Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

Are you raising an appropriate amount of capital relative to your progress, relative to your team size and relative to your needs? VCs want you to raise the “appropriate” amount of capital, which I would define as what is reasonable given your progress to date, your resources and your needs for an 18–24 month period.

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Dilution 247

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2019

He’ll be speaking at this year’s Lean Startup Conference , and also has a new book (for which I very happily wrote a short foreword) coming out next month: Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It. What is venture capital, really? And what does a venture capital firm do?

Lean 108

Lean Venture Capital Conversion IPO 108

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

I’ve seen the Valley grow from Sunnyvale to Santa Clara to today where it stretches from San Jose to South of Market in San Francisco. But in the 20 th century, dominated by hardware, software, and life sciences, technology swings inside an existing market happened slowly — taking years, not months. or Euro-centric phenomenon.

Restful 222

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 222

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

Well, they did ask David Chao of Doll Capital, who said that the " frothy bubble is over ". David's firm most recently participated in the $77 million second round financing of SoFi, a one year old startup focusing on student loans. The last closed market we had was from about September 2008 until June 2009--10 months.

Venture Capital 114

Venture Capital Marketing Term Sheet Software Review 114

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

Yesterday I wrote Part 1 of the series on the changes to the software industry over the past decade that has led to changes in the venture capital industry itself. Some have done earlier-stage deals and done well. Others have chased earlier-stage but lack the skills or relationships to do this effectively.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Software LP Early Stage 296

David Teten

MARCH 18, 2021

of venture capital deals. Those companies have garnered only about 2% of all capital invested. Chris Janz from Point Nine Capital wrote on Twitter: . VCs investing abroad or in binational companies, typically with technology based in a 2nd or 3rd tier market, and sales/marketing in a 1st tier market.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital Deal Flow 78

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2013

This post is about the rise of Chinese venture capital and how it helped build the countries entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Rise of Chinese Venture Capital. The second wave of technology investors were Chinese banks, who provided the majority of the later stage investments in the Torch Program. Like the U.S.

Venture Capital 163

Venture Capital China Offshore SBIR 163

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Prorata rights are one of the most important rights of a private market technology investors and yet are seldom fully understood. They often create the biggest tensions between investors who are investing at different stages in the business. I have seen bad behavior from later-stage VCs, believe me.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

Genuine VC

MAY 20, 2013

Compared to most other areas of finance, venture capital is practiced as more of an art, as opposed to a science. The art of venture capital also means that for entrepreneurs raising it, there isn’t one definitive playbook which can be used as a guide. MYTH: The venture capital model is broken.

Venture Capital 244

Venture Capital Cap Table Portfolio Early Stage 244

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Uber , Zenefits , Tanium , Lending Club CEOs of companies with billion dollar market caps have been in the news – and not in a good way. This era was a “buyer’s market” – there were more good companies looking to get funded than there were VCs. And while new markets were created (i.e. Board Control.

Founder 245

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245

VC Cafe

APRIL 29, 2020

According to the Covid-19 impact report by research firm Beauhurst: 5,070 UK companies are at a ‘severe’ or ‘critical’ risk 615K startup and scaleup jobs are at risk Later stage startups are at the most risk Across the board, tech sectors and verticals are the most likely to experience a positive or low impact.

SBA 124

SBA Technical Review Startup 124

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

V: Should you raise venture capital from a traditional equity VC or a Revenue-Based Investing VC? VI: Revenue-based financing: The next step for private equity and early-stage investment. This is a summary of: Revenue-Based financing: State of the Industry 2020. —– Indie.vc We plan to raise $2.5m

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. . In liquid markets, most of the calories expended on technology and analytics are focused on trade selection, or “ origination ”. 2) Market .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

thebarefootvc

JANUARY 27, 2014

I think that later stage valuations are frothy (for reasons I explain below) while earlier stage valuations are starting to stabilize from previous highs (with the exception of the superstar serial entrepreneur) - turns out scaling in a sea of competition (both startup and entrenched) is not so easy. Which leads to….

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Valuation Venture Capital Investment Bankers 63

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2015

If you didn’t notice that the stock markets in the US dropped nearly 4% today (after falling last Thursday and Friday) then you were probably completely off-the-grid and on vacation. And by this I assume he meant that “market prognosticator twitter” was vomitous. It was a nerve racking morning. Neither do I.

Stock 150

Stock Finance Marketing Valuation 150

VC Cafe

JANUARY 24, 2012

Reports on the drop of local VC financing in Israel don’t tell the whole story. Pure technology companies focus on IP, and need to compete with emerging markets, offering cheaper labor and potentially better economies of scale. Mid and later stage companies attracted $1.48 billion raised in 2009.

Technical Review 111

Technical Review IPO Seed Stage 111

Ben's Blog

MAY 24, 2021

House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets (Committee on Financial Services) hearing on “Going Public: SPACs, Direct Listings, Public Offerings, and the Need for Investor Protections” May 2021. IPO market.

