View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Or is there a major disconnect between a portfolio’s valuations and the actual dollars returned to LPs? Both early- and late-stage startup valuations are currently elevated. For context, seed-stage pre-money valuations are up 24% from H1 2020 to H1 2021. How have more recent vintages performed?

Valuation 295

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 295

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

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

That approach may work for an entrepreneur who just sold a successful business for a huge profit, but it doesn’t work for the rest of us who are not proven successes yet, or don’t even have a business yet. Non-credible funding request or unreasonable valuation. Future unproven projections don’t set today’s valuation.

Due Diligence 308

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 308

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

It’s no longer business as usual for the rest of the economy. If you’re an early stage company, that number may be zero. They triage their deals – first worrying about liquidity of their late stage deals which have the highest valuations. In fact, shutting down the economy for a pandemic has never happened.

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

In product business it is often measured over multiple purchases and assumptions are made about the repeat rates and in the enterprise or services world LTV can be based on churn rates, which are notoriously hard to predict in an early-stage business. Poorly calculated LTVs can become BVs (bankruptcy values).

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Or is there a major disconnect between a portfolio’s valuations and the actual dollars returned to LPs? Both early- and late-stage startup valuations are currently elevated. For context, seed-stage pre-money valuations are up 24% from H1 2020 to H1 2021. How have more recent vintages performed?

Valuation 156

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 156

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

Rincon is part of the new breed of Seed Stage VCs and with the leadership of Jim Andelman has charted out the most authentic early-stage investment strategy in Southern California. Any SoCal entrepreneur raising early-stage money should put Rincon on their short list.

Silicon Valley 293

Silicon Valley Technical Review Southern California Angel Investor 293

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

When the need is high… For the rest of us, desiring to build large, valuable enterprises quickly, the need for outside capital is high on our list of requirements and even the source for some sleepless nights as we worry over the availability and cost of capital. For those of you who fit that description, nice work.

Private Equity 118

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 118

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

In another we decended into a debate about our 5 year forecasts (I built the models so fielded most of these questions), and it became clear they probably weren’t the best fit for our Series A round (this group is no longer in the early-stage VC business). The rest, as they say, is history. It was a $4.7M Author howerl.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Hippoland

JULY 24, 2016

Valuation is a nebulous topic amongst early stage startups, so I thought I’d really spell it out in detail. In short: Valuations for seed stage companies are fairly arbitrary and driven solely by supply and demand. Your startup’s valuation is not based on a proforma of your revenue.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Valuation Vertical Demand 48

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

Early stage startups have to survive one day at a time and are often presented with limited choices of the moment that enable them to continue. At early stages you probably don’t have an assembly line and can’t clearly define any particular job. Keep the valuations consistent with company progress.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

Hearpreneur

MAY 31, 2021

Now, he is CEO and President of Sittu Group , where he consults with companies, designs systems, and works to invest in early-stage businesses. We think that represents our mission, which includes working with businesses and early-stage companies to find macro-economic opportunities for fintech. Getting in early is key.

Finance 62

Finance Early Stage Canada Agile 62

Austin Startup

JULY 22, 2021

We’ve helped winners connect with customers, mentors, and secure millions of dollars in capital from partners like Google Black Founders Fund, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Fund, Backstage Capital, and many other VC investors. According to Pitchbook, Capital Factory has been the most active, early-stage investor in Texas since 2010.

San Antonio 107

San Antonio Dallas Houston Founder 107

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2016

That approach may work for an entrepreneur who just sold a successful business for a huge profit, but it doesn’t work for the rest of us who are not proven successes yet, or don’t even have a business yet. Non-credible funding request or unreasonable valuation. Future unproven projections don’t set today’s valuation.

Due Diligence 120

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 120

View from Seed

JANUARY 26, 2016

To ensure you receive the rest, subscribe here. It’s become increasingly common for startups to raise several seed rounds, and this has led to a bifurcation in the seed stage between what are known as “pre-seed” (or “genesis”) and institutional seed rounds.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Early Stage Cofounder Finance 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2013

For the past 5 years or so Google, Facebook and a handful of tech industry giants have been quietly buying scores of early-stage startups for their talent. Many buying companies price these deals on the basis of $1 million per engineer on the team for an early-stage deal. has now employed the same strategy.

Liquidation Preference 357

Liquidation Preference Early Stage Retention Lock-up Period 357

The Equity Kicker

JANUARY 10, 2020

Nic Brisbourne is Managing Partner at Forward Partners, the UK’s leading early-stage VC, currently supporting the UK’s next generation of AI, e-commerce and marketplace businesses. We like those things in the same way as the rest of the industry. But it’s by no means the only option, especially at the startup stage.

Partner 68

Partner Early Stage Portfolio Metrics 68

Up and Running

JUNE 14, 2017

Early stage idea validation can be accomplished without building an application. What happened to the rest? Groupon, the second fastest company to ever reach a billion-dollar valuation, used a WordPress blog, created an Excel spreadsheet with the list of businesses who were interested in selling coupons. Guess what?

Technical Review 96

Technical Review Distribution Redemption Demand 96

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 2, 2016

The existential freakout that occurred in January and February seemed like the distant past with the lingering hangover being a clearer focus on valuation and overall funding needs from new investors. It continues to be highly dependent on company, stage, and location. Will this continue through the year?

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital Private Equity Early Stage Valuation 70

Rob Go

OCTOBER 14, 2012

Stage and Sector Focus: In 16/23 companies, we were part of the first outside round of capital. In the rest, we were part of the first “institutional round” We have not participated in any seed extensions or full-blown series A investments as our first check into a company. So that 23 is right on pace.

