View from Seed

JULY 8, 2020

Over the intervening years, we’ve heard continued and consistent feedback about the value of it for seed stage Founders in providing both strategic thought and tactical help in assembling their post-financing investor communications. Yet the landscape for the seed stage has evolved over that period.

Email 331

Email Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication 331

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Other founders, “as a privately held company we don’t disclose our valuation.&# Me, “dude, I’m not a journalist. Investors own 25%, the founders own 75%. Investors will always want to get their money out of the company before founders, which in the case where the company is sold for a low price is fair.

Valuation 405

Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 24, 2017

Foundry Group is best known for our investments in startups, but our vehicle currently investing in other venture funds, Foundry Group Next, is off to what we believe to be a great start and I wanted to share an update about it by talking about our new investment in a fund managed by Founder Collective.

Founder 75

Founder LP Technical Review Seed Stage 75

View from Seed

JUNE 7, 2016

But more so, these decks are about one thing: upping your board game as a founder. Below, I unpack what I mean, as well as challenge some conventional thinking that gets in the way of a successful board meeting and board relationship… The Real Purpose of Your Board Meeting (and How This Looks in the Seed Stage).

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Founder Seed Capital Institutional Investors 120

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

This could be a proportion of the company’s equity or investment; in other instances, it could be a portion of its later-stage profits. How to evaluate New Businesses at Their Infancy, Their Early Stages, and Their Growth Stages Evaluating a new business venture involves elements of both art and science.

Seed Stage 126

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 126

View from Seed

JANUARY 5, 2016

At the beginning, a startup team is typically just a couple of co-founders. What we suggest at this juncture is that founders get acclimated to the tactics of scaling beyond the founding team. What to Address During Genesis Team Building: How do we divide and conquer responsibilities as co-founders? Below, I take a look at each.

Founder 120

Founder Cofounder Startup Early Stage 120

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

Posted on June 11, 2009 by steveblank When my students ask me about whether they should be a founder or cofounder of a startup I ask them to take a walk around the block and ask themselves: Are you comfortable with: Chaos – startups are disorganized Uncertainty – startups never go per plan Are you: Resilient – at times you will fail – badly.

Cofounder 219

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 219

Austin Startup

JANUARY 3, 2019

Feedback to investors about what helps and doesn’t help founders when fundraising. I originally asked this question to several founders with the intent of addressing angel investors but I’ve found it doesn’t exclude other institutional investors either. Quick No Now onwards to positive behavior that founders love!

Founder 48

Founder Angel Investor Technical Review Due Diligence 48

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2019

Friendly or hostile takeover attempts are just a couple of the many ways that company founders sense a loss of control of their own destiny. The board of directors, as well as public stockholders, are no longer part of the inside team focused on the founder’s vision to change the world. Startup founders don’t fit in a public company.

IPO 210

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 210

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

They often create the biggest tensions between investors who are investing at different stages in the business. These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. I have seen bad behavior from later-stage VCs, believe me.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

Gogii came in my office in 2009 with three of the most talented founders I had seen. Scott Lahman , Zack Norman & Austin Murray were the three co-founders of JAMDAT, the most successful mobile 1.0 I’m on record all over place saying that 70% of my investment decision is the team & 30% is the market. I can do that.

Later Stage 310

Later Stage South America Mobile Silicon Valley 310

View from Seed

MARCH 4, 2020

When you look at the websites of the seed VC’s on the 2019 list, you notice that some are starting to steer away from positioning themselves as Seed funds as they accumulate more capital and are starting to enter companies at later stages. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues. Slowly Improving Demographic Diversity.

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital China Technical Review Africa 313

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

There’s a quick litmus-test conversation any early-stage VC will have with the founder and it’s one that you should be as prepared for as your elevator pitch. Founder: “$8–10 million” VC: “What’s your current burn rate?” Founder: “$250k / month.” Founder: “Um. Why are you raising so much?” Let me check my plan.”

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Dilution 247

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

The culture is driven by the 20-something irreverent founder with huge technical chops who in a “David vs. Goliath” mythology take on the titans of industry and wins. But markets have changed and I think investors, founders and experienced executives who want to join later-stage startups can all benefit from playing the long game.

Venture Capital 363

Venture Capital LP Valuation Later Stage 363

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

Friendly or hostile takeover attempts are just a couple of the many ways that company founders sense a loss of control of their own destiny. The board of directors, as well as public stockholders, are no longer part of the inside team focused on the founder’s vision to change the world. Startup founders don’t fit in a public company.

IPO 218

IPO SEC Prospectus Technical Review 218

OnlyOnce

DECEMBER 8, 2021

I just did a podcast recording the other day for someone who asked me the biggest mistakes founders make and what to do about them. I divided my response into “early stage” and “later stage” founders. Here’s a summary of what I said about early stage founders.

Early Stage 62

Early Stage Founder Later Stage B2C 62

NZ Entrepreneur

FEBRUARY 27, 2020

This decline has also become evident in startup accelerator programs shifting their focus on later-stage scale-ups that provide higher returns. Capital funding for early-stage companies is drying up and becoming harder to find. Each stage of tech company growth has unique challenges.

Developer 68

Developer Early Stage Later Stage Acquisition 68

YoungUpstarts

MAY 11, 2019

Instead, it’s smart to adopt a simplistic approach where you execute the elements that are integral to converting visitors into customers – much like entrepreneurs do when they create a minimum viable product (MVP) prior to developing the entire thing,” explains Gabriel Richards, Founder and CEO of Endertech, a Los Angeles web development company.

