Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2018

Potential investors love to see gross margins in the fifty percent range or greater, with recurring revenue through subscriptions, follow-on sales, or services. Five-year financial projections of revenue and expenses. Specific investment size request, and equity offered. Discussion of likely liquidity events and exit strategy.

Product 145

Product Intellectual Property Liquidity Event Exit Strategy 145

ConversionXL

JANUARY 18, 2022

And yet, revenue went up by 45% YoY. Can you capture more brand equity by executing marketing tactics in new or better ways? Build systems and processes that enable your team to create and distribute content seamlessly. Brand is your strongest asset. For most of 2021, CXL didn’t have a marketing team. Which are they neglecting?

Marketing 109

Marketing Social Media Non-Compete Audience 109

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 2, 2017

The total value of these deals might look higher than when a tech company makes an acquihire but the premium tends to go to retention rather than the cap table (especially since (a) the acquirer might not be seen as an ‘attractive’ place to work and (b) there’s assumption of less equity upside post-acquisition).

Technical Review 116

Technical Review Cap Table Acquisition Startup 116

Up and Running

JULY 18, 2014

My name is Zach and I will be hosting today’s event. So the S corporation splits the owners income into two parts, wages and pass-through distributions. But you’ll avoid employment tax on the income distribution. Post it in the comments below and we’ll follow up with you! Hello everyone & welcome to today’s webinar.

Small Business 87

Small Business LLC Nevada Software Review 87

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2015

Every customer understands that your solution has to generate more revenue than cost, but you should not put that data in a customer pitch. Partnerships, distribution channels and pricing models should be included. “If Projected revenues and expenses over the strategic period. Putting together a good investor pitch is hard work.

Product 120

Product Intellectual Property Liquidity Event Burn Rate 120

ConversionXL

MAY 27, 2022

Then they increased their revenue from $2M to $6M in six months. In this article, you’ll learn how to build a demand generation funnel that fuels the pipeline, shortens the sale cycle, and generates revenue. Your number one metric for any marketing initiative should be revenue. Like SEO, demand generation is a long game.

Demand 124

Demand B2B Distribution Channel 124

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 20, 2020

Follow Amber on Twitter @amberallen_aa #Gaming #Esports #VirtualReality #AugmentedReality #MixedReality #AmbersReality Andy Tryba recently launched a new company with Donald Park from Vista Equity, called Ionic Partners, after almost a decade running companies for Joe Liemandt.

Austin 110

Austin Texas Cofounder Los Angeles 110

Growthink Blog

AUGUST 18, 2012

One key reason for this is that most sources of money, like banks and institutional equity investors (defined as institutions like venture capital firms, private equity firms and corporations that invest), are essentially professional risk managers. Ideally, these milestones will get you to point where you are generating revenues.

Private Equity 116

Private Equity Equity Revenue Security 116

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2010

Michael is a very accomplished corporate executive in his own right having run Sega Gameworks and helped IPO EuroDisney as well as having been on the founding team of DreamWorks SKG (where he helped them raise their first $900 million in equity). Company generates revenue via premium accounts, targeted ads and transaction commission.

IPO 242

IPO Venture Capital Private Placement Cofounder 242

Growthink Blog

MARCH 8, 2013

Most sources of money, like banks and institutional equity investors (defined as institutions like venture capital firms, private equity firms and corporations that invest), are essentially professional risk managers. Let me explain. You merely raise enough money to achieve your initial milestones.

Private Equity 101

Private Equity Equity Revenue Security 101

Steve Blank

JULY 19, 2010

I’ll offer that both entrepreneurs and VC’s have the wrong model for founding CEO equity compensation. The fallacy is believing that a founders value is evenly distributed over four years. Where’s My Liquidity Event. More often than not the founding CEO leaves the company. I’ll posit that both views are wrong.

