David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund and mutual fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. An investor had few hard metrics other than the actual financials, and little technology to make the process scaleable. But we’re doing it slowly.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

A new wave of Revenue-Based Investors are emerging who are using creative investing structures with some of the upside of traditional VC, but some of the downside protection of debt. I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. So what is Revenue Based Investing?

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2010

Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition | For Entrepreneurs , February 2, 2010 Looks at the critical equation around customer acquisition cost vs. customer lifetime value similar to what I discussed in Startup Metrics but in more depth. Jason looks at the issues around "sunk cost." Great stuff.

Acquisition 150

Acquisition Cofounder Technical Cofounder Cost 150

David Teten

APRIL 6, 2015

An Nguyen and I just completed an analysis of VC and research funding compared with the cost to society of different diseases, and the results show wildly disproportionate funding for certain diseases relative to their impact in society. of US annual medical costs in 2008, compared with 6.5% The data is painful. a decade prior.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Non-Compete Philadelphia 60

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

On the phone … Me: So, you raised venture capital? There were no metrics. Him: On metrics. Revenue multiple? If we priced it based on any metrics your company would likely be worth less than 7 figures at your A round. There are a million ways to do quick, easy, low-cost rounds with prices.

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

If you hire 6 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 for 4-6 months. ” If you’re not profitable you’re purely a cost center to them. Simplifying: Revenue -. Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) =.

Startup 418

Startup Revenue Technical Review Flash 418

View from Seed

OCTOBER 24, 2019

Also, the benefit of raising a pre-seed from great partners probably outweighs the cost. The reason is that b2b fundraising is largely driven by data and metrics, and pre-seed dollars usually don’t get you to many meaningful data points. The challenge here is that inexperienced founders sometimes get the worst of both worlds.

Dilution 149

Dilution B2B Burn Rate Early Stage 149

YoungUpstarts

JULY 31, 2019

Of course, a certain amount of initial capital without financial performance is absolutely necessary to get a business off the ground, especially in regulated industries. Founders need seed capital to get their operations up and running, and to begin generating revenue. This also applies in acquisition conversations.

Cofounder 127

Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Cofounder Seed Capital 127

David Teten

DECEMBER 16, 2015

I review a lot of board decks with a beautifully hand-crafted page with metrics for the company. Good metrics are comparable across industries; comparative ; readily understandable; and help drive decisions. Comparative means that you can compare a metric across time periods, groups of users, or competitors. So how do you do it?

Metrics 60

Metrics Analytics Balance Sheet .Net 60

David Teten

NOVEMBER 26, 2019

Instead of budget approvals, monitor key metrics and give managers more flexibility. Inevitably, things cost more and take longer than expected. The next most important set of metrics are sales by category; working capital (cash and other current assets, less current liabilities); EBITA; and gross margin.

Agile 60

Agile Management Forecast Silicon Valley 60

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Many observers of the venture capital industry have questioned whether its best days are behind it. Looking ahead at the next decade I am excited by what I believe will be viewed as one of the best and most rational investment periods for venture capital due to seven discrete factors: 1.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

In it, I got asked a question I often hear: “What if we have a web-based business that doesn’t have revenue or paying customers? What metrics do we use to see if we learned enough in Customer Discovery ? And without revenue how do we know if we achieved product/market fit to exit Customer Validation?”

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Blog About Log in Register Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition In the many thousands of articles advising entrepreneurs on what they have to focus on to build successful startups, much has been written about three key factors: team, product and market, with particular focus on the importance of product/market fit.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

As the venture capital business has come roaring back in the last 5 years, startups are awash in available capital. Companies horde cash and squeeze the most revenue and margin from the money they use. Instead of measuring success in dollars of profit, …firms focus on measuring capital efficiency.

Private Equity 325

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 325

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

You may be able to generate revenue, but VCs want exponential growth. When I started my last company, we were focused on developing technology to lower the cost of detecting and diagnosing Type 2 diabetes. Like you, they’re looking for opportunity. Be ready when it counts. Tailor your pitch deck.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

It turns out that to build a successful company you ultimately need this strange thing called “revenue” that people don’t just hand you: You need to earn it. And there’s this other thing called “gross margin,” which shows the quality of your revenue. How much ad revenue does TripAdvisor make?

Startup 150

Startup Seed Money DC Software Review 150

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Blog About Log in Register Designing startup metrics to drive successful behavior Great companies are almost always run by great management teams. Good metrics should also be actionable, and drive successful behavior. In a follow up post, I will use this technique to walk through the design of a set of metrics for a SaaS company.

Metrics 55

Metrics Design Entrepreneur Startup 55

David Teten

AUGUST 7, 2019

Likely signs of a Value investment: the company has challenges in filling out the round; the investors have more negotiating leverage than the founders during the closing process; the company has significantly better metrics (e.g. LTV / CAC, revenue growth, etc.) As booms progress, more and more investors adopt a Momentum model.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Valuation Stock NDA 60

SoCal CTO

MARCH 5, 2007

However, Elgg could power 100,000 networks and it would make no difference - there is no revenue stream as we give everything away under a GPL license. Common revenue streams are consulting, training, support, customization, upgraded versions for corporate applications, etc. I understand his frustration.

