Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

In this period (less than 2 years) he has brought on incredibly talented senior execs is sales, marketing, product management, client services, finance, vp engineering and more. By being so metrics driven we can have a lot more quantifiable and objective discussions at board meetings and at mid-point reviews. .

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

Very few startups are cash-rich enough to self-finance aggressive second-stage growth. They need a large infusion from venture capitalists, private equity, bank loans, or mezzanine financing. Switch your attention from product development to sales. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Mezzanine 141

Mezzanine Private Equity Startup Bandwidth 141

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

Most startups fail. Not because they have a conversion problem but because they never really nail the product or how to market it. The most common mistake startups make is assuming they can operate the same way big companies do, and expect success with little to no feedback from potential customers. image source.

Customer Development 126

Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 126

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Here’s the punchline: if you run your company as if you have closed a VC equity financing round even though you actually closed a convertible debt round, you’ll be in much better shape when it comes time to raise your Series A financing. One of them used to be a lead developer at [insert hot consumer tech company here].

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2021

As an agenda for each meeting, I suggest: – How can we most add value, in addition to helping with financing? Nick Kim , Crosscut’s Head of Platform, in his presentation at the 4th Annual VC Platform Summit, shared their Platform development methodology, which he viewed as an exercise in product development.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

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. Finance is mission critical, for instance – it just appears on a recurring basis. The seed stage is all about traction.

Seed Stage 331

Seed Stage Cap Table Metrics Burn Rate 331

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Validated learning about customers Would you rather have $30,000 or $1 million in revenues for your startup? In an early-stage startup especially, revenue is not an important goal in and of itself. Let’s start with a simple question: why do early-stage startups want revenue?

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

Very few startups are cash-rich enough to self-finance aggressive second-stage growth. They need a large infusion from venture capitalists, private equity, bank loans, or mezzanine financing. Switch your attention from product development to sales. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Mezzanine 120

Mezzanine Private Equity Startup Bandwidth 120

Genuine VC

MARCH 24, 2014

A couple years ago, my partner Lee penned a blog post about the milestone benchmarks for startups raising a Series A round of financing. There really isn’t a hard and fast prescription for start-ups to follow after they’ve raised their Seed round, so what’s a startup to do? Just plow ahead blindly and hope for the best?

Seed Capital 212

Seed Capital Metrics Cofounder Revenue 212

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2013

Very few startups are cash-rich enough to self-finance aggressive second-stage growth. They need a large infusion from venture capitalists, private equity, bank loans, or mezzanine financing. Switch your attention from product development to sales. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Mezzanine 240

Mezzanine Private Equity Bandwidth Metrics 240

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 29, 2020

In other words, you must start bootstrapping an online startup , because the future of the global business world is online. What is a startup? Before we look at ways to bootstrap a startup, let’s consider a comprehensive definition of what a startup is. Ways to bootstrap a startup.

Bootstrapping 85

Bootstrapping Global Startup Hungary 85

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

Launchpad LA today announces it will accept applications for its third class of Los Angeles-based tech startups. But the most important metric has been the deep and lasting relationships that have been built with startups and also between senior executives. For any company interested in applying please visit the website.

Los Angeles 287

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Incubator Startup 287

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 14, 2013

Guest post by Lisa Regan, writer for T he Lean Startup Conference. We’ve posted the full program for The Lean Startup Conference , and it includes more than three days of events for Gold pass holders and six days of events for VIP pass holders. On the evening of December 8, Ignite Lean Startup kicks off the conference.

Continuous Deployment 162

Continuous Deployment Norway Lean Analytics 162

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 20, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 20, 2008 The engineering managers lament I was inspired to write The product managers lament while meeting with a startup struggling to figure out what had gone wrong with their product development process. After all, our startup is on a fixed budget.

Software Review 164

Software Review Engineer Management Technical Review 164

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 6, 2011

The Lean Startup Book is done. If you've been waiting for a comprehensive account of the Lean Startup and how it can help you achieve dramatically better business results, this is it. Some are from obscure startups who you haven't heard of -- yet. Here's the description you'll find on the book jacket itself: Most startups fail.

Lean 167

Lean Startup Metrics Private Equity 167

BeyondVC

DECEMBER 10, 2009

Financial models for startups are important from a big picture perspective, but I never like to get mired in the full details as things always change in the early stages. While many SAAS companies may collect cash monthly or quarterly, some collect annual fees by offering discounts by paying upfront.

Churn Rate 112

Churn Rate Burn Rate Startup Metrics 112

K9 Ventures

OCTOBER 10, 2017

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: What amount of financing is considered Pre-Seed? It’s a legitimate stage of financing in the venture eco-system as of this writing (October 2017).

Seed Stage 82

Seed Stage Finance Later Stage Equity 82

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 21, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, June 21, 2010 What is a startup? I think most people have a fairly specific image that gets conjured up when they hear the word startup. It leads people to mistakenly believe that any time they see two guys in a garage attempting the impossible, that’s a startup. Wrong again.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco Startup Lean Continuous Deployment 168

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

In future posts I’ll describe how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provided the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development. While that’s not true, it is a fact that entrepreneurs only have one word for “startup.”

