ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 17, 2021

The world of startups is a bit like a gold rush right now: there’s lots of money to be made, almost no rules regarding who will make or lose it, and only a few will actually see a sustained profit at the end of the day. That’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with startups that can’t initially generate cash. More Choice.

Startup 130

Startup Revenue Cofounder Angel Investor 130

Version One Ventures

JULY 22, 2014

At the same time, funding opportunities have expanded for early-stage start-ups. More money is flowing in from a new crop of angels, newly wealthy from a number of tech IPOs. News Angel investor AngelList Bootstrapping funding Seed money Series A round Startup company venture capital'

Finance 167

Finance Seed Money Bootstrapping Angel Investor 167

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 2, 2011

A lot of my time is spent helping early-stage companies get to proof points so that they can raise capital. They might have some seed money and are thinking or raising a Series A based on success of an early release (MVP). Bill Payne is an expert on how early-stage investors should look at valuation.

Valuation 198

Valuation Revenue Pre-Money Valuation Early Stage 198

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 9, 2018

Raising seed capital is a tricky business. I get approached often by tech startups looking for their first outside funding. They come in lots of different flavors and stages of fundability. This article is based on my experiences and the typical mistakes I see every week in startup land. high growth. Capital = Growth.

Technical Cofounder 20

Technical Cofounder Silicon Valley Early Stage Cofounder 20

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

Posted on June 11, 2009 by steveblank When my students ask me about whether they should be a founder or cofounder of a startup I ask them to take a walk around the block and ask themselves: Are you comfortable with: Chaos – startups are disorganized Uncertainty – startups never go per plan Are you: Resilient – at times you will fail – badly.

Cofounder 219

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 219

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2013

The number of startups getting seed funding in 2012 jumped by 65% over the previous year to a total of 1749, according to a recent report by CB Insights. Seed investments” are early stage financings (typically less than $1.5 This is great evidence that the recession drag on funding new startups is behind us.

Massachusetts 249

Massachusetts Silicon Valley Venture Capital California 249

Hippoland

AUGUST 17, 2016

A reader named Turner Dean recently asked me whether it’s better to raise seed money on convertible notes or straight-up equity. In contrast, if you do an equity round, you have to complete the entire round and go through the full due diligence process before anyone wires you money. This process can take a couple of months.

Equity 48

Equity Convertible Security Silicon Valley Technical Review 48

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 23, 2018

This is why it is especially important for startup founders to seek help to guide them through the tedious and often perilous process of starting and growing a company. In recent years, startup accelerators and startup incubators have become the place of choice for any budding entrepreneurs to be the next unicorn.

Incubator 127

Incubator South America San Francisco Chile 127

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 17, 2021

The world of startups is a bit like a gold rush right now: there’s lots of money to be made, almost no rules regarding who will make or lose it, and only a few will actually see a sustained profit at the end of the day. That’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with startups that can’t initially generate cash. More Choice.

Startup 78

Startup Revenue Cofounder Angel Investor 78

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. I’m supposed to believe that my best innovation can only come from scores of startup founders who just made millions and have now become CVOs at my company?

Liquidation Preference 357

Liquidation Preference Early Stage Retention Lock-up Period 357

cdixon.org

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

Why you shouldn’t keep your startup idea secret. People at large related companies almost always think they have already built or are in the process of building all the good ideas – so your idea is either something they are already building (which is a good thing to discover early) or else they will dismiss it as a bad idea. (I

Stealth 68

Stealth Startup NDA Cofounder 68

Gust

DECEMBER 18, 2013

Assuming the company is able to make effective use of the seed money to greatly increase the value of the enterprise, all of that value therefore accrues to the founder, rather than the investor. That is a swing of 15x from the investor’s point of view!

