Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2014

This means that those winning deals have to make a ~30x return to provide the venture capital fund that 20% compound return (the 6x). The reality is that the super vast majority of liquidity events are M&A and the majority of those are in the under $100M range. A good return to your investors is 20% per year.

Early Stage 286

Early Stage Silicon Valley Oregon Technical Review 286

Steve Blank

JULY 15, 2010

If you take funding from a venture capital firm or angel investor and want to build a large, enduring company (rather than sell it to the highest bidder), this isn’t the decade to do it. The collapse of the IPO market and dysfunctional math in the venture capital community has stacked the odds against you. Here’s why.

Venture Capital 297

Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 297

Steve Blank

JUNE 23, 2016

But starting in the last quarter of that century and accelerating in this one, a new form of financing – risk capital (angel and venture capital) — emerged. Risk capital has provided financing for new ideas in the form of startups. Filed under: Corporate Innovation , Customer Development.

Architecture 227

Architecture IRR Balance Sheet Liquidity Event 227

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

They taught you about customers, markets and profits. The reward for doing so was a liquidity event via an Initial Public Offering. Startups needed millions of dollars of funding just to get their first product out the door to customers. That requires building a company using Agile and Customer Development.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

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

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2013

A seed round can come from friends, family, Kickstarter, angels – and most importantly, early customers. These sources are a lot more forgiving of iterations and pivots than later-stage venture-capital funds. In times of unlimited cash (internet bubbles, frothy venture climates) you can fix your mistakes by burning more dollars.

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 333

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2013

A seed round can come from friends, family, Kickstarter, angels – and most importantly, early customers. These sources are a lot more forgiving of iterations and pivots than later-stage venture-capital funds. In times of unlimited cash (internet bubbles, frothy venture climates) you can fix your mistakes by burning more dollars.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 225