Growthink Blog

DECEMBER 27, 2017

Detail all revenue streams. Be sure to include all revenue streams. Depending on the type of business, these may include sales of products/services, referral revenues, advertising sales, licensing/royalty fees, and/or data sales. Provide a clear exit strategy. The most common exits are IPOs or acquisitions.

Venture Capital 129

Venture Capital Business Plan Technical Review Private Placement 129

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 10, 2018

You’ll find exceptions to this rule, like Snapchat, which was operating at a loss at its IPO, when it experienced high initial trading prices due to its huge popularity and untapped monetization capabilities. This the first and foremost way to begin evaluating the sellability of your company. Profile Your Customer Base.

Valuation 145

Valuation Technical Review Exit Strategy Metrics 145

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2011

It has been at least a decade since going public via an Initial Public Offering (IPO) has been considered a credible exit strategy for startups. Usually a small company can sell about 20 percent of its stock in an IPO. In 1999, there were 486 IPOs nationwide; just 10 years later, in 2009, there were only 63.

IPO 223

IPO Social Media Media Exit Strategy 223

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Five Quarters of Profitability During the 1980’s and through the mid 1990’s startups going public had to do something that most companies today never heard of – they had to show a track record of increasing revenue and consistent profitability. There was now a public market for companies with no revenue, no profit and big claims.

Silicon Valley 217

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2023

Yet one of the first things a potential equity investor asks about is your exit strategy. Here are three important reasons for the question: Good investment paybacks normally require an exit event. IPO – public company initial public stock offering. This alternative is often paired with a personal no-exit strategy.

Exit Strategy 264

Exit Strategy Private Equity Equity Technical Review 264

YoungUpstarts

MAY 6, 2019

How much revenue are you generating on an annual basis? Is there an exit strategy? These partnerships need to bring in more revenue. There are two ways to exit a company. There is a complete process to go for an IPO. After an IPO, you can retire and get a new management to work for the company.

Startup 113

Startup Technical Cofounder Merger Early Stage 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2020

Yet one of the first things a potential equity investor asks about is your exit strategy. Here are three important reasons for the question: Good investment paybacks normally require an exit event. IPO – public company initial public stock offering. This alternative is often paired with a personal no-exit strategy.

Exit Strategy 376

Exit Strategy Startup Private Equity Equity 376

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2011

Assuming your startup takes off, you will probably find that the fun is gone by the time you reach 50 employees, or a few million in revenue. So here are the most common exit strategies and considerations these days for planning purposes: Merger & Acquisition (M&A). Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Exit Strategy 231

Exit Strategy Initial Public Offering Startup IPO 231

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2012

In this section, you need to be passionate about recurring revenue, profit margin, and volume growth. Implicit in this is the go-to-market strategy. Project both revenues and expense totals for next five years, and past three years. Exit strategy. What is the timeframe for the exit? Business model.

Elevator Pitch 247

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 247

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2014

Aggressive revenue projections and growth rate. Revenue in the fifth year should be at least $20 million, with a growth rate average of 100% per year. In other words, revenue projections are not the place to be too conservative or wildly optimistic. That’s why investors want to hear about your exit strategy.

Liquidity Event 249

Liquidity Event Equity Venture Capital Merger 249

BeyondVC

JULY 31, 2008

Anyway, here are the questions and my response: Even though there is uncertainty in the credit markets, a stalled IPO market, and few billion-dollar plus M&A transactions, the investment activity level and appetite for quality businesses in the middle-market continues to be vibrant. How is the environment changing for deal exits (e.g.,

Jordan 60

Jordan Exit Strategy IPO Semantic 60

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2018

Potential investors love to see gross margins in the fifty percent range or greater, with recurring revenue through subscriptions, follow-on sales, or services. Five-year financial projections of revenue and expenses. Discussion of likely liquidity events and exit strategy.

Product 145

Product Intellectual Property Liquidity Event Exit Strategy 145

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. In this section, you need to be passionate about revenue, profit, and volume growth. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. Exit strategy.

Business Plan 283

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 283

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2011

In this section, you need to be passionate about recurring revenue, profit margin, and volume growth. Implicit in this is the go-to-market strategy. Project both revenues and expense totals for next five years, and past three years. Exit strategy. What is the timeframe for the exit? Business model.

Elevator Pitch 234

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 234

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2013

Aggressive revenue projections and growth rate. Revenue in the fifth year should be at least $20 million, with a growth rate average of 100% per year. In other words, revenue projections are not the place to be too conservative or wildly optimistic. That’s why investors want to hear about your exit strategy.

Liquidity Event 243

Liquidity Event Startup Equity Venture Capital 243

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. In this section, you need to be passionate about revenue, profit, and volume growth. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. Exit strategy.

Business Plan 290

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 290

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

In this section, you need to be passionate about recurring revenue, profit margin, and volume growth. Implicit in this is the go-to-market strategy. Project both revenues and expense totals for next five years, and past three years. Exit strategy. What is the timeframe for the exit? Business model.