Customer Development 196

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 196

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2016

Leveraging our financial skill sets, my partner and I started Harper Partners, a tech-enabled factoring company that helps innovative B2B businesses and startups fund their working capital. To address this problem, I found mentors who had been successful in my company’s area of commercial finance. Learn to relax and recharge.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Acquisition B2B Partner 60

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

To give you a better idea of what entrepreneurs in this industry are thinking about during each phase of the startup process, I interviewed SaaS entrepreneurs from all over the world, including our own COO Noah Parsons. Noah has been a key figure in the making of LivePlan, our own SaaS product. Step 5: Get financed.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

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. Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. The goal of their startup in this stage becomes “getting funded.”

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

189 Answers To The Top Startup Questions On Your Mind. 189 Answers To The Top Startup Questions On Your Mind. Written By Dan Martell on February 2nd, 2012 | Category: Hiring LeanStartup Marketing Metrics Startup Life | 6 Comments. I love startups. Building Product 2. Building Metrics / Usage Reports / KPI 3.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Software By Rob

APRIL 2, 2014

This can lead to complex transfer arrangements between buyer and seller which can be a deterrent for investors from the outset and is also an ongoing headache for both parties post sale as it will often involve contingency based financing agreements. Micropreneurship Startups' Ensure they document everything they do in detail.

Affiliate 67

Affiliate Valuation Reputation Sales 67

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 11, 2008

Those of us who have had the privilege of working in the premier startup hub in the world often take its advantages for granted. Among those: plentiful financing and nerds , a culture that celebrates both failure and success, and an ethos of openness and sharing. No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

Silicon Valley 68

Silicon Valley San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 68

conversionxl.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

It’s Not a Conversion Problem, It’s a Customer Development Problem. Most startups fail. Not because they have a conversion problem but because they never really nail the product or how to market it. Same goes for e-commerce, SaaS or any startup really. This is a customer development problem.

Customer Development 60

Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 60

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 7, 2009

In the case of an entrepreneur pitching for finance, its the same fear that has them putting on a facade and not comfortable in what they do and dont know that will see them a long way off getting funded. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Expo SF (May. . Expo SF (May.

Continuous Deployment 131

Continuous Deployment San Francisco Software Review Lean 131

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

You have your general management meeting and in your general management meeting you talk about product development, about marketing and about finance. So again, none of this is me trying to say what you should do for product development, in fact, or what you should write in code in fact. Edwin: I know.

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

Software By Rob

APRIL 2, 2014

This can lead to complex transfer arrangements between buyer and seller which can be a deterrent for investors from the outset and is also an ongoing headache for both parties post sale as it will often involve contingency based financing agreements. Ensure they document everything they do in detail.

Affiliate 27

Affiliate Valuation Reputation Sales 27

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Most startups don’t have the luxury of hiring an experienced PM early in their journey. Many founders have to turn to brute force to figure it out, even when they themselves don’t have practitioner product management experience. they can range from customer acquisition, product engagement/stickiness, or business model.

Hiring 120

Hiring Bandwidth Product Early Stage 120

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 27, 2022

You know, we're seeing multiple companies use it for product development and they're, they're using what they're hearing in their communities to make their product better and have a, a continuous conversation with, with a customer. There's a, an incredible startup cold tonal. And there's so many great examples of that.

Community 68

Community New York Small Business New York City 68

VC Cafe

APRIL 22, 2020

By Lihi Pinto-Fryman, co-founder and CRO and Gal Aga, VP of Sales at Syte.ai , a visual search startup and Remagine Ventures portfolio company. A sales playbook provides a structure for closing deals, describes the roles and responsibilities of every member of the sales team, and identifies metrics for success and improvement.

Sales 113

Sales Cofounder Channel Revenue 113

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 19, 2009

Heres an excerpt: One of the unfortunate side effects of all the publicity and hype surrounding startups is the idea that entrepreneurship is a guaranteed path to fame and riches. Building a startup is incredibly hard, stressful, chaotic and –- more often than not –- results in failure. But only startups combine all three.

San Francisco 111

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 111

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 21, 2015

I first met Evangelos Simoudis when he ran IBM’s Business Intelligence Solutions Division and then as CEO of his first startup Customer Analytics. By the 1920’s, in the Age of the Automobile and Oil, large companies sought to control the new product development process.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Venture Capital United States Technical Review 120

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 28, 2009

Its an essential discipline of good software development, especially in startups. Nonetheless, I want to talk about a dysfunction Ive seen in several startups: they are literally refactoring themselves to death. They have a product that has a moderate number of customers. Heres a company I met with recently.

San Francisco 79

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 79

mashable.com

MAY 24, 2011

May 23, 2011 by Christina Warren 20 Share on Tumblr email share Share on Tumblr email share The Mobile App Trends Series is supported by Sourcebits , a leading product developer for mobile platforms. Sourcebits offers design and development services for iOS, Android, Mobile and Web platforms. Have an account?

Mobile 90

Mobile Web Social Media Software Review 90

Seeing Both Sides

JANUARY 13, 2015

People: founder-run and trying to recruit amazing technical talent (the product development team is a huge priority at this stage) and integrate a few senior managers to help prepare the company for scale - which leads to cultural clashes and communication challenges. Financing: holy crap - we are running out of money in 6 months!

Mezzanine 20

Mezzanine IPO Finance Business Model 20