Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

So super angel and seed funds are proliferating – As a result there has been an explosion in the number of amazing early-stage investors such as Softtech VC , Floodgate , Felicis Ventures , K9 Ventures , OATV , Lowercase Capital , Founder Collective , and many, many more. That’s OK.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

It can be lower cost and can either buy more time or accelerate growth. It’s generally got a lower cost compared to equity capital and can help support growth. NVV: Let’s talk about the seed stage specifically. Traction and revenue? What is it, and how should founders think about it? Business model?

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

Getting investors to trust you with their money is always a challenge, and it’s even more difficult in the early stages, where you don’t have a significant revenue stream, a few customers, or maybe even a product yet. At these stages, it’s all about you, and your ability to communicate and execute effectively.

Due Diligence 308

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 308

Hunter Walker

JULY 22, 2014

Hey founders, want to hear something incredibly frustrating about seed financing? You know the one that inevitably has you at $100 million in revenue by Year Three? Just* committing to grow customers or revenue or usage can still create a hollow company. I don’t believe the forecast you show me. Yeah, that one.

Forecast 96

Forecast Early Stage Seed Stage Startup 96

Austin Startup

MAY 8, 2018

Background reading: Founder Compensation: Cash, Equity, Liquidity Fatal Errors in Early Startup Hiring Early Hires: Options or Stock Given how deeply involved we are with early-stage startups hiring their first key employees, I figured it would be helpful to outline a few key principles to help entrepreneurs navigate the topic.

Employee 48

Employee Seed Stage Startup Equity 48

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

Almost two years ago, in a private/closed meeting with K9 Ventures’ LPs only, I claimed that: What was being referred to in the press as the “Series A Crunch” was not because fewer Series A deals were being done, but because there were too many Seed deals being done. Seed stage was super tough.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

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

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The rise of “micro VCs” or seed-stage funds. Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. Unprecedented revenue growth + companies staying private longer =. On the surface the narratives have been.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

A founder asked me what makes a $2M round “pre-seed”? especially if the startup already has a product and revenue? And why do we still sometimes hear about pre-seed rounds that look more like a series A in pricing and size? So far there’s not much that has changed, so why should pre-seed look any different in 2024?

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

Austin Startup

JANUARY 25, 2020

I remember enjoying reading his book “ Delivering Happiness ,” the story behind how he led Zappos and drove it to a billion dollars in revenue before Amazon bought it. So I have embraced it fully, and though we are still in the early stages (seed stage), it’s the hardest thing I have ever done yet it’s the most fulfilling thing to me.

Delaware 62

Delaware SEC New York City New York 62

BeyondVC

JANUARY 3, 2019

Balanced growth vs. growth at all costs: No conversation about 2019 will be complete without considering the uncertain economic, financial and geopolitical environment in which we are currently living. The 10 year bull market where every company’s revenue chart is up and to the right is over.

Stealth 79

Stealth Advisory Board Cloud Virginia 79

K9 Ventures

APRIL 9, 2014

Instead, it was more of a result of over-funding at the seed stage. There was simply too much money coming in to the seed stage, which increased the supply of companies at the seed stage. Threshold for an IPO is higher Ten years ago, if you had $20M in revenue you were ready to go public.

Mezzanine 134

Mezzanine Seed Stage Early Stage IPO 134

K9 Ventures

JUNE 12, 2012

While it it may not feel that way, the data suggest that there is indeed too much capital in the system — especially so at the seed stage, with more and more individuals and larger funds trying to invest in companies at this stage.). This is because excessive capital becomes toxic for an early stage company.

Venture Capital 117

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Founder Seed Stage 117

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2016

Getting investors to trust you with their money is always a challenge, and it’s even more difficult in the early stages, where you don’t have a significant revenue stream, a few customers, or maybe even a product yet. At these stages, it’s all about you, and your ability to communicate and execute effectively.

Due Diligence 120

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 120

K9 Ventures

JUNE 12, 2012

While it it may not feel that way, the data suggest that there is indeed too much capital in the system — especially so at the seed stage, with more and more individuals and larger funds trying to invest in companies at this stage.). This is because excessive capital becomes toxic for an early stage company.

Venture Capital 105

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Founder Seed Stage 105

Gust

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

How to finance a new seed-stage startup? ” Ressi in particular seems to be passionate about removing the “debt” component from convertible debt seed financing transactions. This adds cost and administrative complexity, especially with multiple closings on different dates. Convertible debt?

Finance 134

Finance Convertible Security Equity Seed Stage 134

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

Especially at the early stages. But outcome-differentiation is probably lacking – people who use Mailchimp use it to increase revenue by selling more products / services via their emails. Or, a lot of investors call themselves “early stage” investors and aren’t good fits for pre-seed companies.

Sales Cycle 54

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 54

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

Especially at the early stages. But outcome-differentiation is probably lacking – people who use Mailchimp use it to increase revenue by selling more products / services via their emails. Or, a lot of investors call themselves “early stage” investors and aren’t good fits for pre-seed companies.

