Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2012

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. The good news is that he is all about helping early-stage startups. Early-stage startup. Every startup is early-stage to someone.

Early Stage 253

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 253

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

I challenge any entrepreneur, for example, to define the difference between "seed-stage" and "early-stage" financing. Asking for early-stage money before you have customers and revenue will likely kill your credibility with real investors. A seed-stage “super angel.”

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Finance Early Stage Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2011

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. The good news is that he is all about helping early-stage startups, the hard part for entrepreneurs is figuring out what it takes to play. Early-stage startup.

Early Stage 231

Early Stage Seed Stage Angel Investor Silicon Valley 231

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 8, 2017

When Jay joined our team back in 2014, we were the first early-stage VC in Boston to have a dedicated head of platform and one of the first handful in the country to do so. Internally to our portfolio, platform means developing “products” to help our portfolio companies get from zero to one on their most critical seed stage priorities.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Boston Early Stage Portfolio 120

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 8, 2017

When Jay joined our team back in 2014, we were the first early-stage VC in Boston to have a dedicated head of platform and one of the first handful in the country to do so. Internally to our portfolio, platform means developing “products” to help our portfolio companies get from zero to one on their most critical seed stage priorities.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Boston Early Stage Portfolio 120

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 2, 2022

This may vary from fund to fund, but in general here is the top level criteria VCs would use to check initial fit: Stage – is the startup raising a round which is within the range of the fund (pre seed, seed, series A, early stage, growth, etc.). Why us”/ “Team Slide” unclear or non-existent.

Technical Review 166

Technical Review Early Stage Cofounder Portfolio 166

View from Seed

MARCH 11, 2020

Seed stage companies will mostly face questions around the team and market. This includes things like: Making intros to portfolio companies that are potential customers. In a way, customer intros are always good, so this could also be done earlier in the process. Talking to your customers.

Technical Review 279

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Seed Stage 279

Gust

JULY 8, 2012

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. The good news is that he is all about helping early-stage startups. Early-stage startup. Every startup is early-stage to someone.

Early Stage 177

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 177

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 20, 2019

Over the years, the Truss team has worked with several early-stage startups, and noticed a consistency in inter-series problems (regardless of the industry). Specifically, there are five challenges that emerging business typically put on the backburner between funding rounds: Seed to Series A: Customer Testing.

Technical Cofounder 113

Technical Cofounder Burn Rate Seed Stage Cofounder 113

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). Thus your startup maturity and growth stage is the primary key to success with potential funding sources. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

View from Seed

APRIL 16, 2015

An easy way to think about it is that value over time doesn’t go up and to the right in a straight line like this: Instead, it’s more of a stair step like this: So, what are the value inflection points that create the stair steps, and how does one think about it at the earliest stages? Get three paying customers.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Cofounder Early Stage Startup 120

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 31, 2023

HW: I’m always surprised when someone considering ‘joining a startup’ has put a lot of thought into industry/vertical but not into stage of company. For example, in many ways seed stage companies across different industries are more similar than two companies within the same vertical but one new and one more mature.

Employee 113

Employee Startup Vertical Leadership 113

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Getting investors to trust you with their money is always a challenge, and it’s even more difficult in the early stages, where you don’t have a significant revenue stream, a few customers, or maybe even a product yet. At these stages, it’s all about you, and your ability to communicate and execute effectively.

Due Diligence 271

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Preferred Stock 271

View from Seed

JANUARY 13, 2015

“As a seed-stage investor, should you pay up for team or traction?” When you are thinking about joining an early stage company, how should you be evaluating the risk of the overall company? How should you be weighing the presence of a great founding team versus early signs of traction?

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage B2B Distribution Early Stage 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). Thus your startup maturity and growth stage is the primary key to success with potential funding sources. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

View from Seed

APRIL 2, 2015

” So it’s no wonder that one aspect of an early-stage startup’s existence can be perpetually up for debate: their graphic design. These all serve as doorways to different but important audiences that a founder needs to impress, ranging from investors to target customers or users to potential new hires.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Design Startup Early Stage 120

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

It occurred to me that although we mentioned our new thematic approach when we raised our last fund in 2017, we haven’t really shared a broader manifesto about how we are approaching the early stage market. It’s been an interesting several years in the early stage venture eco-system, and the sands have shifted considerably.

North America 36

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 36

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

Getting investors to trust you with their money is always a challenge, and it’s even more difficult in the early stages, where you don’t have a significant revenue stream, a few customers, or maybe even a product yet. At these stages, it’s all about you, and your ability to communicate and execute effectively.

Due Diligence 308

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 308

Austin Startup

MAY 11, 2017

We invest in companies that sell to both enterprise/SMB customers as well as direct to consumers. Our unique approach to investing, coupled with a pioneering spirit, provides the vision to guide early stage growth companies beyond today and toward future success. We have a passion for product and out-of-the-box thinking.

Private Equity 48

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage 48

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

But the way the market values this early work can vary greatly. I’m often surprised by how much effort seed stage teams put into building an early product and how little credit that receives from investors. And the ultimate uncertainties for a seed stage company are around talent and customer demand.

