Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

Defense and Intelligence organizations drove the pace of innovation in Silicon Valley by providing research and development dollars to universities, and defense companies built weapons systems that used the Valley’s first microwave devices and semiconductor components. and there were no books, blogs or YouTube videos about entrepreneurship.

Restful 227

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 227

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 13, 2018

Over the past five years, we’ve witnessed an Atomization of the Seed Stage. Early fundraising is no longer a one-and-done fundraise of a single round of Seed capital subsequently followed by a Series A 12–18 months later. But in an extended seed phase, those old rules of thumb became less relevant.

Seed Stage 136

Seed Stage Post-Money Valuation Valuation Startup 136

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Note: When I say “seed stage startup,” I’m specifically referring to software/app startups that are eitherpre-product or early product. Startup X launches with XX millions of dollars of seed capital from a star-studded list of investors”. … Many founders read the daily headlines on TechCrunch announcing that….

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Startup Venture Capital 100

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

” Below are our favorite pieces from the past few years, divided in to a few key categories: fundraising, company building, product development, industry trends, and the life of a VC. Magic Graph: How Much Seed Capital Should You Raise? Developing Your Product. ” (Lee Hower). ” (David Beisel).

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

The Next Web

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

With all other things equal, that means that a 50/50 split between two co-founders (evenly split if there are more than two), or a 66/33 split based on the premium for coming up with the original idea, and for starting the initial development efforts and sourcing the original team. Who is funding the business?

Cofounder 136

Cofounder Equity Founder Seed Stage 136

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

One recipe for failure (business failure and capital raising failure) is building a lopsided team weighted to one function of the business. If you have a technical background and you are focused on product development, consider a co-founder with a sales and marketing background that can focus on selling your world class product.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

CargoX has developed a decentralized platform based on the Ethereum network, and their Blockchain Document Transaction System (BDTS) technology, and it has a pipeline of future products for the supply chain industry? We will finish developing our blockchain-based Smart Letter of Credit and extend our CargoX platform for air freight logistics.

Slovenia 62

Slovenia Technical Review Startup Seed Capital 62

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 20, 2015

This is because these days it’s a trendy word, conjuring up images of youthful exuberance, all-night coding parties, and developing revolutionary apps that transform into mind-boggling IPOs. The coolest thing you can say to anyone todat seem to be when you announce that you’re launching a startup.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Montana Startup Seed Capital 100

David Teten

MAY 7, 2019

By developing innovating technologies and taking a new approach, we believe that we can find alignment across various institutional and individual stakeholders with the means to leverage their networks and effectively push for progress. Once we’ve executed all the steps above, we go to VCs and raise seed capital of $1-2m.

America 60

America Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence 60

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 7, 2014

Raising Seed Capital – crowdspring.co/MX18CE. don’t return investors’ capital” – crowdspring.co/1dhuwIO. Legal Contracts for Software Developers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template to use today) – [link]. 42 Mockup And Wireframing Tools For Developers – crowdspring.co/1fdB7Z4.

Social Media 95

Social Media Small Business Design Media 95

David Teten

JULY 10, 2019

By developing innovative technologies and taking a new approach, we believe that we can find alignment across various institutional and individual stakeholders with the means to leverage their networks and effectively push for progress. This work is unpaid, as with any other startup at the pre-seed stage. We’re off to the races!

America 60

America Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence 60

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

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.

Seed Stage 149

Seed Stage B2B Seed Capital Revenue 149

VC Cafe

JULY 5, 2010

A s venture funds struggle to raise money in Israel, seed capital, one of the earliest and riskiest stages of investment, is becoming harder and harder to secure. VC Cafe: There has been a drastic rise in the number of funds offering seed (or super seed) capital in recent months, especially in the valley.

Technical Review 106

Technical Review Software Review Seed Stage 106

View from Seed

DECEMBER 8, 2015

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

Product 120

Product Startup Early Stage Seed Capital 120

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

If you get into the best deals it has never been a better time to be a VC or LP, and the best have developed strategies to capture more value Given that the best deals are pushing out their exit dates it means that many firms aren’t seeing as quick of liquidity as they might have 20 years ago. Follow the money.

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital IPO Mezzanine Early Stage 292

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 14, 2020

Before you even consider opening your business, you first need to sit down and develop a sound budget plan. Many failed entrepreneurs believed that as long as they had a large amount of seed capital, they could begin their startup and before long make it big. A Sound Budget and the Money to Go With It.

Seed Capital 81

Seed Capital Startup Audience Cost 81

View from Seed

DECEMBER 10, 2014

But today, the development is back on track and, given Harvard’s centuries-long history, a five-year delay is barely noticeable anyway. And done well, local seed capital can be the catalyst for the new Harvard engineering campus in Allston. Buildings are important, because buildings are a preview of things to come.

Boston 328

Boston Seed Stage San Francisco Startup 328

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 25, 2015

A few weeks ago, we launched two startup pitch deck templates for raising seed capital — part of NextView’s platform of exclusive startup resources. The “what” and “how” are still being developed, though you will obviously include some of those details in the deck.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Seed Stage Boston Startup 120

The Next Web

OCTOBER 3, 2012

I have heard many founders — even in the first few months of product development — expect to raise seed rounds, pay themselves salaries, etc. Therefore, technical startup founders have to develop a craft in rapid application prototyping. Let’s say that you just quit your job to work on your startup.

