K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

Low supply of companies with traction drove the valuations and deal sizes up. The risk here is what I refer to as the curse of over-capitalization. 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”. Valuations are rising to match.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

Gust

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

To begin with, it is important to understand some basic facts about the world of entrepreneurial finance: There are many more entrepreneurs than there are investors, with the result that only one company out of every 400 that seeks venture funding actually receives it. One of the primary ones is the referral source.

Angel Groups 159

Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

Steve Blank

JULY 15, 2010

If you take funding from a venture capital firm or angel investor and want to build a large, enduring company (rather than sell it to the highest bidder), this isn’t the decade to do it. The collapse of the IPO market and dysfunctional math in the venture capital community has stacked the odds against you. Here’s why.

Venture Capital 297

Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 297

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

Get instrument rated, and trust the 6Cs of Cloud Finance (more.) Cloud accounting is all about matching revenue and costs to consumption…well, except for professional services! In regards to calculatimg the "Magic Number" - should the amount included as sales and marketing costs match the length of the sales cycle?

Software Review 48

Software Review Cloud Technical Review Sales Cycle 48

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

The subject of raising money is critical to many businesses and a passing option to others, depending upon the capital efficiency of the enterprise. And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup. For you who fit that description, nice work.

Private Equity 106

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 106

genylabs.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Even the best venture capital firms have a lot of failures and few successes. I wont bother going into details on start-up financing terms ( see this post for an overview of typical VC terms) except to say if you dont know and understand: the firms cap table and valuation. venture capital. Please try again.

Equity 40

Equity Technical Review San Jose Stock 40

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. implying that an awful lot of non-VC money flowed into the ecosystem (the column headings in the charts are a little ambiguous, but the explanation I’ve given matches what Mark wrote here ).

Marketing 60

Marketing Institutional Investors Venture Capital Later Stage 60

The Equity Kicker

JULY 8, 2019

When I started in venture capital in the late 1990s VCs were regularly lambasted for taking long summer holidays and spending too much time on the golf course. This is what brings us to the second big difference: the cost of Applied Venture is too large to finance from a standard VC management fee. .

Portfolio 84

Portfolio LP Venture Capital Partner 84

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

One of the big debates in the venture capital industry lately has been the growing argument between so-called "super angels" and traditional VCs - the former being prone to mention how they feel the latter "sucks." Funding through milestones such as these will allow you to raise subsequent rounds of capital at higher prices," he says.

Startup 118

Startup Early Stage Venture Capital Valuation 118

Babbling VC

APRIL 3, 2011

It's kind of funny that the majority of people coming to me are obviously looking to raise venture capital and don't have this discussion with me. I have no idea whether any other VC would so openly say this but if you can avoid taking venture capital, do so at all costs. Venture capital screws everything up.

Venture Capital 81

Venture Capital Bootstrapping Global Valuation 81

Cracking the Code

DECEMBER 2, 2006

The time they spend with customers is usually limited to transactional core products sales, generating lower margins – The resource allocation is not always matching the opportunity (geography, customer segment, vertical.) – The rules of engagement for technical resources (solution or product specialists) are not clear.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Europe Software 48

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 19, 2011

I’ve never heard of an entrepreneur who had a successful exit who laments the price that they raised their first round valuation at. You can shoot yourself in the face in all sorts of ways by not matching your cash needs and milestones to how much money you raise—way more than using the “wrong” security.

Paraguay 110

Paraguay Dilution Valuation Seed Stage 110

Berkonomics

JANUARY 20, 2010

This post will be perhaps a bit longer than usual, but certainly of great interest for those with interest in or have need for more capital… This stage is critical to many businesses and a passing option to others, depending upon the capital efficiency of the enterprise. For you who fit that description, nice work.

Private Equity 69

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 69

Ben's Blog

MARCH 24, 2011

Since so many distinguished people report a broad variety of qualitative bubble signs, let’s attempt to pattern match the quantitative data. As we do so, keep in mind that the relevant bubble statistic is not valuation. High valuations are fine if the underlying value is there. Venture capital flows.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Database 78

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

They either do too many seed investments (for which they can spend no quality time with any) or they treat it as an option (“if you succeed come back and see us and we’ll match any term sheet you get&# ) – they view it as a sort of “right of first refusal.&#. The signaling affect is overrated.

