Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. I asked for intro’s from entrepreneur friends. I attended events. I hustled.

Deal Flow 347

Deal Flow Early Stage Investment Bankers Technical Review 347

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 1, 2016

Full disclosure – any kind of financing comes with costs, whether it’s interest payments, equity, and/or your very valuable time which, as an entrepreneur, is the thing you will always wish you had more of. Purchase order financing. The good news is that technology has opened up avenues that didn’t exist 10 years ago.

Finance 100

Finance Angel Investor Cofounder Later Stage 100

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 19, 2017

There is a thin line between success and failure for startups, and that is usually determined by capital. The more capital a startup has, the easier it is to get off the ground and ramp up growth. In turn, this leads to the development of a thriving startup ecosystem which paves the way for technology and innovation.

Venture Capital 196

Venture Capital Asia Artificial Inteligence Later Stage 196

Up and Running

AUGUST 17, 2015

Additionally, I had already studied Economics and Finance during undergrad, making the academic part of an MBA seem a little redundant. One of the biggest reasons startups fail is because the founding team either lacks the necessary experience to execute on their vision, or they discover that they have difficulty working together.

Entrepreneur 60

Entrepreneur Cofounder Angel Investor eCommerce 60

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

How would they know unless they surveyed a critical mass of startups all at the same stage now and then three years ago or so to compare? David's firm most recently participated in the $77 million second round financing of SoFi, a one year old startup focusing on student loans. The tablet market has absolutely exploded.

Venture Capital 130

Venture Capital Marketing Term Sheet Software Review 130

thebarefootvc

JANUARY 27, 2014

I think that later stage valuations are frothy (for reasons I explain below) while earlier stage valuations are starting to stabilize from previous highs (with the exception of the superstar serial entrepreneur) - turns out scaling in a sea of competition (both startup and entrenched) is not so easy.

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Valuation Venture Capital Investment Bankers 63

View from Seed

JUNE 7, 2016

Today we’re thrilled to re-launch our most popular resource ever: board deck templates for seed-stage startups. But whatever the reason to avoid it, there are much better reasons to pursue holding board meetings early in the life of a startup. Since then, they’ve been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Founder Seed Capital Institutional Investors 120

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2017

One of the hardest decisions entrepreneurs make when they start a company and raise outside capital is figuring out what an acceptable “burn rate” is. How Much Capital You Have Raised / Your Runway In general I recommend that in early-stage startups you try to raise at least 15-18 months of runway. million for 18 months.

Burn Rate 212

Burn Rate Startup .Net Venture Capital 212

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 24, 2017

Foundry Group is best known for our investments in startups, but our vehicle currently investing in other venture funds, Foundry Group Next, is off to what we believe to be a great start and I wanted to share an update about it by talking about our new investment in a fund managed by Founder Collective.

Founder 75

Founder LP Technical Review Seed Stage 75

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2015

At least later stage investors. This could have an impact on later-stage valuations. The one thing that has become clear to me over the last couple of months is the skepticism that many late-stage VCs (and LPs) have had about late-stage valuations. I have to assume other investors feel the way I do.

Stock 150

Stock Finance Marketing Valuation 150

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

View from Seed

DECEMBER 6, 2018

And seed VCs, especially as new firms were being established, were eager to encourage their portfolio startups to plant that flag in the ground publicly. It seemed like every other TechCrunch post was announcing a startups’s new seed financing round. Seed stage companies just aren’t announcing their rounds anymore.

Seed Stage 202

Seed Stage Stealth Seed Capital Later Stage 202

View from Seed

JANUARY 5, 2015

Raising venture capital at any stage of company growth requires tremendous effort from entrepreneurs. But because every entrepreneur juggles so much every day and feels that tug back towards building a business (which, again, is a good one to heed), completing these tasks can be easier said than done.

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Seed Stage Entrepreneur Venture Capital 120

Gust

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

To begin with, it is important to understand some basic facts about the world of entrepreneurial finance: There are many more entrepreneurs than there are investors, with the result that only one company out of every 400 that seeks venture funding actually receives it.

Angel Groups 159

Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2011

Yesterday I saw a Tweet from Chris Sacca fly by that prompted me to want to write a blog post helping entrepreneurs understand why they should push back against VCs asking for “super pro-rata” rights. They might own 8% of your company after the first funding but demand up to 33-50% of your next round of financing.

Entrepreneur 310

Entrepreneur Dilution Finance Silicon Valley 310

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]. He said that a16z prefers to invest earlier stage in these types of businesses. Startup Lessons' And we ended.

Valuation 309

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Later Stage Non-Compete 309

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

But not everybody has the right skills to build a highly successful and valuable startup from scratch. For some aspiring to be tech entrepreneurs, I often suggest a two-step process, as I argued in this post that “ The First Startup Founder You Need to Invest in Is You.”

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Liquidation Preference Silicon Valley IP 150

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

I was excited to see that GLG (formerly Gerson Lehrman Group), the industry leader, is now offering a professional network service geared to the needs of the startup community: GLG Share. Like many established finance & media companies, GLG knows that the tech startup sector is a growing part of the economy.

New York 114

New York Technical Review Networking Advisory Board 114

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 9, 2017

by Tina Hay, founder and CEO of Napkin Finance. One of the most important factors in becoming a successful entrepreneur is managing finances. Whether early or later-stage, the growth of every company most often depends on how much capital is available to fund its growth.

