Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2014

Investors may not be called co-founders, but they always get equity, commensurate with their share of the total costs anticipated, or share of the current valuation. Of course, all co-founders need to remember that allocated percentages will be diluted as angel and venture capital investors are brought in.

Cofounder 261

Cofounder Stock Founder Technical Cofounder 261

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2011

In this three-part series I will explore the ways that the Venture Capital industry has changed over the past 5 years that I would argue are a direct result of changes in the software industry, not the other way around. So it’s unsurprising that typical “A rounds&# of venture capital were $5-10 million.

Venture Capital 334

Venture Capital Software PHP Open Source 334

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010

It is no secret that the world of venture capital (VCs) has been turned upside down by the recession, and the many other changes in the marketplace. I conclude that the genesis of this trend seems to come from several forces, including the following: Less investment capital available due to the recession.

Technical Review 215

Technical Review Early Stage Venture Capital Startup 215

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2021

In startups, it is the idea that “this solution is different,” without sufficient analysis of base anchoring features, differentiation features, or no new early adopters. High valuation, low profit. In finance, “this time is different” is the beginning of a new bubble. Supply and demand ignored. Marty Zwilling.

Demand 362

Demand Government Venture Capital Valuation 362

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

They want to see that you have some unique advantage that differentiates your company from others in your industry, and they’d prefer that you have some experience in that industry, which gives you legitimate insight into the problem you’re attempting to solve. As you develop it, consider it from the VC’s perspective. Tailor your pitch deck.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 118

The Equity Kicker

FEBRUARY 8, 2012

Fortieth in a series of weekly posts by myself and Nicholas Lovell of Gamesbrief which answer the fifty questions you should ask before raising venture capital. VCs without experience (which can come from either investing or operating) often struggle to differentiate between a good product and a bad one. Related articles.

Technical Review 123

Technical Review Product Venture Capital Valuation 123

Haystack

JUNE 5, 2018

Not yet profitable but invaluable to developers worldwide, the decade-old company bootstrapped, differentiated from formidable competitors GitLab and Atlassian’s BitBucket, weathered leadership upheavals, and eventually ingested lots of venture capital which helped them weather the challenges they faced.

Acquisition 71

Acquisition Azure Open Source Seattle 71

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Smart is simply not a differentiator. I’ve watched VCs help with valuation support (spreadsheets, comps) on next round financing, participate in M&A meetings, interview senior job candidates – even help terminate tricky senior hires. And so is venture capital. In fact, book smart can be a negative.

Portfolio 364

Portfolio Chicago Sales Incubator 364

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 30, 2015

You incorporate expected company returns, mortality rates, and fee structures to try to predict how a venture capital fund works from a cash in, cash out, and NAV standpoint. And no, the numbers don't exactly add up--but they're more than close enough for venture capital. It's also not the "average fund". How about price?

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Pre-Money Valuation IRR Valuation 60

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

Differentiate. If you’re three s -hot kids from Stanford, Caltech or MIT you might be able to push valuation higher. Because I believe that getting the best possible angels around the table is far more important than ultimate valuation. If you raise $250k at a $750k valuation the same goes. At what value?

Silicon Valley 291

Silicon Valley Ireland Technical Review Valuation 291

Austin Startup

OCTOBER 15, 2017

What seems to be the best way to create customers and revenue may result in a business model that is out of vogue with the investment world and shortchanges you on enterprise valuation. As a founder cognizant of finding revenue anywhere you can, you are not likely to turn away today’s dollars for a conceptual future enterprise valuation.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Nevada Silicon Valley 48

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

I was having dinner with a friend last night and we were chatting about venture capital and a bit about what I’ve learned. I guess if you’re in high-volume, low-differentiation mode perhaps this is efficient for you. Inbound is seldom differentiated dealflow. Don’t even get me started on Demo Days.