Sales Cycle 48

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 48

Hippoland

OCTOBER 16, 2016

In this post, I’m going to very *simplistically* dive into some high level categories and talk about how early stage investors consider each. As a result, for these kinds of businesses, investors often don’t expect that companies can earn revenue right out of the gate, because they may not legally be able to. Really really fast.

Startup 48

Startup Vertical Early Stage Bootstrapping 48

Agile VC

MARCH 8, 2012

What are the implications for other late-stage private companies thinking of making the transition to public markets in the near to midterm future? What’s the impact for early-stage startups? As of this week, here’s a sample of multiples: LinkedIn – 16x+ trailing revenue. trailing revenue.

IPO 100

IPO Silicon Valley Revenue Seed Stage 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

Now we can call you a seed-stage VC or a micro VC. My wife worked at Google so while we had good income in Silicon Valley it’s hardly the life of luxury given the costs of housing. This is evidenced by the current price creep that we’re experiencing for early-stage deals.

Liquidity Event 308

Liquidity Event Silicon Valley Seed Stage Finance 308

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

Yet we used the product development model not only to manage product development, but as a road map for finding customers and to time our marketing launch and sales revenue plan. We’ll look at the model stage-by-stage. Product Development In stage two, product development, everyone stops talking and starts working.

Silicon Valley 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

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

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Etc… At the pre-seed stage, a big way to stand out is if you have a V3 statement (as opposed to a V1 statement). At a high level, business is simple! :) You bring revenue in and your costs send money out the door. You want your revenue to be higher than your costs. But the execution is hard.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Etc… At the pre-seed stage, a big way to stand out is if you have a V3 statement (as opposed to a V1 statement). At a high level, business is simple! :) You bring revenue in and your costs send money out the door. You want your revenue to be higher than your costs. But the execution is hard.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 15, 2020

That's why the Corona Initiative is a Public Benefit Corporation--a for-profit company dedicated to the public good that aims to fund its research with its revenues. What's the cost of delay? Robert Rhinehart : The cost of delay is deceptively enormous, especially when it comes to people's health. I never really got it.

Technical Review 68

Technical Review Software Review Finance Technology 68

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

If you don’t want to read that post, the summary is: Open source computing drove computing costs down 90%, which spurred innovation in technology. Open cloud led by Amazon with their AWS services drove total operating costs down by 90%. So VCs spent a couple of years experimenting with earlier-stage investing, which is OK.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Software LP Early Stage 296

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 28, 2022

The market regards equity as an ownership “share” in a corporation’s income revenue stream. Considering that a warrant is often issued to decrease the cost of a debt issuer, the expiration period is typically more than two years after the warrant is first issued. What is Company Equity? Distribution Channel.

Valuation 108

Valuation Equity Warrant Common Stock 108

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

There never has to be atime when you have no revenues. 4 ] Seed Funding Firms Seed firms are like angels in that they invest relatively smallamounts at early stages, but like VCs in that theyre companiesthat do it as a business, rather than individuals making occasionalinvestments on the side.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

Hippoland

AUGUST 31, 2018

So, I thought it might make sense to take a step back and talk about all the stages of early stage fundraising here in the Silicon Valley. In early stage investing, at least in Silicon Valley, there are basically 4 stages: pre-seed, seed, post-seed (or pre-A), and series A.

Pre-Money Valuation 90

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Early Stage 90

Hippoland

AUGUST 31, 2018

So, I thought it might make sense to take a step back and talk about all the stages of early stage fundraising here in the Silicon Valley. In early stage investing, at least in Silicon Valley, there are basically 4 stages: pre-seed, seed, post-seed (or pre-A), and series A.

Pre-Money Valuation 48

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Early Stage 48

www.currentlyobsessed.com

MAY 28, 2010

It hardly deserves any attention at all in the early stages. For some closing thoughts, I’ll just add that: Valuation tends to be too much of a focus for most early stage companies. I know this sounds crazy, but it’s not.

Valuation 42

Valuation Channel Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 42

VC Cafe

JULY 8, 2012

Angellist Talent - Whether you are browsing for startups or talent, with 23,971 startups, AngelList is one of the most active communities for early stage founders. From “napkin” (seed stage) to profitable startups, this site will give you a good set of options. link] - a free job board for startups.

Cofounder 149

Cofounder Founder Startup Seed Stage 149

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 18, 2015

“Trade in an asset at a price that strongly deviates from an asset’s intrinsic value” The arguments against that, “This time the startups have real revenues!” Importantly there will be a real cost for founders of the crowdfunding boomlet. ” ring hollow.

IPO 150

IPO Venture Capital LP SEC 150

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

But wherever you stand on that, there’s one very real consequence of this explosion in seed funding: There has not been a corresponding explosion in investors willing to lead the next round, the so-called Series A. This time around, there has been an explosion at the early stages, and the very late pre-IPO growth stages.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93