Vesting 251

Vesting Liquidity Event Venture Capital Founder Vesting 251

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

The investors and the entrepreneurs are – or should be – aware that the price of the company’s equity is set by the market – in simplest terms, what an informed buyer is willing to pay.   Note that this applies only to earl stage Series A-type equity financings and assumes no cash dividends are paid to investors.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

The Equity Kicker

MAY 14, 2012

There are certain types of events that investors look to as evidence that a company has overcome certain challenges and has therefore reduced risk in the business and become deserving of a higher valuation. achieving first revenues. breaking through revenue thresholds – e.g. run-rates of £1m, £5m, £20m and so on.

Finance 118

Finance Valuation Venture Capital Dilution 118

Up and Running

MAY 21, 2015

All the other sharks typically make a traditional equity investment; for example they’ll invest $100,000 at a $1,000,000 business valuation, and take 10 percent of the business. That’s called a traditional equity investment. Mr. Wonderful, by contrast typically makes his investment in the form of Debt Securities With Warrants.

Covenant 60

Covenant Liquidation Preference Ratchet Dilution 60

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

For this article, we asked 14 SaaS CEOs a simple question: “How much did you spend on your MVP before you had your first dollar of revenue?”. The MVP took around four months to build, during which time the company earned no revenue. They then spent the first year qualifying the product and testing out their revenue model.

Sweat Equity 78

Sweat Equity Software Review Vesting Cofounder 78

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

There are two reasons to raise money: You have a killer idea that is only partially validated, that you think can get to $50M+ of revenue in 5 years with 80%+ gross margins (if margins are lower, you need a lot more revenue)and you need money to get to product-market fit, or. Revenue per customer? Revenue, Gross Margin?

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

Growthink Blog

MAY 23, 2011

An entrepreneur starts a company in classic " bootstrap " fashion - with a combination of sweat equity and their own financial resources. With this capital, the company propels itself to $50 million+ in revenues, and to either a sale to a strategic acquirer or to an initial public offering.

Angel Investor 112

Angel Investor Venture Capital Sweat Equity Cram Down 112

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

For this article, we asked 14 SaaS CEOs a simple question: “How much did you spend on your MVP before you had your first dollar of revenue?”. The MVP took around four months to build, during which time the company earned no revenue. They then spent the first year qualifying the product and testing out their revenue model.

Sweat Equity 50

Sweat Equity Software Review Vesting Cofounder 50

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 8, 2013

6) As private equity goes, early stage venture is the most work for the least amount of money. If your company gets bought for a billion dollars when it''s not even doing double digit millions in revenues, you can''t really deny that luck was a factor--but that luck will enable a firm to raise another fund, while you''re trudging along.

Venture Capital 167

Venture Capital Early Stage Portfolio Private Equity 167

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 21, 2014

events) that occur before the prospect reaches a lead form. You want to define the specific events, subordinate to the page view, about the pages and flows that you want to track; implement, test, and analyze them in the context of the lead generation flow. You may want to collect the type of function used on the page (i.e.

Analytics 113

Analytics Software Review Metadata Campaign 113

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

In fact, SaaS industry revenue is projected to grow from $49 billion in 2015 to $67 billion in 2018, a compound annual growth rate of approximately eight percent. At this stage, simply list your primary revenue streams and your key expenses. At this stage, simply list your primary revenue streams and your key expenses.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

I hope to be asked back for next year’s event. Obviously that barrier has been brought down with low-cost ability to capture, stream and distribute content over the Internet. VC can’t don’t invest in these kinds of companies because they can’t get out (no liquidity event). Then there is a royalty rate.

Bankruptcy 403

Bankruptcy Offshore Liquidation Preference Balance Sheet 403

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 1, 2020

The most alarming recent data is the millions that filed for unemployment in a single week–the largest such black swan event in the history of the country. If there is a silver lining to all of this, it is that such events are often breeding grounds for innovation, pivots, startups and the birth of new companies. Alarming indeed.

Startup 120

Startup SEO Private Equity Venture Capital 120

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

previously explained that it usually requires some equity, but here is some more step by step practical advice. The tagline for the event was actually "Starting a company is easier than you think." CompStudy 2008 Report on Equity and Cash Compensation at Technology Startups. Let's recap. He's awesome. " Listen.

