View from Seed

MAY 21, 2020

In some respects, one of the often non-intuitive privileges of a seed stage fundraising process is that the company is so new. So a lot of Founders can weave a tale of the promise of what could be created rather than what has been created. 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

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

My internal compass has always steered me strongly toward the belief that founders who can scale with their startup companies are better to back that founders who eventually need to hire a CEO. Very few founder CEOs go into the job ever expecting to give up their seat. We set out to find Jonathan’s “co-founder.”

Technical Review 303

Technical Review Cofounder Analytics Founder 303

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2012

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. Seed-stage means promising companies that don’t yet have a revenue stream, and may not yet have a proof of concept. Series-seed round. Super Angels.

Early Stage 253

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 253

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

So super angel and seed funds are proliferating – As a result there has been an explosion in the number of amazing early-stage investors such as Softtech VC , Floodgate , Felicis Ventures , K9 Ventures , OATV , Lowercase Capital , Founder Collective , and many, many more. Price MUST be in a certain range.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

View from Seed

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Over the summer, based on feedback from our portfolio and the broader startup community, NextView created pre-formatted board deck templates for seed-stage startups — part of our Growth Guides series. As Rob Go wrote , board decks and board meetings can waste loads of time at the seed stage.

Seed Stage 331

Seed Stage Cap Table Metrics Burn Rate 331

Hunter Walker

JULY 22, 2014

Hey founders, want to hear something incredibly frustrating about seed financing? You know the one that inevitably has you at $100 million in revenue by Year Three? Just* committing to grow customers or revenue or usage can still create a hollow company. I don’t believe the forecast you show me.

Forecast 96

Forecast Early Stage Seed Stage Startup 96

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 13, 2018

Over the past five years, we’ve witnessed an Atomization of the Seed Stage. Early fundraising is no longer a one-and-done fundraise of a single round of Seed capital subsequently followed by a Series A 12–18 months later. A seed extension has ceased to be the equivalent of scarlet letter, and instead has become commonplace.

Seed Stage 136

Seed Stage Post-Money Valuation Valuation Startup 136

Gust

JULY 8, 2012

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. Seed-stage means promising companies that don’t yet have a revenue stream, and may not yet have a proof of concept. Series-seed round. Super Angels.

Early Stage 177

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 177

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Recently, we looked at our own portfolio at NextView Ventures to dig a little deeper on how startups actually raise that next round of financing. Of the NextView-backed founders have have tried to raise this round, over 70% have done so (compared to a mean success rate in the industry of around 27%, according to some sources ).

Syndicate 333

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Startup 333

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

Almost two years ago, in a private/closed meeting with K9 Ventures’ LPs only, I claimed that: What was being referred to in the press as the “Series A Crunch” was not because fewer Series A deals were being done, but because there were too many Seed deals being done. Seed stage was super tough. Seed is the New A.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

*This post is part of our “pitch deck” series where we dissect the seed stage pitch deck and discuss the ideal flow for a pitch. A few potential slides which can be included in the Appendix: Exit Analysis: Not always as important during the early startup stage since an exit event is presumably in the distance away.

Seed Stage 166

Seed Stage Retention Restful Valuation 166

K9 Ventures

JUNE 12, 2012

While it it may not feel that way, the data suggest that there is indeed too much capital in the system — especially so at the seed stage, with more and more individuals and larger funds trying to invest in companies at this stage.). This situation is not always in the best interest of founders.

Venture Capital 117

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Founder Seed Stage 117

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2011

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. Seed-stage means promising companies that don’t yet have a revenue stream, and may not yet have a proof of concept. Series-seed round. Super Angels.

Early Stage 231

Early Stage Seed Stage Angel Investor Silicon Valley 231

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

A founder asked me what makes a $2M round “pre-seed”? especially if the startup already has a product and revenue? And why do we still sometimes hear about pre-seed rounds that look more like a series A in pricing and size? So far there’s not much that has changed, so why should pre-seed look any different in 2024?