Cofounder 155

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 155

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 17, 2010

Legal Contracts for Software Developers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template to use today) – [link]. Fun contest for young entrepreneurs looking for seed capital (w/ cash prize & mentoring) – [link]. Most Creative Ads Series: Hands – [link]. 15 tips to choose a good text type – [link].

Social Media 88

Social Media Small Business Design Media 88

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2013

The first post described how China built a science and technology infrastructure to support advanced weapons systems development. This post is about the rise of Chinese venture capital and how it helped build the countries entrepreneurial ecosystem. This helped the startups qualify for funding from banks and venture capital firms.

Venture Capital 272

Venture Capital China Offshore SBIR 272

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

The seeds planted by those who came in the 90′s have begun to blossom 15 years later literally into seed capital, blossoming new entrepreneurs and an ecosystem of experienced operators that powered LA 1.0 Many of the early winners sold for north of a half a billion dollars. Success begets success. and are guiding LA 2.0.

Los Angeles 376

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Seattle 376

Genuine VC

AUGUST 14, 2012

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?

Seed Capital 163

Seed Capital Customer Development Partner Developer 163

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 11, 2021

Venture capital is a great instrument for high growth companies, or those who are very early in their development but intend to pursue a high growth strategy. And for venture-backed startups this tends to be “get them customers.”.

Startup 125

Startup Venture Capital Seed Capital Software 125

View from Seed

MARCH 29, 2018

We don’t seed companies that are developing drugs or medical devices that will require FDA approval. It’s a world that doesn’t fit our seed-focused model and fund strategy. I should make clear that we are not life science investors.

Vertical 120

Vertical Stealth Portfolio Seed Capital 120

Genuine VC

MARCH 24, 2014

The strategy here is to foster product development and marketing which creates overall (semi-)organic user momentum. Even if those customers are acquired unprofitably or the margins are thin/non-existent, this revenue figure begins to connect the dots about the potential for a real business developed over time.

Seed Capital 212

Seed Capital Metrics Cofounder Revenue 212

YoungUpstarts

MAY 3, 2015

muru - D will be hosting a roadshow in six Southeast Asian cities, including Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Singapore, and selected startups will receive S$40,000 in seed capital, space in muru - D Singapore’s central business district office and as well as introductions to world-class mentors, coaches and investors.

Singapore 100

Singapore Asia Charlotte Silicon Valley 100

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2013

If you’re a scalable startup, you want to spend small amounts of money (seed capital) as you run experiments testing your hypotheses. In normal times, when there aren’t dollars to undo mistakes, you use Customer Development to find product-market fit. Why small amounts? No startup ever spends less then it raises.

Venture Capital 334

Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 334

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Once a startup has raised seed capital, plenty of theories and advice exist on how to successfully raise a Series A. Foster product development and marketing which creates organic (or somewhat organic) user traction. They are: 1. Build Audience Momentum.

Syndicate 333

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Startup 333

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2013

The first post described how China built a science and technology infrastructure to support advanced weapons systems development. This post is about the rise of Chinese venture capital and how it helped build the countries entrepreneurial ecosystem. This helped the startups qualify for funding from banks and venture capital firms.

Venture Capital 164

Venture Capital China Offshore SBIR 164

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 12, 2016

Most businesses – online or offline, need seed capital to get established and without access to these funds, launching a business can seem like an improbable dream. This way, you can focus your initial days of business in building the marketplace instead of developing an app that costs money. Find a cofounder.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Sweat Equity Startup Seed Capital 100

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 15, 2013

. “It became clear that although many of these low-income entrepreneurs have quality business ideas and a lot of motivation, they often lack the business knowledge and seed capital they to get the most out of their enterprises,” they add. Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund.

New Jersey 140

New Jersey Small Business Seed Capital Cofounder 140

Steve Blank

APRIL 28, 2016

Before co-founding Biota Technology , he was an investor and entrepreneur-in-residence at Seed Capital , a investing in science-based innovation. Switching from venture capital to startup founder required a different mindset, Ajay said: All day in a VC firm, you’re saying ‘no’. Steven : Nope, hubris.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Cofounder Seed Capital Texas 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 28, 2016

Before co-founding Biota Technology , he was an investor and entrepreneur-in-residence at Seed Capital , a investing in science-based innovation. Switching from venture capital to startup founder required a different mindset, Ajay said: All day in a VC firm, you’re saying ‘no’. Steven : Nope, hubris.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Cofounder Seed Capital Texas 120

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Procuring venture capital funding or business angels who put up with seed capital or expansion capital can be helpful and exciting. As an entrepreneur, you should have a handle on how much resource (in terms of money, people and time) you can expend on developing the product and how it would impact profitability.

Vietnam 171

Vietnam Venture Capital Seed Capital Exit Strategy 171

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 9, 2018

Raising seed capital is a tricky business. Most are making major mistakes in their approach when seeking capital. I get approached often by tech startups looking for their first outside funding. They come in lots of different flavors and stages of fundability.

Technical Cofounder 20

Technical Cofounder Silicon Valley Early Stage Cofounder 20

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

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.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Lean 113