Steve Blank

JUNE 27, 2017

Initially, a startup has no business model and no market share to defend. If they select a business model that targets industry incumbents, they don’t have to worry about upsetting existing customers, partners or distribution channels. Tesla – current valuation $50 billion – sells cars directly through its own distribution channel.

Startup 275

Startup New York City Valuation Distribution 275

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 15, 2020

With the help of these applications, project managers or team leaders keep track of the budget, dates, and deadlines; they distribute the tasks in the team and can create reports and analyses on the progress of the project. Asana is one of the most popular projects management tools on the market.

Management 264

Management Software Review Cloud Mobile 264

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Reading the NY Times article “ Jeffrey Katzenberg Raises $1 Billion for Short-Form Video Venture, ” I realized it was time for a new startup heuristic: the amount of customer discovery and product-market fit you need to find is inversely proportional to the amount and availability of risk capital. ” Fire, Ready, Aim.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 3, 2020

My investments have always been geographically distributed across the US and I spent the majority of my time between Monday and Friday on the road. In the past few years, there have been several high profile examples of scaled companies that have a completely distributed workforce. For many years, this was a function of travel.

Distribution 99

Distribution Seattle Portfolio Video 99

ConversionXL

JANUARY 18, 2022

Learn how to identify what your customers want from your brand, how to build momentum with content, and then explore some brands that excel at brand marketing. For most of 2021, CXL didn’t have a marketing team. By demonstrating proven marketing expertise, we can provide a consistent, valuable experience for our audience.

Marketing 109

Marketing Social Media Non-Compete Audience 109

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 9, 2021

They were bashing each other over the head in a non-existent market as the Internet bubble began collapsing. The founders of each company talked and, in between efforts to decimate the other, agreed it might be worth merging to survive. I’ve worked with Matt for over 20 years and have experienced many ups and downs.

Fractional CTO 195

Fractional CTO Cofounder Startup Lead Investor 195

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

A few weeks ago, we hosted a small dinner for a number of portfolio company founders, LP’s, and friends of the firm. New funds have formed, old market leaders are gone or walking dead. But the reality is that the more interesting the market, the more likely there is to be rapid and unpredictable change. Patience is a virtue.

IRR 205

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 205

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 27, 2020

” All over our portfolio, I’m seeing CEOs increasingly asking the question, “why am I spending all this money for something I can’t use?” We’ll see, but I know the amount of money that we are indirectly spending on commercial real estate via our portfolio will be dramatically less in 2023 than it is today.

Marketing 214

Marketing Portfolio Distribution Employee 214

VC Cafe

MARCH 1, 2024

Technological Convergence – The global equity market value associated with disruptive innovation could increase to 60% by 2030. Bitcoin Allocation – Growing the role of bitcoin in investment portfolios. What’s missing is the last mile — distribution, customer journey design, guardrails and workflow automation.

Artificial Inteligence 177

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Software Review Generative AI 177

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

The Innovation Portfolio. Companies manage these three types of innovation with an innovation portfolio – they build innovation internally, they buy it or they partner with resources outside their company. The founding team is testing for the right combination of product, market, revenue, costs, etc.

Acquisition 332

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 332

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

A few weeks ago, we hosted a small dinner for a number of portfolio company founders, LP’s, and friends of the firm. New funds have formed, old market leaders are gone or walking dead. But the reality is that the more interesting the market, the more likely there is to be rapid and unpredictable change. Patience is a virtue.

IRR 156

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 156

Version One Ventures

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Our portfolio company Top Hat just closed a $22.5M (USD) Series C round. They took an innovative approach to distribution. Top Hat adopted a bottoms-up approach to distribution, as covered in the Globe and Mail article: Sales took off after Top Hat ignored advice and flipped its sales strategy.

Vertical 132

Vertical Technical Review Cofounder Sales Cycle 132

ConversionXL

MARCH 19, 2020

An article on growth and marketing in the middle of a crisis—the current one or any other—can seem tone deaf. This post surveys what people have done in the past—and what marketing leaders are doing now—to make it through tough times and thrive in the post-crisis era. Tim Stewart, trsdigital. But nothing gets better if we stand still.

