Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

There’s a quick litmus-test conversation any early-stage VC will have with the founder and it’s one that you should be as prepared for as your elevator pitch. Founder: “$8–10 million” VC: “What’s your current burn rate?” Founder: “$250k / month.” Founder: “Um. Why are you raising so much?”

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Dilution 247

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

why the hell has seed financing declined so much in the past 3 years?? And this era ushered in by Amazon changed everything from the age of founders to the skill sets required to the structure of the VC industry and even to the layout of cities (yes, I would proclaim that boldly that Amazon AWS affected city development).

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage IPO 328

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

These usually play a role in the very early stage of your business, primarily pre-revenue. I have interacted with a lot of founders who funded their initial business expenses through credit cards. If you are facing any problem you can always check out this: Business Loan vs. Equity Financing. Inception stage.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

View from Seed

OCTOBER 21, 2014

Using NextView as an example, since we both seek to lead the seed round and only lead during this round, I’ve seen this trend manifest in one of two ways: In a priced round, the entrepreneur will often share their valuation ask (or a stated floor) for the pre-money valuation of their company much sooner in the process.

Valuation 336

Valuation Founder Seed Stage Angel Investor 336

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

By Daniel Sokolovksy, Co-Founder and CEO, WARP and Troy Lester, Co-Founder and CRO, WARP The dissolution of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was more than just a bank collapse, it was a reality check for both startups and the VCs that fund them. As an early-stage company that just closed our seed round at $8.1 That includes us.

Early Stage 110

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 110

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

And the loosening of federal monetary policies, particularly in the US, has pushed more dollars into the venture ecosystems at every stage of financing. What Has Changed in Financing? On the one hand, you’re over paying for every investment and valuations aren’t rational. two founders in a garage?—?(HP

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 26, 2020

If you are building a startup, you’ll find no shortage of people who are willing to give you advice, particularly when it comes to raising financing. To do that you have to show how your market is big enough (a multi-billion dollar market) to support that kind of valuation. Myth #3: Take the Highest Valuation You Can Get.

Finance 205

Finance Silicon Valley Valuation Startup 205

Feld Thoughts

JULY 19, 2018

In addition to our own funds, we are investors in a number of other early-stage VC funds as part of our Foundry Group Next strategy. “Historically, the $10 million valuation mark has been somewhat of a ceiling for seed stage startups. In this six month period, the need for an experienced founder vanished.

Early Stage 105

Early Stage Seed Stage Valuation Finance 105

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. As always a balanced perspective is in order.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. Every Flexible VC structure allows founders to access immediate risk capital while preserving exit, growth trajectory, and ownership optionality. . Flexible VC 102: Variations.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

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

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2: As expected at least one person accused me of writing this post because I want to see lower valuations. I’ve decided to take all of my private conversations and subjective points-of-view on the topic and make them public in a keynote speech at the Founder Showcase in San Francisco on June 15th. That’s stupid.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

Once you have a potential investor excited about your team, your product, and your company, the investor will inevitably ask “What is your company’s valuation?” The founders now need a $1M Angel investment to do the marketing for a national NewCo rollout, build a team to manage the rollout, and maybe even pay themselves a salary.

Valuation 270

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation NPV Intellectual Property 270

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2015

This article highlights their advice on issues ranging from financing to patent trolls: While startups may believe lawyers are too costly, working with one early on avoids potentially serious problems later. “And if you have a valuation cap; a higher cap is always better than a lower cap.” Convertible Securities.

Convertible Security 100

Convertible Security IP Technical Review Software Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As an early-stage VC I love this phase. Sam also had a vision as early as 2012 about how MakeSpace would be a large employer of middle-income jobs: The company would hire employees rather than just have contractors and he would lead the effort to ensure they had opportunities for growth and benefits for their families.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

That’s because obtaining a pre-money valuation for a concept level technology company in excess of $1 million is difficult, particularly for a startup founder without a proven track record. million early-stage raise that involved pitching to over a dozen PE firms, which took months to negotiate.

Private Equity 94

Private Equity Pre-Money Valuation Equity Startup 94

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

The key to being able to run a business that isn’t yet profitable (on operating margin) is availability of capital to finance losses and preferably at a cost that isn’t too punitive to the founders and employees. Sustaining short-term losses is all predicated on ability to finance the losses through venture capital or other means.

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

Mucker Lab

MAY 28, 2020

This post originally appeared in TechCrunch back in 2015, written by our co-founder and managing partner Erik Rannala. These lost startups land higher valuations, have larger teams, outsource more product development and spend more money on customer acquisition than their peers. Sometimes founders misapply lean startup methodology.

Startup 78

Startup Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Review 78

View from Seed

MAY 2, 2019

This is the logical path that one would think is pretty “standard” for early stage companies. There may be some twists and turns along the way, like a bridge or seed extension, but I think something like this is plan A for most founders. The positives of this path is that it gives optionality to the founder.

Early Stage 214

Early Stage Dilution Valuation .Net 214

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

Once you have a potential investor excited about your team, your product, and your company, the investor will inevitably ask “What is your company’s valuation?” How much is NewCo worth to investors at this point (pre-money valuation)? This is the most concrete valuation element, usually called the asset approach.