New Hampshire 50

New Hampshire Croatia Omaha Portfolio 50

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

Her background includes senior roles in both the banking and tech sectors, and she has launched four data businesses—including her current firm, New Frontier Data , which boasts a $20 million valuation and has received $5 million in funding. Giadha Aguirre de Carcer via Her Agenda. Stitch Fix CEO Katrina Lake, via the Los Angeles Times.

Venture Capital 82

Venture Capital Lean Cofounder Technical Review 82

Austin Startup

MARCH 16, 2021

We’ve helped winners connect with customers, mentors, and secure millions of dollars in capital from Google, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Fund, Backstage Capital, and many other VC investors. According to Pitchbook, Capital Factory has been the most active, early-stage investor in Texas since 2010. million Series A round.

Houston 80

Houston San Antonio Dallas Texas 80

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

For the rest of us desiring to build large, valuable enterprises quickly, the need for outside capital is high on our list of requirements and even the source for some sleepless nights as we worry over the availability and cost of capital. Do not expect grand valuations of your enterprise from these professional angels.

Private Equity 106

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 106

Transformify

JULY 23, 2018

. ‘’ SMEInst-01-2016-2017: “Open Disruptive Innovation Scheme” As a result, certain topics were receiving a much higher number of applications making them more competitive than the rest. Business valuation or investor background is among the expert evaluator’s selection criteria. Not necessarily.

Intellectual Property 66

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Dilution Startup 66

Growthink Blog

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

The reasons for this go beyond the obvious one of rarity - Facebook being the biggest business story of the new century, and correspondingly having one of the steepest valuation growth trajectories of all time. Now, if it is any consolation, so too are the very rich mostly closed off from early-stage private investing.

Silicon Valley 78

Silicon Valley Private Equity Early Stage Equity 78

Steve Blank

MAY 13, 2010

The rest of his story was mostly a blur. Sean Ellis , a consultant who works with early stage companies, believes that “the cost of a consultant’s time can never be justified working with startups pre product/market fit – the failure rate is just too high.”. What were your original hypotheses and what did you find?”

Founder 199

Founder Cofounder Business Model Customer Development 199

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

I wish I had titled it what was in my mind when I wrote it, which was “How Can This Be A Billion Dollar Company and other b t VCs ask early stage companies” – that would have been more fun to see in my Twitter feed. And shut out all the rest of the noise. Take a very deep breath.

Silicon Valley 70

Silicon Valley Term Sheet Early Stage New York 70

The Equity Kicker

MAY 14, 2012

There are certain types of events that investors look to as evidence that a company has overcome certain challenges and has therefore reduced risk in the business and become deserving of a higher valuation. November – retail partner decision to roll-out product to rest of stores. achieving first revenues. signing distribution deals.

Finance 118

Finance Valuation Venture Capital Dilution 118

The Equity Kicker

JULY 16, 2012

Unfortunately, it is in the nature of startups that the opportunity size is usually unclear at the early stages. Wonga springs to mind as an example of such a company at the moment, as does our portfolio company Neul , albeit at an earlier stage.

LP 105

LP Early Stage Valuation Differentiation 105

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

ValuatIon should be a function of value, not ego. Kawasaki’s Law of Pre-Money Valuation: for every full-time engineer, add $500,000; for every full-time M.B.A., But valuations, especially those in the private market, are not necessarily a predictor of growth/ success. Our goals, their goals. subtract $250,000. 9M Seed: $20M ?

Founder 187

Founder Startup Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 187

This is going to be BIG.

DECEMBER 26, 2011

There are a lot of things I love about my Android phone--like the easy integration into the rest of my Google life. I think you'll see a lot of focus on companies like Tumblr, Twitter, Foursquare and Pinterest--services that haven't really established a business model yet to justify their sky high valuations.

Technology 116

Technology Valuation Community Restful 116

A Crowded Space

MAY 18, 2017

It rests on a pure mathematical model of picking stocks. Note, these are not necessarily 50X investments because of dilution + follow-on investments at higher valuations, but we’re all quite happy with the returns. That’s a 2.5% chance to unicorndom which is WAY better than industry average. Surely it’s not just luck.

Seed Stage 60

Seed Stage Portfolio Venture Capital Valuation 60

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

Third, he notes that even if they do invest they’re likely to do so at a lower price because you can’t truly get an independent valuation. So if a VC wants to work with really talented early-stage entrepreneurs there are times where they have to be willing to seed fund them in order to be in the deal.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Term Sheet Early Stage Silicon Valley 265

The Next Web

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

Thus, there is going to be a bit of tightening within the early stage VC space in India over the next couple of years. Because Southeast Asia and India are so far behind the rest of the world in e-commerce, this is also a budding area with massive potential. The most active of which are the large Japanese strategic investors.

Asia 123

Asia Silicon Valley India China 123

andrewchen.co

AUGUST 20, 2012

My theory is, we’re currently in a golden age for early stage startups, and the early stage market will stay hot for at least the next 3-5 years. And Android, and the rest of the smartphone industry). Not sure how investors feel about it though, as valuations skyrocket and competition becomes fierce.

Seed Stage 51

Seed Stage Early Stage Mobile Seed Money 51

Austin Startup

OCTOBER 10, 2017

Dallas at night I would venture to say it is shared by other non-Dallas-ites, as a city whose residents consider themselves more cosmopolitan, a bit more reserved, and a cut above the rest of the Texas social scene, more in the national league of NY, LA, or Chicago. But, it wasn’t knocked out, with signs of re-emergence.

Dallas 60

Dallas Austin Texas Cofounder 60

The Next Web

OCTOBER 7, 2013

Often difficult to get, the first engineer sets the tone for the rest of the development team. However, at the very early stage, they are taking as much risk with their future as the founders. Overlooked here is the valuation of the specific startup along its growth trajectory. Engineer #1?

Engineer 129

Engineer Dilution Option Pool Vesting 129