Marketing 121

Marketing Campaign Non-Compete Lean 121

View from Seed

APRIL 2, 2024

But market forces continued to drive these industries to evolve in similar ways. VC’s across the board have generally upped their game and are much more involved in the startup ecosystem and with their portfolios. In retrospect, this was to be expected as any competitive market matures.

Merger 343

Merger Non-Compete Early Stage Venture Capital 343

Genuine VC

AUGUST 27, 2015

When I think to the best performing companies in our NextView portfolio, the investment process was driven by (at least) one of the three of us who became a true believer. That’s not to say that all of our strong portfolio companies were nonconsensus among the three of us – quite the opposite. It wasn’t obvious.

Software Review 100

Software Review Portfolio Framework Distribution 100

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

Harry was gracious enough to invite me back so this past week we recorded an episode discussing the current market environment. Nobody will be immune because in a bull market executives are paid to “innovate” so they sign software contracts and run projects. Biggest Advice I Give to Portfolio Founders? Raise when you can.

Marketing 263

Marketing Valuation Churn Rate Balance Sheet 263

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

A few weeks ago, we hosted a small dinner for a number of portfolio company founders, LP’s, and friends of the firm. New funds have formed, old market leaders are gone or walking dead. But the reality is that the more interesting the market, the more likely there is to be rapid and unpredictable change. Patience is a virtue.

IRR 136

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 136

BeyondVC

JANUARY 3, 2019

We are purpose-built to not only invest pre-product but also to help accelerate your path to product-market fit with our decades of entrepreneurial and investing experience along with our active CXO advisory board. will be a great fit with the Salesforce marketing cloud. First check to seed?—?congrats Rebel exit to Salesforce.

Stealth 79

Stealth Advisory Board Cloud Virginia 79

Agile VC

OCTOBER 23, 2012

3) GP’s Care About Absolute, Not Relative, Returns - Of course most GPs pay attention to the broader returns of the market, but at the end of the day absolute returns are what matter. Startup outcomes are a power law distribution rather than a standard distribution. 3.0x+ cash on cash) is profitable.

LP 176

LP Accredited Investor Carried Interest Portfolio 176

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 25, 2023

In addition to providing customer care and assistance, a virtual assistant may also develop web pages or compose blog entries, administer email newsletters, carry out sales and marketing chores, generate sales leads, and conduct a variety of other jobs. This can be used to either skyrocket a company’s sales or identify market gaps.

Software Review 118

Software Review Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Entrepreneur 118

Up and Running

DECEMBER 25, 2021

The current market is entirely driven by candidates. Effective recruitment marketing techniques have proven to be the key to attracting and retaining top personnel. Create interesting recruitment content and distribute it through all relevant social media networks. Expedite the recruitment process with these 9 steps.

Hiring 84

Hiring Developer Social Media Mobile 84

VC Cafe

MARCH 6, 2024

With the rapid advancement of generative AI, we’re seeing content creation, distribution and monetisation being disrupted faster than ever before. You may have noticed that the fundraising market for startups has slowed down. Are you building in this space? Drop us a line or slide into our DMs – we’re all ears!

Artificial Inteligence 141

Artificial Inteligence Generative AI Startup Vertical 141

BeyondVC

JANUARY 6, 2018

6 portfolio companies raised Series A financings including Manifold , Hypr , and 4 unannounced, 1 raised a Series B (unannounced), and Security Scorecard raised a $28mm Series C. Expect this trend to continue and what this means is that CIOs will take a portfolio approach, make some bets, and double down on their winners.

Cloud 60

Cloud Cofounder Portfolio Advisory Board 60

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 9, 2018

Entering new markets can be a great way for your business to expand its portfolio and diversify its product offering. Major companies like Tesla have already demonstrated the benefits of entering a new market with a winning position by leveraging opportunities in its current market space. Identify Distribution Channels.