Cofounder 374

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 374

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

Keen Home appeared on the TV show, Shark Tank , in 2012, landing one of the highest valuations in the show’s history. You really have to be able to differentiate yourself when you’re sitting across the table selling someone an insurance policy. Steve : There is probably is no venture capital for 50 miles, if not 500 miles. .

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Ohio Columbus Entrepreneur 120

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

Most startups view venture capital funding as a blessing from above — eager to take it as soon as they can get it. Tempted by large sums of money and the perceived validation that comes along with being funded, founders turn to venture capitalists to accelerate their company’s growth. It certainly was for us.

Early Stage 85

Early Stage Venture Capital Bootstrapping Pre-Money Valuation 85

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 20, 2013

In startups, it is the idea that “this solution is different,” without sufficient analysis of base anchoring features, differentiation features, or no new early adopters. High valuation, low profit. In finance, “this time is different” is the beginning of a new bubble. Supply and demand ignored. Marty Zwilling.

Demand 224

Demand Green Finance Government 224

Steve Blank

JANUARY 4, 2010

In fact, Google’s offer for $15 Million was equal to the highest valuation from the venture firms. Lets take venture capital and grow this thing into a real business.”. Typically the size of their opportunity and company doesn’t lend itself to attracting venture capital. The Scalable Startup.

Hockey Stick 276

Hockey Stick Venture Capital Startup Cofounder 276

David Teten

AUGUST 6, 2015

My colleague Paul Bianco serves as interim CFO for a number of ff Venture Capital ’s portfolio companies, and has built and reviewed hundreds of financial models. This allows readers to differentiate your file from all of the other files they receive, and also easily track the evolution of your document as it changes.

Balance Sheet 60

Balance Sheet Software Review Forecast Acquisition 60

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2011

In startups, it is the idea that “this solution is different,” without sufficient analysis of base anchoring features, differentiation features, or no new early adopters. High valuation, low profit. In finance, “this time is different” is the beginning of a new bubble. Supply and demand ignored. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 225

Startup Demand Green Government 225

Venture Chronicles

MAY 26, 2010

This is the “tastes great, less filling&# debate that recurs on a regular basis in the venture capital and entrepreneur communities. Venture math is really simple, if you raise $10 million for a company that is valued at $10 million “pre-money&# then you have sold 50% of the equity to the new investors.

Lean 40

Lean Early Stage Valuation Startup 40

David Teten

FEBRUARY 9, 2015

I’ve listed below the points I recommend you cover when pitching your business to early-stage investors, including but definitely not limited to ff Venture Capital. If you are testing the market to see what terms you can get, just say, “We are targeting to raise $X at pre-money valuation of $Y.”

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Pre-Money Valuation Prospectus Early Stage 60

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

I think I’m at the expert stage of venture capital and I mean in the Wardley sense. Money when you find product / market fit is an extreme differentiator. I know in my bones that there is a magic moment where capital plays a hugely differentiating role. What do I know about venture? We’ll see.

Churn Rate 150

Churn Rate Silicon Valley Brazil Valuation 150

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 14, 2010

If you don’t, please educate yourself on this site, Venture Hacks and the term sheet series by Brad Feld/Jason Mendelson, among other places. If you really want to understand the nuances in venture capital financing documents, please review the NVCA model venture capital financing documents. . under $500K).

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

This thinking is largely driven by the venture capital industry (and subsequently Wall Street) who are in search of high margin, highly scalable businesses. I gave them advice I don’t think they were expecting from a VC, “Don’t raise venture capital for this business. This team is talented.

Silicon Valley 332

Silicon Valley IP Dividend Finance 332

The Equity Kicker

JANUARY 10, 2020

Nic is also the author of one of Europe’s most popular venture capital blogs – www.theequitykicker.com. Maybe they’ll pivot to something great eventually, but in the interim period, the valuation goes sideways – and that’s not a good place for a VC to be. Let’s start with the obvious question.

