View from Seed

MARCH 26, 2015

In the last year or so, the debate over the definitions of seed versus pre-seed capital (sometimes called genesis rounds) has exploded. Much digital ink has been spilled about what dollar amount constitutes a pre-seed and how that might affect a startup’s ability to go raise a “normal” seed round from institutional investors.

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Institutional Investors Venture Capital Partner 120

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 11, 2021

Traditional venture capital models lean into what’s called ‘power laws.’ Basically the idea that you are backing risky new ventures, many of which will stumble along the way, but one or two of the companies you back will be such outsized successes that the investment gains from those will more than offset the others.

Startup 124

Startup Venture Capital Seed Capital Software 124

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 15, 2013

Provide some sort of seed capital to their founders. Take a small amount of equity (usually ~6%) and overall have terms that are favorable to entrepreneurs. Have a strong management team who are typically proven entrepreneurs. Take no less than 5 and no more than 12 companies at a time.

Global 179

Global Networking United States Seed Money 179

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

In that presentation, I said that Seed is not the first round of financing any more and that K9’s investments were mostly “pre-seed”. The Venture Capital industry as a whole does a terrible job of giving things the right name and so we end up keeping the same name, but changing the meaning out from under it.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

Steve Blank

APRIL 28, 2016

Entrepreneurs see opportunity where others see obstacles and why hubris is an entrepreneur’s worst enemy, were two topics of discussion on my SiriusXM radio show, Entrepreneurs are Everywhere. When you’re an entrepreneur, yeah, there’s 100 gaps. Ajay Kshatriya. Joining me in the Stanford University studio were.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Cofounder Seed Capital Texas 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 28, 2016

Entrepreneurs see opportunity where others see obstacles and why hubris is an entrepreneur’s worst enemy, were two topics of discussion on my SiriusXM radio show, Entrepreneurs are Everywhere. When you’re an entrepreneur, yeah, there’s 100 gaps. Ajay Kshatriya. Joining me in the Stanford University studio were.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Cofounder Seed Capital Texas 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. Need for growth capital. A company that can successfully raise money in an ICO may never need venture capital again.

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. Need for growth capital. A company that can successfully raise money in an ICO may never need venture capital again.

Early Stage 20

Early Stage Equity Venture Capital Government 20

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

I had witnessed a number of early-stage tech startups in LA raise seed capital from the Bay Area and relocate. and I thought if we brought the community together for common purpose we could create more of a sense of community to help new entrepreneurs get funded, assemble teams, raise profiles and help with biz dev, product, etc.

Early Stage 290

Early Stage Venture Capital Los Angeles Coder 290

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. This will almost always be the best approach to an investor.

Angel Groups 159

Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

View from Seed

MARCH 29, 2018

It’s a world that doesn’t fit our seed-focused model and fund strategy. Outside of life-sciences, we’ve noticed something interesting emerging: There is a huge dearth of seed capital for health care services and software-driven health-tech companies.

Vertical 120

Vertical Stealth Portfolio Seed Capital 120

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 5, 2019

As an entrepreneur, you have probably heard or read the “maxim” that only 10% of startups are successful, but is this true? The rounds were conducted from 2008 to 2010, starting from seed capital. And if so, what strategies can you apply with your company so that it is not part of the failures of statistics?

Venture Capital 77

Venture Capital Cofounder Finance United States 77

Growthink Blog

MAY 23, 2011

An entrepreneur starts a company in classic " bootstrap " fashion - with a combination of sweat equity and their own financial resources. The angel then introduces the entrepreneur to his or her wealthy friends and business connections who, based on the good reputation of the referring angel, also invest. All live happily ever after.

Angel Investor 112

Angel Investor Venture Capital Sweat Equity Cram Down 112

Up and Running

MAY 2, 2014

It’s a simple truth that every entrepreneur knows: Getting the capital to start or grow your business is often harder than running the business itself. Instead, people want to get to know you, the entrepreneur, and to see your progress, even if over a short time period. Venture Capital and Angel Investors'

Angel Investor 146

Angel Investor Seed Capital Venture Capital Early Stage 146

Growthink Blog

MAY 10, 2012

If it's not your plan to get venture capital down the road, then you'll probably stop in Stage 2-receiving enough funding to boost your marketing, sales, and infrastructure to grow organically from there to the point where you are satisfied or ready to sell. Each round may raise between $5 million and $20 million or more.

Equity 88

Equity Mezzanine Later Stage Venture Capital 88

thebarefootvc

MARCH 8, 2012

While the seed capital gap has closed, there are still only a handful of venture capital firms here in NYC investing in the crucial Series A/B rounds. In contrast, many Silicon Valley funds are large with much capital to put to work (which is why we are seeing them lead NYC deals at these stages).

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Ghana Venture Capital India 69

BeyondVC

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

This is happening because there are way too many companies raising seed capital but not enough executing their way to a Series A. This can happen for many reasons including not raising enough capital in the seed round to begin with and of course not getting your product out the door.

Seed Capital 133

Seed Capital Angel Investor Seed Money Startup 133

BeyondVC

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

This is happening because there are way too many companies raising seed capital but not enough executing their way to a Series A. This can happen for many reasons including not raising enough capital in the seed round to begin with and of course not getting your product out the door.

Seed Capital 133

Seed Capital Angel Investor Seed Money Startup 133

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 2, 2012

It's the term proposed by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) in a proposal last October ( PDF available here ), and this week it will be codified into law. Crowdfunding is an efficient way for entrepreneurs to raise seed capital," the editors wrote.

