Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2018

The entrepreneur who founded and grew the largest startup in the world to $10 billion in revenue and got fired is someone you have probably never heard of. Sloan kept the corporate staff small and focused on policymaking, corporate finance, and planning. A version of this article appeared in the Harvard Business Review.

Michigan 268

Michigan Cofounder Stock Forecast 268

VC Adventure

AUGUST 31, 2017

There are a ton of private SaaS financings. In 2016 there were over 2,000 financing rounds of private SaaS companies ($18.5Bn invested). Verticalization. More on this below, but growth is more important than profitability, subject to the balance in the rule of 40 note above.

IPO 113

IPO Vertical Balance Sheet Valuation 113

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 18, 2020

In the context of COVID-19, banks try to keep their customers safe, educating them on how to make contactless payments, use remote channels, and leverage digital tools to manage their finances and complete transactions. The post-Coronavirus world is now experiencing a complex change affecting all the industries and verticals.

Global 179

Global Technical Review Analytics Mobile 179

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

Over time you start to figure out who you customers are and how to sell to them or how to get them to adopt your products if you’re a consumer-oriented startup. And I’ve also been convinced that it can be quite useful to have another startup company CEO on your board. As You Start to Mature. Experience. Relationships.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Posted on December 7, 2009 by steveblank In my 21 years of startups, I had my ideas “stolen” twice. The initial hypothesis for Epiphany (from my much smarter partner Ben ) was that as departments in the enterprise (manufacturing, finance, customer support sales) became automated, the marketing department would eventually get its turn.

Silicon Valley 225

Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 225

Version One Ventures

NOVEMBER 9, 2021

These projects require an upfront investment and it can be difficult to secure financing for energy projects, even when the risk is low and the ROI is strong. By turning capital investments into operating expenses, the platform will unlock all sorts of creative financing solutions and increase the adoption of energy projects.

Stealth 148

Stealth Vertical Portfolio Finance 148

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2009

In the last three posts, we drew the relationship of market risk and invention risk with vertical markets and pointed out verticals where customer development would be useful. would look in each of the verticals. For example, How does sales differ from one market to another?

Vertical 122

Vertical Silicon Valley RSS Marketing 122

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019

Here are five financial concepts that every startup founder should know to build an everlasting company. Compared to Accounting, Finance is ruthlessly forward looking. The basic lesson that founders can learn about asset valuation is that Accounting is past and Finance is future. Asset valuation. Alpha generation.

Founder 118

Founder Valuation Dividend Startup 118

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2012

When you work inside a startup with lots of clever and motivated staff you’re never short of good ideas that you can implement. It’s a very common occurrence that a young startup with sub 20 staff and sub $2m in financing is racing around doing too many things. ok, I know our product isn't yet verticalized.

Bandwidth 415

Bandwidth Management Startup Channel 415

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

By Daniel Sokolovksy, Co-Founder and CEO, WARP and Troy Lester, Co-Founder and CRO, WARP The dissolution of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was more than just a bank collapse, it was a reality check for both startups and the VCs that fund them. So what does an early-stage company do to avoid the doom and gloom plaguing the world of startups?

Early Stage 112

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 112

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 23, 2020

This year has seen historic growth for startups in telehealth. As the pandemic drags on and patients grow to telehealth services, let’s take a look at three industry verticals which are being driven by startup innovation. The startup has since closed $110 million of Series D funding. Mental health. Watch this space.

Startup 93

Startup Venture Capital Canada Vertical 93

Austin Startup

OCTOBER 22, 2017

You’ve decided to undertake a startup, now how exactly are you going to go about that? Allow me to emphasize that native talent and temperament have a lot to do with how you determine your goal, whether it’s golf or creating a startup. They learn how to talk with potential customers and de-risk their plans from the start.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Incubator Software Review Vertical 48

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Since 2017 we’ve managed $3 million in revenue-based financing, which helps cash-strapped technology companies grow. According to John Borchers, Co-founder, Decathlon is the largest revenue-based financing investor in the US. “ You qualify if you have $5k+ MRR. Bigfoot Capital. Decathlon Capital. Key elements: . “We

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 6, 2011

This curriculum is based on the various questions entrepreneurs have asked me over these 64 sessions, spanning financing, positioning, customer acquisition, marketing, sales, channel, and various other early stage, startup-related issues. He is looking for financing for the show. Mava Consulting. And that is what I advised J.J.