Web Development 113

Web Development Developer Los Angeles Architecture 113

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2023

For me, I have at least two years of active board and observer commitments to roll off of and far more time before all the founders I’ve backed hit (or miss, I suppose) their ultimate goal of returning lots of money to their investors. No more founder pitch meetings. It has been a career that fits my personality well.

Later Stage 218

Later Stage Venture Capital Term Sheet Limited Partner 218

Eric Friedman

NOVEMBER 18, 2022

I have been thinking about early stage equity and advisor grants for some time, including a post in 2016 , that I rely on and wanted to revisit. I have had a few founder friends reach out to me asking about how much equity to give to an advisor, and had some operators reach out asking how to become an advisor for an early stage founder.

Early Stage 103

Early Stage Equity Vesting Cap Table 103

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

The founders were simply wrong about their assumptions about customer needs. It turns out the term “visionary founder” was usually a synonym for someone who was hallucinating. Founders Need to Run the Company Longer. So, almost like clockwork 20 th century startups fired the innovators/founders when they scaled.

Restful 222

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 222

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2023

According to the International Business Innovation Association ( InBIA ), there are over 2,000 of these locations worldwide, and new online versions springing up all over the place, like Founders Space in Silicon Valley. Peer-to-peer networking with other startups and founders in the same stage.

Incubator 231

Incubator Silicon Valley North America Small Business Administration 231

Agile VC

OCTOBER 5, 2012

One of the most common questions I get is “What’s the best career path to becoming a founder someday?” ” The very short answer is that most people who are ultimately founders (or usually co-founders ) of a company “tack” towards that goal in a series of career steps.

Founder 217

Founder Cofounder Later Stage Operations 217

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2010

So if you’re the founder of a startup, you may want to consider who you take money from. Is Your VC Founder Friendly? What startup stage do they typically invest in? How many of their founders are still with their company? Will they tailor your vesting to your contribution as a founder? Is it for your technology?

Founder 231

Founder Vesting Later Stage Early Stage 231

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 11, 2023

He’s founder and CEO of Greenhouse , a ‘hiring operating system’ for companies which spans recruiting and onboarding tools for enterprises and SMEs. Hunter Walk: Before we dive into your company Greenhouse , give me one story from your childhood that foretold you were going to end up a startup founder.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Equity DC Leveraged Buyout 78

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2016

But for founders who do their homework, the cost of entry is lower and the opportunity is higher than ever. Excellent detailed resources are everywhere, including a new book, “ The Startup Checklist ,” by serial entrepreneur and founder of the New York Angels, David S. The cost of social media done well is low.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

If they acquire later stage companies who already have users/customers and/or a predictable revenue stream, they are acquiring companies which are executing. What gets lost when a large company looks at the rationale for an acquisition (IP, team, product, users) is that startups are run by founders searching for a business model.

Acquisition 332

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 332

David Teten

MARCH 18, 2021

(co-written with Stephane Nasser , co-founder of OpenVC , an open-source initiative to collect and analyze all VC theses.). OpenVC is a new, open-source initiative to collect and analyze all publicly available VC theses, to help founders more efficiently find the right investors, and vice-versa. Technical founders .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital Deal Flow 78

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

According to the International Business Innovation Association ( InBIA ), there are over 2,200 of these locations worldwide, and new online versions springing up all over the place, like Founders Space in Silicon Valley. Peer-to-peer networking with other startups and founders in the same stage.

Incubator 398

Incubator Silicon Valley North America Startup 398

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2014

For all the things he’s likely known for, he probably hasn’t yet built a strong relationship as an early stage venture investor (he invests often in later-stage deals where he is very respected). VCs will spend over a year networking just to position around one founder or one deal, and if they lose it, it’s gone.”

Silicon Valley 333

Silicon Valley Early Stage Later Stage Technical Review 333

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

But the thing I am most proud of about Rob is that he has taken a company with a uniquely talented founder & CTO – Nick Halstead – and managed to build a very tight working relationship with Nick where we drive world-class product development without having the usual founder / CEO conflicts. Have topics.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 18, 2012

Note that “ Great From the Start ” is targeted at companies in the earlier parts of its develop stages, and focuses more on the time between idea and incorporation and largely ignores the later stages of growth.

Technical Review 174

Technical Review Later Stage Incubator Business Model 174

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

What stage? Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? When you are raising a large, later-stage round given by this time you’ve likely got a fairly large business to run. What kind of deals should I be doing? What price? I love complexity.

Early Stage 361

Early Stage Deal Flow Investment Bankers Technical Review 361

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2019

The reality today is that capital is more available than ever and entrepreneurs have become more sophisticated, so founders are looking for more than just cash from their venture backers. I’ve seen many founders not fully grasp how the venture capital business works and what incentives investors have.

Lean 108

Lean Venture Capital Conversion IPO 108

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2022

Friendly or hostile takeover attempts are just a couple of the many ways that company founders sense a loss of control of their own destiny. The board of directors, as well as public stockholders, are no longer part of the inside team focused on the founder’s vision to change the world. Startup founders don’t fit in a public company.

IPO 245

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 245

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

This essay is part of a series on alternative VC: I: Revenue-Based Investing: a new option for founders who care about control. III: Why are Revenue-Based VCs investing in so many women and underrepresented founders? II: Who are the major Revenue-Based Investing VCs? IV: Should your new VC fund use Revenue-Based Investing?

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2011

With more competition in early-stage many VCs are investing smaller amounts at earlier stages. Some are going later stage to not miss out on hot deals. I call this “stage drift.&#. The result was a massive increase in startups & a whole group of new funding sources: both angels & “micro VCs&#.

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation Angel Investor 289