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

K9 Ventures

JUNE 12, 2012

While it it may not feel that way, the data suggest that there is indeed too much capital in the system — especially so at the seed stage, with more and more individuals and larger funds trying to invest in companies at this stage.). This situation is not always in the best interest of founders.

Venture Capital 105

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Founder Seed Stage 105

Gust

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

How to finance a new seed-stage startup? ” Ressi in particular seems to be passionate about removing the “debt” component from convertible debt seed financing transactions. .” A convertible note financing is not a loan in the conventional sense. Convertible debt?

Finance 134

Finance Convertible Security Equity Seed Stage 134

View from Seed

JANUARY 26, 2016

In the next post, I’ll talk about how we think about pre-seeds at NextView. It’s become increasingly common for startups to raise several seed rounds, and this has led to a bifurcation in the seed stage between what are known as “pre-seed” (or “genesis”) and institutional seed rounds.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Early Stage Cofounder Finance 120

K9 Ventures

OCTOBER 10, 2017

I’ll start with all the questions I can think of, from many different perspectives: founders, LPs, the press, and even other VCs. This post is intended to be a dynamic document, and I will attempt to update it from time to time with new questions that may arise or as financing trends evolve. Q: Is Pre-Seed a Thing?

Seed Stage 82

Seed Stage Finance Later Stage Equity 82

The Next Web

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

This is typically in conjunction with an upcoming financing or pending takeover offer. A competitive commodity business, or a “me too” story , will be less demanded, and hence, will require a lower valuation to close your financing. Freshman are a piece of paper to beta site (bootstrap financed—raise $50K to $500K).

Valuation 167

Valuation Forecast Seed Stage .Net 167

Diego Basch

MARCH 14, 2013

I like to be able to take public transportation and have meetings with founders, sometimes spontaneously. I may find myself having an IM conversation with a founder, and think it would be best to just grab coffee and scribble on a whiteboard. If your seed-stage company fits the criteria above, please contact me.

San Francisco 55

San Francisco Startup Silicon Valley Seed Stage 55

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 16, 2020

As a seed stage investor, I know the math. Some key existings who didn’t want to see their prior money get lost wouldn’t budge on a dilutive financing, despite the fact that they knew where we were headed. Half the companies I invest in won’t provide a financial return. The answer, unfortunately, was to declare bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy 95

Bankruptcy Private Equity Seed Stage Dilution 95

View from Seed

JUNE 30, 2015

A few weeks ago, Manu Kumar wrote an excellent post detailing the current state of the seed financing landscape. One very common meme these days is that “seed is the new A.” Institutional seed rounds are getting bigger. Some seed funds are investing later. Read it – it’s excellent.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication Dilution 120

K9 Ventures

APRIL 9, 2014

Instead, it was more of a result of over-funding at the seed stage. There was simply too much money coming in to the seed stage, which increased the supply of companies at the seed stage. Threshold for an IPO is higher Ten years ago, if you had $20M in revenue you were ready to go public.

Mezzanine 134

Mezzanine Seed Stage Early Stage IPO 134

Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

Much of the VC blogosphere commentary about startups covers venture and angel financing with advice focused on company founders. But most people in the startup game aren’t VCs nor are they founders (yet)… but rather they’re employees of startups. Push yourself hard to ask why not a founder now?

Startup 241

Startup Later Stage Angel Financing Seed Stage 241

Agile VC

JUNE 17, 2015

We were a profitable company at that point with nearly $200M annualized revenue, one of the first tech companies to IPO after the dot-com bubble. We’re hearing more about people new to startups asking their seed stage company how many months of severance is included in their package.

Startup 188

Startup Cofounder Seed Stage IPO 188

View from Seed

JUNE 16, 2015

And that product is a highly engaged seed-stage investment where we are usually the lead or co-lead in a round and will often take a board seat. I’d also question a founder who asks his or her investors to comment falsely on something — that puts the investor in an awkward spot. For SaaS: At least $100K in MRR.