Vertical 115

Vertical Web San Francisco Entrepreneur 115

View from Seed

AUGUST 13, 2014

Pros of taking their angel money include the feeder system to venture financing of the next round and the vast network of portfolio CEOs which can be tapped into for connections and help. Cons: Potentially not much value-add beyond initial financing round. The Friends & Family Angel. The Grouped Angels. The Financial Angel.

Angel Investor 334

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 334

cdixon.org

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

Why you shouldn’t keep your startup idea secret. I have a personal diligence rule that when speaking to people at large companies, the facts that they tell you are very useful but their opinions about startup ideas no more valuable than any other smart person’s opinions). Peter Coles. Jon Russell. Jonah Peretti. Lauren Leto.

Stealth 68

Stealth Startup NDA Cofounder 68

VC Cafe

DECEMBER 7, 2022

It’s also difficult for startups operating in this space to create real defensibility as most are built on the same core APIs. We already invested in two startups in the space. And finally, there are open questions about the use of training data (for text or art) without referencing and credit to the source.

Generative AI 90

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence ChatGPT API 90

VC Cafe

DECEMBER 1, 2022

All the videos from the event , as well as our newly published landscape of the UK startups building the Metaverse can be found here. From the Money in the Metaverse (crypto and web3 finance) panel. As the underlying technology for the Metaverse continues to evolve, we will see more and more use cases brought to life across verticals.

Generative AI 88

Generative AI Vertical Early Stage PR 88

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 14, 2021

The Startup Magazine continues our Founder Interview series with entrepreneur Richard Lavina, Co-Founder and CEO of accounting services platform, Taxfyle. Here are Richard’s insights and startup advice he shared with us about his entrepreneurial journey…. TSM: Taxfyle is really no longer a startup, it is a “scaleup”.

CPA 138

CPA Founder Vertical Cofounder 138

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 12, 2018

Project Kairos, the startup program, will take centre stage. The Startup Magazine is happy to promote the event within London Tech Week. The TechXLR8 event brings together 8 conferences, 300 exhibitors, live demonstrations, and tremendous networking opportunities that are critical to startup success. Project Kairos Startup City.

Artificial Inteligence 81

Artificial Inteligence Europe Startup Cloud 81

Hunter Walker

MAY 4, 2014

We think of Homebrew as our startup, just one which writes checks instead of code. New VCs are vulnerable to fashionable verticals. Our strategy isn’t to necessarily be contrarian but we decided there were certain verticals that we weren’t going to pursue in 2013. Chasing Hot Markets. For example, food delivery.

Software Review 100

Software Review Vertical Seed Stage Portfolio 100

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

After 20 years of working in startups, I decided to take a step back and look at the product development model I had been following and see why it usually failed to provide useful guidance in activities outside the building – sales, marketing and business development.

Customer Development 238

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

Haystack

JULY 8, 2018

After reflecting on it for a day, I began to understand why — even though this topic has been written about many times, “technology” as a sector and industry now has gone from vertical to horizontal, entirely pervasive across industries, across sectors, across geographies and cultures. Maybe I have a 1-2 year headstart.

Early Stage 95

Early Stage Dilution Private Equity Common Stock 95

VC Cafe

JULY 4, 2011

Startup incubators have grown in double digits in the last couple of years. Following the success of Ycombinator and TechStars, in recent years we have seen literally hundreds of regional incubators set up in the rest of the US and Europe , across campuses and within vertical industries, such as mobile or finance.

Incubator 97

Incubator Entrepreneur Startup Vertical 97

The Equity Kicker

MAY 9, 2016

It’s a great romp through the history of entrepreneurial ventures and how they were financed – starting with loan deals brokered in coffee shops and ending with the PC boom which established venture capital as an asset class in 1970s and 1980s. The UK government’s support has been important for our startup ecosystem.