IPO 121

IPO Startup Seed Capital Florida 121

David Cohen

JUNE 16, 2015

At these events (there about 1,000 per year from Boulder to Mongolia to Chile to New Zealand), entrepreneurs and the community gather to build startups in 54 hours. The end result was an expanded community of entrepreneurs here in Boulder, many of whom I still keep in touch with today. Events were happening all over the world.

Mongolia 48

Mongolia Chile New Zealand Startup 48

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Just taking any outside capital comes with a lot of responsibilities, including having a fiduciary responsibility to other parties involved in the business. Even if it’s assumed that the startup will raise outside (venture) capital, raising sooner often creates an accelerated (and riskier) timeframe.

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Seed Stage Dilution Networking 120

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

I feel too many people are discouraging, and as a result, too many entrepreneurs are discouraged and give up. Sometimes we draft business plans and coach the entrepreneurs on their pitch, and sometimes we even help develop a business model. Many entrepreneurs have an idea but don’t know how to monetize it.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Southern California Startup Early Stage 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. We’re staring to get the hang of how to divide the show up into talking about deals but also talking about issues for entrepreneurs during funding.

Stealth 285

Stealth SEC Advertising Accredited Investor 285

Software By Rob

JANUARY 8, 2019

In general I'm eager to see people explore new ways of supporting entrepreneurs. We are happy to speak with you at any revenue level, but somewhere in the $150k-range is when founders may start to look for seed capital. Traditionally, venture capital has consisted of unicorn-hunting.

Early Stage 46

Early Stage Valuation Seed Capital Revenue 46

thebarefootvc

JULY 10, 2010

“Our country should strive to attract the most talented and highly skilled entrepreneurs,” Lugar says. Under the proposal, a foreign-born entrepreneur who has secured at least $250,000 in funding from qualified U.S. based start-ups. investors would be permitted to stay for two years.

Startup 45

Startup Incubator Seed Capital Venture Capital 45

www.thestartup.eu

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Posted by Stefano Bernardi On June - 21 - 2010 It’s a known fact that seed capital is very scarce in Italy. Entrepreneurs, which by definition are stubborn entities are therefore finding creative and cheap ways to bootstrap their startups. TheStartup.eu Meet Tipsandtrip. CEO Marco Magnocavallo. V.inspiring!

Bootstrapping 49

Bootstrapping Italy Sweat Equity Europe 49

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

Aligning the Startup Team Strategy with the Capitalization Strategy. The single most important factor to raising capital for any tech startup is the management team. This is true for early stage funding as well as venture capital funding. Below are some tips for aligning the startup team with the capitalization strategy.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2013

For many entrepreneurs “raising money” has replaced “building a sustainable business” as their goal. Entrepreneurs need to think about 1) when to raise money, 2) why to raise money and 3) who to take money from, 4) the consequences of raising money. Filed under: Venture Capital. Venture Capital'

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 333

Gust

OCTOBER 5, 2011

In most cases, an early stage startup will raise seed capital from more than one investor. In practice, given that (1) investors’ interests are mostly aligned most of the time, and (2) Series A investors generally put a much larger amount of capital at risk, this approach seems to work relatively well.

Finance 79

Finance Preferred Stock Term Sheet Early Stage 79

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2013

For many entrepreneurs “raising money” has replaced “building a sustainable business” as their goal. Entrepreneurs need to think about 1) when to raise money, 2) why to raise money and 3) who to take money from, 4) the consequences of raising money. Filed under: Venture Capital. Venture Capital'

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 225

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Ta , entrepreneur, author and CEO of Sqeeqee.com. Often times, the people will have you believe that accomplished entrepreneurs had their success purely by dint of the invincibility of their irresistible ideas. I have identified 5 “boring” aspects of entrepreneurism that if focused on will lead to success: 1. By Jenny Q.

Vietnam 162

Vietnam Venture Capital Seed Capital Exit Strategy 162

Feld Thoughts

JULY 14, 2015

In some cases this turned into nothing, but in a few cases it had magnificent outcomes for me and my gang, along with the entrepreneurs. The entrepreneur and the VC may not care at all, and that’s fine with us, but we’ll remember the behavior for a long time.

Recapitalization 70

Recapitalization Pre-Money Valuation Post-Money Valuation Angel Investor 70

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 10, 2015

Note: When I say “seed stage startup,” I’m specifically referring to software/app startups that are eitherpre-product or early product. Startup X launches with XX millions of dollars of seed capital from a star-studded list of investors”. … Venture Capitalist have investors as well. But probably not how you’d think.

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Startup Venture Capital 100

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

This dynamic births serial entrepreneurs and motivates angels and venture capitalists to pull their friends into investment deals. For the first-time entrepreneur or founder looking for seed stage funding, this circle can be especially difficult to penetrate.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor San Francisco Startup Social Media 80

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Researchers polled experts in lending, mezzanine capital, private equity, venture capital and private businesses themselves. Not a big shock, but things don’t look pretty, especially in the venture capital world. 41% of them feel that they qualify for venture capital funding. Printed from: [.]

Venture Capital 62

Venture Capital Technical Review Sweat Equity Valuation 62

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 24, 2010

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. The New Structure of the Venture Capital industry. or Euro-centric phenomenon.

Silicon Valley 335

Silicon Valley United States Venture Capital Software Review 335

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