Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

Steve,&# he said, “you’re missing the most interesting part of vertical markets. In particular, you will likely have to do without venture funding becuase it is costly. Customer/Market Risk Versus Invention Risk One day I was having lunch with a VC sharing what I learned from my students.

Vertical 144

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 144

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 15, 2022

Over time, this revenue reduces the dependency on outside venture capital sources. It provides the freedom to partner with entrepreneurs and reduce the costs of agency work in exchange for equity in their startup. This outside work provides a valuable source of revenue able to be used to fund operations.

Incubator 188

Incubator Startup Software Developers Software Development 188

VC Cafe

JANUARY 29, 2024

It’s easy to find bad news about venture capital these days. In other words, the venture capital bust has only just started. 2023 was a rough year for Venture Capital and for startups, and it might get even worse. Global venture funding fell 42% year over years to $248.8

Generative AI 171

Generative AI Global Venture Capital Valuation 171

Haystack

DECEMBER 29, 2018

6/ Venture Capital In Expansion Phase. Public investors, cross-over investors, and even traditional private equity firms have taken notice, further blurring the lines of what constitutes true venture capital. The fear of them investing in a competitor is real. 2/ The Scooter Phenomenon.

Technical Review 165

Technical Review Venture Capital Russia China 165

VC Cafe

JUNE 30, 2022

I love landscapes as they help organise the categories needed to define the vertical. A persistent, infinitely-scaling virtual space with its own economy and identity system. Jonathan Lai, General Partner, A16Z Gaming fund. Let’s define the building blocks of the Metaverse.

Cloud 200

Cloud Venture Capital Cofounder Non-Compete 200

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

V: Should you raise venture capital from a traditional equity VC or a Revenue-Based Investing VC? GCVF is pioneering the future of venture capital and high growth startups for all small communities. Versatile has built out a suite of no-cost portfolio acceleration services to help its companies succeed.

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

Steve Blank

MAY 17, 2022

Engineers can input design goals into AI-driven generative design software , along with parameters such as performance or spatial requirements, materials, manufacturing methods, and cost constraints. GPT-3 uses 175 billion parameters and was trained on a cluster with 1,024 Nvidia A100 GPUs that cost ~$25 million! Example here.

Artificial Inteligence 417

Artificial Inteligence Software Review Algorithm Technical Review 417

The Equity Kicker

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

The article doesn’t comment on whether the 3D printed crowns are cheaper than traditional alternatives, but with 3D printing costs halving each year if it isn’t now it soon will be. Then before long all dentists will be using a system like this and an entire mini-vertical will have been transformed.

Vertical 142

Vertical Audio Venture Capital Channel 142

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

In times when venture capital is hard to get, investors extract high costs for failure (down-rounds, cram downs , new management teams, shut down the company.) Sales people cost money, and when they’re not bringing in revenue, their wandering in the woods is time consuming, cash-draining and demoralizing.

Lean 244

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Don’t take my word for it – in the roundup of venture capital predictions for 2017 , I found it to be the top recurring theme. Many large companies will be built (Michael Wolfe, Point Nine Capital). Venture Capital investments in AI, Europe 2016 (Source: Dealroom ). Billion in VC funding.

Artificial Inteligence 122

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Startup 122

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. . 645 Ventures released a cap table simulator to help level the playing field. Capital has built a free online tool for founders to calculate their cost of capital.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

VC Cafe

JULY 7, 2023

To put things in context, global venture funding in Q2 2023 reached $65 billion, an 18% decline quarter over quarter, and a 49% drop compared to the second quarter of 2022, when startup investors spent $127 billion, according to Crunchbase. I tried to consolidate my thoughts as well as other perspectives from leading venture capital funds.

Generative AI 88

Generative AI ChatGPT Startup 88

thebarefootvc

AUGUST 13, 2013

These vertical solutions would focus on specific pain pain points in the enterprise, such as logistics or customer relationship management. Client-server has moved to the cloud (dramatically decreasing the cost of software development and deployment), and mobile apps are everywhere.

