Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 28, 2017

Instead I will make a few observations about how an investor might think about the impact of ICOs / token launches on the venture capital industry, in particular, and some of the downstream ramifications that need to wrestled with. Need for growth capital. Shift of value from equity holders to token holders. Fuzzy Governance.

Early Stage 20

Early Stage Equity Venture Capital Government 20

Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 28, 2017

Instead I will make a few observations about how an investor might think about the impact of ICOs / token launches on the venture capital industry, in particular, and some of the downstream ramifications that need to wrestled with. Need for growth capital. Shift of value from equity holders to token holders. Fuzzy Governance.

Early Stage 20

Early Stage Equity Venture Capital Government 20

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

I had witnessed a number of early-stage tech startups in LA raise seed capital from the Bay Area and relocate. Sam is an uber-networker, savvy, helpful, product-oriented leader who had a great eye for young entrepreneurs and a passion about helping them. So we went for it. We announced Fund I in 2011.

Early Stage 290

Early Stage Venture Capital Los Angeles Coder 290

Business Plan Blog

DECEMBER 12, 2013

Angels are often former or current entrepreneurs themselves, as well as business professionals and corporate leaders. angel investors invested $19 billion in 55,000 deals in 2008, with most of the investments being made in start-up or very early-stage companies. Download our free Raising Capital from Angel Investors eBook.

Angel Groups 40

Angel Groups Angel Investor Software Review Accredited Investor 40

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

But theres no denying the level of support for entrepreneurs that we enjoy. The companies I spoke to all agreed that the community there was extremely supportive, especially in the critical ulta-early-stage. They take common stock, not preferred, a fact that the entrepreneurs mentioned to me many times.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Continuous Deployment 113

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

I still wanted K9 to be the first institutional money in a company and work with “frighteningly early-stage” companies. Your early stage investment portfolio may no longer really be early stage. There is an influx of capital into venture, and venture as we used to know it is changing.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

Rob Go

MAY 14, 2012

But it’s much easier to identify authentic entrepreneurs going after non-obvious opportunities. Sure, there is more availability of seed capital in the past, although if you watch carefully, you will notice that most of the elite seed funds have slowed down their pace considerably over the last 12 months.

Technical Review 74

Technical Review Seed Capital Early Stage PR 74

View from Seed

MAY 14, 2019

A number of blog posts recently have mentioned this, but we seem to be experiencing a rise in repeat founders starting new businesses and raising seed capital. Some investors are really great after PMF, but are not great before PMF, even if they work at early stage funds.

Founder 256

Founder Agile Cofounder Seed Capital 256

Gust

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

The most successful serial entrepreneurs in the world may found three or four, perhaps even eight or ten venture-backed startups over the course of their careers. Others have discussed in detail the pros and cons of convertible debt vs. seed equity rounds. Let’s take it from the top: Why convertible notes?

Finance 178

Finance Term Sheet Preferred Stock Bridge Financing 178

View from Seed

OCTOBER 21, 2014

As the seed-stage startup fundraise process has received more transparency in recent years, ranging from published advice on how to raise seed capital to increased availability through AngelList, Funders Club, and various accelerator programs, I’ve noticed another trend emerging. Lower-Than-Market Value.

Valuation 336

Valuation Founder Seed Stage Angel Investor 336

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 12, 2016

What stops a majority from moving ahead to the execution stage is funding. Most businesses – online or offline, need seed capital to get established and without access to these funds, launching a business can seem like an improbable dream. In the early stages of business, sweat equity can often be a good substitute for cash.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Sweat Equity Startup Seed Capital 100

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 26, 2012

If you’re looking for seed or startup capital, the time to make your move is now. The study found angel interest in early-stage investing is growing. Last year, 42% of angel investment was seed and startup capital, reversing a two-year decline in the percentage of angel capital going to early-stage companies.

