Up and Running

JULY 26, 2016

Between January 2015 and January 2016, we grew our platform Slidebean from $1K to $20K in monthly recurring revenue. Getting the first tracks of revenue is one of the toughest processes of building a startup. See Also: A Complete Guide to Forecasting Sales for Your Monthly Subscription (SaaS) Business. Lean marketing.

Revenue 60

Revenue Acquisition Channel Campaign 60

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Given the common challenges encountered by founders as they navigate through this hiring decision, I thought I’d outline some of my thoughts below that can hopefully serve as a simple framework when it comes to making the first Analytics hire at your startup. Many founders confuse the two as they both involve lots of numbers.

Analytics 149

Analytics Hiring SQL Forecast 149

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

Next, take a look at your actual revenue each month – not forecast, but real revenue coming in each month. Subtract your monthly gross burn rate from your monthly revenue to get your net burn rate. All your assumptions about customers, sales cycle and most importantly, revenue, burn rate and runway are no longer true.

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Blog About Log in Register Designing startup metrics to drive successful behavior Great companies are almost always run by great management teams. Good metrics should also be actionable, and drive successful behavior. In a follow up post, I will use this technique to walk through the design of a set of metrics for a SaaS company.

Metrics 55

Metrics Design Entrepreneur Startup 55

ReadWriteStart

JULY 18, 2011

Clavier began his presentation at the beginning of a company's lifecycle, asking how many co-founders a startup ought to have. If you like this kind of advice, check out my coverage of a talk by Paul Palmieri, Co-Founder and CEO of mobile advertising service Millennial Media, titled " Investing in Your Influencers. ".

Investment Bankers 153

Investment Bankers Technical Review Cofounder Due Diligence 153

Up and Running

AUGUST 21, 2014

In this webinar, we take time to discuss the different metrics that startups—and established businesses—should be tracking. What a lot of companies or startups don’t realize is when you put up forecast together, it’s difficult if you’re a startup. In terms of pre-purchase, traffic and content metrics.

Metrics 84

Metrics Startup Churn Rate Forecast 84

Up and Running

MAY 28, 2015

We recently had Tim Berry, Palo Alto Software founder and business planning expert, present our Bplans audience with his latest advice on lean business planning. That’s the sales forecast, the spending forecast and the cash flow. They’re going to look first at the sales forecast. It is not a document.

Lean 60

Lean Business Plan Video Software Review 60

Steve Blank

MAY 14, 2012

Any dispassionate observer would recognize that on Day One, a start-up has no customers, and unless the founder is a true domain expert, he or she can only guess about the customer, problem, and business model. Founders, presuming they know their customers, assume they know all the features customers need.

Balance Sheet 335

Balance Sheet Business Model Customer Development Metrics 335

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

A detailed financial model that shows your anticipated revenue, costs and profits (Income Statement) as well as your balance sheet and cashflow statements. Investors love to be able to see what you told them in forecasts in prior years and then compare with how you actually performed.

Cap Table 336

Cap Table Due Diligence Forecast Churn Rate 336

Up and Running

OCTOBER 27, 2016

A subscription service can be a fantastic way to bring in recurring revenue, but it doesn’t come without downsides. Here, we illustrate the steps you need to take to actually launch your new software, from ideation and development all the way through tracking key metrics once you’ve started up successfully.

Curation 60

Curation Forecast Metrics Business Model 60

The Next Web

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

As an example, a new restaurant may get valued at 3-4x EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) and a hot dot com business with meteoric traffic growth could get valued at 5-10x revenues. revenue, cash flow or net income multiples from recent M&A transactions in your industry. Rule of thumb.

Valuation 167

Valuation Forecast Seed Stage .Net 167

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

An investor had few hard metrics other than the actual financials, and little technology to make the process scaleable. Over the past few decades, better metrics became available, and investors could take a more analytical, data-driven approach. ” Historically, investing was a manual, artisan process. Pitchbot.vc

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Many assume it was a cakewalk, based on the success LinkedIn has enjoyed over time and the current stature of our founder/CEO Reid Hoffman (now Chairman). Yes… he was a very successful PayPal exec and previously co-founder & VP Product of SocialNet. But keep in mind at this point Reid’s a first-time CEO. Thanks Lee.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 2, 2019

Forecasting is sometimes done by dragging the mouse based on many assumptions, because it’s hard to predict the future. One question that keeps coming up when speaking with early stage entrepreneurs when it comes to funding, is what metrics the company needs to hit to raise seed/series A/B etc: What’s a good conversion rate?

