View from Seed

JANUARY 13, 2015

“As a seed-stage investor, should you pay up for team or traction?” When you are thinking about joining an early stage company, how should you be evaluating the risk of the overall company? How should you be weighing the presence of a great founding team versus early signs of traction?

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage B2B Distribution Early Stage 120

View from Seed

APRIL 2, 2015

” So it’s no wonder that one aspect of an early-stage startup’s existence can be perpetually up for debate: their graphic design. To focus on hiring briefly: Seed-stage startups lack early traction but make up for it with tons of promise. appeared first on The View From Seed.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Design Startup Early Stage 120

Austin Startup

MAY 11, 2017

Our unique approach to investing, coupled with a pioneering spirit, provides the vision to guide early stage growth companies beyond today and toward future success. A New Kind of Venture Firm AutoChrome Autochrome is an inception and seed stage venture capital fund.

Private Equity 48

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage 48

Austin Startup

MAY 8, 2018

Background reading: Founder Compensation: Cash, Equity, Liquidity Fatal Errors in Early Startup Hiring Early Hires: Options or Stock Given how deeply involved we are with early-stage startups hiring their first key employees, I figured it would be helpful to outline a few key principles to help entrepreneurs navigate the topic.

Employee 48

Employee Seed Stage Startup Equity 48

View from Seed

OCTOBER 11, 2022

At the seed stage and as companies scale, helping the founders I work with identify and reach their goals, personally and professionally, gives me energy and purpose. I made over a dozen angel investments and a few investments in VC funds as an LP, expanding my focus to new geographies, sectors, and stages.

North America 156

North America San Francisco Cap Table Cofounder 156

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

Eric Ries of The Lean Startup has called Andrew Chen’s blog “one of the best entrepreneurship blogs of all time.” As president of Y Combinator, the hugely successful seed-stage investor/accelerator, Sam Altman has a lot of knowledge to share. But, he also has great advice on growth strategies for early-stage companies.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Silicon Valley Cofounder 60

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 22, 2012

When you’ve got two people on the team and you’re going super lean in the early stages, usually your best bet is to have a customer experience person and a builder. Outside tasks, like getting PR for the company, can often be done with the help of advisors and investors who are good at showing the company around.

PR 144

PR Technical Review Seed Stage Design 144

Hunter Walker

APRIL 20, 2018

Like we do at the seed stage, USV almost always plays the role of “ lead investor.” I’m suspect of any early stage lead investor who isn’t willing or interested to spend the majority of their time with their companies (even though I see them pretty frequently in the market).

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Lead Investor Portfolio Reputation 48

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

Thirty years later we now realize that its one the causes of early startup failure. This series of posts is a brief explanation of how we’ve evolved from Product Development to Customer Development to the Lean Startup. We’ll look at the model stage-by-stage.

Silicon Valley 263

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 263

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

But in my experience as an entrepreneur and now spending my time amongst investors I can generalize that almost all VC investments in early stage technology & Internet investments come down to just four key factors. If you have good experience then the VC will be leaning forward for the rest of the presentation.

Early Stage 360

Early Stage Startup Venture Capital Seed Stage 360

Rob Go

APRIL 22, 2013

This is a fit for our own investment strategy as seed stage specialists, but also because we notice many of the best entrepreneurs take a capital efficient approach to starting and testing their businesses. Although a company might have a spectacular goal, we focus on companies that have the potential for capital efficient beginnings.

Seed Stage 52

Seed Stage Early Stage Lean Startup 52

Rob Go

MAY 2, 2016

Actually, the average in the first half of the fund was quite a bit lower, but during this period (2011–2014) there was a pretty dramatic rise in seed stage valuations overall. As a result, the average round size increased meaningfully for the seed stage segment overall. $3M Dilution is the big question here.

Seed Stage 28

Seed Stage Dilution Valuation Seed Capital 28

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 10, 2017

Convertible notes/SAFEs are usually executed around times of maximal uncertainty for a company; the very early stages. Under the standard approach, even if the outlook for the company dramatically changes (positively) within 1 month post-closing (which at seed stage can happen), the valuation cap is what it is.

Valuation 48

Valuation Dilution Silicon Valley Seed Stage 48

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

And thanks to Ann Miura-Ko of Floodgate (my first Lean LaunchPad co-instructor) for her suggestions. For startups the early stage funding landscape looks like this: Step 1: The Pre-seed round – you raise $100-$750K. Step 2: The Seed round – you raise $1-$3M (in some cases even $2-5M). Seed Round of Funding.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

With new micro VC entrants into to early-stage investing plus increased competition from angels, incubators and the like – traditional VCs have taken notice. So VCs spent a couple of years experimenting with earlier-stage investing, which is OK. The Explosion in Early-Stage Innovation. There are also others.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Software LP Early Stage 296

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Etc… At the pre-seed stage, a big way to stand out is if you have a V3 statement (as opposed to a V1 statement). Those who didn’t have a product or much of a product used a concierge model of sorts ala Lean Startup philosophy to start running their business. So if an investor isn’t onboard, just move on quickly.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Etc… At the pre-seed stage, a big way to stand out is if you have a V3 statement (as opposed to a V1 statement). Those who didn’t have a product or much of a product used a concierge model of sorts ala Lean Startup philosophy to start running their business. So if an investor isn’t onboard, just move on quickly.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 19, 2013

As the fundraising became competitive, there was another seed fund which wanted to take a larger part of the round – essentially function as a single lead. We’ve got clarity in our mission, goals and a simple true north: create the type of early stage fund that we would have wanted to take money from.

Cofounder 105

Cofounder Term Sheet Seed Stage Portfolio 105

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Seed Startups. VC Cafe covers early stage Israeli and European tech & mobile startups. Lean Methodology Sources. Steve Blank on Lean Customer Development. Part 3- Lean Cust. Steve Blank’s Lean Startup Resources. Lean Startup Circle â?? Lean project management. Codeacademy.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

But wherever you stand on that, there’s one very real consequence of this explosion in seed funding: There has not been a corresponding explosion in investors willing to lead the next round, the so-called Series A. This time around, there has been an explosion at the early stages, and the very late pre-IPO growth stages.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93