Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

In the last decade, SaaS (Software as a Service) has become a very popular model for new software product development. The largest cost component of establishing a SaaS company is product development costs. This includes the design, development, launch, and enhancement of the SaaS application. .

Cost 158

Cost Developer Azure Cloud 158

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day. Buffer your projected resource requirements.

Burn Rate 223

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 223

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Most entrepreneurs today don’t remember the Dot-Com bubble of 1995 or the Dot-Com crash that followed in 2000. And if their initial guesses were wrong, they needed a process that would permit them to change early on in the product development process when the cost of changes was small – the famed “pivot”. And it may work.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2017

This technology is not only spawning a new generation of entrepreneurs, but is also changing the educational landscape, all the way down to early grade school. In my view as an advisor to new ventures, the Maker Movement is an integral part of a new age of the entrepreneur. These ideas can grow quickly into real products.

Technical Cofounder 153

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Wiki Cofounder 153

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

Thus entrepreneurs were able to build prototypes and design new products without the traditional huge prototyping cost. The movement has long since spread across the country and across the globe, spawning innovative products such as the MakerBot Digitizer and all the things you can access from Thingiverse.com.

Startup 397

Startup Cofounder Incubator Early Stage 397

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

Whether you are talking to peers, competitors or investors, you as an active entrepreneur will be judged on your familiarity with today’s startup and funding jargon. In that context, I offer you my latest collection of popular investor-to-entrepreneur terms and concepts. Frothy startup valuations. Seed-round investment.

Software Review 120

Software Review Sweat Equity Accredited Investor Angel Investor 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day. Buffer your projected resource requirements.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 120

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

” Below are our favorite pieces from the past few years, divided in to a few key categories: fundraising, company building, product development, industry trends, and the life of a VC. What Are Your Valuation Expectations? The best approach is to do your own research and reach out to the entrepreneur directly.”

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

When you see startups like SpaceX and Pinterest grow from a low valuation to a billion dollars in just a few years, it’s easy to assume that if you just keep doing what you are doing, you can get there as well. In my experience, less than half of founding entrepreneurs even aspire to stay and scale their company.

Merger 379

Merger Due Diligence SEC IPO 379

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

I’ve been fortunate enough to be on both sides of the table, as an entrepreneur and a VC, and I’ve observed that most investors look for the same things I do when deciding whether to invest in a company. As an immigrant founder, I didn’t have the industry connections that entrepreneurs often rely on to be successful.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2015

In fact, an entrepreneur friend of mine, who made millions on her marketing expertise, asserted recently that most inventors fail in business because they refuse to believe that any business expertise or experience is worth more than 5 percent in partner equity. Most founders bootstrap product development.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Intellectual Property Cofounder Bootstrapping 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2016

Of course, that’s both the good news and the bad news for aspiring entrepreneurs, since it means more competition, and the business landscape is changing faster than ever. Who would not want to joint the unicorns (recent startups with a current valuation of over $1 billion)? Establishing your brand with interactive social media.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 120

Mucker Lab

MAY 28, 2020

Some entrepreneurs think that (more) money will solve all their company’s problems. Like a teenager with a million-dollar allowance and an identity crisis, a startup with too much capital and no product-market fit will become capable of making larger mistakes.

Startup 78

Startup Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Review 78

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 15, 2022

Whether they were critical to product development, marketing, or a successful exit, each of these individuals can have a significant impact on the amount of money the business is worth. The first step in creating a business plan to sell your startup to an acquirer is to create a valuation of your company.

Merger 158

Merger Acquisition Due Diligence Valuation 158

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2014

Thus entrepreneurs began building prototypes and designing new products without the traditional huge investment. The movement has spread across the country and across the globe, spawning innovative products such as the MakerBot Digitizer and all the things you can download from Thingiverse.com. Have you tried it yet?

Entrepreneur 246

Entrepreneur Detroit California Cofounder 246

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

This post describes how companies using the Customer Development model can increase their credibility, valuation and probability of getting a first round of funding by presenting their results in a “Lesson Learned&# venture pitch. The goal of their startup in this stage becomes “getting funded.” Can it scale?”

Customer Development 266

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 266

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 22, 2024

The venture was co-led by prominent investors including Andreessen Horowitz , former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and entrepreneur Daniel Gross, who were joined by Sequoia Capital, SV Angel, Smash Capital, BroadLight Capital and Credo Ventures. Who are ElevenLabs?

Artificial Inteligence 85

Artificial Inteligence Poland Cofounder Startup 85

Up and Running

JUNE 14, 2017

Almost on a weekly basis, I meet new aspiring entrepreneurs looking to execute on their ideas. Some believe in the all-in approach to product development: build an advanced app. The best entrepreneurs are able to get at interviewees’ real intentions. Here’s what I learned from launching my first app, Recycle Spotter: 1.

Technical Review 96

Technical Review Distribution Redemption Demand 96

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Ari Newman is an entrepreneur, mentor, investor, and a friend. He works at Techstars where his responsibility is to ensure that the connections between alumni, mentors, and staff are as robust as they can be – helping entrepreneurs “ do more faster ” day in and day out. The year would have been a full year, not just 7-9 months.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

The second thing that’s changed is that we’re now Compressing the Product Development Cycle. In the 20 th century startups I was part of, the time to build a first product release was measured in years as we turned out the founder’s vision of what customers wanted. We now have specific management tools to grow startups.

