Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

Investors want to hear about customers with money who have a painful problem that you can solve now. Investors are looking for a concise description of your product or service without technical jargon or fuzzy marketing terms with value quantified in customer terms. What are your specific marketing and sales plans?

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Advisory Board Liquidity Event Startup 120

Steve Blank

JULY 15, 2010

Until 1995 startups going public typically had a track record of revenue and profits. Suddenly there was a public market for companies with limited revenue and no profit. Number of Venture Backed Liquidity Events 1991-2000. Number of Venture Backed Liquidity Events 2000-2010. Source: NVCA.). Lessons Learned.

Venture Capital 303

Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 303

Gust

AUGUST 5, 2012

Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. This is not the place for a detailed product specification, but an explanation of how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Marketing, sales, and partners. Solution and benefits.

Business Plan 182

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 182

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. This is not the place for a detailed product specification, but an explanation of how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Marketing, sales, and partners. Solution and benefits.

Business Plan 186

Business Plan Exit Strategy Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 186

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

We slept under the tables, and pulled all-nighters to get to first customer ship, man the booths at trade shows or ship products to make quarterly revenue – all because it was “our” company. Founders take a lot less risk, raise multimillion-dollar seed rounds and have the ability to cash out way before a liquidity event.

Stock Options 334

Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 334

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

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). For you who fit that description, nice work. There is a lot to say about retaining control.

Private Equity 106

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 106

Growthink Blog

MAY 26, 2011

Last week, TruckCenter.com was purchased by Liquidity Services (NASDAQ: LQDT), a company that runs online auctions for surplus goods. I found this pretty amusing since when a company is purchased, we often say it reached a "liquidity event." This -- TruckCenter.com's customer base -- is a key reason for the transaction.

Acquisition 81

Acquisition Liquidity Event Valuation Revenue 81

Growthink Blog

MAY 13, 2012

But, when one of these factors are "out of whack," it can be a much tougher sale to make. And they'll want to invest if they believe your company has great potential to achieve a liquidity event, and one that enables them to earn a significant return on their investment. Getting funding from angel investors is the same way.

Angel Investor 93

Angel Investor Exit Strategy Liquidity Event Angel Groups 93

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

You’re basically tinkering with everything at this stage – product, marketing, sales, partnerships, etc. You’re learning who your customers are and what they expect. You’re tinkering with your marketing and sales channels. What sources of traffic are converting, and which channels are profitable, which aren’t?

Metrics 136

Metrics Cofounder Cram Down Liquidity Event 136

Berkonomics

AUGUST 27, 2015

They financed their companies, to the extent possible, in a manner minimizing the cost of capital, planning for organic growth in the number of customers served and in associated revenues. The businesses frequently were the owner-manager’s only major asset.

Intellectual Property 48

Intellectual Property Balance Sheet Stock Options Valuation 48

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2013

. • 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?

Venture Capital 334

Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 334

Berkonomics

JANUARY 20, 2010

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder is able to self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). For you who fit that description, nice work. There is a lot to say about retaining control.

Private Equity 69

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 69

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2013

. • 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?

Venture Capital 226

Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 226

Seeing Both Sides

SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

To answer these questions, we built a database of 112 Israeli companies founded between 1996 and 2013 that have met or exceeded $20 million in revenue. In the old model of Israeli startups, many Israeli executive teams would hire a vice president of sales in the U.S. to assist with the local go-to-market approach.

Cofounder 20

Cofounder Technical Review United States 20

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

" => I have not bothered to put up a landing page, survey to test customer demand, or done any customer development whatsoever. If you have an idea and either customers waiting for the product to be built, or a startup success under your belt already, skip to step 2. "I am a creative guy with a startup idea."

Developer 42

Developer Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder 42