Valuation 150

Valuation Founder Seed Money Common Stock 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2015

I was out to raise my first seed money in my second startup of $500,000. Neither did Y Combinator, 500 Startups, TechStars, Amplify, Mucker and countless others. And importantly they play an important role in helping to introduce you to the right A-round VC based on your startup type. Startup Lessons'

Seed Stage 150

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndicate Syndication 150

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

With the influx of seed money, much has been written about the fact that start-ups that are taking far more funding than they need. Being swamped with funding is a problem that most early stage companies would love to have. As Paul Graham said , “startups take off because the founders make them take off.

Guerilla 158

Guerilla Seed Money Vertical Early Stage 158

Kodorra

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

This is why it is especially important for startup founders to seek help to guide them through the tedious and often perilous process of starting and growing a company. In recent years, startup accelerators and startup incubators have become the place of choice for any budding entrepreneurs to be the next unicorn.

Incubator 40

Incubator Programming San Francisco Chile 40

The Next Web

DECEMBER 30, 2013

Colorado houses existing tech giants such as IBM, Oracle and Lockheed Martin, as well as an emerging and thriving startup scene. Denver has more tech startups per capita than any U.S. Denver has more tech startups per capita than any U.S. In 2012, Denver startups raised more than $280M, with 33 startups raising $1M or more.

Denver 166

Denver Silicon Valley San Jose Colorado 166

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

Chris Dixon provided some commentary on Twitter that he believes I missed “the most important point about fund size.&# He’s specifically referring to his point of view that entrepreneurs shouldn’t take seed money from “big VC’s&# (he defines them as > $100 million). Let me give you an example.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Term Sheet Early Stage Silicon Valley 265

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 15, 2015

There’s a common expectation among entrepreneurs that seed money from family is great – letting close relatives in at the ground floor. Most of us in this world of early stage investing have seen thousands of proposals, good and bad. The problem, of course, comes if the business fails.

Valuation 48

Valuation Startup Seed Money Early Stage 48

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 16, 2018

First, in the early stages, there's a lot more information that can be gleaned about you than we can know for sure about the success of your company. You think you're getting this big fat check compared to the seed money you raised, but they're actually doing something more like dipping their toes in the water.

Due Diligence 74

Due Diligence Early Stage Term Sheet Vesting 74

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2019

He’ll be speaking at this year’s Lean Startup Conference , and also has a new book (for which I very happily wrote a short foreword) coming out next month: Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It. First, the introduction of seed money as an institutional form of capital.

Lean 108

Lean Venture Capital Conversion IPO 108

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

With the influx of seed money, much has been written about the fact that start-ups that are taking far more funding than they need. Being swamped with funding is a problem that most early stage companies would love to have. As Paul Graham said , “startups take off because the founders make them take off.

Guerilla 91

Guerilla Seed Money Vertical Early Stage 91

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2010

Since then Mike his built his career by investing in early-stage companies (seed or series A), which is remarkable given that Polaris Ventures is a $1 billion fund. So how is Mike able to do this at a time where others have warned against taking seed money from VC funds?

San Francisco 230

San Francisco Los Angeles Cofounder SMS 230

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 10, 2017

This post assumes that, for a company’s early seed round, they’ve decided to use convertible notes or SAFEs; because the majority of startups do. Convertible notes/SAFEs are usually executed around times of maximal uncertainty for a company; the very early stages. Originally published at Silicon Hills Lawyer.

Valuation 48

Valuation Dilution Silicon Valley Seed Stage 48

andrewchen.co

AUGUST 20, 2012

2012 has been good to startups. It’s never been easier to raise seed funding, and there’s warnings that we’re in the midst of a “seed stage bubble.” My reasoning looks something like this: Right now, startups with strong teams can easily raise seed funding ($200-$1.5M

Seed Stage 51

Seed Stage Early Stage Mobile Seed Money 51

Austin Startup

APRIL 23, 2010

There is a common complaint heard from local entrepreneurs that AV doesn’t invest in early stage companies anymore. The CEO, Hank Weghorst, is a veteran of several successful Austin technology startups including Question.com, Ventix, iChat, and Troux. Tags: Enterprise austin Featured startup workstreamer.

