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

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

Of course the VC is looking to have specificity in how you plan to spend the money you’re going to raise and plans that show a pie chart that says, “25% on marketing, 30% on technology and R&D, 20% on infrastructure, 25% on G&A” do not get funded. This part of a series to help you raise venture capital ?—?the

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Dilution 247

David Teten

MARCH 18, 2021

of venture capital deals. Those companies have garnered only about 2% of all capital invested. ” In venture capital, the industry- or sector-focused funds specifically disavow diversification: Andreessen Horowitz, which is a generalist as a whole, has launched dedicated funds across Crypto , Bio , and Fintech. .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital Deal Flow 78

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2013

The first post described how China built a science and technology infrastructure to support advanced weapons systems development. 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. Like the U.S.

Venture Capital 163

Venture Capital China Offshore SBIR 163

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Technology cycles have become a treadmill, and for startups to survive they need to be on a continuous innovation cycle. Technology Cycles Measured in Years. But in the 20th century, dominated by hardware and software, technology swings inside an existing market happened slowly — taking years, not months.

Founder 245

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245

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. If you don’t want to read that post, the summary is: Open source computing drove computing costs down 90%, which spurred innovation in technology.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Software LP Early Stage 296

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. We plan to raise $2.5m

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

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. Thus begins the dance.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

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. Technology ubiquity.

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Valuation Venture Capital Investment Bankers 63

VC Cafe

JANUARY 24, 2012

Reports on the drop of local VC financing in Israel don’t tell the whole story. Companies have shifted from producing pure technology to producing consumer products. Pure technology companies focus on IP, and need to compete with emerging markets, offering cheaper labor and potentially better economies of scale.

Technical Review 111

Technical Review IPO Seed Stage 111

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? When you are raising a large, later-stage round given by this time you’ve likely got a fairly large business to run. Your skills are much appreciated later in our business. What kind of deals should I be doing?

Early Stage 361

Early Stage Deal Flow Investment Bankers Technical Review 361

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. On Funding?—?Shots

Bankruptcy 294

Bankruptcy Bridge Financing Portfolio Angel Investor 294

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 other entrepreneur quoted in the story is from a guy pitching a Pinterest clone.

Venture Capital 114

Venture Capital Marketing Term Sheet Software Review 114

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? When you are raising a large, later-stage round given by this time you’ve likely got a fairly large business to run. Your skills are much appreciated later in our business. 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

This quarter they interviewed me as part of it on Quarterly VC Update: Brad Feld on the State of Venture Capital Investing. Since we are early stage investors, it simply doesn’t matter if we are a short term bull or bear. If so, how does that influence the venture market or your investment strategy?

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital Private Equity Early Stage Valuation 70

VC Cafe

JANUARY 24, 2012

Reports on the drop of local VC financing in Israel don’t tell the whole story. Companies have shifted from producing pure technology to producing consumer products. Pure technology companies focus on IP, and need to compete with emerging markets, offering cheaper labor and potentially better economies of scale.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review IPO Seed Stage 60

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

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 30, 2016

So we planned a Technology Summit. 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

Up and Running

JUNE 22, 2010

Audrey Watters posted “Is Venture Capital Broken?&# The title is direct reference to an essay, titled “Venture Capital is Broken&# , which angel investor Chris Sacca released as the “creed&# of his new investment firm, Lowercase Capital. this weekend on ReadWriteWeb’s startup channel.

Venture Capital 61

Venture Capital Merger Angel Investor Later Stage 61

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

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

Ben's Blog

MAY 24, 2021

billion multi-stage venture capital firm focused on IT-related investments… I also serve on various investment committees, including for the St. Jude Children’s Cancer Hospital and the Stanford Medical Center, and teach entrepreneurship and venture capital at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

SEC 36

SEC Accredited Investor IPO Technical Review 36

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

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. They point to some widely known facts: financings & valuations are up massively over the past 7 years and non-VC money has entered the system.

LP 150

LP Valuation Burn Rate Pre-Money Valuation 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

The earlier you invest the higher the chances the company won’t work out and thus you pay a lower price than later-stage investors. That’s the deal you get when you’re raising in a good market for startup financing. So how exactly are prices determined? There is no great science to it. That’s fine.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

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?

Founder 231

Founder Vesting Later Stage Early Stage 231

philipsmith.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

While there have been times in the last dozen or so years, usually during times of venture capital excess, that cash to founders, early-stage executives and other key employees has matched regular market compensation (still with the upside of the equity), this is not true in the vast majority in the start-up game. A must read!

Silicon Valley 40

Silicon Valley Equity Technical Review Recapitalization 40

K9 Ventures

OCTOBER 10, 2017

You see, Dan knows more about venture than most people; and if Dan isn’t aware that “pre-seed is a thing,” then I haven’t done a good enough job of explaining to the world what I and K9 do! Q: What amount of financing is considered Pre-Seed? Typically, Pre-Seed rounds are less than $1M in aggregate capital raised.

Seed Stage 82

Seed Stage Finance Later Stage Equity 82

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

Why the Unicorn Financing Market Just Became Dangerous…For All Involved. In February of last year, Fortune magazine writers Erin Griffith and Dan Primack declared 2015 “ The Age of the Unicorns ” noting — “Fortune counts more than 80 startups that have been valued at $1 billion or more by venture capitalists.”

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Tweet View Comments Sarah Lacy Feb 19, 2010 Pepperdine has a new study out that attempts to shed some light on the clubby, shadowy world of private finance. Researchers polled experts in lending, mezzanine capital, private equity, venture capital and private businesses themselves. A lot of the stats weren’t surprising.

Venture Capital 62

Venture Capital Technical Review Sweat Equity Valuation 62

Austin Startup

MARCH 7, 2021

Texas is the most promising technology market in the United States. The University of Texas System is the third most innovative university in the world , behind only the University of California system and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in intellectual property patents.

Texas 90

Texas San Antonio Houston Dallas 90

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2010

He says they are just as selective on seed investments as they are in later stage deals. And Mike believes that entrepreneurs often need less capital to get started these days. Venture Financings we Discussed. Formerly known as Fonelet Technologies. Tags: This Week in Venture Capital.

San Francisco 230

San Francisco Los Angeles Cofounder SMS 230

Up and Running

JANUARY 30, 2014

Accelerators focus on early-stage startups, while incubators are geared toward later-stage startups. An accelerator usually offers a small amount of capital, office space, and mentorship in exchange for a small amount of equity, usually less than 10 percent. Accelators.

Incubator 105

Incubator New York City Venture Capital Startup 105

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Healthcare remained the largest industry, collecting $483 million ( € 378 million), while the Consumer Services industry, driven by investment in Web companies, overtook Information Technology (IT) as the second-largest industry. For a detailed venture financing report on Europe, visit [link]. A detailed report of U.S.

China 74

China Europe North America India 74

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

There is much discussion online and also in small, private groups, about why the price of technology companies – public and private – are falling. Most venture capitalists who have been in this business for a long time foresaw this correction and have been talking about it privately for the better part of the last year or two.

Valuation 150

Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150

VC Cafe

APRIL 9, 2010

The combination of companies looking for capital and investors looking for liquidity put a strain on early stage start ups but seemed to have played favourably for growth equity investments and later stage companies. Aviv Venture Capital; Jerusalem Venture Partners Buyer Funds: Jerusalem Venture Partners V.

Venture Capital 68

Venture Capital LLC LP 68