Valuation 234

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation NPV Startup 234

Gust

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

Once you have a potential investor excited about your team, your product, and your company, the investor will inevitably ask “What is your company’s valuation?” The founders now need a $1M Angel investment to do the marketing for a national NewCo rollout, build a team to manage the rollout, and maybe even pay themselves a salary.

Valuation 187

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation NPV Intellectual Property 187

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Following is his advice to early stage entrepreneurs for creating structure in their company. Here’s the punchline: if you run your company as if you have closed a VC equity financing round even though you actually closed a convertible debt round, you’ll be in much better shape when it comes time to raise your Series A financing.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 14, 2010

After the recent announcement of the Series Seed Financing documents by Marc Andreesen, Brad Feld points out that there are now four sets of “open source&# equity seed financing documents: TechStars Model Seed Funding Documents (by Cooley). Y Combinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents (by WSGR). under $500K).

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2020

Offering debt is better than offering direct equity, especially in early stages when you have no valuation for setting equity percentages. Many use a convertible loan note that may be converted into equity upon the closing of the first formal angel or VC round of financing, with a more realistic valuation.

Management 308

Management Cram Down Angel Investor Equity 308

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2021

The sudden arrival of the global pandemic has shifted the playbook for founders and venture capitalists. As high-conviction, seed stage investors, we are inherently relationship-driven, and we value meeting exceptional founders face-to-face. I can have a wider reach and a higher volume of 30 minute meetings with founders.”.

Venture Capital 350

Venture Capital Cofounder Early Stage Seed Stage 350

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Term-sheets and Valuations: Thinking about Negotiations.   I’ve sat down with entrepreneurs and a copy of a term sheet guide I like [ “Term Sheets & Valuations - A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Venture Capital Term Sheets & Valuations ” by Alex Wilmerding, Aspatore Press.] The Valuation Question.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

I recently wrote a post on angel financing covering the topic of convertible notes but I realized I was thinking about the issue more from investor perspective and a very narrow topic of how to price the round. So if you’re casually reading and don’t really care about angel financing – abort now!

Silicon Valley 291

Silicon Valley Ireland Technical Review Valuation 291

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2014

Offering debt is better than offering direct equity, especially in early stages when you have no valuation for setting equity percentages. Many use a convertible loan note that may be converted into equity upon the closing of the first formal Angel or VC round of financing, with a more realistic valuation.

Founder 254

Founder Cram Down Angel Investor Equity 254

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup.

Private Equity 118

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 118

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2014

We both agree that the later-stage valuations are being driven up to a point that feels irrationally priced [he uses b-round SaaS valuations as an example and I am willing to be even more broad based]. Video 1 is here : Late stage valuations are in a mini bubble.

Valuation 309

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Later Stage Non-Compete 309

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

So when I tell you what I’m seeing in venture financing these days if you disagree with me, it might just be that we’re touching different parts of the elephant. Semil asserts, Seed-stage valuations have generally been left-unchanged, and I could argue even they’ve gone up since the beginning of 2022.

Cap Table 93

Cap Table Valuation Salary Seed Stage 93

www.entrepreneur.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Entrepreneur Homepage Startups Starting a Business Home How-To Guides Startup Basics Business Ideas Business Planning Startup Financing Success Stories Home-Based Business Starting a Business Play Video How to Take a New Product from Just an Idea to a Business (Video). Financing Some Jobs Act Proposals Make Headway.

Sweat Equity 55

Sweat Equity Equity Fractional CTO CTO 55

OnlyOnce

JULY 30, 2020

If you’re a founder entrepreneur who has led your company for several years, the odds are you have a significant amount of emotional investment in your company, too. Or maybe when you look two years out you realize that your company is at its highwater mark in valuation, so it becomes a timing issue.

Cap Table 48

Cap Table Institutional Investors Startup Early Stage 48

Version One Ventures

DECEMBER 14, 2016

In other words, any correction in public valuations happened quickly and has now stabilized. From Series A and onwards, fundraising takes longer and valuations are typically below the expectations and benchmarks of 2015. This can set up a perfect storm if early-stage companies don’t manage their expectations and reality properly.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Early Stage Portfolio Valuation 60

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

There were massive late stage rounds because all the big funds wanted companies which already had traction. Low supply of companies with traction drove the valuations and deal sizes up. Seed stage was super tough. A re-jiggering of deal stages and sizes had begun in 2013. Valuations are rising to match.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

A founder asked me what makes a $2M round “pre-seed”? While the answers are somewhat semantic, the pre-seed funding round is making a comeback in 2024 startup financing. Pre-seed rounds accounted for 14% of all seed stage deals in 2023, up from just 5% in 2020 according to Pitchbook data and I predict it will be even higher in 2024.

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

ithacaVC

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

I have written about startup valuations previously. If you are advising startup founders, I strongly suggest having them read all 4 of the posts to get the lay of the startup valuation land. A founder is about to raise their first round and asking me how to value their company. [1]. Valuations of other companies like you.

Valuation 69

Valuation Startup Down Round Early Stage 69