SEC 36

SEC Accredited Investor IPO Technical Review 36

VC Cafe

JANUARY 2, 2023

On a global level, venture financing of private companies dropped 33% year over year, from a record $733B in 2021 to $490B in 2022. 2022 in Israeli tech and venture. Israeli public tech companies saw market cap decline of 65% in 2022. As a result, I expect to see slower pace of investing across stages.

Valuation 158

Valuation Down Round Venture Capital 158

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

Shots on Goal Being great as a startup technology investor of course requires a lot of things to come together: You need to have strong insights into where technology markets are heading and where value in the future will be created and sustained You need be perfect with your market timing. I’ve definitely been wrong on market value.

Bankruptcy 294

Bankruptcy Bridge Financing Portfolio Angel Investor 294

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. What stage? Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? Your skills are much appreciated later in our business. What kind of deals should I be doing? What price?

Early Stage 361

Early Stage Deal Flow Investment Bankers Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. What stage? Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? It makes it extraordinarily hard to raise the next round of capital. What kind of deals should I be doing?

Deal Flow 347

Deal Flow Early Stage Investment Bankers Technical Review 347

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 2, 2016

Each quarter Cooley does a VC market update. This quarter they interviewed me as part of it on Quarterly VC Update: Brad Feld on the State of Venture Capital Investing. Based on Cooley data for the quarter, how does your experience in the market compare? This is mostly impacting the later stages.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital Private Equity Early Stage Valuation 70

VC Adventure

AUGUST 15, 2018

Back in the olden days of venture capital, company boards had wide discretion in pricing company options. However the board could determine what that fair market value was and, generally speaking, there wasn’t a practical way that these valuations could be challenged. Quick note: I’m not your lawyer. I was wrong.

Valuation 48

Valuation Common Stock Cap Table Software Review 48

Up and Running

DECEMBER 9, 2014

They cover funding for small businesses from the initial funding stage to later stages of growth, and other areas in between. Bates: Good morning and welcome to our CEO panel, “How to Fine-Tune Your Small Business Finances From Funding to Growth” which I think is the direction that we would all like to be going.

Small Business 95

Small Business Finance Forecast Metrics 95

VC Cafe

JANUARY 24, 2012

Reports on the drop of local VC financing in Israel don’t tell the whole story. Pure technology companies focus on IP, and need to compete with emerging markets, offering cheaper labor and potentially better economies of scale. Mid and later stage companies attracted $1.48 billion raised in 2009.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review IPO Seed Stage 60

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 30, 2016

In our last fund raising exercise we were fortunate enough to be significantly over subscribed and we still invited every LP we had met along the way to come and debate with us what the future of venture capital looked like nationally and in LA. Building Our Internal Teamwork.

Community 150

Community Los Angeles LP Portfolio 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

” There are a lot of data points that one can observer to get a sense of the venture capital markets – both LP fundings into venture and VC financings of startups. Of course sentiment can swing wildly with new information but I set out to take the pulse of the market as we enter 2016.

LP 150

LP Valuation Burn Rate Pre-Money Valuation 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2017

One of the hardest decisions entrepreneurs make when they start a company and raise outside capital is figuring out what an acceptable “burn rate” is. That is, how much should your company be willing to lose in cash every month as you make investments in staff and equipment that funds technology, sales, marketing and management.

Burn Rate 212

Burn Rate Startup .Net Venture Capital 212

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Professional expert networks allow you to efficiently convert your financial capital into relationship capital. Like many established finance & media companies, GLG knows that the tech startup sector is a growing part of the economy. We’re not mainly for B2B companies or later stage companies or anything like that.

New York 114

New York Technical Review Networking Advisory Board 114

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

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. I can’t control the market. Private markets for stocks are the opposite.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

David Teten

JANUARY 13, 2015

And the “Uber of Greece” is in Greece – not exactly the next big market. The best way you can help them is build a big business with their backing, and that requires you to appear self-made. [I should mention that disclosure of participation in the Venture Capital Access Program is optional.]. Think bigger!

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Advisory Board Greece Cofounder 60

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

A re-jiggering of deal stages and sizes had begun in 2013. 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”. I still wanted K9 to be the first institutional money in a company and work with “frighteningly early-stage” companies.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

The Equity Kicker

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

There’s been a lot of talk recently about what will happen to startup financing in 2016, including here on this blog. Mark also notes that startup valuations went up 3x from 2006-2015, and simple supply and demand logic suggests the non-VC cash in the market was important in driving prices up.

Marketing 60

Marketing Institutional Investors Venture Capital Later Stage 60

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2010

Certain VC’s like the new class of Super-Angels and small VC funds specialize in the early stage of a startup where you are searching for a business model. And some larger funds that specialize in later stage deals may have a partner or two who likes to invest at this stage. Is it for your technology? (In

Founder 231

Founder Vesting Later Stage Early Stage 231

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2012

Generally, the same criteria applies to venture capital investors, although they invest other people’s money, at a later stage, in larger amounts. Angel groups almost never supply financing for real estate purchases, or personal loans. This is definitely the space for bootstrapping and personal networking.

Angel Groups 237

Angel Groups Angel Investor Early Stage Startup 237