B2C 141

B2C Technical Review Startup Retention 141

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

In fact, SaaS industry revenue is projected to grow from $49 billion in 2015 to $67 billion in 2018, a compound annual growth rate of approximately eight percent. We created UpKeep to fill this void—a cloud-based solution that was affordable for any size business.” – Ryan Chan, founder of UpKeep.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Steve Blank

JANUARY 10, 2011

In a startup founders and the board need to do exact the opposite of a large company – failures need to be shared, discussed and dissected to extract “lessons learned” so a new direction can be set. As a founder I quickly learned how open I could be with my board. that actively conspire to hide failure and errors.

Forecast 267

Forecast Agile Revenue Founder 267

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 5, 2009

And so the spreadsheet is built with conservative assumptions, including a final revenue target. No matter how low we make the revenue projections for this new product, it’s extremely unlikely that they are achievable. In a startup context, numbers like gross revenue are actually vanity metrics, not actionable metrics.

San Francisco 102

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 102

Berkonomics

JULY 1, 2021

Here’s one that most small company founders and CEO’s miss until it may be too late. That may seem extreme to many a founder or CEO, but it serves a purpose. But the CFO let the spending rate continue to increase out of balance with the board-approved budget which projected revenues to ramp, reducing the monthly cash burn.

Balance Sheet 62

Balance Sheet Cofounder Cash Position Burn Rate 62

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2010

That’s because a company’s value is a composite of all of the quantitative and qualitative factors that comprise a company: revenues, expenses, risks, growth prospects, quality of the management team, competitive advantages, strength of the intellectual property, and so forth. In business, one important measure is the value of the company.

Intellectual Property 223

Intellectual Property .Net Valuation Distribution 223

A Crowded Space

JUNE 2, 2016

Tomasz Tunguz publishes data daily about VC metrics and public market comps. The metrics around SaaS and marketplace businesses are increasingly well understood. ” If the investor falls in love with the vision for the company – then they can proceed to evaluate the traction and metrics of the business.

Forecast 60

Forecast Metrics Revenue Venture Capital 60

Ben's Blog

AUGUST 17, 2020

OH in South Park, San Francisco (or on Zoom from Big Sky, Montana): “OMG, crazy – that firm just paid 100x revenue to invest in [insert hot startup here] – what could they be thinking?” A multiple is a company value divided by a metric. Simply put, a company is worth the present value of its future free cash flows.

Valuation 36

Valuation Balance Sheet Cofounder Forecast 36

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 12, 2011

When we were last with Dick and Jane on Finance Fridays, our fearless entrepreneurs were figuring out how to split up their founders equity and account for an investment from Jane. Build a financial model that forecasts the P&L. Revenues and costs should both be based off of a robust set of assumptions. historical data).

Balance Sheet 136

Balance Sheet Forecast Cap Table Early Stage 136

Hunter Walker

APRIL 11, 2015

Board Meetings are a great way to finish the week when the founders are describing a provocative discussion of the future. This repeat usage let Matt start each month with a forecast of what percentage of revenue would come from previous customers versus new sales efforts. Board Meetings are great ways to finish the week.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Cofounder Forecast Revenue 48

Up and Running

JANUARY 18, 2021

The first thing most eCommerce companies did in February of 2020 was to smash their crystal balls and toss out demand forecasts because the world was shaping up to be like nothing we’ve seen before. That comes with a lot of potential for revenue and customer satisfaction. Supply and demand will continue to be in flux.

eCommerce 150

eCommerce B2B Forecast Demand 150

Up and Running

JANUARY 16, 2013

Businesses without a plan can easily get off-target, and revenues will suffer as a result. Creating a plan with expense projections, revenue forecasts, and more can help a small business remain committed to its long-term goals.” ~ Andrew Schrage , Money Crashers Personal Finance. Metrics and accountability. . . .

