Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

Growthink Blog

MAY 20, 2011

I received an email last week from an entrepreneur (let's call him Mike) Now to begin, I was pretty impressed with Mike since he used a nice technique to get his email in my inbox (due to the volume of emails I receive, they are screened by others before they get to me). Getting a $100 Million valuation is impossible for a startup.

Venture Capital 109

Venture Capital Valuation NDA Non-disclosure Agreement 109

Hearpreneur

FEBRUARY 8, 2023

As an entrepreneur, joining organizations or networking groups can allow you to connect with like-minded people who can provide you with information and support, and refer customers to you. The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an exclusive group for business owners under the age of 40. Thanks to Alex Contes, Review Grower !

Community 96

Community Architecture Entrepreneur Networking 96

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

David Teten

MARCH 5, 2021

What can we learn from the best 40 venture capital investments of all time? First Round did not include their investment in Uber in their analysis we reference above on the grounds that it was an outlier. Well, we learn to invest exclusively in men, preferably white or Asian. .

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 78

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It’s what separates the true entrepreneurs from the wannabes. Are you ready to start?

Product Development 177

Product Development Cost Developer Product 177

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2016

The other major trend of 2012–2015 was the entrance of “non VCs” into late-stages of venture capital , which mostly consisted of hedge funds, mutual funds, corporate investors, sovereign wealth funds and even LPs doing direct deals. The fact that I still see it referred to in pitch decks is farcical. Late-Stage VCs Pay Up.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Burn Rate LP 150

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

At NextView Ventures we have written many pieces about venture capital — how to raise it, build your business, engage with investors, iterate your product, navigate expanding industries, etc. 7 Common Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make in VC Pitches and How to Fix Them “Different partners in a VC firm are different.

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

V: Should you raise venture capital from a traditional equity VC or a Revenue-Based Investing VC? VI: Revenue-based financing: The next step for private equity and early-stage investment. This is a summary of: Revenue-Based financing: State of the Industry 2020. IV: Should your new VC fund use Revenue-Based Investing?

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2010

I personally had three separate data points from entrepreneurs who took money from the firm that said “never again.&# I really try to stay out of the middle of these things so I softly said to the team, “maybe you should contact these companies and see how their experience went? Not so in venture capital.

Term Sheet 298

Term Sheet Venture Capital Stealth Cofounder 298

www.xconomy.com

JUNE 9, 2012

New San Diego VC Firm Emerges as ‘The Moneyball of Venture Capital’. Here’s some big news for San Diego’s innovation economy: There’s a new venture capital firm in town—and its investment methodology represents a fundamentally different approach to the conventional business model for venture investing.

San Diego 40

San Diego Venture Capital Technical Review San Francisco 40

This is going to be BIG.

OCTOBER 22, 2014

What I find a bit frustrating is how easily some people get onto panels and are put up in front of an impressionable crowd of new entrepreneurs as "experts". You''ll get a venture capital analyst from a brand name firm who has just recently taken his job talking about what makes a company successful. You''re not a broker.

Venture Capital 158

Venture Capital Cap Table Startup Early Stage 158

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital. Not so in venture capital. How do you then reference check your VC to be sure that you’ve chosen a good firm and partner? First, I would say that most entrepreneurs do almost no reference checks or at least do them very informally.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Term Sheet Cofounder Partner 288

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

It included one firm who I asked not to call Salesforce.com as a reference (they were our largest pilot customer) and in their kindness they called Marc Benioff (the CEO) and asked his opinion. On December 3rd Brad Feld wrote a one paragraph blog post titled “ Raising Venture Capital &# in which he linked to my blog.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

. × At Greylock , my partners and I are driven by one guiding mission: always help entrepreneurs. It doesn’t matter whether an entrepreneur is in our portfolio, whether we’re considering an investment, or whether we’re casually meeting for the first time. Entrepreneurs often ask me for help with their pitch decks.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

David Teten

DECEMBER 2, 2019

Nearly every major Silicon Valley venture-capital firm has now invested in a B Corp ; maybe you will be one of them! Our program mixes the best of both Washington and Silicon Valley, bringing together stakeholders in policy and technology to train the next generation of policy entrepreneurs. Notley Ventures.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review SBIR Dilution Silicon Valley 60

YoungUpstarts

JULY 1, 2019

Savvy entrepreneurs know there are numerous ways to fund their start-up. But there are some private enterprises with similar financing programs you can access. All you need is a good pitch, an appealing company profile and solid references for the potential your start-up holds. Venture Capital. Try to Get a Grant.

Finance 127

Finance Angel Investor Offshore Equity 127

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

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

I’ve watched VCs help with valuation support (spreadsheets, comps) on next round financing, participate in M&A meetings, interview senior job candidates – even help terminate tricky senior hires. And so is venture capital. The best way – of course – is to reference check. Commitment.

Portfolio 364

Portfolio Chicago Sales Incubator 364

www.seriesseed.com

MARCH 2, 2010

SeriesSeed.com Series Seed Financing Documents Blog Home Documents Blog Archives Subscribe 09/02/2010 Version 2.0   That’s because there are not that many issues to negotiate in a simple equity financing.   To clarify, there is no question that as an entrepreneur you would prefer uncapped convertible debt to equity. 