Technology 191

Technology Product San Francisco CTO Hire 191

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 15, 2018

Even though they may represent a much lower lifetime value for a brand, they can represent a significant chunk of revenue over a year. The most common example of distribution and information based scarcity used in luxury is one most brands should implement without exception: the “limited quantities available” message. Image source.

eCommerce 125

eCommerce Conversion Sales Technical Review 125

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

I would focus on one product and set a goal to generate $1M in yearly revenue from it. Outsourcing is something a big company, with a known customer / problem (that has revenue & traction) does to save cost. I have a proposal written up including full cost and revenue projections. Once you’ve done that – then.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

www.chubbybrain.com

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

I can count on one hand the number of people I’ve met in New York meetups and events that fit this description. In San Francisco one can find hacking events on a daily basis, as well as many unconference events where people get their hands dirty playing with code. 17 – Be unable to Attract Investors. During this year they.

Cofounder 89

Cofounder Startup Technical Cofounder CTO Hire 89

rapidrollout.wordpress.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

How can I go about looking for a (very) good programmer willing to do this as sweat equity? You can find a technologist to join you as a partner, for half of the company’s equity. It’s common for a college student to do a sweat equity partnership with another college student. So you see my dilemma.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Fractional CTO Partner CTO Hire 40

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

We also discussed having distributed teams (e.g. Why liberal arts undergraduate degrees can be more valuable than economics / business undergraduate degrees. -Company grew by more than “400% each year” for past few years [assume growth metric = revenues]. Metrics: 2.5mm members, 1,000 brands, 2,500 sale events to-date.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Los Angeles Oakland Asia 217

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

Perhaps the seminal bubble-popping event was John Carreyrou’s October 16th investigative analysis of Theranos in the Wall Street Journal. A high performing, high-growth SAAS company that may have been worth 10 or more times revenue was suddenly worth 4-7 times revenue. The same thing happened to many Internet stocks.

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

I too am looking for someone to work with that knows the manufacturing and distribution end of a solid product. Also, industry meet-ups and events are great ways to meet other talented technical people, have fun and perhaps spark a new start-up. Twitter is an excellent distribution channel for us. (B)

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Someone who is egotistical enough to call themselves a rockstar, yet humble enough not to want 99% of the equity? Just go to a meetup or post an ad promising equity. What did you take from idea on the back of a napkin to liquidity event? This person does not exist. Now we turn it around. What companies have you launched?

Developer 42

Developer Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder 42

Life Beyond Code

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

One Million by One Million is a global initiative that aims to nurture a million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars each in annual revenue and beyond by 2020, thereby creating a trillion dollars in global GDP and ten million jobs. a distributed, democratic model of capitalism. 1M/1M Program has a bold mission.

Programming 116

Programming Silicon Valley Bootstrapping Technical Review 116

Ben's Blog

AUGUST 31, 2020

Last week, the mobile bank Current launched rewards – previously, a major draw of credit cards – so its users can build point equity with each debit card swipe. But the resulting shift is correcting long-standing issues in small business lending around distribution and risk selection.

IPO 36

IPO Stock Software Review API 36

Transformify

MARCH 4, 2018

Founded by a former Robert Half employee, SNI Companies has long crossed the USD 100 million revenue benchmark. As the outsourcing industry continues to grow, CoWorx Staffing Services specializes in addressing its needs providing services to call centers, light industrial, distribution, and 3rd arty logistics companies. SNI Companies.

Hiring 61

Hiring Finder Canada Australia 61

The Next Web

AUGUST 14, 2013

When we went out to raise money, we raised with only a couple thousand dollars in monthly recurring revenue. But we had a solid product, strong weekly revenue growth (10% week over week), and two distribution/marketing channels that were already paying dividends. Traction is different for every product. Wrapping It Up.

Founder 142

Founder Incubator Cofounder Accredited Investor 142

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

In later posts I’ll get more specific on how to figure out if the folks you’re meeting are the right people to work with, and also how to deal with issues like splitting equity and paying yourselves before raising funding. Expand ONLY when you have generated enough revenue to keep you alive 2 years from today. Only then.

Cofounder 66

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 66