Business Plan 96

Business Plan LLC Forecast Early Stage 96

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 18, 2014

But the CFO let the spending rate continue to increase out of balance with the board-approved budget which projected revenues to ramp, reducing the monthly cash burn. That person is not a bookkeeper, counting the past, but an expert at forecasting and control. Protecting the business'

Balance Sheet 71

Balance Sheet Burn Rate Cash Position Forecast 71

Up and Running

AUGUST 12, 2015

I am here to talk about LivePlan and give you some big picture information on business planning, forecasting, how to really kick your business off in the best possible way. What is revenue going to look like? Budgeting and forecasting, it’s not rocket science. I want to have enough revenue to hire a manager.

Forecast 60

Forecast Video Business Plan United States 60

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2018

Founders who avoid the use of the term “profit” had better have deep pockets of their own. As an investor myself, I look for a balanced story focused on the major elements that drive profitability, including the following: A 5-year financial forecast achieving a positive cash flow early.

Intellectual Property 48

Intellectual Property Initial Public Offering Merger Acquisition 48

David Teten

AUGUST 7, 2019

Likely signs of a Value investment: the company has challenges in filling out the round; the investors have more negotiating leverage than the founders during the closing process; the company has significantly better metrics (e.g. LTV / CAC, revenue growth, etc.) Requires less analysis. And then you have the winner’s curse.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Valuation Stock NDA 60

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

Every model has a happy outcome when a founder is trying to convince himself or herself, a team, an investor, or even a spouse that the venture ahead is a good idea. If the founders aren’t drawing market salaries, then true profitability may be overstated. How and why to build this early model are important decisions.

Valuation 48

Valuation Forecast Seed Money Business Model 48

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

3]   However, if they are built bottom up, they demonstrate and make explicit a range of business model assumptions the entrepreneur is using to think about his business and its revenue model.   In a bottom up approach, the forecast is built from actual user projections. This is why a bottom up approach is more credible.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 30, 2008

Get 18 months or more of cash (runway) in the business against a conservative forecast. Not just about expenses, about increasing revenue. Make sure for planned revenues you have "leading indicators" to know if you will hit it. This can take the form of a traditional sales pipeline or a registration-activation-revenue chart.

Lean 121

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 121

Seeing Both Sides

OCTOBER 24, 2015

Many blogs suggest you simply divide 1 by your monthly churn rate to get to a number of months of duration that you can expect to collect revenues from your customer. Thus, if your average monthly churn rate is "c", the number of months of revenue you will receive over the lifetime of a customer is 1/c. A monthly churn rate of 1%?

Churn Rate 20

Churn Rate Early Stage Revenue Metrics 20

ConversionXL

MAY 14, 2014

Internally, Adria was able to summarize eCommerce by one simple equation: Visitors *conversion rate *Average Order Size = Revenue. Actually seeing the conversion rates allowed them to forecast the ROI on design, content, and optimization investments they made on their site. The founder of the company is the CEO. Great success.

Conversion 124

Conversion eCommerce Technical Review Software Review 124

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 15, 2018

In doing so, the holdout attempts to quantify “lift”—the increase in revenue compared to doing nothing. It depends on your goals,” CXL Founder Peep Laja explained. Their initial A/B test revealed that a badge number increased daily active users by 7% and boosted key engagement metrics. What about the degree of site change?

Artificial Inteligence 101

Artificial Inteligence Algorithm Audience Campaign 101

Seeing Both Sides

AUGUST 16, 2012

Last week, I wrote about Akamai , a company with strong network effects that successfully transitioned from a single product to build a platform that garners over a billion dollars in revenue and is now a core part of the Internet’s fabric. TripAdvisor, in effect, was a model lean start-up with an engineering-driven, product-focused founder.

Part-Time VPE 54

Part-Time VPE Software Review Costa Rica Technical Review 54

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 25, 2018

But, as he contended, if you can show someone that for every $5 spent you generate $25 in revenue, you have their attention. For marketers, SLAs typically redefine “leads” from simple metrics like form fills to marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) —those that are a “good fit” and “sales ready.” How broad is the demand generation strategy?

Demand 132

Demand Vertical Campaign Channel 132