Intellectual Property 79

Intellectual Property Austin Early Stage Agile 79

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

I’ve written about it myself (Is VC Seed Funding Dead?) and (Is There Really a Signaling Problem with VC Seed Funding?). There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2. Tags: Startup Advice Tech Market Analysis VC Industry. Short summary of my posts: 1.

Post-Money Valuation 298

Post-Money Valuation Term Sheet Warrant Partner 298

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Want to start a startup? You need three things to create a successful startup: to start withgood people, to make something customers actually want, and to spendas little money as possible. Most startups that fail do it becausethey fail at one of these. Most startups that fail do it becausethey fail at one of these.

Startup 105

Startup Cofounder Software Stock 105

Gust

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

HOWEVER, since I really don’t want only my money back plus a little interest (heck, I can get that just by putting my money in a bank account, instead of into a very risky startup), we agree that at some point in the future I will be able to convert my loan into the equivalent of cash, and use that money to buy stock in the company.

Valuation 117

Valuation Equity Stock Angel Investor 117

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 23, 2015

I think the problem isn''t the lack of Series A money--it''s that there are 4 times the number of seed funded startups, but not four times the number of great ideas and great teams. If there are four times the number of seed funds, the seed quality bar is much much lower--but what investor wants to say that to entrepreneurs?

Post-Money Valuation 60

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Seed Money 60

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

On a panel that I sat on with Ron in LA in 2008 he stated that there were no circumstances in which the founder should take money off of the table. A friend of mine is a serial entrepreneur and is running a high-profile, early stage company in NorCal. I raised $500k in seed money to start the company.

Founder 329

Founder Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Participating Preferred 329

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

Want to start a startup? A typical startup goes throughseveral rounds of funding, and at each round you want to take justenough money to reach the speed where you can shift into the nextgear. Few startups get it quite right. Once you take money from the generalpublic youre more restricted in what you can do. [

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

Rob Go

MARCH 20, 2013

What are some common-sense tips for startups as they seek to avoid the “ Trough of Sorrow ” that Brian Balfour has blogged about? There really aren’t many easy answers – honestly, most startups face some sort of trough of sorrow. Is it possible to take seed money and not go for the Series A, etc, and just earn revenue?

Bootstrapping 46

Bootstrapping Finance Dividend Vesting 46

www.reincubate.com

FEBRUARY 1, 2010

Email us or call +44 (0) 844 3579899 home about services blog labs Which language should my startup use? Share this: net c# development django java language php software Were often asked by entrepreneurs which language their startups should adopt when developing their technology. But wait Not all startups are alike.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO CTO Technical Review CTO Hire 40

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 9, 2013

If you’re a venture-backed tech company or even an early-stage business fueled by angel or seed money I assume you have a good group of board members or advisors who will give you time to be helpful and they want to be helpful. Startup Advice'

Advisory Board 337

Advisory Board Valuation Stock Options Seed Money 337

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Problem was, I seemed to suck at the whole startup thing. Rather, I didn’t have anyone around me familiar enough with startups to tell me that I was doing it all wrong. One of the things I do as a founder of a later stage startup is to meet with early stage entrepreneurs to help them get their companies going.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

www.businessinsider.com

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

Top Startup Advisor Paul Graham Just Warned Against Taking Googles Money. Paul Graham is warning startups against "lowball offers.". What Its Really Like To Go Through Y Combinator, The Most Important Startup School In The World. This Chart Shows Why VCs Are Willing To Give Hyped Startups Absurd Valuations.

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup Valuation Venture Capital 54

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

Add to this regular angels becoming “super angels” — a much-mocked phrase for when someone goes from investing their own money to investing institutional funds. Essentially they became micro-VCs, still investing at the seed level but with much greater resources behind them. A name like 500 Startups says it all.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93