Silicon Valley 60

Silicon Valley Venture Capital eCommerce Startup 60

Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 12, 2012

Addressing both of those issues can stem from the motivations as to why someone would want to put their hard-earned cash into a risky early-stage startup in the first place. Investors in this category are usually operating executives who have spent their entire careers in a specific industry vertical, like internet travel, for example.

Angel Investor 257

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 257

Austin Startup

OCTOBER 19, 2019

Are you thinking about rebranding your startup, but you’re not sure if you should pull the trigger? Now the cans are sleeker, the typography is more modern (while paying homage to Coca Cola’s past), and each can’s design includes a bold and colorful vertical stripe. Originally published at [link] on April 22, 2019.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Design Campaign Vertical 48

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Five Quarters of Profitability During the 1980’s and through the mid 1990’s startups going public had to do something that most companies today never heard of – they had to show a track record of increasing revenue and consistent profitability. They taught you about customers, markets and profits.

Silicon Valley 217

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

Once you’ve figured out whether you want to find a very early stage startup or a late stage one (the topic of my first post in this series ), the real hard work begins. Whether it’s early or late, there are always a certain set of startups within a particular ecosystem that are generating all of the talk in the community.

Startup 148

Startup Portfolio Later Stage Hiring 148

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

If you’re a startup looking to make an immediate splash or a brand looking to grow visibility, teaming with an agency will make all the difference. Using this data, it created audience segments for seven areas: Finance Economics Politics Careers Technology Good deeds Social justice. This kind of exposure can be hard to get on your own.

Advertising 131

Advertising Cost Customer PR 131

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 4, 2010

ViVu is also a startup (funded by DFJ, and seed funds Inventus Capital, Quest Venture Partners, and Amidzad), and true to our philosophy, we're using the 1M/1M program to give them visibility. It is very much my intention to provide similar visibility and customer access to a large number of startups through 1M/1M. Photo by svilen001.

Startup 113

Startup India Silicon Valley Incubator 113

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 20, 2020

Another movement we’re seeing right now is DeFi, or Decentralized Finance. What has the startup experience taught you about life? At a startup, you often have to find a way to move mountains under pressure, to get past any fears you have and try the unexpected. How to break through tough challenges and to be resourceful.

San Francisco 97

San Francisco Cofounder Colorado Security 97

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 21, 2017

Revenue multiples, profit multiples, premium over the previous financing — these are metrics used by sellers to help determine a minimum acceptable price. Startups shouldn’t act smug about this. Even for startups, it takes years for a new product to become good enough to demand many millions of dollars in revenue.).

Balance Sheet 242

Balance Sheet Vertical Acquisition Revenue 242

Version One Ventures

JULY 12, 2016

We have talked at great lengths about them in marketplaces and in artificial intelligence and machine learning startups. Riding out the old wave: new or under-represented verticals. Over the years, verticalization has been a big trend in the social space, with niche sites catering toward interests, locales, professions.

Artificial Inteligence 60

Artificial Inteligence Vertical North America Social Network 60

Hunter Walker

MARCH 4, 2014

Venture capital isn’t the only way to fund your business and for many at the earliest stages of their startup, it’s one of the worst choices. Ones which bring the efficiency of software into traditionally unsexy verticals via a new mobile app.

Seed Stage 134

Seed Stage Venture Capital Vertical Finance 134

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 16, 2010

The trends include Cloud computing, outsourcing, social Web, vertical and local Web, smartphones and tablets, online advertising, online video, online gaming, e-books, and bootstrapped entrepreneurship. The company is profitable and has so far raised only $400,000 in friends and family and angel financing.

Senegal 117

Senegal Nevada Bootstrapping Silicon Valley 117

Hunter Walker

APRIL 24, 2017

What outsiders don’t realize is that much of the most intriguing seed startups go through a financing process that’s “dark” – not seen by most investors because it’s either competitively privileged to a few firms or so against traditional patterns that the walk is more random.

Cap Table 71

Cap Table LP Seed Stage Vertical 71