New Hampshire 120

New Hampshire Early Stage Seed Capital Angel Investor 120

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 12, 2011

When we were last with Dick and Jane on Finance Fridays, our fearless entrepreneurs were figuring out how to split up their founders equity and account for an investment from Jane. Feeling overwhelmed, Dick emailed his friend Josh, the CEO of an early-stage startup in Boulder, to see how they figured out all of this stuff.

Balance Sheet 136

Balance Sheet Forecast Cap Table Early Stage 136

Up and Running

MAY 2, 2014

It’s a simple truth that every entrepreneur knows: Getting the capital to start or grow your business is often harder than running the business itself. Instead, people want to get to know you, the entrepreneur, and to see your progress, even if over a short time period. Fundraising is hard work.

Angel Investor 146

Angel Investor Seed Capital Venture Capital Early Stage 146

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

I recently got together with Aaron Shechet and an early stage startup to discuss the direction the company might want to take. I feel too many people are discouraging, and as a result, too many entrepreneurs are discouraged and give up. We occasionally get involved with very early stage startups.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Southern California Startup SEO 150

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

Today, NextView Ventures is excited to release a pillar project in our Growth Guides series: pitch deck templates for raising seed capital. These help address a common question which we frequently receive from entrepreneurs about how to create startup pitch decks for this crucial financial milestone. Pitching NextView?

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Startup Seed Capital Audience 120

Growthink Blog

MAY 10, 2012

When seeking equity investments, the source of capital is, for the most part, tied to the stage of capital being raised. You see, equity capital is raised in stages or rounds. The five main stages include the following: 1. Pre-Seed Funding 2. Seed Funding 3.

Equity 88

Equity Mezzanine Later Stage Venture Capital 88

Gust

OCTOBER 5, 2011

Last week , we gave some attention to the “why” behind convertible note financing for early stage startups. In most cases, an early stage startup will raise seed capital from more than one investor. In this installment, I’ll dig into the “how” by dissecting an example term sheet based on a real deal.

Finance 79

Finance Preferred Stock Term Sheet Early Stage 79

Software By Rob

JANUARY 8, 2019

Hundreds and hundreds of tweets, re-tweets, likes, Hacker News upvotes, email responses…it was immediately obvious that there is pent up demand for this kind of alternative early-stage startup funding. In general I'm eager to see people explore new ways of supporting entrepreneurs. 2: We Focus on Early Stage SaaS.

Early Stage 46

Early Stage Valuation Seed Capital Revenue 46

Scott Edward Walker

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

I’ve been helping entrepreneurs raise capital as a securities lawyer for 17+ years, and there are certain fundamental mistakes that I’ve seen entrepreneurs repeatedly make. Accordingly, I thought it would be helpful to share three basic tips for entrepreneurs in connection with raising capital. How is this done?

Preferred Stock 45

Preferred Stock Angel Investor Entrepreneur Common Stock 45

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 2, 2012

Crowdfunding is an efficient way for entrepreneurs to raise seed capital," the editors wrote. It's a move that's not without controversy, and not even the people who are happy with it are completely happy with it. But it is also a good way for hucksters to fleece suckers.".

IPO 121

IPO Startup Florida Seed Capital 121

Austin Startup

APRIL 23, 2010

The company was founded with seed capital from Austin Ventures. The amount of capital committed is described as “in the low millions,&# and the only reason it is that substantial is because the company acquired some intellectual property from other companies (including FiveRuns) to help accelerate the development of the product.

Intellectual Property 79

Intellectual Property Austin Early Stage Agile 79

Feld Thoughts

JULY 29, 2011

Finance Friday’s gets off the ground with today’s post by introducing you to an imaginary startup, the entrepreneurs that we’ll being following throughout the series, and their first challenges: splitting up the founders’ equity and addressing the case where one of the founders provides the initial seed capital for the business.

Equity 137

Equity Finance Pre-Money Valuation Denver 137

Steve Blank

JULY 20, 2015

Today he is the founder of M34 Capital , a seed capital fund that focuses on early-stage projects being spun out of academic and corporate research labs. Up until then] the capstone class – meaning the best class you could take for being an entrepreneur in a university – was how to write a business plan.

