 418

Lightspeed Venture Partners

JULY 26, 2019

An outlier company just raised another $250M to continue to raise the bar on business travel. The post TripActions?—?An appeared first on Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Partner 60

Partner 60

VC Cafe

AUGUST 11, 2022

A couple of weeks ago I was did a fireside chat with Alon Grinshpoon, founder and CEO of Echo3D , a CDN and CMS for 3D content in the cloud and a Remagine Ventures portfolio company, as part of an entrepreneurial finance MBA class in Tel Aviv University. “Founder-investor fit is crucial for a company’s success.

Founder 187

Founder Term Sheet Cofounder Venture Capital 187

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

That company was Invoca, which just announced a $20 million fund raise led by Accel. At the time I pointed out: “If I had realized exits almost certainly it would be because I invested in a company that failed. Lemons ripen early, great companies take time.” 5 years ago. ” Still. Since then?

Los Angeles 387

Los Angeles Intellectual Property LP Venture Capital 387

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 20, 2017

In my work as a strategy consultant, I’ve found seven rules fearlessly growing companies live by: Rule #1: Embrace uncertainty. These companies are willing to take prudent risks and know how to manage risk. But there are plenty of other ways for companies and customers to collaborate.

Technical Review 147

Technical Review Malaysia Agile Employee 147

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 23, 2023

One of my favorite startups to have backed was a travel company called Noken. If Jack Dorsey decided that travel was the next thing he wanted to solve after founding multi-billion dollar companies like Twitter and Square (X and Block?) Plus, as you might imagine given its inclusion on this list, it’s BS.

Iceland 148

Iceland Business Model Revenue Startup 148

Gust

OCTOBER 18, 2011

Detailed descriptions will be published over the next few weeks: The Scorecard Method: This method compares the target company to typical angel-funded startup ventures and adjusts the average valuation of recently funded companies in the region to establish a pre-money valuation of the target. The Venture Capital Method.

Valuation 174

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Southern California Post-Money Valuation 174

View from Seed

AUGUST 5, 2020

This year will likely be even more pronounced since many companies delayed seeking funding during the beginning of the pandemic, and are now thinking about approaching investors. The challenge in a nutshell is that we are in the outlier business. As summer moves into fall there is always a surge in new investment activity.

Partner 194

Partner Founder Operations 194

ConversionXL

JUNE 30, 2021

Sure, other companies offer fast-track delivery. Stripe is a company that knows its target audience—and its USP reflects this. The company breaks down barriers in a market that’s traditionally closed off to the everyday person. TOMS Shoes was one of the first shoe companies in the world to use a buy one, gift one model.

Audience 149

Audience API Software Review America 149

Hearpreneur

JULY 23, 2023

Any business or company looking to grow and succeed in a competitive market needs to expand either solely or in partnership with other businesses. 2- Invest in outsourced business Photo Credit: Sonny Ganguly Investing in outsourced business services is a powerful strategy for business leaders to foster the growth of their companies.

Developer 98

Developer Technical Review Entrepreneur Due Diligence 98

VC Adventure

OCTOBER 5, 2020

Venture is a hits business and if you think about a typical venture fund of almost any size having somewhere between 25 – 40 investments, the chances of any one of those investments being a true outlier and returning a multiple of the fund are quite small. in a company doesn’t return that fund. on a gross basis.

IRR 174

IRR Venture Capital Community Partner 174

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Even outliers like WhatsApp (sold for $19b with 55 employees) and Instagram (sold for $1b with 13 employees) raised lots of venture funds. most shared hosting companies), but they only make interesting money at large scale (by definition, because it takes over 8000 customers to make only $1m/yr in revenue), which takes a long time to grow.

Bootstrapping 294

Bootstrapping Technical Review B2C Sales Cycle 294

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 20, 2023

I saw some practical tips for business leaders under pressure a while back in the book “ The Outside the Box Executive ,” by Richard Lindenmuth, a seasoned interim CEO, who has stepped in and revitalized more than his share of struggling companies. Let them say no, and actively listen to team input.

