Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

As a simple example, the Wal-Mart website now shows shoppers more products that they may like, based on previous purchases. Short-term earnings per share may be low, even as revenues and cash burned are high. Select new hires with attention to values. These tolerate negative cash flows for growth.

Software Review 355

Software Review Algorithm Global IPO 355

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2020

Most founders like to talk about their many months or years of sweat-equity , but cash invested is a stronger commitment. If the company has been around for more than a couple of years, and still has no product or revenue flow, there better be a good explanation. When did this effort really start, including pivots?

Technical Review 436

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 436

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

Most founders like to talk about their many months or years of sweat-equity , but cash invested is a stronger commitment. If the company has been around for more than a couple of years, and still has no product or revenue flow, there better be a good explanation. When did this effort really start, including pivots?

Sweat Equity 207

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 207

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 8, 2024

You may need funding for new equipment, hiring additional staff, expanding facilities, or investing in marketing and advertising campaigns. Utilize Debt for Strategic Investments Use debt to invest in revenue-generating assets that generate a positive return on investment for your business.

Finance 120

Finance Technical Review Metrics .Net 120

David Teten

AUGUST 20, 2019

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. I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Cofounder Founder Venture Capital 60

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JANUARY 4, 2018

Late last year we passed $100M in annual recurring revenue. That revenue is in on 75,000 customers, earned through the hard work of 500 employees across six offices on three continents. This week we closed $250M in financing from Silver Lake , the premier technology private equity firm. We just announced a few more things.

Engineer 152

Engineer Revenue San Francisco Security 152

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. That should equate to an adequate valuation for a $2 million follow-on Series-A round, without giving away all the equity.

Burn Rate 223

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 223

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

As a seed-stage company, it is understandable to have a nascent (or non-existent) product and a barebone team relative to the great ambition of the company. The “product roadmap”. Projecting from the seed stage, there are two types of team-building topics you want to address – key senior hires and org-level team building.

Part-Time VPE 195

Part-Time VPE Seed Stage CTO Hire Forecast 195

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. That should equate to an adequate valuation for a $2 million follow-on Series-A round, without giving away all the equity.

Burn Rate 262

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Salary 262

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2023

These are the only people likely to believe in newbies, with only minimal product evidence or business experience. The average amount per startup has been $23,000, usually in the form of a convertible loan, rather than an equity investment. This is confirmation that the right people are always more important than the right product.

Sweat Equity 274

Sweat Equity Elevator Pitch Startup Equity 274

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

The cost of giving up more equity early is often more than offset by the increased flexibility to recover from mistakes. Pay people with equity or future revenue. Another one to avoid cash burn for software development is a contract for percent of future revenue. Great strategy. Do it yourself and barter for services.

Burn Rate 232

Burn Rate Startup Salary Equity 232

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund and mutual fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. High-frequency trading, algorithmic by its nature, is estimated to account for at least 50% of US equity markets trading volume. . But we’re doing it slowly. 4) Manage deal flow.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. For investors, this is the idea stage , where you may have a great idea, but no plan, product, or customers, and probably no success record in this business domain.

Angel Investor 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2011

The cost of giving up more equity early is often more than offset by the increased flexibility to recover from mistakes. Pay people with equity or future revenue. Another one to avoid cash burn for software development is a contract for percent of future revenue. Great strategy. Do it yourself and barter for services.

Burn Rate 231

Burn Rate Startup Salary Equity 231

www.avc.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Employee Equity: How Much? The most common comment in this long and complicated MBA Mondays series on Employee Equity is the question of how much equity should you grant when you make a hire. For your first key hires, three, five, maybe as much as ten, you will probably not be able to use any kind of formula.

Equity 64

Equity Employee CTO Hire Fractional CTO 64

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. That should equate to an adequate valuation for a $2 million follow-on Series-A round, without giving away all the equity.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2021

These are the only people likely to believe in newbies, with only minimal product evidence or business experience. The average amount per startup has been $23,000, usually in the form of a convertible loan, rather than an equity investment. This is confirmation that the right people are always more important than the right product.

Sweat Equity 346

Sweat Equity Elevator Pitch Equity Venture Capital 346

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2020

With one of the many new tools , and a dose of sweat equity, you can create a website for almost nothing -- and you are on your way to success with ecommerce, your latest invention or personal services. With the unlimited access to “how-to” videos and detailed instructions on the Internet, you shouldn’t need to hire experts for most things.

Hockey Stick 423

Hockey Stick Bootstrapping Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 423

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 18, 2024

On the other hand, they could be the opposite—much more focused on near-term cash distributions than long-term equity appreciation. They might not understand how a pre-revenue startup could be worth anything, let alone be valued at $5mm. What’s Simply Hired, you ask?