Government 120

Government Channel Southern California Lean 120

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

Aligning the Startup Team Strategy with the Capitalization Strategy. The single most important factor to raising capital for any tech startup is the management team. This is true for early stage funding as well as venture capital funding. 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 15, 2010

It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. We’re staring to get the hang of how to divide the show up into talking about deals but also talking about issues for entrepreneurs during funding.

Stealth 285

Stealth SEC Advertising Accredited Investor 285

thebarefootvc

JULY 10, 2010

“Our country should strive to attract the most talented and highly skilled entrepreneurs,” Lugar says. Under the proposal, a foreign-born entrepreneur who has secured at least $250,000 in funding from qualified U.S. based start-ups. investors would be permitted to stay for two years.

Startup 45

Startup Incubator Seed Capital Venture Capital 45

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 7, 2014

Good perspective fon how long it takes for entrepreneur to know if their idea might succeed – crowdspring.co/1cNRjk2. Books that Shape Common Early Stage (Startup) Culture – crowdspring.co/1fLefAN. Raising Seed Capital – crowdspring.co/MX18CE. 1f35ml8. – crowdspring.co/1fkwYB1. 1f7YIKA. .

Social Media 95

Social Media Small Business Design Media 95

The Next Web

OCTOBER 3, 2012

Here’s the problem: this opportunity doesn’t exist for early-stage startups, because, by definition, they have no users or customers. Worrying about “scale” in the early days of your startup is simply a bad investment. Growing Too Fast : This is, I think, the biggest killer of post-funding startups.

Cofounder 155

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 155

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2013

For many entrepreneurs “raising money” has replaced “building a sustainable business” as their goal. Entrepreneurs need to think about 1) when to raise money, 2) why to raise money and 3) who to take money from, 4) the consequences of raising money. Not all that glitters is gold. William Shakespeare. That’s a big mistake.

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 333

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2013

For many entrepreneurs “raising money” has replaced “building a sustainable business” as their goal. Entrepreneurs need to think about 1) when to raise money, 2) why to raise money and 3) who to take money from, 4) the consequences of raising money. Not all that glitters is gold. William Shakespeare. That’s a big mistake.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 225

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

One of the things we frequently discuss with founders is how to interpret and manage their dialogue with VCs when raising capital. We’ve written before on how to research partners , how to pitch the right investor at a given firm, and how to raise seed capital , generally speaking.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Due Diligence Seed Stage Seed Capital 120

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

If you’re an Entrepreneur, you can do it from any place in the world. How important is education when I know I want to be an entrepreneur? When you are a young entrepreneur and you have a project (say a new age TV show) and you need to raise capital for the project. If you’re a young entrepreneur, than congrats!

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Feld Thoughts

JULY 14, 2015

But instead of adding it on to the note or doing an equity round with a price, which could still be an early stage price but below the cap, they make the argument that since the company couldn’t raise a round, the company is worthless. So they recapitalize the company.

Recapitalization 70

Recapitalization Pre-Money Valuation Post-Money Valuation Angel Investor 70

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

At their heart, seed accelerators are defined length programs (usually 3 months) where early stage startups are provided seed capital, mentorship, co-working space (though not always) and other services in the hope of removing the barriers to startup success… or failure. What is an accelerator?

Silicon Valley 118

Silicon Valley Australia Cofounder San Francisco 118

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Note: When I say “seed stage startup,” I’m specifically referring to software/app startups that are eitherpre-product or early product. Startup X launches with XX millions of dollars of seed capital from a star-studded list of investors”. … Many founders read the daily headlines on TechCrunch announcing that….

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Startup Venture Capital 100

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

This dynamic births serial entrepreneurs and motivates angels and venture capitalists to pull their friends into investment deals. For the first-time entrepreneur or founder looking for seed stage funding, this circle can be especially difficult to penetrate.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80