Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2018

Unfortunately, customers look for value in solving their problem, and new technologies alone scare them, so these solutions don’t get bought by customers, or funded. Attracting business investors is as tough as attracting customers, but it’s a different challenge. Customized marketing strategy and realistic sales plans. “If

Product 145

Product Intellectual Property Liquidity Event Exit Strategy 145

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

AUGUST 3, 2023

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

Private Equity 118

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 118

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

First, the implied promise: Taking money from professional investors such as angels or VCs usually requires that you agree to seek an exit for those investors in your plan, often targeting five to seven years as the ideal period for growth before a liquidity event. What if you later decide to just keep control? (You

Liquidity Event 62

Liquidity Event Preferred Stock Dividend Equity 62

Women Entrepreneurs Can

NOVEMBER 19, 2022

They can also help you develop your product and sales channels. Investors receive a healthy return on investment when the company reaches a liquidity event. You should also present your company’s progress data and demonstrate customer interest. They may also provide a mentorship network.

Venture Capital 52

Venture Capital Early Stage Liquidity Event SEC 52

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

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2015

When pitching to investors, entrepreneurs always seem to start with a customer pitch, then add a slide or two about the business. In every case, the relevant pitch needs to start by highlighting a real customer problem, then outlining a new solution, with all the features and disruptive technology.

Product 120

Product Intellectual Property Liquidity Event Burn Rate 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 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 283

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 283

Berkonomics

AUGUST 27, 2020

Data 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. Your data room and its contents.

Software Review 62

Software Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property IPO 62

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

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2014

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. The control and growth dilemma.

Hockey Stick 268

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 268

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

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 290

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 290

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2017

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. The control and growth dilemma.

Hockey Stick 144

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 144

Steve Blank

JULY 15, 2010

Number of Venture Backed Liquidity Events 1991-2000. Number of Venture Backed Liquidity Events 2000-2010. If you’re starting a software company, your exit is most likely a sale to a larger company. In either case Customer Development provides entrepreneurs with a methodology for being capital efficient.

Venture Capital 302

Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 302

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2013

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. The control and growth dilemma.

Founder 245

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 245

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

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 29, 2015

Taking money from professional investors such as angels or VCs usually requires that you agree to seek an exit for those investors in your plan, often targeting five to seven years as the ideal period for growth before a liquidity event. For some, that comfort is worth forgoing building high equity value.

Liquidity Event 48

Liquidity Event Equity Venture Capital Stock 48

Seeing Both Sides

SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

We selected this benchmark because it reflects the phase in which companies have proven product viability, achieved initial product/market fit, and are now expanding sales and growing more complex operations. In the old model of Israeli startups, many Israeli executive teams would hire a vice president of sales in the U.S.

Cofounder 20

Cofounder Technical Review United States 20

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

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Certainly, sales contracts usually call for a basket or amount of findings below which the buyer will absorb the costs. Customer contracts that come up for renewal but are not renewed as expected, a customer bankruptcy after the closing, a group of employees that leave together to start a new business.

Sales 59

Sales Bankruptcy Cost Employee 59

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

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

Berkonomics

JANUARY 13, 2022

To celebrate with your customers, who worry over continuity and look to you for assurances that the transition will not negatively affect them. Not many founders or entrepreneurs do experience the success of a favorable sale of the business they dreamed would make them rich. and consider those whose exits were not so great.

Dilution 62

Dilution .Net Sales Entrepreneur 62

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

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 30, 2021

It would not be handling the expensive hardware that is part of its required sale at all, other than to recommend alternatives and charge for coordinating the purchases of differing supplier products, oversee the installation.

Bankruptcy 62

Bankruptcy Early Stage Matching Software 62

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Steve Blank on Lean Customer Development. Customer service. Event platforms. Google Custom Search Engine. Customer Relationship Management. great web customer acquisition tutorials. customer retention, churn reduction, lifetime value. free/cheap web customer relationship mgmt software.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

Software By Rob

SEPTEMBER 22, 2009

The Startup Lottery I need to stop here and say this: with a “hot idea&# startup the odds are overwhelmingly against ever getting funding, much less having a liquidity event that puts money in your pocket. Firstly everyone is happier, and that includes the customers! 5 Stephane Grenier on 09.23.09

Marketing 50

Marketing Software Review Technical Review Startup 50

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

Berkonomics

AUGUST 13, 2015

While you are busy building your high growth venture, you may have occasionally thought about which large companies might be the ultimate buyer of your company – a buyer that could optimize your idea, customer base, and team. Cash spent on activities which do not burnish your attractiveness is cash squandered as you prepare for the sale.

Ohio 48

Ohio Acquisition Forecast Sales 48

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 8, 2015

To celebrate with your customers, who worry over continuity and look to you for assurances that the transition will not negatively affect them. Not many founders or entrepreneurs do experience the success of a favorable sale of the business they dreamed would make them rich. Many fail multiple times.

Entrepreneur 48

Entrepreneur Dilution .Net Sales 48

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. Creating brand is or should be a major focus for companies in industries where positive and immediate customer prospect recognition results in sales.

Intellectual Property 48

Intellectual Property Balance Sheet Stock Options Valuation 48

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