Post-Money Valuation 298

Post-Money Valuation Term Sheet Warrant Partner 298

Steve Blank

APRIL 1, 2020

If you were expecting angel or venture funding get on the phone to your investor(s). Others are cutting their valuations. The CFO should be on the phone to sources of additional capital. As part of these operating changes, make sure your heads of HR and finance recognize that they have entirely new jobs.

South Korea 333

South Korea Salary Business Model China 333

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. We also talk about cash flow management rather than fund-raising though – watch and justifying expenses by cash coming in that matches or exceeds.

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

dondodge.typepad.com

JANUARY 15, 2011

The entrepreneur expects the company to be worth many times this valuation and so does the investor. The key is to have several VCs or investors competing for the deal to arrive at a "fair" valuation. So they will give you a pre-money valuation somewhere around the amount you raise. That is how much you should raise.

Equity 40

Equity Employee Dilution Valuation 40

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

Friendster’s valuation set the tone for the entire social networking space. You may happen to emphasize the right points that pique an investor’s interest, but you shouldn’t leave your financing up to chance. Second, understand the broader financing climate. The professional domain will be one massively valuable network.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

Btw, the definition of each startup financing stage has changed in the last decade. At the end of this post, we’ll discuss the valuation at each step (how much the investors value your company and therefore how much of it you need to give up to get this money) and how much revenue you should generate at each step.). Valuations.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

www.currentlyobsessed.com

MAY 28, 2010

Snapvine was my first experience being in the driver’s seat of the fund-raising process, and in the 3 years prior to our acquisition we raised over $10mm in venture capital. Valuation is an important aspect of VC deal terms, and a major determinant of your ultimate outcome. Or is it?

Valuation 42

Valuation Channel Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 42

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

Last to weigh in was Brad Feld whose blog post argues that the only 2 terms that should be negotiated are amount raised & valuation. 2006 was the last time I went out to raise venture capital. 2006 was the last time I went out to raise venture capital. I had multiple term sheets to do my Series A financing.

Founder Vesting 252

Founder Vesting Vesting Founder Term Sheet 252

Austin Startup

MAY 19, 2018

The number of those VCs who didn’t know our stage or who had some other part of their thesis that we didn’t match was also staggering. It drives up valuations, creates interest in the category among other investors, and in a new space a well funded competitor is usually out there educating audiences about the very problem the startup solves.

Founder 75

Founder Early Stage Software Review Deal Flow 75

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

Other Important Discussions in this Section you Shouldn’t Miss: I talk about how your own personal brand can actually hinder your funding process (be self aware of how others perceive you, seek out investors who match with your style). Naval says valuations are definitely going up, but isn’t completely sure why.

Valuation 292

Valuation Deal Flow Lead Investor Cofounder 292

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

In the late 90's, it wasn't surprising that companies with no revenue that were funded at 100 million dollar valuations didn't survive. That wasn't a bubble bursting issue--that was a poor financing strategy issue of people getting caught with their pants down, hands in the cookie jar, and all the metaphors you can think of at once.

Later Stage 99

Later Stage Down Round Pre-Money Valuation Early Stage 99

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

Some of the delay is just overhang of a bad market but we may be delaying true supply/demand matching through the well-intentioned government’s attempt to stem price declines. VC funding is definitely back from the constipation that was 2009 replete with frothy valuations chasing dreams of the next Facebook, Groupon or Zynga.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Technical Review Balance Sheet Government 298

www.businessinsider.com

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

This Chart Shows Why VCs Are Willing To Give Hyped Startups Absurd Valuations. Y Combinator founder Paul Graham, the influential advisor to dozens of startups like Dropbox and Airbnb , sent his entrepreneurs an email Wednesday afternoon cautioning them against taking "lowball offers"—in particular, he said, from Google Ventures.

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup Valuation Venture Capital 54

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

abovethecrowd.com

JUNE 2, 2021

Investment banks simply do not match supply and demand. Electronic order matching systems that match all supply and demand for securities to determine a fair market price have been used in our financial markets since the early 1980s (approaching 40 years). Party A is locked up at time T+1.

IPO 82

IPO Customer Matching Silicon Valley 82