Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2021

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. The key here is to create a win-win partner situation for your investors. Lack of clear objectives/goals.

Software Review 307

Software Review Due Diligence Elevator Pitch Early Stage 307

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2013

Every early-stage startup should explore this new funding alternative. New “up-and-comer” VCs focus on early-stage companies. VCs are finding that they don’t need the “large” funds of $100M to $500M to support a portfolio, if they focus on early-stage startups. entrepreneur startup super-Angels David S.

Angel Investor 231

Angel Investor Entrepreneur Early Stage Silicon Valley 231

David Teten

DECEMBER 12, 2017

(written by Philipp von dem Knesebeck , Managing Partner, Blue Future Partners (bluefp.com, @bluefutureteam ), and David Teten ). Based on this paper, Blue Future Partners and PEVCTech recently completed a large-scale survey to find out which tools are most commonly used by venture capital firms.

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 60

YoungUpstarts

MAY 1, 2020

by Ash Rust , founder and managing partner of Sterling Road. Money is constantly on the mind of any entrepreneur: how to raise it, where to invest it, and how to make more of it. Given that mindset, it’s only natural that most entrepreneurs jump at the first chance they get to secure early-stage startup funding.

Early Stage 165

Early Stage Security Angel Investor Lead Investor 165

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

I hear a lot of entrepreneurs contemplating their great “idea” for several years with little discernable progress, and looking for money to start. Make sure your plan answers every relevant question that you could possibly imagine from your business partners, spouse, and potential investors. Traction means forward progress.

Intellectual Property 281

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Sweat Equity CTO Hire 281

VC Cafe

JANUARY 14, 2022

I commented on this to Israel21c in the early days of the tre nd. Many of the companies that went public via SPACs saw their valuations dramatically reduce in the months that followed post IPO. Plenty of fresh powder in the market across stages. This is even before serial entrepreneur Liad Agmon joins as partner.

Technical Review 158

Technical Review Lock-up Period South Korea 158

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a co-founder or two. The next default of waiting until later is equally bad, since partners who bow out early will still expect an equal share of that first billion you make later. Now comes the reality check.

Equity 238

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 238

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

As an early-stage company that just closed our seed round at $8.1 There are currently tons of “zombie” startups that have runway, but growth has slowed and they have valuations that they won’t be able to grow into. So what does an early-stage company do to avoid the doom and gloom plaguing the world of startups?

Early Stage 110

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 110

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2012

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. The key here is to create a win-win partner situation for your investors. Lack of clear objectives/goals.

Software Review 250

Software Review Due Diligence Elevator Pitch Entrepreneur 250

NZ Entrepreneur

MAY 31, 2021

The Angel Association of New Zealand ( AANZ ) is co-hosting with New Zealand Growth Capital Partners ( NZGCP ) a series of workshops on early-stage investment. Jason Graham from Movac provided an early-stage venture capital fund perspective, detailing 35 investments made across 5 funds and 22 years.

Portfolio 81

Portfolio New Zealand Management Technical Review 81

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

by Lu Zhang, founder and managing partner of Fusion Fund. Among these opportunities, the chance to pitch an investor and secure funding is perhaps the greatest of all — at least in the early stages of your startup career — as it can ultimately determine the long-term fate of your company.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

One of the hardest things about the fund-raising process for entrepreneurs is that you’re trying to raise money from people who have “asymmetric information.” As an entrepreneur it can feel as intimidating as going to buy a car where the dealer knows the price of every make & model of a car and you’re guessing at how much to pay.

Valuation 324

Valuation Post-Money Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Cofounder 324

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 14, 2022

India has always been renowned as the land of entrepreneurs. At this stage, the idea is pitched mainly to family and friends. A business plan is drawn up to attract investors and partners. At this stage, the founder mainly raises funding from their sources or family and friends. 2) Laying out the genesis of the company.

Technical Review 143

Technical Review Due Diligence India Startup 143

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. Angels are more likely to fund new entrepreneurs, and early-stage or seed rounds, while VCs tend to focus on entrepreneurs with a successful track record, and later stage rounds.

Angel Investor 314

Angel Investor Entrepreneur IRR Valuation 314

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2015

For early-stage startups, the goodwill component can easily exceed the size of all the financial elements together, or can just as easily mark a company with good financials as not investable. For startups, the entrepreneur and founder is almost always the face of the company. Focus on talent and people growth.

Leadership 120

Leadership Technical Review Due Diligence Valuation 120

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

I’m over-paying for every check I write into the VC ecosystem and valuations are being pushed up to absurd levels and many of these valuations and companies won’t hold in the long term. On the one hand, you’re over paying for every investment and valuations aren’t rational. Seed has become an option factory for many.

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). Thus your startup maturity and growth stage is the primary key to success with potential funding sources. “My Congratulations!

Angel Investor 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2014

The next default of waiting until later is equally bad, since partners who bow out early will still expect an equal share of that first billion you make later. 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.

Cofounder 261

Cofounder Stock Founder Technical Cofounder 261

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2022

They have too many highly paid partners, fat fees, an aging corporate infrastructure and difficulty raising money from institutions. As lifecycle investment partners, they have become weighted down with portfolios still recovering from the economic downturn. Super angels sometimes drive up valuations.

