David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

More and more startups are pursuing Revenue-Based VCs , but “RBI” doesn’t fit everyone. Flexible VC 101: Equity Meets Revenue Share. By tying payments to actual revenues, founders and investors remain aligned around the company’s real-time performance, good or bad. Flexible VC: Revenue -based. Of the Inc.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

YoungUpstarts

MAY 6, 2019

In this article, we will discuss why it is important to understand the whole startup stages concept before you start a business to get the most benefit. Early Stage. This startup stage starts from the day you decide to work on a startup idea. Here is the complete list of points available in early stage startup.

Startup 113

Startup Technical Cofounder Merger Early Stage 113

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

Raise too much capital at any given stage and suffer more dilution than is necessary – obviously not ideal. John Vrionis is a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners who focuses primarily on early stage enterprise and consumer technology investments. It’s part art, part science. Set Quantifiable Goals.

Valuation 100

Valuation Dilution Chicago Technical Review 100

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

In many instances, you raise an institutional round to either fulfill a product strategy or go-to-market strategy or you’re increasing sales and marketing hires, so you have better visibility into what needs to happen in the next six, 12, 18 months. Traction and revenue? NVV: Is there any dilution? Business model?

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

Early-stage investors in technology startups are only looking for growth-oriented companies that can achieve an “exit&# someday – either via selling your company to a larger company or via an IPO. million post-money valuation with no revenue. It was early 2000. I raised my A round at a $31.5 That was market.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

This essay is part of a series on alternative VC: I: Revenue-Based Investing: a new option for founders who care about control. II: Who are the major Revenue-Based Investing VCs? III: Why are Revenue-Based VCs investing in so many women and underrepresented founders? IV: Should your new VC fund use Revenue-Based Investing?

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

They already have several customers including some telcos, and are at about $350,000 in revenues. You can get cash without diluting your ownership in the company. Because customer financing equals revenue, not equity. That's why, I advised Gio to keep going with further execution on his business and build more revenue traction.

Cloud 115

Cloud Silicon Valley Incubator Finance 115

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 15, 2016

I wish I could claim I deftly foresaw this, but I was just seeking recurring revenue to to cover OneMatchFire’s office expenses. By the end of 2004 I had brought on two co-founders: John Vars – who is now the Chief Product Office at TaskRabbit, and Steven Reading took over Sales and Revenue.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Startup Cofounder SMS 48

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2010

Plus, we’re all allured by the false sense that our contract with BigCo is going to “make us&# because once they start using us it will spread like wildfire and the revenue will flow in. They negotiate a “master agreement&# to work with your company with some maybe minimum guarantees in terms of revenue.

Warrant 298

Warrant Dilution Startup Stock Options 298

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 20, 2018

Why are you so strongly sold on royalty licensing as the most effective way to finance a tech-based early stage company? These are your candidates, because they are companies already absorbing much or all the marketing expense necessary to make sales of your invention.

IP 54

IP Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Product 54

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2016

Don’t quit your day job until the revenue is flowing. Investors expect nothing less than a full-time commitment, even in the early stages when the business model has not yet been proven. Don’t let early funding increase risk and dilute your potential. Spread your equity internally to build the team.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Entrepreneur Startup Exit Strategy 120

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 20, 2018

Why are you so strongly sold on royalty licensing as the most effective way to finance a tech-based early stage company? These are your candidates, because they are companies already absorbing much or all the marketing expense necessary to make sales of your invention.

IP 48

IP Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Product 48

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

Let me remind readers as I outlined in this post , there are VERY FEW M&A transactions for early-stage startup companies above $100 million. You just said, “nobody would take 1-2% dilution.” I am not saying all companies should be for sale. Many – MOST – are done in the $10-30 million range.

Valuation 316

Valuation Balance Sheet Dilution Term Sheet 316

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

.   Note that this applies only to earl stage Series A-type equity financings and assumes no cash dividends are paid to investors. It also assumes the entire value of the investment is captured for investors at a sale of the company in the time specified in the term-sheet. Let’s start at the end.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

The Equity Kicker

MAY 14, 2012

achieving first revenues. breaking through revenue thresholds – e.g. run-rates of £1m, £5m, £20m and so on. demonstrating a repeatable sales model (typically telephone sales, direct sales, or channel sales). achieving first international sales. achieving first revenues.

Finance 118

Finance Valuation Venture Capital Dilution 118

Hippoland

MAY 16, 2018

Here’s what’s happening in the equity world (from my perspective): 1) Token sales in the crypto-world do affect “equity” raises. (I A number of companies that would have done a token sale a few months ago are now doing equity rounds instead. In fact, Hunter Walk wrote about this greater seed stage here.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Valuation Convertible Security Equity 48

Hippoland

MAY 16, 2018

Here’s what’s happening in the equity world (from my perspective): 1) Token sales in the crypto-world do affect “equity” raises. (I A number of companies that would have done a token sale a few months ago are now doing equity rounds instead. In fact, Hunter Walk wrote about this greater seed stage here.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Valuation Convertible Security Equity 48

Up and Running

APRIL 24, 2018

Of course, you will need a killer product—but, you will also need a competent growth strategy that will encompass comprehensive marketing, sales, research and development, technology, and beyond. That’s why having a revenue-minded focus from the early stages helps to secure funding.

