Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

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. Commit to a major customer.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened? Until we weren’t.

Valuation 466

Valuation San Francisco Ratchet Liquidation Preference 466

David Teten

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

Blue Future Partners, a venture capital fund of funds, recently interviewed me on ESG in venture capital. For example, I’m an investor via ff Venture Capital in: – Plated.com is a meal kit company, delivering you the recipe and fresh ingredients to make a gourmet meal in your own kitchen.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Partner Technical Review Cofounder 60

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

This essay is part of a series on alternative VC: I: Revenue-Based Investing: a new option for founders who care about control. II: Who are the major Revenue-Based Investing VCs? III: Why are Revenue-Based VCs investing in so many women and underrepresented founders? IV: Should your new VC fund use Revenue-Based Investing?

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

So you’re interested in raising capital from a Revenue-Based Investor VC. A new wave of Revenue-Based Investors (“RBI”) are emerging. I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. Bigfoot Capital. Capital need of up to $1.5M

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

David Teten

MARCH 14, 2018

First Round Capital’s forum for portfolio executives is a powerful example of a scaleable resource. – Build out low-cost force multipliers such as scouts , Advisors, Entrepreneurs in Residence, Venture Partners, and so on. – Create a franchise and license access to it , e.g., the Draper Venture Network.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Cofounder 60

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

The following is a condensed explanation of seed funding: Seed money is a form of early-stage financing that new businesses receive from investors in exchange for a share of ownership in the company. Seed venture capital firms can make more significant follow-on investments to keep or increase their equity stake in the company.

Seed Stage 124

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 124

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Does the traditional VC financing model make sense for all companies? A new wave of Revenue-Based Investors are emerging who are using creative investing structures with some of the upside of traditional VC, but some of the downside protection of debt. So what is Revenue Based Investing? Absolutely not.

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

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. Commit to a major customer.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

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. Commit to a major customer.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

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. Commit to a major customer.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 20, 2023

The Venture Capital Influence The role of venture capital (VC) has become increasingly prominent in shaping the tech startup scene. Diversify Revenue Streams Relying on a single income source can be risky. It’s not just about demographics but recognizing their pain points, preferences, and aspirations.

Technical Review 137

Technical Review Startup Silicon Valley Agile 137

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 17, 2020

Let’s take a few minutes to examine the kind of equity financing available to small or early stage businesses. There is a rather new term for those large, individual investors who are usually former entrepreneurs made rich through sale of their previous ventures. Then there is venture capital.

Equity 62

Equity Finance Liquidity Event Angel Groups 62

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

I have often been asked about Startup Funding by entrepreneurs. Here is Startup Funding, a Comprehensive Guide for Entrepreneurs. The primary source of your funds should be your paying customers, i.e., your business should generate enough revenues and profits to fund the growth and expansion. Pre-Requisites of Funding.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

More and more startups are pursuing Revenue-Based VCs , but “RBI” doesn’t fit everyone. Flexible VC 101: Equity Meets Revenue Share. By tying payments to actual revenues, founders and investors remain aligned around the company’s real-time performance, good or bad. Of the Inc. 5000 companies, only 6.5% raised from angels.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

He also nails the reason why venture capital is still necessary to grow large businesses quickly in a world where the costs of running startups have fallen dramatically. After all, growth equals high valuations and loads of venture capital! I talked about some of that here. So I like that bit, too. And headlines.

Silicon Valley 390

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 390

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

On the phone … Me: So, you raised venture capital? Convertible notes have both features in them but for some reason entrepreneurs don’t understand it. It’s like we need a finance 101 course for entrepreneurs. It’s like we need a finance 101 course for entrepreneurs.

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

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. Commit to a major customer.

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? BCG (June 2018): “Startups founded and cofounded by women actually performed better over time, generating 10% more in cumulative revenue over a five-year period: $730,000 compared with $662,000.”.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 78

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 19, 2023

Some entrepreneurs will say the future is definitely bright but to others, some of these changes are meant to work against their expansion and business operations. This means that more and more entrepreneurs are designing solutions to global problems, creating innovative products and services that meet real needs, and driving social change.

Artificial Inteligence 102

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Entrepreneur Global 102

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. Commit to a major customer.

