Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

Being tenacious without the mental flexibility to pivot based on market feedback is a disaster. If this idea was so big then why would they risk not being first to market, not building defensible IP for the sake of a few hundred thousand dollars extra in lock-up money at a big company? I finally called bullshit. Not my problem.

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur CTO Hire South America Salary 293

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 19, 2020

You’ve heard about that teenager or grandmother or your brother-in-law’s co-worker’s cousin who invested a little bit of money in bitcoin and struck it rich and you want part of the action. Bitcoin investing is the new frontier, the Wild West, a place where the playing field is relatively even and anyone can make some money.

Seed Money 125

Seed Money Stock Security Analytics 125

YoungUpstarts

JULY 17, 2020

The first step in any economic crisis is to evaluate your spending channels, and determine where you can cut costs. Evaluate and redirect the flow of your marketing dollars — an ad on the subway may have been a good idea three months ago, but it’s not doing you any good now. Evaluate and Reallocate Budget.

Startup 285

Startup Wisconsin Stock Options Dividend 285

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2019

Of course, hitting your objectives alone doesn’t guarantee success--you might have set the wrong objectives or the market needs may shift over time--but it’s a reasonable proxy for measuring interim success. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what's happened in the capital markets over the last 20 years--the good and the bad?

Lean 108

Lean Venture Capital Conversion IPO 108

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

If you hire 6 senior sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business 6 months. COGS” represents the amount that each sale costs you. They both raised angel / seed money of $1.5 What did they actually do?

Stock Options 227

Stock Options Startup Dilution Venture Capital 227

YoungUpstarts

JULY 16, 2018

Even though you likely want to start working full-time at your new business right away, you might need to either stay at your day job or work a side job to help raise money for your business. Use your extra time to network, create your product, and market your business until it’s making enough money to sustain itself.

Seed Money 100

Seed Money Campaign Sales Cost 100

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 7, 2017

Initially, you get funded by entrepreneur founders who want to develop a product, service, or solution which they think the market needs and demands. Over time, as you scale your operations, you may need to source additional funding from venture capitalists to mitigate high production costs or limited revenue.

Private Equity 150

Private Equity Startup Incubator Social Network 150

Steve Blank

APRIL 8, 2010

We thought we’d take our plan and go raise seed money. We can’t raise money knowing our plan is wrong.”. This includes how the product gets distributed to your customers and how money flows back into your company. He replied, “Well the customers are not acting like we predicted in our plan! Here’s why.

Business Model 328

Business Model Business Plan Customer Cap Table 328

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 9, 2018

High growth startup companies need seed money to get things going. They need the money to rent offices, hire staff, and establish their initial presence (website, incorporation, marketing). Without seed funding most startups seeking high growth won’t make it. Without funding most tech startups will die.

Technical Cofounder 20

Technical Cofounder Silicon Valley Early Stage Cofounder 20

Board Effect

JUNE 28, 2022

Start-up Grants or Seed Money Grants — Start-up grants are hard to come by, but they exist. They cover all or part of the costs of a nonprofit’s facilities. While government grants are a good start, you might have better luck looking elsewhere for a grant. 10 Types of Nonprofit Grants.

Government 96

Government Seed Money Matching Programming 96

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2013

The explosion in seed funding, without a corresponding explosion in investors willing to lead the next round (Series A), may mean that you can’t get a second round and will be “orphaned” or die. Seeded companies will take longer to raise a next round. As soon as you get seed money, it’s time to start working on the next round.

Massachusetts 249

Massachusetts Silicon Valley Venture Capital California 249

YoungUpstarts

JULY 22, 2017

Success as an entrepreneur takes a lot more than an idea, a dab of seed money and, as they say, a wing and a prayer. This combination provides him a unique blend of knowledge and insight that have made MBM Consulting a first choice for leading projects that challenge the status quo in terms of design, delivery and cost efficiency.

Founder 100

Founder United States Canada Seed Money 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2015

I was out to raise my first seed money in my second startup of $500,000. I began asking around who the likely investors were for such a market. Often seed investors will step off the board when A or B round investors get involved and this is important because otherwise entrepreneurs can end up with unwieldy VC-heavy boards.