SBIR 73

SBIR Startup Artificial Inteligence Intellectual Property 73

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

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

This is true for early stage funding as well as venture capital funding. 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. Early Stage. Seed to Series A.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2016

The founders and team develop a huge confidence level that appropriately increases risk-taking, output, expansion, deals, revenue, press and everything that is a consequence of initial successes. Or some teams who start driving revenue paper over the fact that they aren’t acquiring customers profitably. Everything seems possible.

Churn Rate 150

Churn Rate Vesting Dilution Europe 150

www.startupnorth.ca

OCTOBER 23, 2010

But for every founder, there is an early employee that takes near equal risks in joining an early-stage company. Remember the goal is to incent early employees to have an emotional ownership of the product and company they are building. Darmesh Shah has a great list of insights for employees joining early stage companies.

Employee 41

Employee Founder Salary Equity 41

YoungUpstarts

MAY 31, 2016

While it’s fair to say that the aforementioned cornerstones apply to more established companies and are intended to ensure for their continued well-being, early stage entrants can benefit from their guidance as well. Develop and evolve your company’s product brands through your customer’s eyes. Is a marketing plan important?

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Leadership Early Stage Initial Public Offering 100

Occam's Razor

MAY 2, 2017

The very best analysts distill, rather than dilute. Outcomes: Revenue | Ideas Funded Behavior: Path Length | Cart Abandonment Rate Acquisition: Assisted Conversions | Share of Search. Every ecommerce site has to obsess about Revenue. B2B / Enterprise Sales: Salesforce. And, we can do so much for them!

Metrics 141

Metrics Acquisition eCommerce Analytics 141

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

But we weren’t optimizing for dilution – we were building a $1 billion+ company and we wanted the runway to succeed. VC, sales, biz dev, M&A or otherwise. I’ve offered to fund an early stage company where I promised cash in bank in less than 30 days. VC, sales, biz dev, M&A or otherwise. Any deal.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

Gust

MAY 24, 2012

A typical series of Preferred Stock in a venture-backed startup carries a liquidation preference, anti-dilution rights, dividend preference, a separate vote to fill its own seat(s) on the Board of Directors, “protective provisions” requiring the company to obtain a separate vote of the Preferred to take certain corporate actions, and more.

IPO 159

IPO Equity Common Stock Stock 159

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

The woman in charge of sales was so tenacious that I used to feelsorry for potential customers on the phone with her. Stephen Hawkings editor told him that every equationhe included in his book would cut sales in half. A 10% improvement in ease of use doesnt just increase your sales 10%. Its more likely to double your sales.

Startup 105

Startup Cofounder Software Stock 105

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

I would focus on one product and set a goal to generate $1M in yearly revenue from it. Do that – nothing else but one product / company / focus and get to $1M in sales with atleast $15% net profit. Outsourcing is something a big company, with a known customer / problem (that has revenue & traction) does to save cost.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

There never has to be atime when you have no revenues. Sometimes angels deal terms are as fearsome as VCs.Other angels, particularly in the earliest stages, will invest basedon a two-page agreement. Whatkind of anti-dilution protection do they want? The problems are different in the early stages. Hell if they know.In

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

A high performing, high-growth SAAS company that may have been worth 10 or more times revenue was suddenly worth 4-7 times revenue. Never in the history of venture capital have early stage startups had access to so much capital. It will also minimize future dilution. The same thing happened to many Internet stocks.

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

Up and Running

JULY 14, 2015

I’d implemented a business plan including marketing, engagement, sales strategy and realized a few months in that it wasn’t servicing a key influence or in the sales process. The cool thing is with the device like, that with the science like that, there’s a lot of early stage proving ground needed.

Incubator 60

Incubator Email Startup Oregon 60

Ben's Blog

MAY 24, 2021

Small” IPOs — companies with less than $50m in annual revenue at the time of IPO – have declined from more than 50% of all IPOs in the 1980-2000 timeframe to about 25% of IPOs from 2001-2016; Companies are staying private much longer — the median time to IPO from founding hovered around 6.5

SEC 36

SEC Accredited Investor IPO Technical Review 36

Seeing Both Sides

JANUARY 13, 2015

My boss and mentor from Open Market, Gary Eichhorn , made the entire management team read it in the 1990s to hammer home its important lessons as we stumbled through the chasm on our way to scaling from zero to nearly $100 million in revenue in a few years. At each stage, there are different problems.

Mezzanine 20

Mezzanine IPO Finance Business Model 20

Up and Running

DECEMBER 9, 2014

Two, revenue. Many business owners today really think of financials as being about the past, how much revenue have we had, how much cost did we have. Inaudible 00:27:51] leading indicator to help you know where your revenue will be over the coming weeks and months but you can actually apply the same concept on the cost side as well.

Small Business 95

Small Business Finance Forecast Metrics 95