Leadership 242

Leadership Cloud Sales Entrepreneur 242

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

During June, July, and August, we’ve closed 4 new investments and several follow-ons, with a number of companies gearing up to go out in the fall. We are also seeing more investors try to be a part of syndicated A rounds for companies that are raising $5M or more and are really not what most would consider “seed” stage.

North America 36

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 36

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 14, 2014

In the words of Kurt Olender: “Above all, an entrepreneur must understand that success is achieved in increments through hard work, and that overnight success is the outlier and not the norm.” To join EO, an entrepreneur must be a founder, co-founder, owner or controlling shareholder of a company with gross annual sales exceeding $1 million.

New Jersey 195

New Jersey Entrepreneur Cofounder LLC 195

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

Eventually a successful startup will grow into a big company. Growth will slow, partly due to internal limits and partly because the company is starting to bump up against the limits of the markets it serves.” The company hasn’t really reached ‘ escape velocity ‘ which means it must not be working.”

Silicon Valley 390

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 390

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 28, 2022

Another key to this step is to continually communicate your company mission and values to all your constituents. Usually this means running a pilot program and looking for outliers in the data and subjective feedback from customers. These will solidify who you are, what you stand for, and where you're going next.

Agile 323

Agile Matching Internet Programming 323

View from Seed

DECEMBER 6, 2018

And early stage investing is about finding outliers, which requires some flexibility to stretch beyond your rules to test your beliefs without going too crazy. Like many investors, I’m most excited about companies that seek to do good. I think the best companies enable incredibly positive things in the world.

Early Stage 120

Early Stage Florida Deal Flow Venture Capital 120

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

A few weeks ago, we hosted a small dinner for a number of portfolio company founders, LP’s, and friends of the firm. Also, VC is by nature an outlier business. We also had just raised our largest fund to date, so why are we “wasting” our time with $200K checks into concept stage companies? at exit due to dilution.

IRR 205

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 205

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2020

I saw some practical tips for business leaders under pressure a while back in the book “ The Outside the Box Executive ,” by Richard Lindenmuth, a seasoned interim CEO, who has stepped in and revitalized more than his share of struggling companies. Let them say no, and actively listen to team input.

Leadership 420

Leadership Cloud Sales Entrepreneur 420

Version One Ventures

JULY 30, 2019

It was a $15m early-stage fund that we invested in 20 portfolio companies over the course of two and a half years. I plotted the return multiples (as of June 30, 2019) for all 20 portfolio companies in the chart below. Venture capital clearly follows a power law in which outliers drive most of the returns.

Portfolio 167

Portfolio Early Stage Seed Stage Venture Capital 167

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

A few weeks ago, we hosted a small dinner for a number of portfolio company founders, LP’s, and friends of the firm. Also, VC is by nature an outlier business. We also had just raised our largest fund to date, so why are we “wasting” our time with $200K checks into concept stage companies? at exit due to dilution.

IRR 156

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 156

VC Adventure

AUGUST 16, 2020

It’s perhaps a boring topic – Options and your company’s option program – but an important one. Should everyone in my company have options ? Many, but not all, Foundry companies give options to all their employees. I’m also not going to give option bands for various positions.

Programming 149

Programming Vesting Equity Software Review 149

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2010

If you take 2,000 of the world’s top performing companies, only 29 (1.5%) are run by women. It’s a fact, women aren’t good at running companies. If they were they’d be running more successful companies. They must be languishing by running many unsuccessful companies. Data doesn’t lie.

Silicon Valley 289

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur United States Leadership 289

Hunter Walker

JUNE 26, 2023

I really enjoy the creativity and problem-solving that takes place during the early stages of a company, when founders are trying to solve a crazy number of challenges in parallel in order to get to product-market fit. The corollary to my earlier comment on Silicon Valley’s outlier status is that many people who live outside of the U.S.