Elevator Pitch 235

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 235

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

All startups, including non-profits, need revenue to thrive, such as such as from subscriptions, retail, online, licensing, or services. They want to see revenue to share in the return. Here I recommend a 5-year projection of revenues, expenses, and funding requirements. Outline a viable exit strategy for you and investors.

Business Plan 423

Business Plan Product Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch 423

The Next Web

FEBRUARY 19, 2014

It was the biggest IPO the Australian market had seen all year , and sparked a flurry of subsequent listings – but ‘going public’ was not the only option we considered, and until we had progressed our exit strategy to near completion, it also seemed the most unlikely. Engage good IPO advisers. Pay attention to NDAs.

Prospectus 121

Prospectus IPO Exit Strategy Private Equity 121

Gust

AUGUST 10, 2014

Aggressive revenue projections and growth rate. Revenue in the fifth year should be at least $20 million, with a growth rate average of 100% per year. In other words, revenue projections are not the place to be too conservative or wildly optimistic. Thats why investors want to hear about your exit strategy.

Liquidity Event 176

Liquidity Event Equity Venture Capital Merger 176

Gust

AUGUST 19, 2012

In this section, you need to be passionate about recurring revenue, profit margin, and volume growth. Implicit in this is the go-to-market strategy. Project both revenues and expense totals for next five years, and past three years. Exit strategy. What is the timeframe for the exit? Business model.

Elevator Pitch 146

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 146

Gust

AUGUST 5, 2012

Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. In this section, you need to be passionate about revenue, profit, and volume growth. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. Exit strategy.

Business Plan 182

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 182

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. In this section, you need to be passionate about revenue, profit, and volume growth. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it requires at least 100M users and $50M investment. Exit strategy.

Business Plan 186

Business Plan Exit Strategy Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 186

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

Yet one of the first things a potential equity investor asks about is your exit strategy. Here are three important reasons for the question: Good investment paybacks normally require an exit event. IPO – public company initial public stock offering. This alternative is often paired with a personal no-exit strategy.

Exit Strategy 289

Exit Strategy Entrepreneur IPO Startup 289

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

What are your forecasts for revenue, expenses and cash flow? Technically, this is your exit strategy, usually a merger and acquisition (M&A) or initial public stock offering (IPO). Since investors are buying a part of your company (not your product), this is the most important question, and is one often not answered.

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Advisory Board Liquidity Event Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2016

Yet one of the first things a potential equity investor asks about is your exit strategy. Here are three important reasons for the question: Good investment paybacks normally require an exit event. IPO – public company initial public stock offering. This alternative is often paired with a personal no-exit strategy.

Equity 120

Equity Exit Strategy Private Equity Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2013

This requires a visible focus on the company’s revenue model, the costs to get there, and cash on hand. Exit strategy. What’s most realistic these days is an exit via sale to an existing major company for which you solve a meaningful problem. That means merger and acquisition (M&A), not initial public offering (IPO).

Cram Down 269

Cram Down Angel Investor Intellectual Property Venture Capital 269

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2020

In that context, I offer the following financial projection strategies, from my own experience: Forecast a business that has plenty of room to grow quickly. Find some credible opportunity statistics that can support your own revenue expectations of between $20 million and $100 million in the fifth year.

Liquidity Event 308

Liquidity Event Forecast Exit Strategy Bootstrapping 308

Up and Running

APRIL 28, 2015

Slide 5: Revenue model. Exit strategy. You do this in the form of an “exit strategy” slide that outlines who your potential acquirers might be if you manage to grow your company and be successful. Try and keep your pitch deck focused with this format and you’ll tell a better story.

Forecast 60

Forecast Hockey Stick Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 60

Up and Running

MAY 1, 2014

A typical P&L will be a spreadsheet that includes the following: Sales (or Income or Revenue). This number will come from your sales forecast worksheet and includes all revenue generated by the business. Exit Strategy. Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). If you have investors, they will want to know your thoughts on this.

Business Plan 163

Business Plan Forecast Balance Sheet Distribution 163

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Although Intermix was doing well during that period, bringing in around $75 million annual revenue, all of the explosive traffic growth was occurring at one property, MySpace – the jewel for which FIM ended up acquiring the whole Intermix crown.

Valuation 98

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

BeyondVC

DECEMBER 23, 2003

As with any smart executive who cares about the value of equity, the question I am often asked is, “What is your exit strategy.” In other words, these good exits usually happen when your company is approached by a potential buyer-i.e., What does this all mean? Remember, companies are bought and not sold.

Exit Strategy 68

Exit Strategy Balance Sheet IPO Valuation 68

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

In an IPO, it might not merely addexpense, but change the outcome. Those remedial actions can delay, stall or even kill the IPO. Of course the odds of any given startup doing an IPO are small.But not as small as they might seem. There never has to be atime when you have no revenues. This is not as selfish as it sounds.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

discuss.joelonsoftware.com

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

Im confident that this business will be able to compensate these two additional principles along the way, after initial risk of investing their time, and will later reward their vesting with an exit strategy. This isnt really a start-up team-- Ive been doing the business for 14 years. . *

Sweat Equity 40

Sweat Equity Equity Angel Investor Affiliate 40