Boston 120

Boston Syndicate Syndication eCommerce 120

Agile VC

JANUARY 12, 2012

When a startup doesn’t match the stage where a particular investor focuses, founders may get a response along the lines of “This is interesting to us, but come back once you get from X phase to Y phase” That could be from seed stage to a larger Series A financing need, or to progress from pre-product to post-revenue.

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndicate Syndication 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

A new group of investors have clustered around writing earlier-stage, smaller checks. And people like Jeff Clavier, Aydin Senkut, Dave McClure, Chris Sacca & Eric Paley (at Founder Collective) are leading the charge. Now we can call you a seed-stage VC or a micro VC. That’s awesome.

Liquidity Event 308

Liquidity Event Silicon Valley Seed Stage Finance 308

Hunter Walker

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

When Homebrew launched two years ago, Satya and I knew that smart hardware was going to be important to our Bottom Up Economy thesis but also that neither of us yet had meaningful experience working alongside the best hardware entrepreneurs at the seed stage where we invest. Then Make Investments. Write Lead Checks 2014-15.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Cofounder Incubator Leadership 48

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

For example, employees aren’t going to start the day after the financing closes — it often takes three months or more to recruit additional core team members and get them up and going. Also, it will take at least three months to raise the next round of financing, whatever it is (Series A, seed extension, etc.).

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Seed Stage Demand Finance 120

BeyondVC

FEBRUARY 12, 2014

We have over 20 years of experience backing bold founders with big visions. BOLDstart helps founders at the seed stage accelerate their growth from idea/ alpha phase to product market fit and successful Series A round. Here is our attempt and then I will break down how it all ties together: boldstart''s messaging.

Seed Stage 110

Seed Stage Agile Viral API 110

View from Seed

JUNE 17, 2015

We were a profitable company at that point with nearly $200M annualized revenue, one of the first tech companies to IPO after the dot-com bubble. We’re hearing more about people new to startups asking their seed stage company how many months of severance is included in their package.

Startup 120

Startup Cofounder Seed Stage IPO 120

Agile VC

JUNE 17, 2015

We were a profitable company at that point with nearly $200M annualized revenue, one of the first tech companies to IPO after the dot-com bubble. We’re hearing more about people new to startups asking their seed stage company how many months of severance is included in their package.

Startup 100

Startup Cofounder Seed Stage IPO 100

Austin Startup

MAY 19, 2018

As Bryan stated below, there are no shortage of “How to pitch” or “How to behave” articles by VCs but really very little advice for VCs by founders. Anyone notice there's a ton of VCs giving founder advice, and almost no founder advice for VCs? Lines Not Dots Raising money from a fund is a process, most founders get that.

Founder 75

Founder Early Stage Software Review Deal Flow 75

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Entrepreneurs and investors who have spent any time dealing with convertible debt seed financing transactions are likely to have encountered the subject of valuation caps. The cap is irrelevant if the next equity financing is at a valuation below the cap amount.) was spun out, and the valuation was set by that financing round.

Valuation 98

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

Bryce Dot VC

NOVEMBER 19, 2012

We’ve been deeply fortunate to have been able to catch the seed stage wave early and work with some of the most dynamic and thoughtful founders in our industry. As a seed investor, we’ve always leaned towards larger rounds in favor of giving our founders at least 18 mo of runway with no revenue.

Seed Stage 61

Seed Stage LP Incubator Venture Capital 61

Rob Go

JANUARY 7, 2013

As a founder, it feels like a long time, but it’s really a blip on the radar in the scheme of things. Actually, growth equity firms I find are best at this, because they have very specific financial criteria that they look for, such as ranges for revenue, ebitda, growth, etc. We focus on investing in seed stage companies.

Portfolio 49

Portfolio Seed Stage Cofounder B2B 49