Burn Rate 100

Burn Rate B2C Finance Later Stage 100

Gust

DECEMBER 1, 2011

For years there has been a pervasive opinion across the entrepreneurial landscape that the US has a shortage of capital required to startup and grow new ventures. New Company Formation – According to the Kauffman Foundation, entrepreneurs start about 700,000 companies per year in the US.

SBIR 120

SBIR Startup New York City Angel Investor 120

Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 28, 2017

Goldman Sachs and CB Insights recently reported that startups have raised over $1 billion in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) this summer — more than the total amount of venture capital raised during the same period. Early stage entrepreneurs will also still likely value experienced advice on company-building from seasoned venture capitalists.

Early Stage 20

Early Stage Equity Venture Capital Government 20

Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 28, 2017

Goldman Sachs and CB Insights recently reported that startups have raised over $1 billion in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) this summer — more than the total amount of venture capital raised during the same period. Early stage entrepreneurs will also still likely value experienced advice on company-building from seasoned venture capitalists.

Early Stage 20

Early Stage Equity Venture Capital Government 20

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 9, 2021

This can serve as a guiding light to other entrepreneurs and CEOs. This discourages employees from trying to innovate, since just as with startups, the vast majority of such efforts fail. A company has many different functional areas–sales, marketing, product, engineering, finance, operations, and so on.

Leadership 45

Leadership Technical Review Cofounder Later Stage 45

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

.” There are a lot of data points that one can observer to get a sense of the venture capital markets – both LP fundings into venture and VC financings of startups. They point to some widely known facts: financings & valuations are up massively over the past 7 years and non-VC money has entered the system.

LP 150

LP Valuation Burn Rate Pre-Money Valuation 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2016

I was speaking recently to the team at NuOrder , an LA-based company we’re an investor in about “realism in startups” — an impromptu talk I have given to any of our portfolio companies who ask. During the Q&A I was asked about how I make investment decisions in early-stage businesses. Early stage.

Early Stage 254

Early Stage Non-Compete LP Later Stage 254

Austin Startup

MARCH 7, 2021

Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio form a massive startup Megalopolis that is attracting top talent, impact-focused investors, and the most innovative companies in the world. Startups and investors should treat Texas like one big city. These are all potential customers and strategic partners for startups.

Texas 90

Texas San Antonio Houston Dallas 90

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2018

I was recently with an entrepreneur and talking with him about his fund raising process. He was in a later-stage financing round and was talking with many investors. link] Another entrepreneur was recently in my office. Note: If you enjoy my posts please subscribe to my newsletter by adding your email below.

Term Sheet 217

Term Sheet Later Stage Demand Email 217

www.mint.com

MARCH 9, 2010

If you are considering working at a startup, you should ask these questions. The right answer is, “We’re a startup. Check out the personal finance topic by clicking here. No customers no sales, no startup. like Joe Fox 461 days ago sound advice- 1 have worked for 3 startups in the State of Utah. Excellent article!

Software Review 68

Software Review Startup Post-Money Valuation Technical Review 68

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. You've seen how venture capital works from both sides--as an entrepreneur and a venture capitalist.

Lean 108

Lean Venture Capital Conversion IPO 108

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 2, 2015

Resilience – the ability to bounce back from adversity – is one of the key attributes of entrepreneurs and was the focus of my first weekly radio show, Entrepreneurs are Everywhere , on Sirius XM Radio Channel 111. Kathryn shared the painful lessons she learned when her first startup fell apart.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur New York Cofounder Equity 120

Up and Running

JANUARY 30, 2014

Accelerators are short entrepreneur training programs designed to jump-start new businesses. Accelerators focus on early-stage startups, while incubators are geared toward later-stage startups. One good source for finding an accelerator was AngelList, a platform for startups. Accelators.

Incubator 105

Incubator New York City Venture Capital Startup 105

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you truly believe that you, your company and your products are exceptional and your company will be valuable then you’re actually doing them a FAVOR by helping them invest in your startup. Remember, I was an entrepreneur for 10 years before a VC). Most entrepreneurs don’t put enough effort into these phases.

Term Sheet 332

Term Sheet Due Diligence Campaign Sales 332

View from Seed

JANUARY 26, 2016

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. The entire funding progression of startups pushed out to the right.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Early Stage Cofounder Finance 120

Austin Startup

AUGUST 30, 2018

Austin has built a name for itself within the startup scene, ranking among the top cities in the U.S. For the Central and Southern regions of the United States, the city is the crowned jewel of startup communities. The tens-of-millions-of-dollars rounds aren’t going to the early-stage startups. for funding amounts.

Austin 48

Austin Early Stage San Francisco Later Stage 48

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

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 106

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 106

Growthink Blog

MAY 10, 2012

Early Stage Investment (Series A & B) 4. Later Stage Investment (Series C, D, and so on) 5. Mezzanine Financing Most companies that raise equity capital and are eventually acquired or go public receive multiple rounds of financing first. Series B is the round that follows series A in early stage financing.

Equity 88

Equity Mezzanine Later Stage Venture Capital 88

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). Paul Kedrosky made the case for “naive optimism&# being an important part of startup success. And the best early-stage investors know this. Always have been.

Angel Investor 284

Angel Investor Early Stage Cap Table Deal Flow 284