.Net 88

.Net Cap Table Startup Technical Review 88

Steve Blank

MAY 19, 2015

Startups focus on speed since they are burning cash every day as they search for product/market fit. I had lunch last week with Tom, the CEO of a startup that was quickly becoming a large company – last year’s revenue was $40M, this year likely to be $80M maybe even $100 million in ad revenue.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Salary Early Stage Software Review 120

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

They allow you to hire more people, purchase new technology, and establish new business connections, among many other benefits. When you accept outside money, particularly a private equity (PE) investment, however, that changes. When you accept outside money, particularly a private equity (PE) investment, however, that changes.

Private Equity 94

Private Equity Pre-Money Valuation Equity Startup 94

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 21, 2014

They can help vet what you''re building, give you credibility in the hiring process and help assess candidates. Go find someone technical you could probably never hire. What you can offer is interestingness, a thoughtful challenge, and a little bit of equity. This is where a good technical advisor can help.

Founder 120

Founder Software Developers Software Development Venture Capital 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. For investors, this is the idea stage , where you may have a great idea, but no plan, product, or customers, and probably no success record in this business domain.

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 1, 2023

As I've taken the time to invest in companies and programs that can manage various facets of my business on my behalf, I've been able to increase my revenue and provide better financial insulation for my firm to help it withstand the negative effects of a recession. This will keep them sustainable should revenues take a dive.

Entrepreneur 96

Entrepreneur Software Review Technical Review Revenue 96

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. By definition, second-stage ventures generally have 10 to 99 employees and/or $750,000 to $50 million in revenue, and see that as just the beginning. Hire more help than helpers. There is no free lunch.

Mezzanine 368

Mezzanine Private Equity Bandwidth Metrics 368

NZ Entrepreneur

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

Addressing real world problems, they thrive in uncertainty, generating new jobs and new revenue streams in new markets. experiments to build a product, find customers, test business models and hire amazing people. This equity will vest over 2-3 years. Underpinning this growth is good governance. Risk and reward.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Software Review New Zealand Due Diligence 88

The Startup Toolkit

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

false As a cheatsheet, the “normal” equity structure is: Founder terms: 4 year vesting, 1 year cliff, for everyone, including you. Getting equity structures right. When it comes to equity terms, there are only 3 things to understand: vesting, cliffs, and acceleration. Everyone who has equity should really, really be vested.

Vesting 56

Vesting Equity Cofounder Technical Review 56

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

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 24, 2012

Instead, buyers are checking out product and service information in their own way, often through the Internet, their social network, or just plain word-of-mouth or customer reviews. Nearly four in five CEOs complained that CMOs can’t explain how brand equity can be linked to recognized financial measures such as firm equity.

Marketing 234

Marketing Software Review Technical Review Social Network 234

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 27, 2018

It’s simple; know how to spot potential and use your area of expertise to identify whether or not this startup’s product or service will become a lucrative asset to its audience. Here’s how to spot potential in a growing company when looking to invest: Assess the company’s product or service.

Early Stage 160

Early Stage Cofounder Startup Security 160

Up and Running

MARCH 14, 2018

Share what’s unique about your product and how it will solve the issue you shared in the previous slide. Be realistic about who you’re building your product for and break out your market into TAM, SAM, and SOM. Your revenue or business model. Show what you’re projecting in revenue (per product) over the next three to five years.

Hockey Stick 164

Hockey Stick Exit Strategy Technical Review Angel Investor 164

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2010

The cost of giving up more equity early is often more than offset by the increased flexibility to recover from mistakes. Pay people with equity or future revenue. Another one to avoid cash burn for software development is a contract for percent of future revenue. Great strategy. Do it yourself and barter for services.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Startup Salary Equity 120

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 28, 2012

But when it comes to core technical skills, more and more entrepreneurs are opting to partner with technical co-founders rather than hiring someone for an in-house position. I really believe that what’s most important for a founder is the ability to have a vision for the company, make sales and hire well. Laura Roeder , LKR.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Cofounder Founder Software Review 131

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

Glen Mello: Venture debt is a good complement to equity. It’s generally got a lower cost compared to equity capital and can help support growth. So it makes it a lot more challenging when you have debt on the books that isn’t as longer term as equity. What are some pros and cons? These are value-creation milestones.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2016

Most founders like to talk about their many months or years of sweat-equity , but cash invested is a stronger commitment. If the company has been around for more than a couple of years, and still has no product or revenue flow, there better be a good explanation. When did this effort really start, including pivots?

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 120

The Startup Magazine

MAY 11, 2020

By doing so, you can focus on improving productivity and sales. However, this will depend on whether you have enough equity or collateral to meet the lender’s requirements. Chances are you are investing in services and products that don’t offer an effective ROI. Boost Sales and Revenue. Pay Debts on Time .

Software Review 105

Software Review Small Business Management Bankruptcy 105

Austin Startup

MAY 8, 2018

Background reading: Founder Compensation: Cash, Equity, Liquidity Fatal Errors in Early Startup Hiring Early Hires: Options or Stock Given how deeply involved we are with early-stage startups hiring their first key employees, I figured it would be helpful to outline a few key principles to help entrepreneurs navigate the topic.

Employee 48

Employee Seed Stage Startup Equity 48