Advisory Board 70

Advisory Board Cloud Venture Capital Vertical 70

VC Cafe

MAY 23, 2023

As I mentioned in my post on the LLM Benchmarking , venture capital investment in AI startups was down 43% in Q1 2023. Models will get smaller over time, the computation will move from the cloud to on-device, and costs for incorporating generative AI in both new and existing products will keep dropping. What else do we know?

Generative AI 165

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence ChatGPT API 165

Hearpreneur

DECEMBER 8, 2019

This focus has helped me recruit the best and the brightest in the field, build a world-class operation, and most of all, with all the knowledge in a specific vertical, help build a leading agency for food & beverage manufacturers that are looking to build a direct to consumer channel. Thanks to Mac Fadra, MAXiM Hair Restoration ! #12-

Entrepreneur 117

Entrepreneur Technical Review Vertical Las Vegas 117

abovethecrowd.com

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Unfortunately, either information asymmetry or physical distances and the resulting distribution costs can both cut against the economic advantages that would otherwise arise for all. In many cases, a deeper focus on a particular category or vertical allows these marketplaces to distinguish themselves from broader marketplaces like eBay.

Internet 88

Internet Matching Vertical Hosting 88

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

As David Sacks from All in put it: On aggregate, a lot of funding was also deployed to startups in the application layer – investing in founders leveraging generative AI to either solve narrow tasks, or bring automation to tasks to reduce costs, increase accuracy, speed etc.

Generative AI 78

Generative AI ChatGPT Artificial Inteligence Cofounder 78

Hearpreneur

FEBRUARY 19, 2023

This trend is going to continue, both as a way for individuals to make more money and have more control and for companies to cut the costs of a full-time employee. Thanks to Kimberly DeCarrera, Springboard Legal ! #25- The most significant shift coming. Thanks to Mark Aselstine, Wine Club Review ! #27-

Artificial Inteligence 104

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Entrepreneur Global 104

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2009

In the last three posts, we drew the relationship of market risk and invention risk with vertical markets and pointed out verticals where customer development would be useful. In contrast to simply executing your business plan, the Customer Development process is built on low-cost and continuous learning and iterating.

Vertical 122

Vertical Silicon Valley RSS Marketing 122

Steve Blank

JUNE 3, 2009

Simulation to Reduce Invention Risk If you’re in a vertical where “invention risk” is dominant, then you want to do everything you can to manage and reduce those risks. When I wrote the Four Steps to the Epiphany , the Customer Development text, I hadn’t yet thought about what vertical markets it might be appropriate for.)

Vertical 128

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing RSS 128

Steve Blank

JULY 2, 2009

To an entrepreneur, being asked to join a venture firm with an Entrepreneur-in-Residence title means you have been tapped on the shoulder by the VC gods. The CDROM content business in the early 1990’s was one of the many of the long line of venture capital fads. Lots of ideas sound exciting because people are clueless.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS Software Review 120

Version One Ventures

JULY 11, 2013

Every venture capital firm narrows its investment focus one way or another…perhaps by geography, sector, and/or stage. For example, at version one ventures, we’re focused on early-stage (seed and Series A) opportunities in e-commerce, SaaS, and marketplaces/platforms across North America.

North America 147

North America Vertical Venture Capital Early Stage 147

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. RBI normally requires founders to pay back their investors with a fixed percentage of revenue until they have finished providing the investor with a fixed return on capital, which they agree upon in advance.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Q: What is going to happen to the cost of capital? Q: What is the opportunity cost of not being in tech? Was this a lost decade for venture capital? Or simply put, a small % of VC funds take home a large % of venture return. A: Tech is a $5tn industry, and is only a small % of total GDP. Source: AngelList.

Valuation 319

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 319

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Q: What is going to happen to the cost of capital? Q: What is the opportunity cost of not being in tech? Was this a lost decade for venture capital? Or simply put, a small % of VC funds take home a large % of venture return. A: Tech is a $5tn industry, and is only a small % of total GDP. Source: AngelList.