Angel Investor 342

Angel Investor Venture Capital Silicon Valley Portfolio 342

View from Seed

OCTOBER 21, 2014

In short, more and more entrepreneurs are signaling their price expectations earlier in their seed fundraise process. Or, in the case of a convertible note, they’ll explicitly state a valuation cap. In theory, there are three levels of pricing for an entrepreneur to potentially signal to a prospective investor: 1.

Valuation 336

Valuation Founder Seed Stage Angel Investor 336

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. Angels are more likely to fund new entrepreneurs, and early-stage or seed rounds, while VCs tend to focus on entrepreneurs with a successful track record, and later stage rounds.

Angel Investor 246

Angel Investor IRR Venture Capital Valuation 246

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2017

This technology is not only spawning a new generation of entrepreneurs, but is also changing the educational landscape, all the way down to early grade school. In my view as an advisor to new ventures, the Maker Movement is an integral part of a new age of the entrepreneur. Mind-expanding for new entrepreneurial opportunities.

Technical Cofounder 153

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Wiki Cofounder 153

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

by John Vrionis, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. I love it when entrepreneurs start a pitch with a “Big Vision” and end it with their how their idea will achieve “World Domination.” As milestones are accomplished, overall risk of the startup failing decreases, which is why valuations (share price) increase.

Valuation 100

Valuation Dilution Chicago Technical Review 100

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

While the rewards may be a boon to their company in the short term, the consequences of accepting outside funding too early can be debilitating. There’s a reason why I refer to early-stage VC funding as vulture capital, and to be honest it’s pretty accurate. The expectations are fundamentally misaligned. It certainly was for us.

Early Stage 85

Early Stage Venture Capital Bootstrapping Pre-Money Valuation 85

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. I have seen bad behavior from later-stage VCs, believe me. But I have seen equally bad behavior from super early stage investors. What a second, what about entrepreneurs?

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. Similar to the explosion of seed funds in the past decade, we (and some limited partners too ) believe these Flexible VCs are on the forefront of what will become a major segment of the venture ecosystem. Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2013

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. The key here is to create a win-win partner situation for your investors. Lack of clear objectives/goals.

Software Review 265

Software Review Due Diligence Elevator Pitch Startup 265

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010

Every early-stage startup should explore this new funding alternative. New “up-and-comer” VCs focus on early-stage companies. VCs are finding that they don’t need the “large” funds of $100M to $500M to support a portfolio, if they focus on early-stage startups. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 215

Technical Review Early Stage Venture Capital Startup 215

View from Seed

JANUARY 27, 2021

. $100M is a meaningful increase from our $50M third fund, though it’s still quite small in the grand scheme of venture, especially amid the recent wave of late stage financings and SPACs. We believe that this fund is the perfect size for us to be the best possible partners to early-stage entrepreneurs today.

LP 411

LP Early Stage Seed Stage Venture Capital 411

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

Back in the early 2000s, the Maker Movement took hold in California, based on the emergence of such do-it-yourself (DIY) tools as 3-D printers, and now sites such as SketchUp and Makerspaces have all the tools you need to make almost anything computer related. Network with potential cofounders and strategic partners.

Startup 397

Startup Cofounder Incubator Early Stage 397

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

We are in a bubble (with so many private $1bn+ valuations). Limited Partners or LPs (the people who invest into VC funds) have taken notice as 2014 is by all accounts the busiest year for LPs since the Great Recession began. Where are we today? ” Stated simply – if you seed funded Uber at $4.5m

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

But in business, you want a lot of partners. In the private equity universe, most Partners have primary training as deal-makers, not as managers. Small investment firms often have interns and entrepreneurs in residence passing through, each of which is a security risk. Most of us want one spouse and we’re done. 2) Market .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2011

A big piece of the solution lies in the scalable impact of entrepreneurship and an increase of successful entrepreneurs. Max continued, “That’s why I’m really interested in ways of optimizing the entrepreneurship ecosystem to allow more entrepreneurs to go from idea to reality. I was feeling pretty old.

Technical Cofounder 333

Technical Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 333

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2016

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a co-founder or two. The next default of waiting until later is equally bad, since partners who bow out early will still expect an equal share of that first billion you make later. Now comes the reality check.

Equity 120

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). Thus your startup maturity and growth stage is the primary key to success with potential funding sources. “My Congratulations!

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Many Asian entrepreneurs tell me that they want to raise funds from Silicon Valley firms because they perceive the valuations to be higher. But the problem with this is that most VCs in the Valley, especially early stage ones, only like to invest in companies that are within driving distance from their offices.

Asia 132

Asia Silicon Valley India Term Sheet 132

VC Cafe

AUGUST 2, 2022

Is there an early mover advantage for being early on a technology trend? think about the entrepreneurs that started in the early days of the Internet, mobile, crypto, VR and yes… now Metaverse. For that, Yuga labs partnered with London based Improbable.

IP 206

IP Cofounder Valuation Acquisition 206