Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2022

In the old days, every entrepreneur planned on taking their startup public, and making it big. Today the rate of startups going public (IPO – Initial Public Offering) is finally up from the dead zone of the last two decades, and is now double the rate back in 1999. Public companies are always at risk for takeovers.

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IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 245

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

In the old days, every entrepreneur dreamed of easily taking their startup public, and making it big. Today the rate of startups going public (IPO – Initial Public Offering) is up from the dead zone, but is still less than half the rate of 15 years ago. Public companies are always at risk for takeovers.

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IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2013

Even though the Initial Public Offering (IPO) alternative for a successful startup seems to be coming back, it is relatively rare. Even in most of these cases, the original startup founders were pushed out, or heavily supplemented, with “experienced” executives. business entrepreneur exit founder IPO startup'

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IPO Founder Exit Strategy Investment Bankers 224

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 29, 2021

We can trace the Midwest’s renaissance to Sprout Social’s successful initial public offering (IPO) , which saw the company debut on public markets at a price of $17 per share and rise to over $120 per share today. Today, Sprout is a $6.6 billion company and has built up this valuation outside the Silicon Valley scene.

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Silicon Valley Kansas City Chicago Denver 173

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Why do these founders get to stay around? Because the balance of power has dramatically shifted from investors to founders. VCs competing for unicorn investments have given founders control of the board. 20th Century Tech Liquidity = Initial Public Offering. This seems to be occurring more and more.

Founder 245

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 6, 2014

With the recent apparent successes of several startups in taking their company public (initial public offering) and raising billions of dollars, I’m hearing a groundswell of enthusiasm from new entrepreneurs to follow in their footsteps to fund their companies and become billionaires overnight.

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IPO Initial Public Offering Startup Small Business Administration 236

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2019

Every startup founder knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. Six years later, he managed to land a contract with IBM to provide their IBM PC base operating system. Even still, it was another five years before Microsoft went public in 1986, making him an overnight success worth $350 million.

Initial Public Offering 277

Initial Public Offering Startup California .Net 277

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 6, 2013

Every startup founder knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. Six years later, he managed to land a contract with IBM to provide their IBM PC base operating system. Even still, it was another five years before Microsoft went public in 1986, making him an overnight success worth $350 million.

Initial Public Offering 297

Initial Public Offering Startup California .Net 297

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

In the old days, every entrepreneur dreamed of someday taking their startup public, and making it a multi-national powerhouse. Typical costs for startups today range from $250,000 to $1 million, even if the offering does not go through. Startups going public are laid open to competitors and critics.

IPO 242

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 242

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2018

Despite the fact that the number of IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) for startups have continued to stay low, I still hear it touted often as the preferred exit strategy. Most startup founders voluntarily exit or are pushed out, and the fun is gone. Public companies bring new expectations of benefits.

Exit Strategy 128

Exit Strategy IPO Initial Public Offering SEC 128

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 31, 2016

Every startup founder knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. Six years later, he managed to land a contract with IBM to provide their IBM PC base operating system. Even still, it was another five years before Microsoft went public in 1986, making him an overnight success worth $350 million.

Initial Public Offering 148

Initial Public Offering California .Net Business Plan 148

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

Even though the Initial Public Offering (IPO) alternative for a successful startup seems to be coming back into vogue, it is relatively rare. Even in most of these cases, the original startup founders were pushed out, or heavily supplemented, with “experienced” executives. After a record low of 39 U.S.

Exit Strategy 239

Exit Strategy IPO Investment Bankers Entrepreneur 239

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2012

Every startup founder knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. Six years later, he managed to land a contract with IBM to provide their IBM PC base operating system. Even still, it was another five years before Microsoft went public in 1986, making him an overnight success worth $350 million.

Entrepreneur 263

Entrepreneur Initial Public Offering California .Net 263

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

None of these investment banks offer traditional banking services, as you would expect from one of the following: Retail banks Commercial banks Credit unions Savings and loans As startup founders, you first need to deal with one of these traditional banks, probably a commercial bank.

IPO 205

IPO Silicon Valley Private Equity Initial Public Offering 205

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 26, 2011

Every startup founder knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. Six years later, he managed to land a contract with IBM to provide their IBM PC base operating system. Even still, it was another five years before Microsoft went public in 1986, making him an overnight success worth $350 million.

Initial Public Offering 295

Initial Public Offering California .Net Business Plan 295

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2011

Even though the Initial Public Offering (IPO) alternative for a successful startup seems to be coming back into vogue, it is still extremely rare. Even in most of these cases, the original startup founders were pushed out, or heavily supplemented, with “experienced” executives. Only about a dozen U.S.

Exit Strategy 235

Exit Strategy IPO Investment Bankers Entrepreneur 235

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2016

Despite the fact that the number of IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) for startups have continued to decrease, I still hear it touted often as the preferred exit strategy. Most startup founders voluntarily exit or are pushed out, and the fun is gone. Public companies bring new expectations of benefits.

IPO 120

IPO Initial Public Offering SEC Stock Options 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2011

None of these investment banks offer traditional banking services, as you would expect from one of the following: Retail banks Commercial banks Credit unions Savings and loans As startup founders, you first need to deal with one of these banks, probably a commercial bank. Commercial banking is also known as business banking.

Silicon Valley 211

Silicon Valley Private Equity Initial Public Offering Startup 211

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 29, 2010

Every startup founder knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. Six years later, he managed to land a contract with IBM to provide their IBM PC base operating system. Even still, it was another five years before Microsoft went public in 1986, making him an overnight success worth $350 million.

