View from Seed

JULY 8, 2020

Over the intervening years, we’ve heard continued and consistent feedback about the value of it for seed stage Founders in providing both strategic thought and tactical help in assembling their post-financing investor communications. Yet the landscape for the seed stage has evolved over that period.

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Email Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication 331

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APRIL 20, 2020

OUR BRAND PROMISE* : To avoid signaling issues, we intentionally will not lead the next round of financing for our accelerator participants. Moreover, we may not be able to find suitable financing for a participant’s next round, and participants should not expect NextView to step into that breach. Of course, we can’t guarantee success.

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B2B Seed Stage B2C Programming 436

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 13, 2018

Even though the traction milestone is the same, the history is not, and that context will meaningfully alter the ability to successfully raise a solid Series A financing. A company with $250K monthly recurring revenue which took 4 years and $5.5M And they’re looking for that success to happen measured in months and not years.

Seed Stage 136

Seed Stage Post-Money Valuation Valuation Startup 136

View from Seed

OCTOBER 28, 2019

But this financing contour description is just a proxy for underlying business metrics. In reality, a pre-seed is “an early round of financing that is designed to help a company achieve certain intermediate milestones PRIOR to the magic combination of strong PMF + meaningful traction.”.

Seed Stage 247

Seed Stage Finance Dilution Early Stage 247

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 16, 2021

OUR BRAND PROMISE* : To avoid signaling issues, we intentionally will not lead the next round of financing for our accelerator participants. Moreover, we may not be able to find suitable financing for a participant’s next round, and participants should not expect NextView to step into that breach.

Seed Stage 285

Seed Stage Programming Finance B2B 285

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2023

Think partners coming together to tap their own networks for your follow-on rounds of financing. The Clarity of the Terms : how will your company be financed? Every accelerator also finances its cohort companies differently. Complicated agreements with MFN clauses and confusing future financing obligations are opaque at best.

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Programming Sacramento San Francisco Founder 156

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

Finance is about reporting on historical performance and future planning through the lens of financial metrics.” Two Hires Startups Wait Too Long To Make “The first hire is a really good business generalist that is focused on analytics, finance, and ops. ” (Melody Koh). ” (Melody Koh). ” (Melody Koh).

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Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

View from Seed

JUNE 10, 2020

Our brand promise is that we will work with all accelerator companies to shape the underlying business, craft the fundraising pitch, and make introductions for new downstream investors until the company is subsequently financed. NextView Won’t Lead the Next Round in Accelerator Participants, But Will Always Follow-On in That Round.

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Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Alabama 177

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

To provide relevant perspective, listing past convertible note(s) and/or equity financing(s) including total round size and valuation (caps) is helpful. There are two other sets of information which should be included on the ask slide. First, it’s helpful to enumerate the startup’s funding history to date.

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Cap Table Seed Stage Valuation Dilution 211

View from Seed

MAY 21, 2020

The reality is that when fundraising for a successive financing round along the seed stage continuum , all startups are graded on a curve based on the amount of time and capital which has gone into the company. So given the reality of what’s happened in the past, what’s a founder to do? .

Seed Stage 274

Seed Stage Finance Lean Revenue 274

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Analytics vs. Finance?—?what’s Finance is about reporting on historical performance and future planning through the lens of financial metrics. This is a bit of an oversimplification as there are many sub-disciplines within finance?—?accounting/controller, what’s the difference (and what do you need)?

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Analytics Hiring SQL Forecast 149

View from Seed

DECEMBER 7, 2017

It includes, but isn’t limited to, what is traditionally referred to as personal finance. In its first two decades, the internet brought significant change to many aspects of personal finance — particularly retail banking, retail brokerage and asset management, payments, and consumer lending. Financing Life’s Big Tickets.

Finance 185

Finance Distribution Seed Stage Government 185

View from Seed

MAY 2, 2019

Because of this, some founders with a lot of prior success can raise a $5M+ series A as their first round of financing pre-traction. But prior to actual data, valuation ends up being driven entirely by demand, competition, and ownership targets.

Early Stage 214

Early Stage Dilution Valuation .Net 214

View from Seed

JANUARY 27, 2021

100M is a meaningful increase from our $50M third fund, though it’s still quite small in the grand scheme of venture, especially amid the recent wave of late stage financings and SPACs. This is a fresh $100M fund with the same high-conviction, hands-on seed strategy that we’ve been pursuing since the start of NextView over 10 years ago.

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LP Early Stage Seed Stage Venture Capital 411

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 23, 2021

What you sometimes lose is the strength of the syndicate to support the company in the future if intermediate financing is needed. The average investor is fairly harmless, and even if they aren’t as helpful as one would hope, they rarely create major headaches.

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Syndicate Syndication Term Sheet Cofounder 207

View from Seed

JUNE 21, 2019

So as a result, collectively we’ve been intimately involved with hundreds of startups and nearly a thousand financings (including follow-ons). On top of that, all four partners here spent meaningful time at other venture firms previously in our careers. Similar situations crop up again and again.

Seed Stage 149

Seed Stage Finance Portfolio Partner 149

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

Every fundraise process should start internally with the financing needs and goals that the business is looking to hit. Telling an investor how much money you are looking to raise seems like a simple and benign question, but it’s actually pretty complicated. A couple thoughts. First, fundraising is a means not an end.

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Valuation Founder Conversion Demand 418

View from Seed

JUNE 24, 2020

After operating quietly for the past year, our portfolio company Jumbo made a couple big announcements yesterday, including the launch of Jumbo 2 as well as their $8M series A financing led by Balderton Capital.

