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Pitch Deck Month: “Is It Working?” (aka the “Traction” Slide)

View from Seed

Pre-launch customer development data is another way, sometimes in the form of user surveys for consumer companies or interviews with potential beta customers for B2B businesses. One of our portfolio investments, a B2B SaaS company, was a pre-product startup at the time of the seed round. B) Post-Product Companies.

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How a Seed VC Approaches Pre-Product Startups

View from Seed

This notion of founder/market fit is incredibly important for pre-product companies who are out raising seed capital or pre-seed (aka genesis rounds) — both of which we invest in. But there’s also a great deal of importance placed on another, more common idea: Product/Market Fit. (If

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The Rise of Chinese Venture Capital – (Part 3 of 5)

Steve Blank

The first wave of startups began when R&D centers and universities began to provide the technology and seed capital for new startups that were spin-outs or spin-offs. China’s venture capital system has made a remarkable journey from the “state owns everything” to the free market.

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Why Does Funding Begin with “Fun?”

Genuine VC

For entrepreneurs, seeking seed capital means meeting with numerous VC firms and sometimes dozens of angels… fun? Telling the same pitch over and over again… taking time away from more immediately impactful endeavors like recruiting and customer development… the endless follow-ups and inevitable radio silence… fun?

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Is the Lean Startup concept of MVP dead?

VC Cafe

Ditch the business plan and when assumptions are proven wrong, pivot Customer Development: Build a product your customers want (vs. what you think they might need) by talking to customers and testing every aspect of the product features, pricing, etc. Capital resources alone don’t do the trick.

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The Rise of Chinese Venture Capital – (Part 3 of 5)

Steve Blank

The first wave of startups began when R&D centers and universities began to provide the technology and seed capital for new startups that were spin-outs or spin-offs. China’s venture capital system has made a remarkable journey from the “state owns everything” to the free market.

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Building a new startup hub

Startup Lessons Learned

Provide early seed capital, and be the ones to make those introductions. And do your customer development. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Accept that many successful companies are going to want to be backed by big-name firms in other cities.