Remove Customer Remove Liquidity Event Remove Partner Remove Sales
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What Founders Need to Know: You Were Funded for a Liquidity Event – Start Looking

Steve Blank

VC’s raise money from their investors (limited partners like pension funds) and then spread their risk by investing in a number of startups (called a portfolio). BTW, Angel investors do not have limited partners, and often invest for reasons other than just for financial gain (e.g., You’ve been funded to get to a liquidity event.

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10 Startup Founder Decisions That Have No Good Answer

Startup Professionals Musings

Old co-workers or new friends with complementary skills usually make the best partners. If you take investor money, expect a push for hockey-stick growth and a liquidity event, like going public (IPO) or sale (M&A), to get the payback. You can’t have it all, just like your startup can’t be all things to all customers.

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Start a deal room and keep it current.

Berkonomics

Deal rooms contain access to or copies of all significant contracts with suppliers, customers, consultants, and others. The question is whether to start this exhausting process early in the life of a corporation, or rush to complete it when a deal is identified or the run to a sale is imminent. The liquidity event and beyond'

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14 Entrepreneurs Explain Why They Started Their Business

Hearpreneur

I loved what I did (sales) but I didn’t love doing it for somebody else. By screening hundreds of SMB acquisition opportunities as managing partner at my private equity firm, I saw first-hand that the vast majority of small business owners run their firms without the benefit of good financial or operating metrics.

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10 Startup Quandaries That May Redefine Your Business

Startup Professionals Musings

Old co-workers or new friends with complementary skills usually make the best partners. If you take investor money, expect a push for hockey-stick growth and a liquidity event, like going public (IPO) or sale (M&A), to get the payback. You can’t have it all, just like your startup can’t be all things to all customers.

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Fund Raising is a Means Not an End

Steve Blank

. • Repeatable: Startups may get orders that come from board members’ customer relationships or heroic, single-shot efforts of the CEO. These are great, but they are not repeatable by a sales organization. Does our product or service solve a customer problem (product-market fit)? How do we attract, keep and grow customers?

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Need money? Read this!

Berkonomics

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). It is most often a win-win for both you and the strategic partner. For those of you who fit that description, nice work.