Product Development 177

Product Development Cost Developer Product 177

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2011

I just read the Q1 2011 report from CB Insights , which shows venture capital is back. billion to work across 738 financing deals with U.S. Sure, there is always some seed funding (10% of overall deal flow), but you can bet that this money goes to entrepreneurs who have been there before and won. That represents a $1.5

Venture Capital 233

Venture Capital Revenue Elevator Pitch Silicon Valley 233

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

There are many things a VC is looking for in reviewing your business plan but beyond things the like the quality of revenue, margins, OPEX and CAPEX there’s a really simple rule I call, “Cash In, Cash Out, Milestones Achieved.” One entrepreneur refrain I sometimes hear is “We want to raise some extra money for M&A activities.”

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Dilution 247

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

There has been much discussion in the past few years of the changing structure of the venture capital industry. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). The overall trends in our industry have breathed a new life into the venture capital industry. The iPhone was released.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

online.wsj.com

SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

SIGNIFICANCE PROMINENT. --> The Venture Capital Secret: 3 Out of 4 Start-Ups Fail. An entrepreneur with a hot technology and venture-capital funding becomes a billionaire in his 20s. The National Venture Capital Association estimates that 25% to 30% of venture-backed businesses fail.

Venture Capital 107

Venture Capital Software Review Rhode Island North Dakota 107

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 26, 2020

If you are building a startup, you’ll find no shortage of people who are willing to give you advice, particularly when it comes to raising financing. Like Jerry Yang who started Yahoo, as investors we are looking for entrepreneurs who are obsessed with a new technology. Unfortunately, much of this advice is wrong.

Finance 205

Finance Silicon Valley Valuation Startup 205

David Teten

MARCH 18, 2021

Thirty-four VC firms in OpenVC call themselves “early-stage” Yet, 30% of those don’t actually invest in pre-revenue startups. of venture capital deals. Those companies have garnered only about 2% of all capital invested. 4) Entrepreneur-defined funds. The phrase is quite ambiguous.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital Deal Flow 78

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

The key to being able to run a business that isn’t yet profitable (on operating margin) is availability of capital to finance losses and preferably at a cost that isn’t too punitive to the founders and employees. So I spend an inordinate amount of time with entrepreneurs focused on payback. If you can’t raise — you’re dead.

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 19, 2017

Determining how to finance your business is an important decision with big consequences. There are several ways to approach funding, but there are two main sources of financing: debt and equity. Debt Financing. Debt financing is where you borrow money from a lender that you will later pay back with interest.

Finance 138

Finance Angel Investor Equity Startup 138

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

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 13, 2021

If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, or an existing business, and haven’t yet sized any of these opportunities, you may be already late to the game. Usually these are revenue-generating e-commerce sites, or have the potential to be revenue-generating. There is value in the “idling capacity” of all assets. Marty Zwilling.

Cuba 316

Cuba Venture Capital Community Valuation 316

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

Yesterday I wrote Part 1 of the series on the changes to the software industry over the past decade that has led to changes in the venture capital industry itself. Surprisinly, this strategy works well with many entrepreneurs. Or at least venture-style returns. This led to an explosion in startups. Funny, that.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Software LP Early Stage 296

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 12, 2017

Many of these companies are pre-revenue and in the cash burn stage as they try to establish their technology and market. However, as a condition of financing they may require annual audited financial statements. If there is insufficient cash, then the company should have a plan to obtain sufficient capital.

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Forecast Early Stage Term Sheet 133

David Teten

NOVEMBER 26, 2019

Paul Bianco, CEO of Graphite Financial *, says, “Entrepreneurs are characteristically optimistic by nature, and often present their board best-case-scenario budgets and projections. I encourage entrepreneurs to correct course with a re-forecast early and often. Entrepreneur Jeff Magnusson provides a sample agile budgeting workbook.

Agile 60

Agile Management Forecast Silicon Valley 60

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

the wave of semiconductor startups in the 1960’s/70’s, the emergence of Venture Capital as a professional industry, the personal computer revolution in 1980’s, the rise of the Internet in the 1990’s and finally. Venture Capital used to be a tight club clustered around formal firms located in Silicon Valley, Boston, and New York.

Restful 222

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 222

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2018

Founder, Founder, Founder At Upfront we talk regularly about how 70% of our investment decision in Seed and A rounds is the quality of the entrepreneur and 30% is the quality of the idea. Jamie Siminoff is not only one of the single best true entrepreneurs in Los Angeles, he’s amongst the best we’ve worked with in the country.

Security 247

Security Los Angeles Silicon Valley Video 247