Jacksonville 189

Jacksonville Due Diligence Exit Strategy Marketing 189

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Think about this; 7 years ago Nokia owned 50% of the handset market. Fast-forward to today—Apple is the most profitable Smartphone company in the world and in Spain Android commands a market share of more than 90%. Its worldwide market share of Smartphones has dwindled to 5%. Apple owned 0%.

Private Equity 325

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 325

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 7, 2013

The new software offering expands Intel’s extensive portfolio of datacenter computing, networking, storage and intelligent system products.

Distribution 154

Distribution Software Open Source Framework 154

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 23, 2017

This combinatorial model works because it’s diversified, can best withstand bear markets, benefits from technological synergies, and it’s the mix of products and services clients value. Here digital intercepts of consumer activities are aggregated into large data sets, analysed, and assessed versus market expectations.

Technical Review 154

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Software Review IPO 154

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Lately I’ve been having to say things I thought I’d never have to remind people, like, “getting to positive gross margin in several territories is a very low bar to claim success” or “profitable excluding marketing costs” is not actually a real thing. Market Size. MakeSpace provides physical storage.

Startup 150

Startup Seed Money DC Software Review 150

Haystack

MAY 4, 2019

Today, I am excited to share some data on the Haystack portfolio as it relates to geography. Over the past year, and especially over the last few days, the Bay Area tech Twitter echo chamber has been tweeting about the advent of remote, or distributed, or satellite teams for their companies across the country and the world.

United States 87

United States Portfolio San Francisco New York City 87

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Will Quist did a great job of explaining this market rhetoric in this thread. The three-question framework goes as such: Q: How much tech-related market cap will be created in the next 10-20 years? So, on one hand, the market see ms like a total frenzy these days. However, I am not sure that is the case with VC.

Valuation 319

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 319

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 14, 2010

They are tasked with “getting deals done&# so they race around talking to tons of potential partners inking anything from channel sale deals , product integration, international distribution agreements, co-marketing arrangements, M&A discussions, etc. You have a marketing department with three people.

Development Team Review 323

Development Team Review SEM Channel Social Media 323

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Will Quist did a great job of explaining this market rhetoric in this thread. The three-question framework goes as such: Q: How much tech-related market cap will be created in the next 10-20 years? So, on one hand, the market see ms like a total frenzy these days. However, I am not sure that is the case with VC.

Valuation 295

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 295

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 9, 2021

They were bashing each other over the head in a non-existent market as the Internet bubble began collapsing. The founders of each company talked and, in between efforts to decimate the other, agreed it might be worth merging to survive. I’ve worked with Matt for over 20 years and have experienced many ups and downs.

Fractional CTO 70

Fractional CTO Cofounder Startup Lead Investor 70

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

They also want to see that you’ve assembled a collaborative team, capable of delivering your solution to the market. If you can check these boxes and convince venture capitalists that you’ve achieved product fit in a market with plenty of room for growth, you have a real shot at securing funding. Prepare to prove your worth.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

The Next Web

FEBRUARY 1, 2014

It may surprise you to learn that the technology itself takes a back seat to market demand. Some examples include: Organize a local market research campaign (best for services that involve connecting businesses with customers). When it comes to local market research, the best way is to talk to your clients and understand their needs.

Web 160

Web Silicon Valley Salary Demand 160

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2014

Success depends on finding startups that have identified acute customer pains in large markets where conditions are ripe for a new entrant. as a distribution channel have vastly reduced the amount of capital a startup needs at the early stage when the risk is greatest. Part 3: Engineering a Regional Tech Cluster. ——-.

Early Stage 286

Early Stage Silicon Valley Oregon Technical Review 286

David Teten

NOVEMBER 26, 2019

Or executives fail to take advantage of a great marketing opportunity with a December 31 deadline because they do not have budget. . So here’s the solution I have recommended to some of my portfolio companies: “ agile budgeting ”, i.e., monitoring a few key variables while giving managers significant flexibility.

Agile 60

Agile Management Forecast Silicon Valley 60