Finance 58

Finance Term Sheet Equity Aggregator 58

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 27, 2018

If a company has no revenue model to reference or use as a guide, it will not survive the imminent four year mark that makes or breaks their business. Place your bets on an entrepreneur who has the guts to pivot, restructure, bounce back, and the stamina to re-orientate his business when profitability starts to seem bleak.

Early Stage 160

Early Stage Cofounder Startup Security 160

The Next Web

JULY 13, 2012

In the startup world, venture capital is often viewed as the penultimate goal, yet for many startups bootstrapping is often the reality. And self-financing puts the emphasis on business credit. In order to build credit, your business will need at least one bank reference. it’s fast, simple, and free.

CPA 126

CPA Startup LLC Bootstrapping 126

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. And here’s an important point that I think modern entrepreneurs often forget: Investors are “co-owners” of your business. There are just as many bad entrepreneurs who do bad things.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 22, 2019

Most entrepreneurs are aware that securing investments in their companies could be essential to the short-term growth and long-term success of their venture. It can often be confusing to know which investment type might work best for an entrepreneur and business. This is commonly referred to as the seed round.

Angel Investor 153

Angel Investor Venture Capital Accredited Investor Equity 153

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 30, 2016

When we were rebuilding our LP base one of the single most helpful person to me as a friend, sparring partner and reference was Dana Settle of Greycroft. It’s important that we stay current in and debate others on what is actually happening: In late-stage financings, in IPOs, in M&A, in crowd funding, etc.

Community 150

Community Los Angeles LP Portfolio 150

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 2, 2016

This quarter they interviewed me as part of it on Quarterly VC Update: Brad Feld on the State of Venture Capital Investing. There is much less focus on a $1 billion private valuation (thankfully) as both entrepreneurs and VCs have again shifted much of their discussion to what needs to be done long-term to build a successful company.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital Private Equity Early Stage Valuation 70

Scott Edward Walker

AUGUST 25, 2011

Introduction I’ve been doing deals as a corporate lawyer for 17+ years, and there are certain fundamental mistakes that I’ve seen entrepreneurs make over and over again. Sadly, there are a lot of bad apples out there, and entrepreneurs need to be careful whom they are doing deals. Will he add significant value (e.g.,

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Term Sheet Los Angeles Entrepreneur 63

Austin Startup

MARCH 26, 2019

25 questions that DTC entrepreneurs should ask themselves before scaling customer acquisition So you run a direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand. To help with that, I’ve created a non-exhaustive list of questions to serve as a lightweight reference sheet for any new DTC entrepreneur. What happens at 3X?

Technical Review 49

Technical Review Software Review China Acquisition 49

Up and Running

JUNE 22, 2010

Audrey Watters posted “Is Venture Capital Broken?&# The title is direct reference to an essay, titled “Venture Capital is Broken&# , which angel investor Chris Sacca released as the “creed&# of his new investment firm, Lowercase Capital. Lowercase Capital’s Creed. Do you agree?

Venture Capital 61

Venture Capital Merger Angel Investor Later Stage 61

Up and Running

JULY 2, 2014

We were targeting to raise around $3 million in investment capital. Now, if you’re a savvy investor or entrepreneur, I’m sure your jaw just dropped as you read that. Now, if you’re a savvy investor or entrepreneur, I’m sure your jaw just dropped as you read that. Can they create and advise on a Capitalization Table?

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Angel Investor Due Diligence Dilution 118

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I’ve raised money as a “hot company” and I’ve raised capital when no one would return my phone calls. I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. I never suggest that entrepreneurs just randomly pitch VCs. Tell a friend! Not so much.

Developer 366

Developer Silicon Valley PR Las Vegas 366

Life Beyond Code

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

One Million by One Million is a global initiative that aims to nurture a million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars each in annual revenue and beyond by 2020, thereby creating a trillion dollars in global GDP and ten million jobs. SM: In September 2008, when the first Entrepreneur Journeys book was released, D.D.

Programming 116

Programming Silicon Valley Bootstrapping Technical Review 116

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 2, 2021

Over the past few years, the number of entrepreneurs has been rising steadily. The path of being a successful entrepreneur isn’t for the faint-hearted. The path of being a successful entrepreneur isn’t for the faint-hearted. The following are alternative ways in which entrepreneurs can raise funds for their startups.

Due Diligence 148

Due Diligence Startup Finance Early Stage 148

Up and Running

JULY 28, 2020

Simply put, alternative funding is gaining financing for your company outside of traditional bank loans to gain capital. To help you find the best funding to fit your needs, read on for the top 8 alternative financing options. These loans and funds are set aside specifically for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Small Business 118

Small Business SBA Bootstrapping Venture Capital 118

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

In June of 2013, as I was putting together my thoughts for the K9 Ventures annual meeting, I decided to sit back and reflect on what I thought was happening in “Venture Land”. The risk here is what I refer to as the curse of over-capitalization. I refer to this as The Venture Spiral (blog post from 2008).

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

David Teten

JANUARY 13, 2015

Does it hurt ‘anti-pattern’ entrepreneurs? Next, I would push ‘anti-pattern’ entrepreneurs to remove the convenient (and often true) excuses for not warranting investment. I know we romanticize the LGBT entrepreneur making an app for the LGBT community, but too many of our ideas are “ghettoized” and not seen as “big ideas”.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Advisory Board Greece Cofounder 60