Partner 68

Partner Early Stage Portfolio Metrics 68

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 8, 2016

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, a minimum of 110 “open source startups” had raised more than $7 billion from venture capitalists as of 2015, up over 100% since 2013. Step away from open source entirely, however, and valuations have risen even more. Proprietary software’s free pass. Its reward?

Software 60

Software Open Source Valuation Analytics 60

The Equity Kicker

JULY 8, 2019

When I started in venture capital in the late 1990s VCs were regularly lambasted for taking long summer holidays and spending too much time on the golf course. Our companies are 4x more likely to reach Series A, with a 55% higher valuation, 26% faster and with founder equity 2.3x Low handicaps weren’t good!

Portfolio 84

Portfolio LP Venture Capital Partner 84

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2023

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited angel investors. The amounts from angels start as low as $25K, while minimum venture capital amounts usually start in the $2M range.

Angel Investor 246

Angel Investor IRR Venture Capital Valuation 246

VC Adventure

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

I’d differentiate this from what we saw in 2008 in the private markets where prices contracted – in some cases relatively dramatically – but where there wasn’t a true bubble bursting in the way we saw in 2001. But to be clear, I thought this long ago and well before the public markets started reacting. .

Marketing 48

Marketing Balance Sheet Valuation Venture Capital 48

The Equity Kicker

JULY 16, 2012

The rest of startups should size their fundraisings to allow their investors to make a decent return at an exit valuation commensurate with the opportunity size which can be credibly defended at the time of investment. Actually, this is quite far from the truth – in fact, you can be incredibly mediocre and still be quite successful.

LP 105

LP Early Stage Valuation Differentiation 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 13, 2020

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited angel investors. The amounts from angels start as low as $25K, while minimum venture capital amounts usually start in the $2M range.

Angel Investor 314

Angel Investor Entrepreneur IRR Valuation 314

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

million at a $15 million pre-money valuation. Morgan Stanley had proposed a higher valuation to let them in. It quickly became impossible to raise venture capital. It isn’t even a story about raising venture capital or M&A. We ended up agreeing a term sheet for $16.5 Yes, this was stupid. Any deal.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

The Equity Kicker

AUGUST 8, 2017

However, venture capital is a dynamic business and good focus areas don’t last forever. To do that they must pass valuation milestones. Finally, focusing allows us to add more value operationally so our companies can execute faster and with higher quality.

Artificial Inteligence 78

Artificial Inteligence eCommerce Early Stage Algorithm 78

The Startup Magazine

MAY 4, 2017

Capture their desire with something new, differentiate yourself by your unique value — what can your company offer that no one else can?”. million valuation ($150,000 for 10 percent equity) in 2008. Your company needs to have a powerful and unique solution to the problem you’re trying to solve.

Silicon Valley 62

Silicon Valley Startup Maryland Angel Investor 62

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2014

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited Angel investors. The amounts from Angels start as low as $25K, while minimum venture capital amounts usually start in the $2M range. Marty Zwilling.

Angel Investor 266

Angel Investor Entrepreneur Venture Capital IRR 266

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

To differentiate themselves in the marketplace, Quigo made the pivotal move of going to publishers and saying explicitly “you’re working with Adsense. Advice on startups raising capital: if you raise your first round at a super high valuation and don’t grow into your valuation, it makes it very hard to live for the long game.

Semantic 302

Semantic Acquisition Valuation Angel Investor 302

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

I asked her not to spray and pray, and focus on her core, differentiated products - stretch mark and c-section mark removal creams for new mothers. Ma Mi Skin Care Lee Wright then discussed Ma Mi Skin Care , a skin care company that was completely all over the place. This is her core market.

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

I asked her not to spray and pray, and focus on her core, differentiated products - stretch mark and c-section mark removal creams for new mothers. Ma Mi Skin Care Lee Wright then discussed Ma Mi Skin Care , a skin care company that was completely all over the place. This is her core market.

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52