Valuation 295

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 295

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 17, 2013

eBay recently launched an aggressive campaign attacking Amazon’s rate table on a vertical-by-vertical basis ( those percentages can be found here ). A sustainable platform or marketplace is one where the value of being in the network clearly outshines the transactional costs charged for being in the network.

Europe 101

Europe Social Network Technical Review IPO 101

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

Correctly weighing opportunity costs, or staying focused, allows for broader innovation and potential for new models. That marketing, however, is dependent on capital, and that capital means Venture Capital. All depending on which of the above are in the company’s core business and which are not.

eCommerce 94

eCommerce Open Source SEM Technical Review 94

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2009

And since there was no Venture Capital in the 1950′s/’60′s where was the money coming from? An interesting phenomena of the 1920s that illustrates the fragility and cost of vacuum tubes is the “Reflex Receiver&# design methodology. What created this microwave startup culture in the 1950′s?

Silicon Valley 270

Silicon Valley RSS San Francisco Technical Review 270

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 6, 2011

First up today was John Bertoni with Mava Consulting , who is setting up a part-time sales force for companies to use without having to invest the fully loaded cost of a direct sales rep per geography. So, effectively, at the cost of one full-time sales rep, they can access coverage in four different regions.

Vertical 115

Vertical Web San Francisco Entrepreneur 115

Version One Ventures

JANUARY 2, 2019

Each week we like share our thoughts on a range of topics from vertical markets to general startup advice and our reflections on investing. D2C (for rapid adoption) –> FDA clearance, approval –> gold standard –> cost structure change. Venture Capital. Happy new year! Expanding our bio/healthcare thesis”.

Silicon Valley 144

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Distribution Artificial Inteligence 144

Hunter Walker

JULY 18, 2022

But you need to remain great and investable while also managing your costs, extending your runway, tightening your operating plan, and so on. Do you understand your cost structure and can you manage to a forecastable growth rate. Not buying low quality growth. This is challenging but definitely not impossible.

Valuation 116

Valuation Cap Table Startup Later Stage 116

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 13, 2011

The venture capital industry is so heavily skewed to Northern California, which the remains spilled over Boston, New York & Southern California. So it was wonderful to hear from a leading venture capital firm based in Washington DC. A contemporary analog to this type of vertical integration is Comcast/NBC-U.

Cofounder 277

Cofounder Merger Founder Venture Capital 277

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 14, 2021

We’re aiming to bring that boost in productivity and cost-efficiency both to CPA firms and other professional services firms in other verticals (i.e. Richard: Taxfyle is successfully addressing deep pain points experienced every year by both American taxpayers and accounting firms nationally, and overseas, around tax season.

CPA 138

CPA Founder Vertical Cofounder 138

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2009

Reply Lots of low cost experiments « Open Ambition , on April 22, 2009 at 8:58 am Said: [.] Reply Killing Innovation with Corner Cases and Consensus « Steve Blank , on April 22, 2009 at 5:04 am Said: [.] “Speed and Tempo&# – Fearless Decision Making for Startups [.]

Silicon Valley 300

Silicon Valley RSS Startup Agile 300

Hunter Walker

MARCH 4, 2014

Approaching Homebrew’s one year anniversary at the end of April so expect some ‘reflective’ posts on my first 12 months in venture capital. . Venture capital isn’t the only way to fund your business and for many at the earliest stages of their startup, it’s one of the worst choices.

Seed Stage 134

Seed Stage Venture Capital Vertical Finance 134

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Q: What is going to happen to the cost of capital? Q: What is the opportunity cost of not being in tech? Was this a lost decade for venture capital? Or simply put, a small % of VC funds take home a large % of venture return. A: Tech is a $5tn industry, and is only a small % of total GDP. Source: AngelList.

Valuation 156

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 156

abovethecrowd.com

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

Facilitating work-flow reduces work for the participants, as well as increasing switching costs. But in the early stages, this friction slows your roll-out and increases the costs associated with supplier aggregation. The marketplace is also a work-flow system that enhances the overall experience for all parties. High Fragmentation.

Aggregator 101

Aggregator Marketing Software Review North America 101