Open Source 150

Open Source Business Model Technical Cofounder Southern California 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 9, 2007

Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. User Interface Beyond the Web Site ► November (7) Negative Customer Acquisition Costs - Creative Sta. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO? Early Stage Marketing and Branding – Farida Fotouh.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. User Interface Beyond the Web Site ► November (7) Negative Customer Acquisition Costs - Creative Sta. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO? Early Stage Marketing and Branding – Farida Fotouh.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Search Engineer 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 13, 2007

Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. User Interface Beyond the Web Site ► November (7) Negative Customer Acquisition Costs - Creative Sta. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO? Early Stage Marketing and Branding – Farida Fotouh.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles Internet 150

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 23, 2011

Thoughts from a Venture Capitalist on Software, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Cloud Computing, Internet and more. It would have been easy to explain the difference by changes in the 2010/2011 revenue growth projections but unfortunately that is not the case. revenues while large caps are trading at 6.4x. Venture Capital. (3).

Software Review 101

Software Review Technical Review Valuation Europe 101

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2007

Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. User Interface Beyond the Web Site ► November (7) Negative Customer Acquisition Costs - Creative Sta. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO? Early Stage Marketing and Branding – Farida Fotouh.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Networking Southern California Los Angeles 150

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 23, 2021

The metrics from the dashboard are the key inputs for collective decisions. You can always instrument your business and gather metrics, but that doesn’t mean the data you gather will be useful. Just track metrics that help you improve the product. The problem was that Groupon’s revenue growth was a false positive.

Venture Capital 46

Venture Capital Metrics Investment Bankers Framework 46

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

That in turn requires more capital. In addition, the competition for and the cost of hiring people, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area, has gone up dramatically. So while the infrastructure cost and startup costs may have declined, the operating costs have increased. Scaling venture capital breaks it.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2007

Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. User Interface Beyond the Web Site ► November (7) Negative Customer Acquisition Costs - Creative Sta. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO? Early Stage Marketing and Branding – Farida Fotouh.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. User Interface Beyond the Web Site ► November (7) Negative Customer Acquisition Costs - Creative Sta. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO? Early Stage Marketing and Branding – Farida Fotouh.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Generally speaking in venture capital financings the legal documents will specify that only “major investors” (a threshold set in the agreement – which can be $500,000 investor or more). They have listed forward revenue figures that are highly questionable and bring the issue of SEC oversight to my mind.

SEC 352

SEC Venture Capital Early Stage Cofounder 352

Up and Running

MAY 30, 2022

An often overlooked purpose of a business plan is as a tool to define success metrics. By housing these financial metrics within your business plan, you suddenly have an easy way to relate your strategy to actual performance. Determines financial needs and revenue models. And it’s not just for startups.

Business Plan 150

Business Plan Balance Sheet Revenue Metrics 150

David Teten

AUGUST 6, 2015

My colleague Paul Bianco serves as interim CFO for a number of ff Venture Capital ’s portfolio companies, and has built and reviewed hundreds of financial models. A more mature organization may project future revenues based on their actual sales pipeline, with a probability adjusted percentage based on stage.

Balance Sheet 60

Balance Sheet Software Review Forecast Acquisition 60

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

Because of these nuances, startups selling to enterprise customers must be even more diligent in tracking the right growth metrics. Here are a few metrics your startup should be watching: 1. Revenue Growth. Enterprise startups must have processes in place to monitor revenue growth. Lifetime Value/Cost of Acquisition.

Metrics 219

Metrics Churn Rate Startup Acquisition 219

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 5, 2019

But flattering media attention too easily shifts focus away from the metrics that matter. Call me old school, but I believe in metrics like growth, revenue, and profit. All other metrics are irrelevant. Venture capital has a big say in which companies and projects see the light of day.

Valuation 162

Valuation Cofounder Metrics SEC 162

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

The Chicago FireStarter Venture Capital Fund – [link]. Pinterest is quietly generating revenue by modifying user submitted pins – [link]. Good to see companies focus on real advertising metrics – [link]. How Much Does It Cost to Travel The World For One Year – [link]. – [link].

Social Media 93

Social Media Small Business Design Media 93

Steve Blank

JUNE 23, 2016

As a consequence, corporations used metrics like return on net assets (RONA), return on capital deployed, and internal rate of return (IRR) to measure efficiency. These metrics make it difficult for a company that wants to invest in long-term innovation. Risk capital has provided financing for new ideas in the form of startups.

Architecture 227

Architecture IRR Balance Sheet Liquidity Event 227

Cracking the Code

DECEMBER 1, 2009

Venture Capital. (3). SaaS business metrics: why are they different? Best Venture and Technology Podcasts for 2007. McKinsey highlight #1: the art of cost cutting or. Explore Venture Capital. Favorite Podcasts. (1). internet. (6). McKinsey highlights. (1). Online Gaming. (1). Portfolio. (3).

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Cloud Europe 48

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. User Interface Beyond the Web Site ► November (7) Negative Customer Acquisition Costs - Creative Sta. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO? Early Stage Marketing and Branding – Farida Fotouh.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150