Silicon Valley 114

Silicon Valley Canada Founder Early Stage 114

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

A few weeks ago, we hosted a small dinner for a number of portfolio company founders, LP’s, and friends of the firm. Also, VC is by nature an outlier business. We also had just raised our largest fund to date, so why are we “wasting” our time with $200K checks into concept stage companies? at exit due to dilution.

IRR 136

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 136

Occam's Razor

FEBRUARY 6, 2018

A 25% movement in any of those KPIs could be the difference between everyone up and down getting a bonus or a part of the company facing layoffs. Hence, most companies will establish targets only for the KPIs deemed worthy of that hard work. Focus on the outliers. Often, even a 5% movement might be immensely material.

Metrics 263

Metrics Analytics Forecast Non-Compete 263

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 10, 2014

by Forbes magazine publisher Rich Karlgaard and author of “ The Soft Edge: Where Great Companies Find Lasting Success “ The Stanford University women’s basketball team almost always makes the Final Four. This year is no exception. In the case of smarts, it’s not just practicing; it’s also observing, listening, and learning.

Indiana 171

Indiana Vertical Leadership Restful 171

Growthink Blog

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

What do all of the most dynamic 21st Century entrepreneurial companies have in common? 7 Companies in China have raised more than $1 billion in an IPO this year. so far, no company has raised more than $700 million and it is somewhat of a sad commentary that the biggest U.S. Pursue Global Markets 2. Pursue Global Markets.

Africa 104

Africa Brazil China India 104

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 18, 2012

The company, reeling from bad publicity, take months to re-imagine its product before releasing a new version that is also uninspired and unloved. A few months later, the company closes for good. How could this company, without anything tangible, receive such a mammoth infusion of cash? You don't have to imagine it.

San Francisco 146

San Francisco Cofounder Social Network Venture Capital 146

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Investors will ask management what their “AI strategy” is before investing and will be wary of companies that don’t have one (Fred Wilson, USV). Many large companies will be built (Michael Wolfe, Point Nine Capital). There’s been a proliferation of Machine Intelligence companies in Israel.

Artificial Inteligence 122

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Startup 122

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. Other founders, “as a privately held company we don’t disclose our valuation.&# Me, “dude, I’m not a journalist. The VC assumes you’ll have an option pool.

Valuation 405

Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

Steve Blank

AUGUST 23, 2010

My last session was with a passionate, smart, entrepreneurial team from a Fortune 100 company. It reminded me of the differences in Customer Discovery between a scalable startup and a big company. Here’s what we observed: It’s Easier for Big Companies to Get Meetings – But It’s Not Always a Blessing.

Customer Development 237

Customer Development Developer Customer South America 237

View from Seed

JANUARY 5, 2021

I think all three types can be successful and build impactful, enduring companies. But certainly now as a VC investor I think more about what sort of a founder someone is, to better understand both why they’re starting a company and how they’re likely to go about building it. The Mercenary. The Missionary.

Detroit 367

Detroit SEC Founder Affiliate 367

Duct Tape Marketing

OCTOBER 12, 2022

Jay has written 6 best-selling books and founded 5, multi-million dollar companies. 4:11] So I call businesses today and I find myself giving them a pass because I know it’s hard to get help today – are you suggesting that I’m an outlier with this mindset? [5:01] I think you're suggesting that I'm an outlier.

Customer 80

Customer Turkey Networking Email 80

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 18, 2012

The company, reeling from bad publicity, take months to re-imagine its product before releasing a new version that is also uninspired and unloved. A few months later, the company closes for good. How could this company, without anything tangible, receive such a mammoth infusion of cash? You don't have to imagine it.

San Francisco 128

San Francisco Cofounder Social Network Venture Capital 128

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. There is an inherent value that any company has. I acknowledged this in the article.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336