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Portfolio Internet Business Model Finance 227

View from Seed

DECEMBER 6, 2018

It seemed like every other TechCrunch post was announcing a startups’s new seed financing round. One aspect is demand-side: when the number of seed financings peaked in 2014–2015 timeframe , a new seed round stopped becoming “news,” and so it became less interesting for the press to actually report on these events. What’s going on?

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Seed Stage Stealth Seed Capital Later Stage 201

View from Seed

AUGUST 13, 2014

Pros of taking their angel money include the feeder system to venture financing of the next round and the vast network of portfolio CEOs which can be tapped into for connections and help. Cons: Potentially not much value-add beyond initial financing round. The Friends & Family Angel. The Grouped Angels.

Angel Investor 334

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 334

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 26, 2019

Unlike many other aspects of personal finance, student loan is incredibly complex. When we think about money in the context of everyday living for the next generation of consumers, it’s impossible to ignore the weight of the student loan burden. .

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Portfolio Cofounder Government Finance 295

View from Seed

DECEMBER 4, 2019

Over the last 10 years, we’ve been in a bull market with considerable froth in late stage financing activity and valuations. This isn’t a super scientific analysis, but it does seem to be consistent with what you would expect anecdotally. This would suggest that TVPI would be performing well.

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LP IRR Distribution Portfolio 256

View from Seed

AUGUST 16, 2019

One of the most relevant scenarios that this fear vs. greed lens applies towards is insider-led financings. That story is built brick by brick through subtle cues of amounts of insider participation, who issues a term sheet, structure of the financing, etc.

Term Sheet 149

Term Sheet Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 149

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

What he’s trying to learn: To paraphrase Randy Komisar: It’s the romance, not the finance, that makes entrepreneurship and startups worthwhile. One person told me about how badly her single mother managed finances and she was determined to build self-sufficiency.

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Founder Seed Stage Cofounder Boston 120

View from Seed

MARCH 1, 2016

Each financing you raise is to get to the next milestone, so when pitching your startup, some portion of your pitch should include a called shot. “We This data and execution framing technique isn’t limited to financings. That’s how emotionally impactful the “Called Shot is — it burns a memory like little else. then go do X.

Founder 120

Founder Technical Review Cofounder Non-Compete 120

View from Seed

MAY 3, 2022

I’ve had the privilege of joining Flyp’s Founders, James Kawas and Dani Arnaout , on their journey; my tenure on the company’s board started a year ago in leading their seed round of financing and will continue going forward.

Syndicate 156

Syndicate Syndication IPO Matching 156

View from Seed

JUNE 11, 2015

And specifically when completing a seed round of financing, what are the implications? At NextView, some of the companies we invest in at the seed stage already have a meaningful public presence, while others choose to remain in stealth mode. So what are the pros and cons of either approach?

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Stealth Seed Stage Startup Software Review 120

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

Carefull is looking to address the myriad of personal finance needs encountered by seniors and their family caregivers. Thus far, we have made investments in senior healthcare ( Devoted Health ), commerce for senior caregivers ( Carewell ), and senior fitness ( Mighty Health ).

Cofounder 156

Cofounder Portfolio Business Model Finance 156

View from Seed

APRIL 21, 2015

Our class was at least a third finance and a third consultants. An area that would be more helpful and I think could be improved is [offering] more practical, real business experience in the student population.

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Founder Las Vegas Entrepreneur Cofounder 120

View from Seed

MAY 11, 2016

The reasons are fairly obvious: It’s easy to reference them and understand their track record; they’ve made a ton of mistakes already that they have hopefully learned from and are unlikely to make again; they are probably more adept at raising and managing capital, which reduces financing risk down the road, etc.

Founder 159

Founder Cofounder CTO Hire Early Stage 159

View from Seed

MARCH 15, 2017

Financial Metrics & Financing: Perhaps the most variably sized section of the NextView investment memo. Of course, there is always info to add about the current financing that we are leading or participating in.

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Due Diligence Seed Stage Portfolio Metrics 265

View from Seed

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Examples of housekeeping include the following list, though not every item will appear every time: Finance: Cash out date, burn rate, 409A valuation, cap table, common/preferred stock dashboard. Finance is mission critical, for instance – it just appears on a recurring basis. Note that “housekeeping” doesn’t mean “not important.”

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Seed Stage Cap Table Metrics Burn Rate 331

View from Seed

JUNE 7, 2016

Just to discuss a few benefits more in-depth… First and foremost, getting into a regular cadence readies the company to think and operate more professionally for later rounds of financing. At NextView, one founder we invested in last year proactively asked us, as her lone institutional investor, to start doing this.

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Seed Stage Founder Seed Capital Institutional Investors 120

View from Seed

JANUARY 30, 2020

Did you ever face serious financing risk? How did this differ in a weak vs. strong financing round? Are you aware of any internal rules that govern how the firm approaches follow-on financing? Are you aware of any internal rules that govern how the firm approaches follow-on financing? Does he/she know this?

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Due Diligence Partner Term Sheet Finance 195

View from Seed

AUGUST 10, 2021

But some of the most impactful companies in finance, work, transportation, and other major categories of everyday life are B2B businesses that are shaping these sectors both directly and indirectly. Hologram is also an example of a B2B platform company, of which we’ve invested in many over the years here at NextView.

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Chicago Cofounder Miami B2B 177

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

There are a broad set of considerations to take into account including check size, involvement post-financing, geography, sector focus, follow-on capital, prestige, fund structure, and of course interpersonal dynamics… all of these I discussed previously in an older post.

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Syndicate Syndication Lead Investor Venture Capital 257

View from Seed

DECEMBER 10, 2015

I look at what we are doing with Fig as a new way of game financing. I think it will become the de facto way that games can finance the future. Something similar happened with the emergence of film financing about 40 years ago. Is the financing of these projects really the same?

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Startup Campaign Equity Finance 120