Seed Stage 180

Seed Stage Bootstrapping Demand Early Stage 180

Hunter Walker

JULY 22, 2014

Well, if you’re pre-product/market fit, over-optimizing for “hitting your numbers” can be a false positive if it creates an “up and to the right” graph that actually builds upon the wrong learnings, or masks leaky bucket of customer attrition. Just* committing to grow customers or revenue or usage can still create a hollow company.

Forecast 95

Forecast Early Stage Seed Stage Startup 95

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020

A team of great domain experts or very senior team members may struggle mightily when tasked with the early stage challenges of building and selling a disruptive product. Have a jaw dropping customer value proposition with a competition crushing business model. Generally, we are looking for companies that are JDCC.

Seed Stage 254

Seed Stage Early Stage Founder Portfolio 254

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 27, 2014

My partner Erik Rannala has had a similar experience, having worked as a VC at Harrison Metal before moving down to LA to co-found our seed stage venture firm. It’s probably not too controversial to say that the median level of sophistication of early stage entrepreneurs in Los Angeles is lower than that of Bay Area.

Los Angeles 138

Los Angeles Southern California Silicon Valley Technical Review 138

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

*This post is part of our “pitch deck” series where we dissect the seed stage pitch deck and discuss the ideal flow for a pitch. Now it’s time to set the stage with the early traction you have. Seed stage VCs are realistic about how much traction a very raw company might have.

Seed Stage 149

Seed Stage B2B Seed Capital Revenue 149

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

Yet our initial customer success didn’t translate into big revenue growth and we faced issues such as: Do we support developers, end-users or both? I have a very public seed stage investment policy and awe.sm I loved the entire journey – good and bad – and the employees and customers.

Technical Review 303

Technical Review Cofounder Analytics Founder 303

View from Seed

MARCH 22, 2016

This is for the early-stage companies — the entrepreneurs with great ideas and tireless work ethics who feel like they’ve emailed half of the country’s news outlets with nothing but the rare “thanks, but not interested” reply to show for it. The irony hurts. Every publication is different, so there’s no single blueprint. Pitch late.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage San Francisco Startup CTO Hire 120

Rob Go

FEBRUARY 8, 2017

When Jay joined our team back in 2014, we were the first early-stage VC in Boston to have a dedicated head of platform and one of the first handful in the country to do so. There is obviously a lot that goes into building an early stage company. Establishing an excellent early team. Building a product people love.

Seed Stage 28

Seed Stage Boston Early Stage Portfolio 28

Hippoland

OCTOBER 9, 2016

If you’re still in the early stages of your entrepreneur-education/journey, you may even think you need to protect your idea and not share it with anyone. revenue / traction / setting up infrastructure / etc) This can set you apart, because the vast majority of businesses I see at the seed stage are just ideas with no action.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage CTO Hire Email Later Stage 48

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 22, 2012

Wikipedia defines Marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers”. So, when you read into it, marketing isn't really selling, it's more of finding and packaging the right thing to sell to the right customers.

PR 144

PR Technical Review Seed Stage Design 144

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

. “Yes&# was given to me by one of my favorite angel investor / seed VC’s to work with – John Greathouse of Rincon Venture Partners and author of the blog InfoChachkie that you should check out because it is filled with great info from a guy who has been a very successful operator. So what are you waiting for?

Silicon Valley 293

Silicon Valley Technical Review Southern California Angel Investor 293

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2018

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). Thus your startup maturity and growth stage is the primary key to success with potential funding sources. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 184

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 184

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

In another we decended into a debate about our 5 year forecasts (I built the models so fielded most of these questions), and it became clear they probably weren’t the best fit for our Series A round (this group is no longer in the early-stage VC business). And a third firm “pressure tested” (i.e. link] dazhi chen.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Women Entrepreneurs Can

NOVEMBER 19, 2022

A Venture Capital Firm is a firm that invests in startups and early-stage companies. Early-Stage Investments vs. Mid-Stage Investments. Investing in a startup company carries a high degree of risk, particularly at the early stage. Pre-Seed Investments.

Venture Capital 52

Venture Capital Early Stage Liquidity Event SEC 52

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

What’s the difference between an angel round and pre-seed round and why do I believe we’ll see more pre-seed rounds taking place in 2024? While the answers are somewhat semantic, the pre-seed funding round is making a comeback in 2024 startup financing.

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

View from Seed

JULY 17, 2019

Your company is likely both one step removed from many brand name B2B customers and a step removed from reporters and press that are excited to tell your story. In a competitive selection process, customers like the thought of buying from a company with positive momentum that everyone seems to be talking about it.

San Francisco 243

San Francisco Cofounder B2B Seed Stage 243

BeyondVC

JANUARY 3, 2019

Once again, we led each of these rounds at slide deck stage and helped land the first handful of customers to accelerate path to product market fit and their Series A rounds. First check to seed?—?congrats congrats to Blockdaemon on their seed round led by Comcast Ventures and Wallaroo Labs on its seed led by RRE Ventures.

Stealth 79

Stealth Advisory Board Cloud Virginia 79

David Teten

DECEMBER 12, 2017

As a globally focused LP in early stage VC funds, we at Blue Future Partners have observed a growing trend of firms investing substantially in software tools, whether developing proprietary solutions or adopting off the shelf tools. But what tools are they using themselves to automate their own processes?

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 60