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. The good news is that he is all about helping early-stage startups. Early-stage startup. Every startup is early-stage to someone.

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Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 253

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The rise of “micro VCs” or seed-stage funds. When you think about the trends of faster-growing startups due to social networking, credit card enable and mobile first consumers – the reality is that many startups are becoming very large financially before needing to go public. more than 5 years ago?—?and

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

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. Yeah, that one.

Forecast 96

Forecast Early Stage Seed Stage Startup 96

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

More and more startups are pursuing Revenue-Based VCs , but “RBI” doesn’t fit everyone. Flexible VC 101: Equity Meets Revenue Share. By tying payments to actual revenues, founders and investors remain aligned around the company’s real-time performance, good or bad. Of the Inc. 5000 companies, only 6.5%

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

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. Seed stage startups are now graded on a curve.

Seed Stage 136

Seed Stage Post-Money Valuation Valuation Startup 136

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Once a startup has raised seed capital, plenty of theories and advice exist on how to successfully raise a Series A. 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. More on these below.). There was no meaningful difference.

Syndicate 333

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Startup 333

David Teten

JULY 10, 2019

Do you have a great team at your seed startup, but your product just isn’t working? Would you like to have a salary from day one that you work full-time on your startup? As a VC, I’m interested in working with companies with large-scale revenue potential, and that’s the company we envision. Q: Is this civic tech?

America 60

America Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence 60

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. Jonathan Strauss took this issue head on in a blog post that I believe every startup founder should read on “ Replacing Oneself as CEO.”

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Technical Review Cofounder Analytics Founder 303

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

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. The good news is that he is all about helping early-stage startups. Early-stage startup. Every startup is early-stage to someone.

Early Stage 177

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 177

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. The good news is that he is all about helping early-stage startups, the hard part for entrepreneurs is figuring out what it takes to play.

Early Stage 231

Early Stage Seed Stage Angel Investor Silicon Valley 231

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 22, 2012

You have a million things to get done at your startup, yet you only have a handful of people to do them. What is the Minimum Viable Team, if you will, for a startup? I can break down all the things a startup needs to do into three ideal people. Now we’re down to nine core business functions on a small startup team.

PR 144

PR Technical Review Seed Stage Design 144

Diego Basch

MARCH 14, 2013

While that may be true, I invest in startups because I need to feel useful. I invest in some startups because I genuinely enjoy it. I invest in some startups because I genuinely enjoy it. I don’t plan to allocate more than 5% of my portfolio to startups. I would not want to be in that position.

San Francisco 55

San Francisco Startup Silicon Valley Seed Stage 55

The Next Web

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

George Deeb is the Managing Partner at Chicago-based Red Rocket Ventures , a startup consulting and financial advisory firm based in Chicago. This is typically in conjunction with an upcoming financing or pending takeover offer. Where you are in your stage of development is a key driver in determining valuation. Your industry.

Valuation 167

Valuation Forecast Seed Stage .Net 167

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. The answer is yes and yes.

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Valuation Venture Capital Investment Bankers 63

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 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

Genuine VC

MAY 29, 2014

It’s been five years now since large VC ‘signaling’ entered the seed stage entrepreneur’s lexicon. It seems as though it’s been talked about ad nauseum in the blogosphere, but we see first-hand as entrepreneurs we’re investing in at NextView Ventures work through building their seed round syndicates, it really is a tough issue.

Syndicate 166

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Valuation 166

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

Agile VC

JUNE 17, 2015

I’ve observed what may be an emerging trend, at least in some startups, that I find somewhat unsettling. But I think it’s important to discuss, particularly given today’s heady environment for startups. But I think it’s important to discuss, particularly given today’s heady environment for startups.

Startup 188

Startup Cofounder Seed Stage IPO 188

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? Defining the pre-seed round It’s futile to look for ‘one true’ definition.

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

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. And I sincerely hope that this post does a good job of addressing what Pre-Seed really is. Q: Define Pre-Seed? Q: What amount of financing is considered Pre-Seed?

Seed Stage 82

Seed Stage Finance Later Stage Equity 82

View from Seed

JUNE 17, 2015

I’ve observed what may be an emerging trend, at least in some startups, that I find somewhat unsettling. But I think it’s important to discuss, particularly given today’s heady environment for startups. But I think it’s important to discuss, particularly given today’s heady environment for startups.

Startup 120

Startup Cofounder Seed Stage IPO 120

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

Genuine VC

JANUARY 3, 2013

According to all of the blogosphere chatter over the past month, seed-funded internet startups are entering this year gearing up for the now-near-infamous Series A Crunch. Instead, startups are now empowered to create focused services which benefit a small niche audience.

Seed Stage 166

Seed Stage Venture Capital Audience New York 166

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. ” “How do I identify promising startups?”

Startup 241

Startup Later Stage Angel Financing Seed Stage 241

Agile VC

JUNE 17, 2015

I’ve observed what may be an emerging trend, at least in some startups, that I find somewhat unsettling. But I think it’s important to discuss, particularly given today’s heady environment for startups. But I think it’s important to discuss, particularly given today’s heady environment for startups.

Startup 100

Startup Cofounder Seed Stage IPO 100

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

VC Adventure

APRIL 18, 2019

While audits can sometimes feel like overkill for startups (certainly early ones), they’re generally pretty good hygiene. And most major investors will also require annual audits (we sometimes waive this for seed stage companies, although even then it can make sense).

Seed Stage 83

Seed Stage Portfolio Revenue Finance 83

The Equity Kicker

APRIL 21, 2016

But it got me thinking about the trade off between short term clarity and long term upside in seed stage investing. That plan will show short term activities that generate value and significant revenues in the out years. Not when they’re at the seed stage.

Seed Stage 60

Seed Stage Venture Capital eCommerce Partner 60

Agile VC

JANUARY 12, 2012

How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Good investors try to be clear in terms of what they look for in terms of progress and milestones of the startups they invest in. As I’ve stated before, I’m a big believer in being deliberate and explicit in startup fundraising.

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndicate Syndication 100

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

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 6, 2014

Instead of the old “throw-money-at-a-good-idea” approach, I based our strategy on the belief that the best startups are the ones that can become revenue-positive shortly after takeoff with as little upfront investment as possible. But as an avowed startup junkie, I’m always looking forward to the next thing.

San Francisco 154

San Francisco Business Model Silicon Valley Coder 154

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.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Cofounder Incubator Leadership 48

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

Industry change allows the entry of newer players at earlier stages – It doesn’t take as much money to launch a startup anymore. So in the past we needed VC to really get a startup going. If you invest it in startups you’re a VC professional money manager. We all know that.

Liquidity Event 308

Liquidity Event Silicon Valley Seed Stage Finance 308

BeyondVC

FEBRUARY 12, 2014

BOLDstart helps founders at the seed stage accelerate their growth from idea/ alpha phase to product market fit and successful Series A round. helps founders at the seed stage accelerate their growth from idea/ alpha phase to product market fit and successful Series A round”.

Seed Stage 110

Seed Stage Agile Viral API 110

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 2, 2016

It continues to be highly dependent on company, stage, and location. At the early stages, raising the first $2m tends to be straightforward in most geographies that have meaningful startup communities. Most importantly from my frame of reference, the amount of activity at the early and seed stage seems to be extremely robust.

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Venture Capital Private Equity Early Stage Valuation 70