Initial Public Offering 221

Initial Public Offering Startup California .Net 221

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 12, 2009

If founders want the benefit of flow through tax treatment with respect to losses prior to an outside financing, an S corp election may make sense as long as there are no entity or non-U.S. If a C corp generates net operating losses rather than net income, these are carried forward to offset future corporate taxable income.

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LLC Stock Options Preferred Stock Stock 61

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 4, 2018

I’ve been involved with well over twenty successful exits and four initial public offerings over the years, some of them with monstrous gains, some more modest. First, there are at least three types of exits. Then in addition, there are the exits that returned some portion of capital, but nothing more.

Sales 54

Sales Investment Bankers Initial Public Offering Early Stage 54

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 19, 2019

And from a financial perspective, any investor would be better off buying stock in Amazon than buying and share of a corner bookshop; if you invested $100 in Amazon’s 1997 initial public offering (IPO), those shares would have been worth about $120,000 in 2018. The second is a lack of operational scalability.

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Cofounder Business Model IPO Non-Compete 28

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2010

None of these investment banks offer traditional banking services, as you would expect from one of the following: Retail banks Commercial banks Credit unions Savings and loans As startup founders, you first need to deal with one of these banks, probably a commercial bank. Commercial banking is also known as business banking.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Private Equity Startup Initial Public Offering 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

The reward for doing so was a liquidity event via an Initial Public Offering. There was no repeatable methodology, startups and their VC’s still operated like startups were simply a smaller version of a large company. They taught you about customers, markets and profits. August 1995 – March 2000: The Dot.Com Bubble.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2018

Founders who avoid the use of the term “profit” had better have deep pockets of their own. Investors look for a team with business, financial, marketing, and operational skills, as well as a social passion. Zappos, impressively, has given away 26 million pairs of shoes in 127 countries and all 50 states.

Intellectual Property 48

Intellectual Property Initial Public Offering Merger Acquisition 48

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 23, 2011

I’ve been involved with well over a dozen successful exits and four initial public offerings over the years, some of them with monstrous gains, some more modest. Then in addition, there are the exits that returned some portion of capital, but nothing more.

Investment Bankers 63

Investment Bankers Initial Public Offering Early Stage Cofounder 63

Growthink Blog

MAY 23, 2011

With this capital, the company propels itself to $50 million+ in revenues, and to either a sale to a strategic acquirer or to an initial public offering. By definition, companies that receive venture capital cannot fund their businesses from operations, and thus need to seek outside capital.

Angel Investor 112

Angel Investor Venture Capital Sweat Equity Cram Down 112

Growthink Blog

MAY 10, 2012

Many entrepreneurs end up taking their company in a different direction after some time spent testing your initial business model. Take the founder of Wrigley's chewing gum, who began selling baking powder and soap door-to-door and giving away gum as a bonus before discovering people wanted it a lot more than soap.

Equity 88

Equity Mezzanine Later Stage Venture Capital 88

online.wsj.com

JULY 11, 2012

Andreessen Horowitz is telling entrepreneurs it prefers situations where the founders have controlling stakes, reckoning that theyll be better able to resist outside distraction and focus on making great products. One of its champions includes Jason Goldberg, the co-founder and CEO of online design retailer Fab.com Inc., Stock Quotes.

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Silicon Valley Founder Software Review Technical Review 42

Version One Ventures

JULY 20, 2015

Bessemer offers a good overview of current valuations for different business models: SaaS, marketplaces, consumer, and ecommerce. You can see in their chart below that marketplaces get some of the highest revenue multiples because of their operational leverage and high defensibility at scale. So what about early-stage marketplaces?

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Valuation Early Stage IPO eCommerce 60

Gust

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I’ve had startup founders tell me that it’s only about the color of the money, but I disagree – particularly if you are desperate. Due diligence on an investor is where you validate the track record, operating style, and motivation of your new potential partner. Here are some techniques for making the assessment: 1.

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Due Diligence Entrepreneur Offshore Angel Groups 119

The Next Web

JANUARY 16, 2014

He is co-founder of international start-up community event organisation 3beards and founder and director of Albion Drive , a fully integrated communicaitons agency for entrepreneurs and challenger brands. If it is, then Australia does start to look appealing as a startup destination both as a founder and an investor.

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Australia San Francisco IPO Cofounder 146

VC Cafe

JANUARY 15, 2024

A billion dollar valuation, the Unicorn status was once the holy grail for many VCs and founders. With the IPO window closed, growth funding severely dwindled and multiples down as a result of the public market, unicorns face tough choices in 2024. The post The Future of Israeli unicorns in 2024 appeared first on VC Cafe.

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IPO Valuation Private Equity 88

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

I gained nearly 20 pounds during those two years, in part because of the growing frustration I felt when I would leave yet another meeting with VCs who I felt didn’t genuinely listen to, understand, or value my experience as a black founder and CEO. Those were teachers, accountants, consultants, entrepreneurs, and community leaders.

Silicon Valley 48

Silicon Valley Technical Review Venture Capital San Francisco 48

online.wsj.com

SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Consider Daniel Dreymann, a founder of Goodmail Systems Inc., And companies that didnt survive might have closed their doors for reasons other than failure, for example, getting acquired or the founders moving on to new projects. Breaking Up (With a Co-Founder) Is Hard to Do. For Twitter Founder, Its Hip to Be Square Inc.

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Venture Capital Software Review Rhode Island North Dakota 107