Seed Stage 150

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndicate Syndication 150

Up and Running

MAY 12, 2015

They ended up with a nice pitch, and approximately $300K in seed money.”. Small Business Administration, SBDCs provide entrepreneurs and business owners with a variety of free or low-cost services, such as consulting, business plan development, and assistance with finding lenders and investors. Operated by the U.S.

Angel Investor 60

Angel Investor Software Review Technical Cofounder Due Diligence 60

The Next Web

DECEMBER 30, 2013

Denver residents enjoy a significantly lower cost of living; housing costs are half that of the SF Bay Area while utilities, food, transportation and healthcare are 15 to 25 percent less. Politically, Denver’s local government has championed social causes, including increased gun control, LGBT rights and programs for the homeless.

Denver 166

Denver Silicon Valley San Jose Colorado 166

Growthink Blog

DECEMBER 25, 2012

Finding a popular market for your business to target is critical to your success, but sometimes people narrow down their niche too much. Too Small of a Target Market Is your target market too small? It is far too easy to saturate a small market and for any marketing mistakes to end your campaign before it gets off the ground.

Seed Money 112

Seed Money Campaign Small Business Global 112

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

I think the issue was mostly framed initially by Chris Dixon in his article The Problem with Taking Seed Money from Big VC s. The fact that I invest less just means the company is earlier stage and needed/wanted less or without a product/market fit we weren’t yet prepared to invest more heavily. Ask their strategy.

Post-Money Valuation 298

Post-Money Valuation Term Sheet Warrant Partner 298

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

There are about 32 million left-handers in the US, you have a special product for them, and surely you can get just 5% of that market and have 1.6 You want your valuation to keep marching upward; if you took in some seed money with the promised 10X venture return, you’ll hopefully be able to prove that you are proceeding on that trajectory.

Valuation 48

Valuation Forecast Seed Money Business Model 48

Gregg Fraley, Author of Jack's Notebook

SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

One must have at least seed money, or more, to get a start-up going. How would you feel if Kroger’s lobbied the government against farmers markets or food co-ops? People with a financial leg to stand on are the kind of people who start business and fuel the economy. Also a good source for small business loans.

Non-Compete 86

Non-Compete Government Dividend Seed Money 86

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2009

So they set up seed programs that allowed for rapid decisions for $500k or less, often done as convertible debt for both speed and cost reasons. And I’ve just completed my first seed deal of Ad.ly ($500k) with another exciting deal I hope to announce within 30 days. There are multiple firms that did this. What gives?

Software Review 283

Software Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Southern California 283

Berkonomics

MARCH 30, 2012

Fees may seem high at first, but, on a total cost basis, these funding sources can appear more reasonable. Crowd Funding: The Internet is at work here, especially for obtaining early stager seed money. For unsecured loans, the universe of options is broad.

Intellectual Property 76

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Small Business Administration SBA 76

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Not everybody can, especially if they need to run with the idea to get to market. The project was so low cost they did not even want to bother with it. Pitching to investors before building is a waste of time especially if they do not understand the timing to enter the market. [link] steve Interesting article.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

Add to this regular angels becoming “super angels” — a much-mocked phrase for when someone goes from investing their own money to investing institutional funds. Essentially they became micro-VCs, still investing at the seed level but with much greater resources behind them. A name like 500 Startups says it all.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93

www.paulgraham.com

AUGUST 1, 2008

In essense, let the market design the product. This is a problem for founders, because it makes raising money take longer and cost more in legal fees. Back when it cost a lot to start a startup, you had to convince investors to let you do it. I think what he was measuring was mostly the cost of bigness.

Web 54

Web Startup Silicon Valley Technical Review 54

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

We could do more in 2010 with more VC investment; the doubling assumes only ratable increase in marketing spend to achieve profitability. I raised $500k in seed money to start the company. The very modest salary that I drew didn’t come anywhere near meeting my monthly costs so I had to eat into savings.

Founder 329

Founder Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Participating Preferred 329

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

It wasnt because they werent accredited investors that I didntask my parents for seed money, though. When we were starting Viaweb,I didnt know about the concept of an accredited investor, anddidnt stop to think about the value of investors connections.The reason I didnt take money from my parents was that I didntwant them to lose it.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76