Restful 235

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 235

Up and Running

DECEMBER 22, 2015

Combine a wild guess on future growth for several years, add in a wilder guess about future valuation prices and exit opportunities, and then pretend that the combination means something. 5 Shark Tank Lessons for Entrepreneurs. It really only means that you haven’t recovered from your MBA years. You’re out of school now.

Angel Investor 60

Angel Investor IRR Software Review Startup 60

David Teten

JUNE 25, 2012

I have a great idea for a product. I’m looking for an entrepreneur to start a company to provide this product, or a development shop which wants to bid on this project. I envision a software tool which makes your underlying software irrelevant, by standardizing the UI across all different products.

Developer 144

Developer Venture Capital Startup Valuation 144

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

You get increasing growth by optimizing the viral loop , and you get revenue as a side-effect, assuming you have even the most anemic monetization scheme baked into your product. The spread between your LTV and blended CPA determines either your profitability or your rate of growth, and a high valuation depends on balancing these two factors.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

David Teten

JUNE 25, 2012

I have a great idea for a product. I’m looking for an entrepreneur to start a company to provide this product, or a development shop which wants to bid on this project. I envision a software tool which makes your underlying software irrelevant, by standardizing the UI across all different products.

Developer 114

Developer Venture Capital Startup Valuation 114

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

When times are really good for fund raising many teams delay to maximize their valuation. This conversation seems to come up very frequently these days both with portfolio companies and with entrepreneurs just looking for mentorship. I like to tell entrepreneurs that the “fairway&# of fund raising is 25-33% per round.

Pre-Money Valuation 303

Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Valuation PR 303

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

Realistically, VCs expect 90% of their ventures to fail, but entrepreneurs expect 100% of their ventures to succeed. Focus on Product Development First. We prioritized validation from our customers by listening carefully to what our customers wanted and focusing on early-stage product development.

Early Stage 98

Early Stage Venture Capital Bootstrapping Pre-Money Valuation 98

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

Keep the valuations consistent with company progress. The bottom line is that the pedigree of your investors will have much to do with your ultimate valuation and with your enjoyment of the startup experience. I’ve been guilty of the SNIT method of selling — Sell Now Invent Tomorrow — as have most entrepreneurs in tech businesses.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 9, 2016

Good entrepreneurs are all about managing change, but too many forget that they have to change themselves as their dream evolves from a startup to a scalable business. Many entrepreneurs gave grown to prefer the relative quiet and isolation of their garage, and their ability to set their own schedule.

Social Network 120

Social Network Demand Valuation Acquisition 120

The Startup Toolkit

AUGUST 30, 2012

Entrepreneurs worldwide suspect the grass is greener in San Francisco. The valley only has about 4x more VC deals than London (although average valuations are admittedly 2x higher): The valley is not 1000x better. 25% during product development. 60% are for revenue generating companies with a sellable product.

Silicon Valley 52

Silicon Valley San Francisco New Jersey India 52

Women Entrepreneurs Can

NOVEMBER 19, 2022

This allows you to skip the complicated valuation calculations. This is done by evaluating the product’s potential market, the sales process, and the company’s team. Seed funding is usually used to support product development, sales, and marketing. You can also show how you plan to make money.

Venture Capital 52

Venture Capital Early Stage Liquidity Event SEC 52

betashop.com

OCTOBER 8, 2012

It has been awesome, flattering, and humbling to see that post went viral and has been seen by so many thousands of people — mainly aspiring entrepreneurs — and has been translated into many languages. Never, ever, choose your investors based on valuation. 10M post-money valuation = $100M target. Make a difference.

Technical Review 108

Technical Review Technology Software Review Valuation 108

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 27, 2011

This partnership speaks to a core philosophy of the program where we encourage entrepreneurs to get as much customer validation as possible before raising too much money, use other people's channels if you can get to them, don't burn too much cash, and all that good fiscal conservative stuff. LetsGiftIt.

Dilution 114

Dilution Revenue Finance Entrepreneur 114

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

AgileZen – project management visually see and interact with your work Kanbanery – Simple online team or personal kanban board LeanKit Kanban – Great for visualizing work of product development Kanban Pad – “Nice and lean” and free online Kanban tool Banana Scrum – A tool simple as Scrum itself.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2012

New product development process. Longer-term, enhanced product value begets superior company valuation through your organization’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio. Without risk, there can be no innovation. Innovation teams perform best when they trust that failure or a pivot will not result in punitive measures.

Intellectual Property 247

Intellectual Property IP Valuation .Net 247

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2010

Products: You obviously can’t create value without a viable product (or service) to sell. This section of your Venture Value Scorecard should summarize the important advances you have made recently in research and product development. Tags: scorecard venture value Akira Hirai business valuation.

Intellectual Property 223

Intellectual Property .Net Valuation Distribution 223

Small Business Force

AUGUST 31, 2013

Just like people that tend to jump into marriages, entrepreneurs tend to get starry-eyed and join forces without thinking through the long-term implications of having a partner. I came to find that they had differing ideas about timing, valuation, to whom they should sell and how long or whether they would stay with the company.

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Partner Technical Review Founder 40

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 27, 2017

In under a year, I went from having just $12,000 in savings to a business valuated at $1.4 In April 2017, I won a Startup Canada pitch contest for entrepreneurs worth $10,000 and access to music industry executives. million dollars! It’s Not a Hobby. I hoped to pick up tips on how to pitch investors and make some connections.

Canada 133

Canada Security PR Valuation 133